We’ve all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but that’s only if you do it the right way. Filling up on high sugar cereals and white toast will leave you crashing and hungry soon after you’ve eaten. Healthy high protein breakfasts, on the other hand, will give you the energy and brain power to kickstart your morning and help keep you full until lunch. Check out our favourite breakfasts with 30 grams of protein to start your day off right!
7 Benefits of Eating Breakfast
- Regulates your blood sugar
- Gives you energy
- Helps control your weight
- Boosts your brain power and memory
- Improves your heart health
- Helps fight headaches and migraines
- Improves your mood
5 Reasons to Eat Protein with Every Meal
1. Reduces Appetite and Hunger Levels
Protein is super filling, helping you feel more full with less food. Protein reduces your levels of ghrelin, the hunger hormone and boosts your levels of peptide YY, which makes you feel full. Eating more protein can help you consume less calories without actually restricting anything from your diet.
2. Boosts Muscle Mass and Strength
You may have heard this before, but protein is the building block of your muscles. Eating adequate amounts of protein helps you maintain your muscle mass and promotes muscle growth when you do strength training. If you’re physically active and trying to gain muscle, you need to be eating lots of protein. High protein intake can also help prevent muscle loss when you’re trying to lose weight.
3. Gives You Energy
If you feel tired during the day, it could be a sign you’re not getting enough protein in your diet. Protein provides the body with fuel to repair and build tissues. It helps slow the digestion and absorption of carbs, so you’ll feel more energized and alert after a meal. Since it takes longer than carbs to break down in the body, protein provides a longer lasting energy source.
4. Balances Your Hormones
Eating protein provides your body with amino acids that are used to produce specific hormones like estrogen, insulin and thyroid hormone. In fact, low protein diets have been linked with low growth hormone, low estrogen, lack of ovulation and compromised thyroid function. A high-protein breakfast can help regulate estrogen levels, and boost other chemical messengers that regulate energy, metabolism and menstrual cycles.
5. Boosts Metabolism
High protein intake has been shown to boost your metabolism and increase the number of calories you burn throughout the day. Foods high in sugar like pastries and white pasta have a relatively low thermic effect, which means it doesn’t take much energy for your body to process them. Because of this, your body holds onto those calories and stores them as fat instead of burning them. Since protein has a higher thermic effect, your body has to work harder to digest, break down and store it, which boosts your metabolism.
3 Simple Ways to Eat More Protein
1. Eat Eggs for Breakfast
Many breakfast foods are low in protein, including cereal, toast and bagels. Eggs are one of the best quality protein sources out there, and they make for a great breakfast food. Whether you like them scrambled, hard boiled or fried, eggs keep you full and fill you with other nutrients like selenium and choline.
2. Top with Chia Seeds
Chia seeds are an awesome source of plant protein and can be easily tossed on everything from yogurt to oatmeal, salads, smoothies, stir-frys and pancakes. They’re great to add to foods that are low in protein to give them a quality protein boost!
3. Eat High Protein Snacks
When you feel pangs of hunger coming on, make sure the snacks you reach for are high in protein. Being prepared makes all the difference, so prep these snacks ahead of time. Edamame is an excellent source of plant protein and can be bought fresh or frozen, nut butter can be used to dip apples and pears, and cottage cheese is also super high in protein and can be eaten on its own or topped with nuts, seeds, fruits or cinnamon.
6 Breakfasts with 30 Grams of Protein
1. Avocado Toast with Roasted Turkey and Egg
Avocado toast is a breakfast staple and both turkey and egg turn up the protein content. 2 ounces of roasted turkey breast is 17 grams of protein and two eggs come in at 6 grams of protein each. A medium avocado is about 3 grams of protein, which brings you to 32 grams of protein in total.
2. Paleo Sweet Potato Hash with Bacon | Bulletproof
This sweet potato hash is perfect for your next weekend brunch and comes in at 29.4 grams of protein per serving. With pastured bacon, Brussels sprouts, eggs and fresh herbs, this delicious healthy breakfast only takes 30 minutes to whip up!
3. Breakfast Tofu Scramble
If you’re vegan or not in the mood for eggs, a tofu breakfast scramble is a great option. 1 ½ cups of cooked tofu can provide 30 grams of protein and is also a good source of healthy fat. Since tofu is made from soybeans, it’s considered a complete protein even though it’s from plants. Add in your favourite breakfast scramble ingredients, such as kale, mushrooms, breakfast potatoes, bell peppers, or spinach.
4. Cottage Cheese with Chopped Walnuts and Berries
Cottage cheese is an excellent breakfast food as it has high protein content. One cup of 2% cottage cheese will give you 30 grams of protein, so as long as you can tolerate dairy, it’s a great way to get your morning protein boost. Top it with walnuts and berries for some extra protein and nutrients!
5. Dill Salmon Scramble | Fit Foodie Finds
Salmon is an incredible source of protein, as are eggs, so this breakfast scramble offers a double whammy. If you have leftover salmon from dinner the night before, this is the perfect way to reuse it. It’s ideal for anyone who likes savoury breakfasts, and you only need a few ingredients to make it. Coming in at 31 grams of protein, it’s a great way to start your day.
6. Greek Yogurt Protein Bowl with Peanut Butter
One cup of Greek yogurt has about 13 grams of protein. Use this for the base of your bowl, then add organic peanut butter (1 tablespoon has 4 grams of protein) and one scoop of plant based protein powder (22 grams of protein). Add your favourite toppings such as granola, berries, shredded coconut or cocoa nibs for a delicious and healthy breakfast that will fill you right up with almost 40 grams of protein.
If you’ve been looking to add more protein to your breakfasts, we hope you love these tips and recipes!
This post contains affiliate links.
Did you enjoy this round up of breakfasts with 30 grams of protein? We’d love it if you shared this post on Pinterest!
Looking for more healthy recipes? Make sure to follow our Food Board on Pinterest!
