Two eggs on toast is only 17 grams of protein. We aim for 30.
Protein holds hunger steady through the morning and protects your muscle while you lose fat. Through perimenopause it matters more again. Five breakfasts that each reach around 30 g, with the fibre built in.
Where should we send it?
Three pages, free.
- Works alongside your GP and your medication
- Real breakfasts, with the amounts written out
- No long supplement lists
What is in the guide
Three pages. Five breakfasts, and a way to fix the one you already eat.
The five breakfasts
- Each one reaches around 30 g of protein and brings 7 to 12 g of fibre with it
- Quick, make ahead, and one that freezes, so there is something for the mornings you have four minutes
- Egg free and dairy free versions marked on every option
- A smoothie for the mornings you do not feel like eating
Fixing the breakfast you already eat
- What 30 g looks like, lined up next to avocado toast, cereal and a yoghurt tub
- Six ways to add 10 g of protein to what is already on your plate
- Four ways to add 4 to 5 g of fibre, any morning
- Your daily protein target, worked on ideal body weight rather than current weight
I want to lose the weight. I don't want to lose muscle with it.
Protein is the most filling of the three macronutrients, so it holds hunger steady through the morning. Your body uses more energy digesting it than it does carbohydrate or fat. And when you are losing weight, enough protein helps make sure what comes off is fat while your muscle stays.
Through perimenopause there is more riding on it. Oestrogen, the main female hormone and one that helps protect muscle, falls away. Muscle gets easier to lose and fat tends to shift towards the middle. The body also responds less well to insulin, a fat storing hormone that moves sugar out of the blood. Muscle is where much of that sugar is stored and burned, so holding onto it keeps blood sugar and insulin steadier.
Muscle responds best to around 25 to 30 g of protein at a time, and breakfast is the meal where most women fall short, whatever their age. That makes it the easiest one to change.
Why we made it
Protein comes up in almost every appointment we have about weight, energy or perimenopause. Most women already know they should be eating more of it. What is harder is knowing what 30 g actually looks like on a plate at seven in the morning, which is why this guide is written as amounts rather than advice.
If you are on a GLP-1 medication it matters more again. Appetite drops, so total protein slides without anyone meaning it to, and muscle is usually the first thing to go. The smoothie in the guide is there for exactly those mornings.
The fibre is in there for a reason. More protein without more fibre is one of the most common reasons bowels slow down, so every breakfast in the guide brings 7 to 12 g with it. Most Australian adults eat closer to 20 g a day when the target is around 30 g.
Your own number depends on your goals, your bloods and how you are training, so the guide gives you the calculation rather than one figure for everyone. We work that out with you properly in an appointment, alongside your GP and any treatment you have chosen.
Send me the breakfasts
Free, three pages.
General information only, not individual advice. Speak with your practitioner before making changes, especially if you have kidney disease or a medical condition that affects your diet. © The Family Naturopath, The KAN Clinic.