Low sugar Breakfast always a challenge

[Montecfo]

plain Greek yogurt
splenda
blueberries
a few sliced almonds
a bit of shredded wheat

 

[Bestwifeever]

Black beans and avocado smashed on a street tortilla

 

[FrankiesGirl]

Big thing that helped me was to start reading nutritional labels and learn about carbs and sugars and measuring your serving portions so you know exactly how much you're eating. Portion control, along with being aware of what you are actually eating in terms of protein, carbs, fats and sodium is vital to understanding how to eat for life.

And I do eat full fat everything, including butter and cheese. I don't go crazy, but low fat is kind of bad because they stuff the food with more sodium and/or sugars/carbs in order to make the stupid things taste better, when eating something that is full fat is going to be less carby/lower sodium most of the time and make you feel fuller longer anyway because fat is filling and satisfying.

So my breakfasts usually are pretty easy:

No bread/grains/syrups/toast/cereals/fruit. I use no sugar creamer or reduced lactose/high protein milk (Fairlife if you're outside of Texas, if you're in Texas then check out HEB stores for their Mootopia - higher protein, reduced sugar, really lovely and delicious). But it's a treat or a taste in my coffee; I don't hit it real hard otherwise. I use spenda or other fake sugars.

Some of my favorite low carb/sugar breakfasts are egg-based:

Scrambled eggs with:
cheddar and salsa
plain greek yogurt and green onions
drained sausage and onions
avocado and green tomatillo salsa (maybe a touch of plain greek yogurt as it tastes like sour cream but is higher in protein)
red/yellow/green peppers and onions, cheese of some type
chorizo (cooked first and then drained for a while to remove as much of the fatty grease as possible but damn it's good mixed with eggs)

Sometimes accompanied by bacon, sausage, ham (but not sugar/honey cured, and watch your sodium if you make any of these a habit). Could try a small cut of steak - steak and eggs is awesome. If I do steak, it generally is seasoned with garlic or Worcestershire sauce.

Boiled eggs with bacon is a super easy and fast meal since I can boil up the eggs the night before and peel them and cook up the bacon. In the morning, nuke a mug of water in the microwave and drop the cold eggs into the hot water to warm. I then get my coffee maker filled and start a pot. By the time I'm pouring out my first cup of coffee, the eggs are warm (but cold are fine too).

I've even made deviled eggs for breakfast - a touch of olive oil mayo, yellow mustard and some no sugar pickle relish (Spenda used to sweeten, so zero sugars. Available in my area from Kroger, but I'm sure there are others out there). Might add a dash of horseradish or garlic powder or whatever, but they're easy to make and delicious.

Love Kroger's carbmaster line of yogurts (some flavors are blah, but some are awesome) and also sometimes just eat a half cup of full fat cottage cheese and maybe a handful of blueberries (they're a lower sugar fruit, so I eat this as a treat every once in a while but not all the time).

 

[brucethebroker]

The obligatory picture of a healthy breakfast:

Is that a picture of the new McDonalds Big Mac Bacon Stack

 

[brucethebroker]

No sugar added natural peanut butter on whole wheat toast. Add a slice of cheese if you want extra staying power.

We have also cut back on the grains, but a couple times a week won't kill us.

BTW, Kroger has great sales on their natural peanut butter. Be sure to read the labels. Some "naturals" have as much sugar added as Skippy....

 

[Amethyst]

Am amazed at the people who cite a small bit of this and that, a few sliced almonds, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese...are y'all trying to be 105 pounds or something? LOL That's the way my 105-pound Mom used to eat. Half an English muffin with butter and a cup of tea for breakfast. Half a tunafish sandwich and a cup of tea for lunch. Half of this, a scrap of that. No thank you!!

 

[Nemo2]

Am amazed at the people who cite a small bit of this and that, a few sliced almonds, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese...are y'all trying to be 105 pounds or something? LOL That's the way my 105-pound Mom used to eat. Half an English muffin with butter and a cup of tea for breakfast. Half a tunafish sandwich and a cup of tea for lunch. Half of this, a scrap of that. No thank you!!

Even DW, who is 100 lbs, eats more than that.

 

[JoeWras]

BTW, Kroger has great sales on their natural peanut butter. Be sure to read the labels. Some "naturals" have as much sugar added as Skippy....

Yikes! Marketing!

We like Smucker's which has no added sugar, just a touch of salt.

