What Should I Eat for Breakfast on a Get Lean Program?
You should aim to eat complex carbohydrates with fruit, nuts, and dried fruit on a get lean program. Oatmeal, dense breads, and other filling grains are great to pair with banana, apple, walnuts, brazil nuts, pecans, dates, figs, and raisins. You want your breakfast to be light, but carb dense so it powers you through your early morning hours.
Take Your Get Lean Breakfast to the Next Level
Mission Lean’s co-founder, Jon, has recently gotten to the next level of lean breakfast-eating. How do I know this? Because the other day I looked over and he was eating brown rice with banana at 7:00am!
While I have also dabbled in the rice for breakfast game, it was purely out of necessity — when I found myself in a rush, and
forced to eat leftovers from the night before. While this may work every once in a while, eating rice for breakfast on the regular probably won’t strike your fancy (or even mine, for that matter!). But will I rule it out completely for the future? Probably not. Jon has been doing it and it seems to be working wonders for him.
Breakfast Options for a Get Lean Program
For those of you who are on the initial stages of your health and fitness journey, you may have just moved up the ladder from eating cereal to oatmeal. And that’s a positive step because Jon and I still eat oatmeal often. It tastes great in the morning and it’s easy to prepare (we prepare ours on the stovetop — which is much healthier than quicker options that can be heated up in the microwave).
Healthy breakfast of organic steel-cut oatmeal and berries to get lean and fit.
Breakfast should be the simplest meal of the day. When working out, I actually break it up into two parts so that I don’t overeat before my training. Basically, I take my regular portion and eat a small bit of it before heading out for my run, and then leave the rest for when I return. That way my body still gets the nutrients it needs but I don’t feel heavy while I’m working out.
On my off days, however, I enjoy a nice leisurely breakfast. Typically, I cook a pot of steel cut oats, as mentioned earlier. I pour a nice serving in a bowl and enjoy it with a fresh (or sometimes even frozen!) banana — and maybe even add some other fruit or nuts. Lately, Jon and I have been cooking dates and bananas right into the oatmeal to make it sweeter and more flavorful. The leftovers of this concoction can be eaten after lunch or dinner as a really enjoyable dessert. Think oatmeal raisin cookie… only the healthy version.
Alternative Breakfast Options for Your Get Lean Program
When I know that I won’t have much time in the morning, I toast a piece of bread (rye bread preferably — Mestemacher is a great brand) and spread avocado on top. I’ll pair that with a piece of fruit and some nuts. Another breakfast treat I make is toast with dried dates, which I spread on like jam (be sure to remove the pit!). What I’ve done is taken the classic breakfast toast serving and made it far healthier: avocado in place of butter, and dried fruit in place of jam. This has been an added bonus on my own get lean program because there are no added sugars, colorings, or preservatives in these toppings (and of course there are no pesticides either, because the food is organic).
The Mission Lean Program avoids caffeine since it can cause you to crash later in the day, or even during your workout — hence detracting from your ability to sustain a high level of athletic performance. If you must get your daily fix, make a cup of chai tea instead of coffee (Organic India and Tazo are my favorite brands for this.) I actually used to drink coffee regularly but have quit over the last two years — and if you’re looking to do the same, be sure to stay tuned because I will share how I did this in a future post!
Be a champion and start to take your breakfast to the next level. Get a lean body app that can track your meals and workouts if you haven’t already. Mission Lean is a great option, so download and start your free trial today!
Jon Pearlman is a former standout tennis player at Harvard, ATP-ranked touring pro, and author of The Lean Body Manual. He founded Mission Lean to share his unique formula for lean body fitness and nutrition, an approach that took over a decade to develop and perfect. He is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and Fitness Nutrition Specialist.
