Nutrition
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The Meat and Nut Breakfast
The rotating meat and nuts breakfast for optimal body composition
by Charles Poliquin
When people ask me for the best single dietary tip of optimal leanness, energy and sustained mental focus, I invariably tell them to try the rotating meat and nuts breakfast. Clients ranging from NHL & NFL stars to corporate executives, rave about the increased mental acuity and focused energy they derive from this food combination. The meat allows for a slow and steady rise in blood sugar. The nuts provide a great source of healthy smart fats that allows the blood sugar to remain stable for an extended period of time.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. My seminar hosts are well made aware of it. It is a non-negotiable item. I am very grateful to have hosts all over the World that cater to my breakfast needs. My Dominican host Juan Carlos Simo always comes by the hotel with a kick ass breakfast. The best salmon I have ever had. Mats and Helen in Sweden bring me elk for breakfast.
What you eat for breakfast sets up your entire neurotransmitter production for the day.
If for some reason there is no host, lets say I am giving a seminar at a location I am not familiar, I always pre-scout where the best breakfast is served and simply choose steak and eggs, or a salmon omelet, or lox and poached eggs.
It is quite funny sometimes to see the reaction of the hotel staff when I ask for meat in the morning. For example in Tuscany, when I asked the chef for meat for breakfast, he had a look on his face like if I asked him to point in the right direction for the tunnel that links Rome to Oslo.
Multiple studies on employee productivity or on children’s attention patterns have demonstrated that a high protein breakfast does not only impact on the energy and productivity levels of morning till noon, but extended its positive way in the late afternoon.
Here a sample 5 day rotation of the meat/nuts breakfast. It goes without saying that you DO NOT ADD ANYTHING TO IT in terms of food or beverage.
Tea, coffee or herbal infusions are permissible, Milk and juice or other liquids are not allowed.
Day 1
• 1-2 Buffalo meat patties
• 1 handful of macadamia nuts
Day 2
• 1 large venison steak
• 1 handful of cashew nuts
Day 3
• 1-2 Lean turkey burgers
• 1 handful of almonds
Day 4
• 2 lean ground beef patties
• 1 handful of brazil nuts
Day 5
• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 handful of hazelnuts
One of the other advantages of this system is that is reduces the development of food sensitivities which are known to increase cortisol in people. More than often enough, when we test first time clients for food sensitivities we find that they have antibodies to the food they have consumed on a daily for years. That is even more true in bodybuilders, it not uncommon to see them have allergies to beef, eggs, whey, casein, tuna and oatmeal, the basic bodybuilding staples.
What about if you are allergic to nuts?
I then recommend you a portion of the following low glycemic/low fructose fruits with your breakfast:
apricot
avocado
blackberries
blueberries
grapefruit
loganberries
nectarines
olives
papaya
peach
plum
raspberries
strawberries
Make sure that the fruits are organic, especially the strawberries, as they are one of the most sprayed crops in the World.
After breakfast, I recommend to use a teaspoon to a tablespoon of quality fish oil to mitigate even more the insulin response. That will insure top level concentration till your next meal.