I've come to really like the old fashioned separated PB. It took a little getting used to after all those years of blended trans-fat laden PB (yikes again!). But now that I'm used to it, I love it. I'll have to give Kroger's brand a try.

 

[ivinsfan]

Am amazed at the people who cite a small bit of this and that, a few sliced almonds, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese...are y'all trying to be 105 pounds or something? LOL That's the way my 105-pound Mom used to eat. Half an English muffin with butter and a cup of tea for breakfast. Half a tunafish sandwich and a cup of tea for lunch. Half of this, a scrap of that. No thank you!!

Everyone's different. I have coffee when I wake up and catch-up online and do a few random things around the house. Very seldom feel any kind of hunger before 10 AM...at noon I have a big lunch including eggs. My 10 am yogurt, berries, whatever is just something to tide me over for 2 hours.

 

[folivier]

I'm not diabetic, so don't watch carbs for that reason but trying to watch my weight. My DW makes granola similar to Chuckanuts. It contains oats, walnuts, sesame seeds, coconut, coconut oil, dried cranberries and cherries, ginger, and some honey mainly to bind it together and for a bit of sweetness. I eat that with plain (Winn Dixie is my favorite for the flavor and consistency, I find greek yogurts too thick) yogurt mixed with fresh berries and pineapple.

 

[Fedup]

My husband and I are not diabetics. Our last A1C number was way below the 5.8 something for diabetics. But we eat food as if we are. Low carbs, high vegetable fats, more protein, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, and we eat nuts. Stay away from alcohol, and cigarettes. Exercise almost daily, i.e. move more. Try to stay positive and avoid negative stuff. Maybe we will live longer, let's hope we do.

 

[audreyh1]

Yikes! Marketing!

We like Smucker's which has no added sugar, just a touch of salt.

I've come to really like the old fashioned separated PB. It took a little getting used to after all those years of blended trans-fat laden PB (yikes again!). But now that I'm used to it, I love it. I'll have to give Kroger's brand a try.

Pretty much the only PB worth eating. The nasty stuff we grew up with had sugar and partially hydrogenated fat (i.e. trans fat) added! My favorite is the Santa Cruz dark roasted crunchy PB - just peanuts and a little salt.

 

[ERD50]

Yikes! Marketing!

We like Smucker's which has no added sugar, just a touch of salt.

I've come to really like the old fashioned separated PB. It took a little getting used to after all those years of blended trans-fat laden PB (yikes again!). But now that I'm used to it, I love it. I'll have to give Kroger's brand a try.

I've always preferred no-sugar-added Peanut Butter. Just peanuts and a little salt.

I'm pretty sure that the trans fat that was added to keep the oil from separating was a tiny amount. That's all that's needed to be effective. I'd be fine with that, I hate trying to get that oil stirred up. But nowadays, if it has a trace of trans fat, it probably has a bunch of other things that I don't want, like sugar.

Ah, I found a source:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11368602?dopt=Abstract

The fatty acid composition of 11 brands of peanut butter and paste freshly prepared from roasted peanuts was analyzed with emphasis on isomeric trans-fatty acids. No trans-fatty acids were detected in any of the samples in an analytical system with a detection threshold of 0.01% of the sample weight. Hydrogenated vegetable oils are added to peanut butters at levels of 1--2% to prevent oil separation. Some hydrogenated vegetable oils are known to be sources of trans-fatty acids in the human diet. The addition of these products was not found to result in measurable amounts of trans-fatty acids in the peanut butters analyzed

Anyone know of a PB brand w/o sugar that doesn't need to be stirred? I've been buying Trader Joe's, and Smucker's 'Old Fashioned' I think. They both need to be stirred, but taste good to me.

-ERD50

 

[Chuckanut]

Anyone know of a PB brand w/o sugar that doesn't need to be stirred? I've been buying Trader Joe's, and Smucker's 'Old Fashioned' I think. They both need to be stirred, but taste good to me.

-ERD50

My 'fix' for oil separation is to empty the entire contents of a new jar of PB into a large bowl and use my hand mixer to combine the oil on top with the peanut butter on the bottom. Return the contents to the jar and refrigerate. As long as it doesn't spend to much time at room temp, the oil stays well mixed in.

 

[JoeWras]

My 'fix' for oil separation is to empty the entire contents of a new jar of PB into a large bowl and use my hand mixer to combine the oil on top with the peanut butter on the bottom. Return the contents to the jar and refrigerate. As long as it doesn't spend to much time at room temp, the oil stays well mixed in.

