Think Outside the (Cereal) Box

Quick Win

Supercharging your breakfast with protein can help keep you full longer and build muscle. Try one of these strategies today!

Try This Today

• Upgrade the usual. Replace regular yogurt with Greek yogurt, and you can double the protein (from about 10 to 20 grams)! Having oatmeal? Add nuts or nut butter. An ounce of chopped almonds contains 6 grams; two tablespoons of natural peanut butter contains 8 grams of protein. 
• Put an egg on it! Top your avocado toast with an egg for an extra 6 grams of protein.
• Make your weekdays feel weekend-special. Try this easy but impressive Zucchini Frittata or our Oatmeal-Almond Protein Pancakes.

Why

A real “breakfast of champions” doesn’t come in a cereal box. Compared with a breakfast of mostly carbohydrates, a protein-rich breakfast lowers a “hunger hormone” called ghrelin and can keep you fuller longer, according to research, including a study on 30 adults ages 19 to 50 reported in 2019 in Clinical Nutrition Experimental. Adding protein to breakfast can also help with maintaining and building muscle mass, which is important for healthy aging. Among 60 women 65 and older, those who ate more protein during breakfast had more muscle mass and stronger grip strength than women who ate more protein at dinner, as reported in 2021 in Cell Reports.