Introduction

• I decided to make a more interesting New Years Resolution in 2016, in addition to the standard aim to go to the gym more, I wanted to do something a little different. What did I choose? To eat a ketogenic breakfast every work day of the week.
• I’m sure two questions have immediately popped into your mind, (1) What is a ketogenic breakfast? (2) Why choose a ketogenic breakfast? Let me take each in turn. At a fundamental level ketones are a form of energy, similar to glycogen but with one important difference, ketones form when the human body uses fat instead of glycose as an energy source. Therefore, a ketogenic breakfast is a meal that restricts glycose, i.e. carbohydrates. Ketogenic breakfasts are predominantly made up of fat and protein, and often vegetables are added as well.
• The ketogenic diet is by definition a low-carb, moderate protein, high fat diet that often needs to be very low carb to do its job of burning fat for energy and creating ketones.
• So why? Glycose is very easily converted to energy and burnt by the human body. I used to frequently feel hungry only 2-3hours after breakfast, a long time before lunch. I was also finding that my energy levels dipped very quickly and I was having to drink more coffee to maintain energy levels and productivity. My choice had nothing to do with wanting to lose weight or being diabetic, although traditionally it is these groups who turn to a ketogenic diet and can see very good results. The ketogenic diet can also be used to treat medical conditions such as uncontrolled seizures in children, and there is increasing interest in the use of ketosis for neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.
• Now I’ve defined the key concepts and highlighted my reasoning I’m going to use the remainder of this blog to give you more detail on what exactly and why exactly I’ve chosen the ketogenic breakfast. I’ll highlight the key benefits and also the possible negatives. I’ll also highlight some key materials which helped me understand more about the ketogenic diet if you’re interested in finding out more information.
• It is important to highlight that I do not live by a ketogenic diet. While I do my best to avoid ‘simple’ carbohydrates I do eat more than 100g of ‘complex’ carbohydrates a day. Breakfast is the only ketogenic meal I eat regularly, but I do find it makes a big difference.

Ketones Vs Glycose

• For almost my entire life (25 years) I’ve eaten wheat based cereals for breakfast, once I’d grown out of Coco-Pops and Sugar Puffs (now called Honey Monster Puffs….how was a child’s breakfast cereal ever allowed to be called sugar puffs?!) I’d regularly switch between muesli and Weetabix. For years I lived in my isolated world thinking I had a really healthy breakfast.
• It wasn’t until September or October 2015 that I started to realise just how hungry I was in by mid-morning, running to the daily office fruit box by 10.30am just to keep me going.
• When I started to do a little research it all became clear, I was burning through the ‘simple’ carbohydrates in my breakfast and getting hungry soon after. Glycose wasn’t keeping me going for long enough. Ketones, unlike glycose, are slow burning energy source keeping you fuller for longer and at a more consistent level. Once simple carbohydrates get into the human body they are broken down into sugar which as everyone knows it’s a sustainable food source. We’ve all experienced sugar highs followed by the terrible sugar lows. I had no idea this is what my ‘healthy’ cereals really were. I needed to get off them ASAP, but what to move onto?
• Before I answer that I just want to cover over something many people get confused by; ketogenic Vs paleo. While both ketogenic and paleo diets are generally low carb, the ketogenic diet requires rigid adherence to a macronutrient profile that will get you into ketosis (below 100g a day). The paleo diet keeps blood sugar controlled and creates fat adaptation, but doesn’t necessarily induce ketosis.

My Keto Breakfast

• Moving away from a carbohydrate breakfast is not at all easy, especially when you work a 10hour a day job which often involves travelling and being in hotels. The hardest thing I found when searching for recipes was how much time they took. I did a lot of research and found that eggs played a large role in keto breakfasts which I don’t have time to make on a daily basis, therefore I had to be a little more inventive. Getting around the hotel thing is a lot easier, I tend to order a 3 or 4 egg omelette with ham, cheese, peppers and spinach in. Alternatively I have scrambled eggs and smoked salmon or – because I spend a lot of time in Scotland – an Arbroath Smokie (smoked kipper) and poached egg. I am also definitely a routine person so wanted to eat a dish that I could eat everyday and not be bored of after a couple of weeks. After much research I settled on 2 recipes:
• (1) Tim Ferriss – The 3-Minute “Slow-Carb” Breakfast
  • Ingredients; egg whites (2-3 eggs), flax seed oil, mild salsa, lemon juice, frozen chopped spinach, butter
  • Method; (a) Add spinach to microwaveable container and put in microwave for 2mins (stop after 1 min to break up spinach ‘bulbs’ (b) warn butter in a small frying pan and egg whites, salt & pepper (c) Add oil and lemon juice to spinach (d) Add egg whites to spinach container (e) All salsa on top and mix.
  • My Twist; If you watch Tim talk through the recipe and method (you can do so here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd-7a_wdVZk) you’ll see he does some things differently. The main one being the cooking of the egg whites. I tried cooking in the container however I found it stank my flat out and made them all rubbery and not very nice, therefore I opted for the frying pan. I also prefer fresh lemon to the bottled stuff Tim uses.

