Eating Energy for Breakfast

Who Am I?

I hate that question. Have you ever been on a first date, and had the guy say, “Tell me more about you.” To which I always reply, “What would you like to know?” Then he stares back, blank faced with puppy eyes and says, “Everything. What would you like to tell me?”

How are you supposed to answer that? Let me cram my whole life’s story into a 30 second sound bite. It doesn’t work. I need a topic to focus on, not some vague cloud from which I’m supposed to shower him with brief anecdotes explaining little snippets of my life. So with my first blog post on The Juice Box Diaries, I’m not going to give my family history or talk about everything that’s happened to bring me to this point. Instead, I’m going to jump right into it.

Eating a Balanced Breakfast

For me, eating breakfast isn’t only about getting some food in my stomach because it’s considered healthy to eat breakfast. It’s about finding a balance between different facets of my life each and every morning. I consider taste, carbohydrates, blood sugar, health, energy, and calories in choosing how I want to start my day.

Since Wednesdays I usually go to a 9:30 Turbo Kick class, I needed more calories at breakfast this morning to get me through the workout. It’s a high intensity, high impact class and I burn through my energy super quickly. Thus, my first task in balancing my breakfast was eating enough calories to give me energy but yet not too many so as to preemptively counteract those I’d burn in the workout.

My second consideration in choosing my morning meal was the diabetes factor. I woke up a little on the high side today at 153 (ideal for me in the a.m. is usually between 90 and 120). Since most breakfast foods cause my blood sugar to skyrocket because of the high carbohydrates, I didn’t want to pack too many carbs into the meal. However, I also knew that Turbo Kick causes my blood sugar to plummet, a small dilemma.

Through trial and error yesterday, I discovered that eating an entire vegan blueberry muffin from Trader Joes sent my blood sugar soaring into the 300′s even with giving myself insulin to cover the carbs. So today, I opted for only half a muffin. However, I knew that half a muffin wasn’t nearly enough food to get me through Turbo and I didn’t mind a slight spike in my glucose levels to prevent hypoglycemia during the class. So I also opted to add some fruit to the menu, a banana and strawberries to be exact.

Now, if you continue to follow my blog (oh please do!) you will soon learn that I don’t eat any foods I don’t absolutely love. I think every meal should be a gourmet treat. I jazzed up my boring fruit with some cinnamon and PB2 peanut butter. PB2 is a powdered peanut butter that you mix with water to make creamy. Basically, the oils are squeezed out of the peanuts, making the end result only 45 calories per serving. I’d say that’s much better than 200!

How Did It All Pan Out?

Starting at 153 this morning, I did spike a bit from the carbs in the muffin and fruit. Right before Turbo, my continuous glucose monitor (CGM) showed me at about 261, which I think is quite high. I could even taste the excess sugar hanging out in the back of my throat. Yuck!

However, as soon as I got home from the class, I consulted my CGM once more to find a very comfortable 114 displayed on the screen. And by the time lunch rolled around, my blood sugar was sitting nicely in the 80′s. I’d say I was quite successful in today’s balancing act. I rewarded myself with a yummy lunch of a veggie burger on Ezekiel sprouted bread with spinach and mustard. I added some vegan cheddar crackers on the side and grabbed a handful of chocolate chips for dessert.

My Favorite Song of the Day…

Believe it or not, I do have other interests besides veganism, fitness, and managing diabetes. One of which, is music. Here’s my favorite song of the day for you to check out!