BE BETTER: Doing Breakfast Right

At BRUCE BOLT, we want to give our players every advantage to be BE BETTER. We're fortunate to work with almost 100 professional baseball players and the one common theme we hear is how important NUTRITION is in order to compete at the highest levels of the game.  

So with that in mind we reached out to Margaret Conners, Nutrition Specialist/Consultant to provide a NUTRITION HACK to make BRUCE BOLT players perform better. So here we go....

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HOW TO DO BREAKFAST RIGHT

MORNING AT HOME:

1. RISE AND HYDRATE: Right when you wake up and even before getting out of bed, drink a large glass of water (16-20 fl oz) so that it is absorbed before breakfast.

2. WHAT TO EAT: Breakfast needs to be built around a protein source and a side of carbs. Here is a list of simple breakfast foods that work:

• 7 grain toast 
• muffin
• fruit

Believe it or not, dinner leftovers are a great option because they usually contain protein and carbs and it saves time in the morning - so you’ll have an extra minute to find that second uniform sock that’s mysteriously disappeared overnight.

TAKE YOUR TIME: Take your time eating your breakfast. Do not inhale your food.

STOP EATING: Stop eating when you feel you’ve had enough. More isn’t always better.

SIP DON"T CHUG: It is best to sip water during your meal to wash your food down and then keep sipping even in the car ride to the game.

DON'T CRASH - FOODS TO AVOID: Here are the breakfast foods to avoid.  These are the foods that make players "crash".

• waffles
• pancakes
• donuts
• cinnamon rolls
• most cereals
• "white/wheat" bread toast
• store bought smoothies.

Your athlete will be crashing and hungry in about an hour when they eat these foods (you can actually do this experiment and watch it happen). 

Your athlete may not be aware when they’re "crashing". Typical signs of crashing are poor decision making, low energy, low speed, slow response, bad mood, high anxiety, lack of focus, hunger or sugar cravings. 

WHAT IF YOU CAN'T STOMACH BREAKFAST: Some kids cannot eat/stomach food early in the morning and will need to wait until later. That’s okay. The trick here is to make sure they have enough options on hand for when they do get hungry. If they can sip a protein drink (recommended brands will be shared in a follow-up blog) that’s better than nothing but a meal is preferable. 

Margaret Connor, MPH is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, Functional Nutrition Counselor and Certified Holistic Health Coach. 

To learn more about nutrition & kids or work with Margaret one-on-one, go to MargaretConnor.com or follow her on Instagram at @margalicious_nutrition