• (2) Blueberry & Lemon Muffins
  • Ingredients; 200g almond flour, 240ml double cream, 2 eggs, 30g melted butter, 3tsp stevia, ½ tsp lemon extract, ½ lemon zest, ¼ tsp salt, 120g blueberries
  • Method: (a) Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees celsius, place cupcake papers onto baking trays – makes 14 (b) Mix almond flour & double cream in large mixing bowl (c) Add eggs one as a time, stir until mixed (d) Add butter, stevia, baking soda, lemon extract, salt & lemon zest (e) Spoon mixture into cupcake papers until ½ full (f) bake for 20minutes until golden brown. Server with butter
  • My Twist: I can’t remember where I got the exact recipe from, but my twist uses cupcake papers not muffin cases. I have 2x cupcakes per serving with a good knob of butter. I freeze the cupcakes after making them and then take them out 12hrs before I eat then and place them in the fridge.

• I rotate between the two each morning, therefore week 1 I’ll have the egg whites 3 times and muffin twice, week 2 I have the reverse.
• On the weekend I tend to eat brunch rather than breakfast and then either have toasted muffins with scrambled eggs, grilled tomatoes and rocket or toasted muffins with crushed avocado, grilled tomatoes and rocket. This obviously isn’t low carb or keto but it’s the weekend so I’m more forgiving to myself.

Benefits of Keto Breakfast

• I’ve touched upon some of the benefits already but want to spend more time on them here, key benefits are;
• I am definitely fuller for longer, no more munchies at 10.30am
• I have more sustained energy levels, I don’t need any coffee to get me through to lunch. In fact I have almost completely cut coffee out, I currently average one to two cups a week.
• I have seen no increase in body fat. I was worried increasing my fat intake – especially with the muffins/cupcakes would increase my body fat – but if anything it has reduced it, I have stayed consistently between 7-9% body fat following the switch.
• Negligible increased preparation time. I think the egg whites and spinach takes 2 more minutes to make than my old cereal breakfast and I cook the cupcakes on the weekend so they are quicker than cereal in the morning.
• I am definitely no doctor, these are just the positive results I’ve encountered, if you have any concerns about switching to a ketogenic breakfast please do consult an expert first.

Potential Drawbacks 

• To be very honest the only drawback I’ve got to mention is the increased cost vs my old carb based breakfast. The 3x Weetabix plus skimmed milk I used to have cost maybe 30 pence a serving, both the breakfasts I’ve switched to cost more than that. The biggest expenditure is the almond flour, in the UK it costs £5.00 per 250g, a lot more than Weetabix. Egg whites were not as much as I was expecting, I get 16 servings of egg whites (500g) for £2.99 from Bulk Powders http://www.bulkpowders.co.uk/liquid-egg-whites.html, who almost always have a 15-30% discount running.

Resources to Use 

• If you’d like to find out more information about ketogenic diet I’d suggest looking up Peter Attia (http://eatingacademy.com/) & Dom D’Agostino (http://www.ketonutrition.org/). Both are doctors who have a lot more understanding and knowledge than me and have almost single handily taught me everything I know about keto foods and diets.

Conclusion 

• The aim of this piece has been to highlight the reasons why I switched to a keto breakfast, the benefits I’ve seen as a result of it and outline a starting blue print for you to follow if you wish to. More than this I wanted to open up the conversation on using the ketogenic diet in a ‘part-time’ capacity to help individuals achieve certain goals without having to permanently change all eating habits to what is a very strict diet. I also think the potential ‘yet-to-be-confirmed’ benefits which are currently being associated with the ketogenic diet are really interesting, from tackling cancer to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.

 

Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stone-soup/6165444492/in/photolist-aoPvR7-nfTCRN-86NpDf-dYCVXN-3jCyHr-5Lzr32-LGuG1-4ZhiwT-9oWr8-dGR7x1-7sriMy-otKEbx-dNBKEZ-9RCoVM-bzUsL8-5S2gW7-9LtUpd-byh22k-iYQMnR-auibfo-e6AyTb-iYTfKm-7Aqi85-6FyGvz-aufuQH-6A8Lyw-aa9HSL-ooR1Xt-7GbY7D-7Y6pph-7D8pEr-9Bcch3-BpZz-iPRbd-cv54Dq-4Ap7i7-JMo5c-iYTdzj-6RRcbJ-92aGf9-6TEifX-6SrcDs-8aQWps-8sYH1r-eZZpz4-8LHaZT-gBDZse-iDJEbT-7g724x-bNqdbH