Starting your day with a protein-packed breakfast is one of the best ways to support your body’s natural rhythms and maintain steady energy levels. Eating protein first thing in the morning helps regulate your metabolism, promotes fat burning through leptin signaling, and keeps you feeling full longer. By prioritizing protein, you’re setting yourself up for success, with better blood sugar management and improved satiety throughout the day, supporting both weight loss and overall well-being.

Before we get into the benefits of eating protein for breakfast, it’s important to discuss why you should be eating breakfast in the first place.

Why You Should Eat Breakfast

It’s pretty straightforward, you should eat breakfast to balance blood sugar and cortisol levels.

Cortisol is what wakes you up in the morning. It rises when it’s time to wake up and when you skip breakfast, it keeps rising because fat and protein are what help to balance it. If you drink coffee every morning without actually eating food, congratulations, you’re spiking your cortisol even more! 👍

In a study that examined cortisol rhythms in women who ate breakfast versus those who did not, “breakfast skippers had higher circulating cortisol from arrival [to the lab] to midafternoon.” Additionally, they found that “data indicate[s] that habitually skipping breakfast is associated with stress-independent over-activity in the HPA axis, which, if prolonged, may increase risk for cardiometabolic disease in some people.” In other words, skipping breakfast is a stressor in itself.
-> FYI, the HPA axis refers to the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis which are all major players in blood sugar and cortisol management.

I believe the popularity of intermittent fasting (IF) is a major contributor as to why so many people seem to think it’s not only OK to skip breakfast, but that it’s actually a healthier option. So let’s look into some data around IF.

Intermittent fasting has been found to have both positive and negative effects on blood sugar. For those who are considered obese or for anyone who primarily eats processed foods or sugary carbs for breakfast, yes, skipping breakfast as an IF practice will yield positive results in weight loss and blood sugar levels. However, “IF diets have produced conflicting results in clinical studies of patients with impaired glucose and lipid metabolism,” according to this study. In my practice, clients who have historically skipped breakfast experience positive results (usually within just 1-2 weeks!) once they start implementing a protein-forward breakfast.

Fasting can be a great tool for someone who is well-practiced at balancing their health at a foundational level. However, it will not magically bring balance to a disrupted system. It will most likely exacerbate blood sugar issues.

When we look at breakfast through the lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine, it’s advised to eat breakfast between 7 and 9 a.m. when the stomach is flourishing. Specifically, eating warm, naturally sweet foods like sweet potato and warming spices will help support the spleen, which peaks between 9 and 11 a.m.

In Ayurveda, breakfast is highly individual and can be skipped. If eaten, it’s suggested to enjoy a smaller, warm meal around 8 a.m.

Again, for someone who is well-versed and very in tune with their nutrition and feels balanced and regulated, skipping breakfast every now and then might not be damaging. But for those with blood sugar or digestive issues, I do not recommend it.

Now that we’ve covered why eating breakfast is a gamechanger for anyone experiencing blood sugar issues or disrupted digestion or cortisol, let’s talk about protein specifically.

Why You Should Eat Protein for Breakfast

There are two main reasons you should eat protein for breakfast.

1: Protein for breakfast sets your blood sugar management up for success for the rest of the day

If you eat a breakfast high in protein you will not only blunt the blood sugar/cortisol spike that will inevitably happen if you skip breakfast, but your blood sugar levels after lunch and dinner will also be more stable.

In a study that examined the effect of a high protein diet at breakfast on glucose levels at dinner time, they found that “during lunch, high protein breakfast diet suppressed the dinner and overall day postprandial glucose level.” It’s important to note that a high-protein breakfast did not have the same effect if lunch was skipped. This is why it’s so important to eat at least three meals a day at consistent times to support blood sugar management.

Another study revealed that “a protein-rich breakfast may reduce the consequences of hyperglycemia [in diabetics],” and, “altering meal composition is a clear method for reducing postprandial glycemia and minimizing complications of Type II Diabetes.”

2: Protein for breakfast supports a healthy metabolism and weight loss

Protein for breakfast has a positive effect on your hunger hormones – leptin and ghrelin. Healthy signaling of these hormones results in a healthy metabolism for a number of reasons.

The hormone leptin is responsible for regulating appetite and energy expenditure. In addition to this influence on metabolism, it also affects endocrine and immune function. If leptin is performing optimally, meaning it isn’t resistant or out of balance, your body can successfully match your energy to your food intake. If you’re leptin resistant you might have trouble knowing when you’re full, resulting in overeating and imbalances of your hunger hormones. It’s commonly referred to as the “fullness hormone.” Eating protein for breakfast increases leptin sensitivity.

Ghrelin is commonly referred to as the “hunger hormone” because it signals your body to increase its appetite. Have you ever felt like you were starving anytime you started a diet? This is because your ghrelin levels will increase at the beginning of any calorie deficit as a response to staying out of starvation mode. Eating protein for breakfast decreases ghrelin activity, which brings me to the next point…

Protein for breakfast increases satiety, which goes a long way in helping to manage your appetite for the rest of the day. It’s considered common knowledge at this point that a low-carb diet can help with weight loss. What’s unclear is whether or not this is due to reducing carbs or the simultaneous increase in protein consumption. Enter, this study, designed to test “the hypothesis that increasing the protein content while maintaining carbohydrate content of the diet lowers body weight by decreasing appetite and spontaneous caloric intake.”

The study determined that increasing protein from 15% to 30% while maintaining carbohydrate intake still produced a decrease in “ad libitum caloric intake” which is a fancy way of saying, “snack attacks.” Translation: People who increase protein feel more satisfied and snack less throughout the day.

Additionally, this increase in protein lowered leptin levels and increased ghrelin, which, at first glance might seem counterproductive, but it’s important to remember that it isn’t the amount of leptin or ghrelin in your blood that matters – it’s the sensitivity of these hormones in your central nervous system. High leptin or ghrelin levels can indicate resistance to these hormones which can lead to over or undereating.

To summarize, leptin signals your central nervous system that you’re full and don’t need to stress about food. Protein at breakfast is a surefire way to strengthen this signal!

By strengthening this signal and supporting healthy leptin and ghrelin sensitivity, you’re also allowing the body burn stored fat. You are letting the body know that you have enough energy stored so it does not need to hang on any fat and is safe to expend energy. So, eat, and then move!

OK, But How Much Protein Should I Have for Breakfast?

Great question! This depends on your goals. For the sake of simplicity, if you’re implementing protein for breakfast to feel more balanced, satiated, and improve metabolism, aim for at least 20 grams. Make it the most abundant macro on your breakfast plate as much as possible!

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Now that you know why starting your day with a protein-packed breakfast is one of the best ways to support your body’s natural rhythms and maintain steady energy levels – get inspired with these 8 Protein-Packed Breakfasts!