Good morning all - I am newly diagnosed T1 and am struggling to come up with good breakfast ideas. What are some of your favorites/standards? Thanks for sharing!
Vegetable frittata, whey protein pancakes, flax seed waffles, strawberries with toasted nuts (nutola:-) and whole milk yogurt or sour cream, blueberry smoothie made with unsweetened almond milk (3g carbs per cup) A great source for low carb breakfast recipe ideas is http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/menus/a/breakfastmenus.htm
This is my standard breakfast. I have it every morning because it’s predictable - 15 grams of carbs - and I find that ‘as goes the morning BG, so goes the day’s BG.’ Well, usually. There is some variation allowed:
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Two egg cheese omelette - using Egg Beaters or generic subsitute usually, but there’s nothing wrong with real eggs.
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Three to four slices of bacon.
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1/2 cup of fruit or one (1) slice of whole grain bread.
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coffee with skim milk or just skim milk.
Substitutions:
a. Add some veggies to the omelette and skip No. 3.
b. Slather the toast with peanut butter and skip No. 2.
Good eating!
Terry
I eat a higher carb breakfast (high being about 45 grams of carb), but I eat an egg about 10 minutes beforehand and this keeps me from spiking afterwards. Eating a bunch of nuts instead of the egg works for me too.
Laura,
I noticed that I also tolerate a few more carbs sometimes if I eat an egg (or 2 or 3). I always eat my eggs first. Most of the time I will be normal about two hours later even if I sneak a single pancake with Cary’s Sugar Free Syrup. I will have to try the nuts technique.
Does anyone else notice this?
My 11 year old niece is not a big breakfast eater. Weekdays, one slice of raisin toast, Go-gurt, half cup milk. If she has time to eat more I throw in a half of banana or 3 ounces of grapes. Other days half english muffin, cheese stick and milk. Weekends, eggs, toast and milk. We found a 16 gram Sugar Free oatmeal, made in flavored packets, from A&P. That did not spike her. I have seen low fat frozen breakfast sandwiches, with eggs, turkey sausage, or breakfast burritos, the low fat kind would be good. Or you could make your own Egg McMuffin with egg, english muffin and ham or even bacon. I think it is very wise to avoid cereal. I have never found a cereal that doesn’t raise her BS sky high, into the high 300s or 400. You may differ. But observe how you react to cereal in the morning. Pancakes… She doesn’t like them, fortunately. I would use French Toast with low carb syrup in lieu of pancakes. Again, you may differ. Good luck.
Omelettes are a good choice. Caramelize some onions, throw in some meat & cheese. You get lots of flavor and lots of protein, so you can have a small dose of carbs in the form of toast or hash browns/home fries. The protein should keep your BG from spiking.
I’ve got recipes that are a little long to post here, so I’ll post links instead. Everything I cook finds its way into my journal.
Sweet & Smoky Omelettes w/ Smoked Kielbasa (with a picture here.)
Crispy Roasted Potatoes is a good, easy oven recipe for making home fries. Red potatoes are less starchy than others, so if you’re going to have spuds that’s your best bet. (Scroll down. It starts with a tilapia recipe.)
These all sound great. I will try one out today - thanks!
Sometimes its whole grain cereal of some sort or another with skim milk, fruit (sliced banana, strawberries, blueberries). Or I’ll have a couple of pieces of whole grain toast with a bit of olive oil margarine and some swiss cheese and maybe a small yogurt. During the summer I enjoy a plate of fresh sliced fruits, some toast and maybe some cottage cheese. During the winter, I’ll often have crock pot oatmeal (big family favorite!) mixed with some yogurt.
Recipe:
- One cup Steel-cut oats (or Irish oats). These are not like old fashioned or rolled oats.
- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup half & half cream/milk
- 1 cup dried fruit. Sometimes I use chopped dried apricots or raisins and dried cranberries
- A shake or two of cinnamon
Spray your crockpot with Pam or other spray cooking oil. Add ingredients. Turn on “low” overnight, or for eight hours.
In the morning, give it a good stir and serve.