Nice. I may try that.

 

[ERD50]

My 'fix' for oil separation is to empty the entire contents of a new jar of PB into a large bowl and use my hand mixer to combine the oil on top with the peanut butter on the bottom. Return the contents to the jar and refrigerate. As long as it doesn't spend to much time at room temp, the oil stays well mixed in.

I've thought about that - should work as we keep it in the fridge once opened, so it does stay mixed at that point. Sounds a little messy though, and I am lazy. I'll take my chances with a trace amount of trans-fat if I can find one without the added sugar.

I'm not obsessive about eliminating sugar, I just prefer the taste of unsweetened PB. I put a bit of jam/preserves on top, so I'm already getting plenty of sweetness from that.

-ERD50

 

[madsquopper]

Are you near Trader Joes? They have whole grain seeded crispbreads that are low carb/sugar (only 7g carb each), and I often use 2 of these slathered with their eggplant spread which is close to zero carb. You can add a handful of nuts or some low sugar fruit such as berries or melon.

Veggie omelet with chesse is also good.

 

[hankster]

My go to breakfast is a cheese omelet with uncured ham or uncured
and coffee with some splenda and heavy cream.

Sometimes I plop a fried egg on top of the omelet (I know...I'm kinda )

 

[Meadbh]

My 'fix' for oil separation is to empty the entire contents of a new jar of PB into a large bowl and use my hand mixer to combine the oil on top with the peanut butter on the bottom. Return the contents to the jar and refrigerate. As long as it doesn't spend to much time at room temp, the oil stays well mixed in.

My "fix" is to store the unopened jar upside down in the cupboard. When I open the jar, the peanut butter is on top. I then stir it around with a knife. Once opened, I store the jar in the refrigerator.

 

[eytonxav]

I'm not the food police, but I noticed you said your morning blood sugars tended to be higher....have you tried switching lunch and breakfast and then checking your blood sugar?

Actually I said my waking numbers are high prior to eating (e.g. dawn phenomena), but my thinking is that consuming carbs early in the day can be helpful in giving you energy to get throw the day. Cutting back carbs for lunch and then more so for dinner is usually a good strategy timing wise.

 

[NW-Bound]

Am amazed at the people who cite a small bit of this and that, a few sliced almonds, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese...are y'all trying to be 105 pounds or something? LOL That's the way my 105-pound Mom used to eat. Half an English muffin with butter and a cup of tea for breakfast. Half a tunafish sandwich and a cup of tea for lunch. Half of this, a scrap of that. No thank you!!

Even DW, who is 100 lbs, eats more than that.

My wife is not 100 lbs (BMI of 21 though), and these ladies eat more than what she does for breakfast. She only has a cup of tea, no sugar, no milk.

So do I. Low carb enough for you?

 

[JoeWras]

My "fix" is to store the unopened jar upside down in the cupboard. When I open the jar, the peanut butter is on top. I then stir it around with a knife. Once opened, I store the jar in the refrigerator.

That helps, but I find it does not give a sufficient mix.

 

[Nemo2]

My wife is not 100 lbs (BMI of 21 though), and these ladies eat more than what she does for breakfast. She only has a cup of tea, no sugar, no milk.

OK...made me check DW's BMI - 18.9

 

[ivinsfan]

Actually I said my waking numbers are high prior to eating (e.g. dawn phenomena), but my thinking is that consuming carbs early in the day can be helpful in giving you energy to get throw the day. Cutting back carbs for lunch and then more so for dinner is usually a good strategy timing wise.

So because I'm curious about diabetes could you indulge me with a couple of questions? Are you insulin dependent and that's why you check your morning sugars? It seems counter intuitive to take carbs when the BS is higher. No problem if you don't want to answer

I know I don't understand a lot of the nuances involved. We have a close friend a life long bachelor of 65 who is really struggling with insulin control right now. He will share his problems sometimes and ask for advice so I don't want to say something that isn't helpful. And before you can say it, Yes I tell him to ask his doctor or use the internet, but he is a stubborn dude.

 

[Katiek]

I'm sensitive to eggs and don't eat most breakfast meats, so low sugar breakfasts are a challenge for me too. I like the Silver Palate Grain Berry cereal - the toasted oats version is low in sugar. I'll eat it with almond milk and some berries.