Keto breakfast.
While some individuals are avid lovers of breakfast food, many people following a keto diet choose to skip breakfast entirely due to their intermittent fasting schedule.
If you are one of those breakfast lovers who consider this meal an essential part of your day, having a good variety of options is important.
In this article you’ll learn about:
- Tracking your keto macronutrients
- Why a high fat breakfast is important
- The best keto foods to eat for breakfast
- The benefits of bulletproof coffee
Tracking Your Macros
When you’re first considering what to eat for breakfast, it’s important to take your daily calorie count into consideration.
Sure, it’s a great start to cut out carbs and add in more healthy fats, but too much fat (and calories for that matter) can still cause weight gain.
The last thing you want to do is gain weight when you start a new diet…
No thank you!
If you need guidance finding your keto macro goals, you can use a keto macro calculator to help you out.
One of the first mistakes people make when just starting out on keto is the lack of tracking their macronutrients. You have to make sure you’re not overeating.
When figuring out your macros, it’s important to start off with the general keto rule of:
{75 percent fat: 20 percent protein: five percent carbs}
After you’re able to get a better feel of your body in a ketogenic state, then you can begin to play around with the numbers a bit more.
You’ll find that some individuals experience can get into ketosis quickly; faster than others. It’s all dependent on the person.
Ultimately, you’ll want to stay between 20-50 grams of net carbs a day (often times even less).
For example,
- If you’re a 155 pound female with a goal of 2000 calories a day, that would come out to about 167 grams of fat, 100 grams of protein and 25 grams of carbs.
- For a 200 pound male looking to consume 2500 calories a day that would come out to 208 grams of fat, 125 grams of protein and 31 grams of net carbs.
You might be asking yourself, “but what about intermittent fasting?”
Regardless of whether or not you’re fasting, it’s important to maintain the same caloric intake in order to track your progress and make sure you’re getting the proper nutritional requirements for the day.
This will only help to ensure proper function of both your brain and body.
Before we start talking about the perfect ketogenic breakfast, let’s talk about why it’s so important to start your day off with a high fat meal.
Why is Eating a High Fat Breakfast Important?
While a typical American breakfast of pancakes, waffles, cereal, sugar and coffee provides your body with caffeine and some vitamins, it provides something else — glucose. It causes your glucose levels to rise which leads to a big dump of insulin throughout your system.
Glucose is metabolized quickly, so while you get a quick increase of it, it will fall just as fast. This starts a vicious cycle for the rest of your meals throughout the day.
Now, let’s start talking about the fun part — food.
When it comes to the ultimate ketogenic breakfast, you can be sure to find a few universal foods. What are some of the first things that come to mind when you think about breakfast food?
Eggs, bacon, coffee, oh my.
The Best Keto Friendly Breakfast Foods
When it comes to the ultimate ketogenic, low carb breakfast, you can count on a few staple items to keep you satiated and fueled throughout the day.
You’ll need:
- a healthy protein source
- a healthy fat source
- a low carb side (especially for those active individuals)
- and a drink which could be a keto smoothie or fat-fueled coffee. Some examples of these sources include:
- Healthy protein source: eggs and bacon
- Healthy fats source: avocado
- Low carb side: sweet potato hash
- Drink: keto smoothie or bulletproof coffee
#1: Eggs and Bacon
It’s no secret that eggs are good for you. They can be found all around in the world in almost every kind of diet, and for good reason too.
Eggs are extremely nutrient dense. In fact, eggs from proper sources have been shown to help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. (1)
Eggs are also an abundant source of choline. Choline is an essential nutrient.
This means that our body cannot produce enough of it on its own so we need to obtain it through our diet. It’s involved in many important bodily functions including liver function, healthy brain development, muscle movement and the nervous system.
One large egg contains about:
- 78 calories
- five grams of fat
- six grams of protein
- and less than one gram of carbs
Next up is bacon. I mean, who doesn’t love bacon?
While it’s addicting traits of being smoky, fatty, salty and all things delicious always keep us coming back for more, it’s a great source of fat, too.
But not all bacon is created equal. It’s important to keep an eye on the label to ensure the quality of meat you’re consuming will benefit your health, not harm it.
#2: Avocado
It’s no secret as to why avocado is so popular. One of the more popular types you see in the stores today is the Hass avocado.
While this source of healthy fats is considered a fruit, it’s much different than its fruit family members.
Avocados are extremely nutritious, containing over 20 different vitamins and minerals. In one serving (about three and a half ounces), you can get vitamins K, folate, vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, vitamin E, magnesium, manganese, copper, iron, zinc, phosphorus, and other small traces of vitamins A, thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin.
One serving of avocado comes to a total of:
- 160 calories including two grams of protein
- 15 grams of healthy fats
- 2 grams of net carbs
#3: Sweet Potato Hash
While sweet potatoes are a carb, they’re arguably one of the best complex carb sources to consume in small amounts when following a ketogenic diet.
A half a cup of sweet potatoes comes to about:
- 57 total calories including 0 grams of fat
- about 11 grams of net carbs
- and around 1 gram of protein
If you’re sticking to your net carb goal of less than 25 grams a day, sweet potatoes should be no issue.
Sweet potatoes are an extremely rich source of nutrients, especially vitamins C and K. They also provide anti-inflammatory compounds that could help prevent certain chronic diseases.
#4: Keto Bulletproof Coffee
Ah, yes, bulletproof coffee. We’ve all heard of this coffee filled with healthy fats. But what exactly is put into making your own keto friendly coffee and why is it so good for you?
Bulletproof coffee contains coffee, MCT oil, and grass-fed butter. Users will typically take about 8 ounces of organically sourced coffee, 2 tbsp of MCT oil or coconut oil and 2 tbsp of grass-fed butter and blend it on high for about 30 seconds.
All the ingredients in this coffee blended together make it a nutritional powerhouse. Consuming this coffee can help improve mood, increase your energy, improve metabolism, increase cognitive function, and could even help increase lean muscle mass.
Bottom Line
Starting your day off with a meal high in healthy fats is a great way to have a clear head without any crash or cravings later on throughout the day. Try adding this meal to your daily routine and see how it benefits your energy levels and focus.
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