I put some peanut butter in my oatmeal to help slow it down. It is a monster breakfast (1/2 cup oats, 1 banana, peanut butter, and milk) that I only eat right after a big workout. I also bolus 30-60 minutes in advance depending on where my BG is when I bolus. I’ve also found that it works best when I have a high basal rate going beforehand, regardless of the amount of bolus. This does not make a lot of sense to me. (Why wouldn’t just taking a bigger bolus do the same thing?)
I literally eat nuts for breakfast. It’s rather gross, really… I have 4 tablespoons sunflower seeds, 2 tablespoons almonds, and 2 tablespoons walnuts. All of this amounts to about 8 carbs. I don’t spike, and I don’t have hypoglycemia before lunch.
I also make a chocolate drink using 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (1 carb), an egg, a pinch of salt, ginger powder, cinnamon powder, and a splash of milk. You whip together everything in a cup and then pour boiling water into it while stirring. The egg cooks and you get a low-carb, creamy, chocolaty drink! It’s not sweet, but I like it. Another good food to help prevent spiking.
Eggs, Eggs, Eggs. Mornings are very hectic in my house- we never seem to get up on time! Every 2-3 days I hard boil a dozen eggs, cool them and through them in the fridge. That way I can grab a couple on the way out the door in the am. I don’t like the yokes all that much so the little yellow buggers sometimes get pitched out the window.
Having boiled eggs on hand is great- I can make deviled eggs at a moments notice or egg salad, eggs for the top of my salad and the list goes on.
I use egg white omelets. One site I found said egg whites are 16 calories and 0 carbs per egg. I usually mix in the left-overs from dinner, whether it is chicken, mushrooms, any kind of fish, vegetables, salad, a little bit of cheese, a diced apple to make sure I get some carbs for breakfast.
Also, oatmeal is good, too. I like steel cut. I eat it cold – it sticks together and kind of feels like I am having an oatmeal cookie or biscuit.
I’ve been eating bagel thins by Thomas’ and peanut butter, coffee and skim milk.
T2 here on low carb
Breakfast omelet: 2 eggs with sliced bell pepper, onions, mushrooms, and shredded chicken breast (or turkey)
(My regular weekday breakfast is a cappuchino, heuvos mexicanas - eggs scrambled with chiles, tomatoes and onions and either one slice of good artisan bread (total 28 carbs) or the eggs with 1/2 C of refried black beans which I make for the week. (total 23) On weekends I have either an omelette with home fries (about 3/4 of a medium potato) and cappuchino of course or my favorite weekend brunch is vegetarian eggs benedict: two over easy eggs with hollandaise sauce, asparagus, tomato, parsley on top, on an Orowheat double fiber english muffin - total 32 carbs. Yum!
Dingbat story of the week: I was actually cooking some white asparagus to make this recipe tomorrow morning. I had been smelling something odd for awhile but thought it had something to do with the gardeners outside-the smell was pleasant at first but then smelling burnt. Then I typed this post and remembered the asparagus and rescued the burnt pot…sigh. Tu diabetes does that to me (good excuse)
Yum.
I also have whole wheat Sandwich Thins toasted with peanut butter in the morning.
I like sandwiches in the morning. They make an easy on-the-go meal.
Here’s some other sandwiches that I eat for breakfast
– egg salad
– veggie Canadian bacon with a slice of cheese
– hummus
Cheers,
Corinna
I LOVE Hummus for breakfast!!! A great protein!
Breakfast Spring Rolls…
http://www.type1diabetesdelicioso.com/2010/10/benefits-of-portable-breakfast.html
T1 here, and I eat 1/3 c oats (dry) every day for breakfast. My nutritionist says it is horrible, but I take my insulin at the same time and it only raises me about 60 points. She told me to add almond slivers which is pretty good, but too much volume for my tummy. = )
IF YOU EAT OATMEAL, IT HAS TO BE STEEL CUT, ROLLED OATS, OR OLD FASHIONED OATS!!!
The others are just like eating toast…not as filling and your bg will rise much faster.