Can certain types of breakfast foods actually improve brain function and productivity in the morning?

Question

Leslie Bonci, RD, CSSD · Answer

This is a great question. Can certain types of breakfast foods actually improve brain function and productivity in the morning? Well, I think the key is eating something in the morning. First of all, fluid is critically important. Secondly, thinking about something that's going to energize the body is part of productivity, and that basically means food. But ideally, it would be a combination of something with carbohydrate, something with protein, something with fat. So we could think about something like an overnight oat that you don't have to do the night before. It could be something like a breakfast wrap. It could even be something savory. If you have a leftover turkey sandwich, by all means, that is fine. Maybe spread a little bit of hummus on it. That would work. It could be something like a smoothie. But ideally, it's going to be this combination. And if we're looking at improving brain productivity, a little caffeine can be helpful, but not by itself. So maybe it's something like a mocha latte with peanut butter toast. Or maybe it's something like ricotta on toast with maybe some chopped up fruit and some nuts. So basically, not starting the day on empty, trying to get something in within one hour of waking up, really setting the tone for the day to be productive and not destructive to your body.

Dr. Felicia Stoler, DCN, MS, RDN, FACSM, FAND · Answer

Can certain types of breakfast foods actually improve brain function and productivity in the morning. Considering the brain benefits from carbohydrates and omega three fatty acids. Let's break that down and see what one might want to eat for breakfast. And I get into a bit of a pickle when somebody asks me about breakfast foods per se because the word breakfast means to break your fast. So I don't necessarily rely upon a typical American breakfast because I don't even know what that is anymore. Um But what is important is having carbohydrates, having some protein and fat. We need a little bit of everything throughout the day. So we do know that very colorful fruits and vegetables can be beneficial. So things like berries are great in terms of omega three fatty acids, you can have fish oil. So maybe you might like having fish in the morning or you may want to have things like chess or walnuts or almonds. And as far as carbohydrates go pretty much anything goes in the morning, uh you might want to consider something like a piece of avocado toast with egg. That is one of my favorite. Go to breakfast if I actually am eating breakfast, the other thing might be eating oats, uh, made with some overnight oats that I have like oats. And I put chia seeds in some slivered almonds, maybe some berries or some other dried fruit, some honey. And I usually use some water when I do that and I either soak it overnight or I heat it up. I do prefer it hot and just making sure that your brain is nourished and fed is the best thing you could do. Some people might argue that caffeine helps them get their brain going in the morning, but it's entirely up to you. As long as you're eating, recognize that the brain takes up more calories or utilizes more calories than any other organ in the body.

Tara Collingwood, MS, RDN, CSSD · Answer

Certain types of breakfast foods actually improve brain function and productivity in the morning, absolutely. So breakfast, of course, is going to fuel your brain and carbohydrates are your body's preferred source of energy, preferred source of glucose for the brain. So carbohydrates are going to be my number one choice and those are very easy to find in breakfast foods from cereals to toast and bagels to waffles to oatmeal, you know, lots of different things that you can do for carbohydrates in the morning and of course fruit. So those are all things that you can do but you don't want to just do too much high carb. You want a little bit of protein in there to give you some lasting energy as well. So having, you know, maybe some eggs, some dairy, whether it's milk or some Greek yogurt, maybe doing some whey protein in a protein shake smoothie, those kinds of things. So yeah, we know that when you eat that our brain gets fed and that's going to help you with that brain function and that productivity really all of the morning to help you with being able to focus a lot better.

Elizabeth McNear,MS,RD,CSSD · Answer

Can certain types of breakfast foods actually improve brain function and productivity in the morning? Yes, I'm gonna say most breakfast foods. If you are eating breakfast, you are giving your brain fuel that it needs to function and help with productivity. So eating breakfast in general, I think first and foremost, is the most important thing regardless of what it is. If we start getting into the weeds on different types of breakfast foods, I would say a well-rounded breakfast is going to be the best type of meal to have. When I say well-rounded, I mean some type of protein, some type of carbohydrate, and some type of color. So a fruit or a vegetable to go with that. The reason this will be helpful is because if all we have is, let's say, donuts for breakfast, we're getting a lot of carbohydrates but we're not really getting any protein and we're not getting any color, which means we're also not getting fiber. That donut's gonna break down really quickly, give us an energy spike, and then sometimes we can get an energy crash on the other end of that. If instead we have this complete breakfast, the fiber and the protein is gonna help with slowing down the digestive process. We won't have as much of a glycemic response and so we won't have that same spike and crash. But really, the sky's the limits for breakfast foods. If you like chicken and rice or steak with broccoli and potato for breakfast, that is just as acceptable as eggs and toast. So just eat breakfast. Thanks!

Vandana Sheth, RDN, CDCES, FAND · Answer

Can. Certain types of breakfast foods actually improve brain function and productivity in the morning. Yes, there are definitely foods that can have a positive impact on brain health and productivity and focus a few foods to consider would be foods like berries, enjoy a bowl of berries with your breakfast or throw them in your smoothie or add them on top of your bowl of cereal. Because berries specifically blueberries have been looked at in studies to show an improvement in focus and attention. The second food to consider adding would be flax seeds, ground flax seeds or chia seeds, both have omega three fats and some fiber, some protein and those can help with brain health. Third one would be eggs and fourth would be salmon and fifth would be leafy greens.

Lisa Spencer, EdD, FNTP · Answer

Can certain types of breakfast foods actually improve brain function and productivity in the morning? Absolutely. So let's first talk about what not to do. So your high sugar, high carbohydrate bowl of cereal with milk is not going to help your productivity in any way. It's going to give you a surge of energy and then a huge drop-off and that's not what your brain wants. What will help are making sure we get some protein, some vegetables, some antioxidants in our vegetables, our colorful foods, our fruits and maybe some omega-3s in there too. So those are all supportive of improving our brain functioning and thus productivity in the morning. Also that non-jittery, pretty stable energy. So just one shot of espresso or four shots of espresso giving that spike of energy and drop is not going to help either. I like to recommend a breakfast of say a bed of kale or spinach, add some eggs on top, sprinkle with maybe a little bit of cheese and nutritional yeast. Have that with a side of a little bit of sweet potato and berries and we have our perfect productivity morning meal. Try it, let me know.

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"Can certain types of breakfast foods actually improve brain function and productivity in the morning?"