For the most important meal of the day, breakfast can be surprisingly difficult to do right. And no, we’re not here to tell you what to eat – but rather, what tweaks you can make or habits you can avoid (read: skipping breakfast entirely) to feel your best throughout the day.
“It’s easy to downplay breakfast,” says Thanh Thanh Nguyen, MS, RDN, a registered dietician at Mendinground Nutrition. Moving away from that mindset is crucial, though: It’s “an opportunity to fuel ourselves and have a satisfying meal to set ourselves up for success,” she says. For most people, breakfast represents the start of the day—and you want to get off on the right foot. By eating breakfast, you can help boost energy and reduce brain fog, to name just a couple, says Amber Young, MS, RDN, founder of Redefined Nutrition.
But there are some breakfast habits that can stop you from making the most of that meal. Below, the most common mistakes registered dieticians see people make—and why avoiding them is key to feeling primed to take on the rest of the day.
1. For starters, you skip breakfast completely.
While some people naturally might not feel hungry in the a.m., opting out of breakfast entirely isn’t the best choice. Your body has already drawn on the excess sugar (glucose) stored in your liver and muscles to keep everything humming along overnight, so by the time you wake up, you’re pretty much “running on empty,” Nguyen says. Meaning: You need fuel—food—ASAP to replenish those stores and supply the energy you need for your day. Without it, your body may be playing catch-up, “trying to get valuable energy and nutrients that were missed first thing in the morning,” Young says.
If you don’t feel like something super hearty, a smoothie or protein shake might be more palatable. If you decide to blend your own rather than buy a pre-made product, ingredients like milk (dairy or soy), protein powder, and chia seeds will serve you well, Nguyen says—they’re both filling and easy to incorporate. Just make sure the final product still has the right balance of macros (healthy fats, protein, and carbs!)
2. Or if you’re already a scrupulous breakfast-eater, you don’t go quite big enough.
This one’s for all the folks out there who take a granola bar or another small, portable packaged snack to eat on the go and figure it’s better than nothing. You’re not wrong, but listen up: That little rectangle of oats, seeds, and sugar does not a full breakfast make! In fact, it’s likely “only going to last you halfway through the morning,” Nguyen says. This is true even if your mini meal has the balance of macros you’d want: You still need enough calories (energy!) to tackle everything on your to-do list.
You have two options here: Try a more substantial meal in the first place. (Like we mentioned above, a sippable option like a smoothie or shake can be a good idea if you’re not feeling solids.) Or you can just take a page out of The Hobbit and make second breakfast a thing: Simply plan on having a mid-morning snack to tide you over til lunch. There’s no right answer here, and Nguyen is a big believer in playing with the cards you’re dealt. “If you’re able to have a bigger breakfast, great,” she says. “If you are only able to have a smaller breakfast, then have two small things in the morning just so you’re fuelled.”
3. You skimp on protein.
Sure, you need protein for workout-related things like muscle recovery, but it also plays a key role at the breakfast table too. It provides a longer-lasting energy boost, warding off sugar crashes and keeping you full and alert for longer. “And even if it’s not a crash situation, you’re likely to feel hungrier if you don’t have protein with breakfast,” Nguyen adds. Hello, hanger!
