I’m the type of person that runs on snacks. For breakfast, I’ll grab a granola bar and eat it on my way to class. Lunch, I’ll grab a bagel or some chex-mix from the on-campus market. Dinner, I’ll reheat some pasta or make a frozen pizza. My diet isn’t exactly what I would call “healthy” or “balanced” during the school week. On weekends, however, I try and find the time to make myself a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner. If I fail at this, my boyfriend usually steps in and makes me something, so I don’t feel like garbage all the time.
This past week, I wanted to push myself. I always felt better when I found time during the week or weekends to make myself a real, sit-down breakfast (not scarfing down a venti latte and granola bar on my way to class). I have been convinced that real, sit-down meals take time and energy, so I wanted to see if I was correct or totally wrong. So, I challenged myself: make myself breakfast, a real breakfast, every day for a week. Here’s how it went:
Monday, day one: On Monday and Wednesday, my first class isn’t until 2 p.m. I slept in late after an eventful weekend, showered and decided to whip up some cheddar scrambled eggs for my boyfriend and I around noon. I’m in class from 2 p.m. to 5:15 p.m., and wanted to be full until I could get some dinner. I accompanied my eggs with a strawberry Greek yogurt, a chocolate chip muffin and some water. I found that I was full pretty much until I got out of my last class at 5:15, and even then was not terribly hungry. I felt much more awake and alert than I did on days that I did not eat breakfast, and felt great that I didn’t have to gulp down some snacks to stay full.
Time: Took around five minutes to prepare everything, and about five minutes to eat.
Tuesday, day two: I knew that this challenge on Tuesday and Thursday would be tricky, since I have class at 11 a.m. and generally get out of bed around 10:15 a.m. I woke up a little earlier, and sat down to my breakfast at around 10:30 a.m. I had a chocolate chip muffin, a mixed berry Greek yogurt and some banana-strawberry-orange juice that my boyfriend wanted to try (surprisingly, 10/10 and delicious). I decided to make it a little lighter since I had a lunch date planned with a friend at 12:30 p.m., but found that when lunch time rolled around, I was still surprisingly full. I had stayed awake and alert in that class the whole time, which can be a bit difficult because it’s a little tedious. I felt great again, and found myself getting excited for the next morning to see what else I would whip up for breakfast.
Time: Took around three minutes to put all together, and five minutes to eat.
Wednesday, day three: I woke up really excited to see what I was going to throw together for myself. I had a meeting with a friend at noon, so got up around 11 a.m., after my requisite social media check and started cooking at 11:20 a.m. I took a cue from things I had cooked before and had a fried egg, chocolate chip muffin, cherry Greek yogurt, banana-strawberry-orange juice and sat down to eat around 11:30 a.m. Again, I found myself feeling full and energized for my afternoon class, and only needed a pick-me-up coffee frap. before my 4 p.m. class (which was for the caffeine headache, not because I felt sleepy). I felt great that I wasn’t relying on snacks, and my wallet was happy that I wasn’t blowing $10 a day on chex mix and a soda.
Time: Around seven minutes to prepare, and around six minutes to eat.
Thursday, day four: Due to having an 11 a.m. class, the temptation was STRONG to grab a granola bar on my way out the door to get a few extra minutes of sleep. As I was resetting my alarm, I remembered how much better I had been feeling now that I had a mini routine down and fueled myself in the morning. With that, I stumbled out of bed and got ready for the day. For breakfast, I toasted a whole-wheat everything bagel, put some whipped cream cheese on, topped it with a little garlic salt (yum) and grabbed a lime Greek yogurt and some juice. I noticed how much more I preferred having a few minutes of “me” time in the morning, where I could sit down and have a few moments of peace before a hectic day started. I needed something a little more filling, since I had class and was scheduled for my part-time job in the evening. Again, I managed to keep my eyes all the way open in my not-too-exciting morning class and felt awake, alert and energized for the day ahead. I also wasn’t thinking of what time worked best for me to grab a snack or two.
Time: Around three minutes to prepare, and around eight minutes to eat (since I took my sweet time).
Friday, day five: Okay, full disclosure — I had breakfast plans with an old friend for weeks, and didn’t wish to reschedule because of this article. This was the ONLY day I didn’t make breakfast for myself — that being said, if you find yourself at the Village Café, the Village Breakfast Special is a BANGIN’ breakfast for pretty cheap.
Saturday, day six: This weekend was the semester retreat for my fraternity, and all 40 of us made breakfast together for each other. So, while it wasn’t me in my apartment making myself breakfast, I think it counts because I still made myself breakfast, technically. We had pancakes, scrambled eggs, regular and turkey bacon, fruit, juice and coffee.
Time: Since so many people were making different things, it took around half an hour to prepare and about twenty minutes to eat.
Sunday, day seven: Last day! I had work at 10 a.m., so had to sacrifice the actual sitting down part of breakfast and make do with eating a whole-wheat everything bagel with onion and chive cream cheese on my way to work.
Time: Three minutes to prepare, about five minutes to eat.
The takeaways from this little experiment were that I really do have the time in the mornings to do this when I want to. I felt better this past week than I had in a while, and felt full and well-fed which helped get me through my morning classes. I’ve started making myself breakfast more, since I know how good it makes me feel when I make the time for it. I would highly recommend making yourself breakfast, since it really does impact more than just how full you feel.
Photo credits: cover photo, 1, 2, 3