How to build a healthy, VSG-friendly breakfast

For many it’s easy to skip breakfast because the morning is just too busy, however after a sleeve gastrectomy it’s extremely important to eat three good quality meals a day, including breakfast. But… it doesn’t have to be complicated! Here’s how to build a healthy, quick and easy VSG-friendly breakfast.

Why breakfast?

Skipping breakfast might have the short term benefit of allowing you to sleep in longer and get to work on time but this makes you miss a key opportunity to get some nutrients in and it makes it really difficult for you to meet your nutrient requirements in the long term. It can also mean that later on we get the dreaded snack attack, and it makes it more difficult to make good choices because you are starving and have reached the point of no return essentially. 

Having breakfast is one thing but it’s also important to have a good quality breakfast that will see you through until lunch.

Choosing a good breakfast…

Build you breakfast from the following:

1. Protein which includes low fat dairy products, chicken, turkey, fish, tofu, beans, nuts & eggs. A serve is half the size of the palm of your hand or ½ cup.
2. Veggies or Fruit. Any fruit or veg will do the trick and including them will provide fibre that will keep you feeling fuller for longer. A bariatric serve of fruit would be 1 small piece of fruit such as an apricot or plum, ½ cup of berries, or ½ medium piece of fruit such as an orange, banana or apple and if you’re having veg, a serve is ½ cup.
3. Go for unprocessed if you can. You’re much less likely to take on extra calories, saturated fat, sugar and salt that are often hiding in processed foods.
4. Optional: carbohydrates. If you would like, some people feel better if they do include a high fibre carbohydrate at breakfast. This could be a weetbix, oats, half a piece of bread or a mini wholemeal wrap. 

A combination of these things will make sure you feel satisfied and fueled until your next meal. 

Great bariatric breakfast ideas:

• Rolled oats (or untoasted muesli), frozen berries, a spoon of LSA and Greek yoghurt made the night before and left in the fridge
• A mountain bread wrap with a handful of baby spinach, avocado, a slice of cheese and a hard-boiled egg (boil a whole batch of eggs at the beginning of the week so you can grab and go!).
• A mini savoury muffin with vegies of your choice, a little bacon or ham and egg baked in a muffin tin (these freeze well!)
• 2-4 Vita-Weats or Ryvitas or a piece of toast with cream cheese, hummus, or nut butter and a small tub of yoghurt or glass of milk/coffee.
• A smoothie made with your choice of fruit +/- veg. Just make sure you include milk of your choice for protein and calcium

And don’t forget

Make life easier by being prepared – most of these options can be prepped the night before or thrown together at the last minute, but you need to make sure you have the ingredients on hand, so regular shopping is a must.