What if there was one simple shift that could reduce sugar cravings, boost your energy, calm hormonal symptoms, and even help with fat loss? After a decade of working with women struggling with PMS, mood swings, brain fog, and exhaustion – not to mention testing every protocol, herb, and supplement out there on myself – I’ve found what I believe is the closest thing to a magic bullet. And the best part? It’s free, it’s simple, and you can start tomorrow. Ready for the secret?
My secret weapon is to frontload your day.
What does this mean? Frontloading your day means to eat most of your calories in the first half of the day, starting with a bombastic breakfast within an hour of waking up. Yep, you heard me: breakfast is back, baybee! Now what I commonly see in my practise, and in the thousands of clinic cases I have observed over the years as a lecturer, is a very common scenario: women skipping breakfast or just having a coffee, having a salad or a wrap for lunch, and then crashing in the afternoon, or having uncontrollable cravings in the evening, struggling to sleep through the night or hormones wreaking havoc on their day to day lives.
So here is one of my simple life hacks: ignore all the people who tell you that breakfast was invented by the cereal companies, and let’s go back to actually setting ourselves up for the busy day ahead by eating a nourishing breakfast first thing in the morning. Eating a substantial breakfast not only anchors our blood sugar for the day, it lowers cortisol in the mornings, which helps to harmonise our hormones. It also sends the signal to our body that it is daytime, and acts as a Zeitgeiber (a German word that means ‘gives the time’) thus regulating our body’s own circadian rhythm.Eating first thing in the morning sends a message of safety and nourishment to the body, which is crucial for optimal hormonal health.
I have witnessed some of the most profound changes in my clients – but also in myself – by starting their day with a substantial breakfast. It is such a time-tested but completely underrated habit which has become ignored in today’s world of biohacking.
But Linda, what about intermittent fasting?
I won’t go into it in detail here, as I have already written a blog post about why I don’t recommend it here. But I will say this: female physiology requires safety in order to reproduce (i.e. have a healthy hormonal system), and starving yourself for 18 hours a day is not sending that message at all.
What if I’m not hungry in the mornings?
I hear you, I used to be like this for most of my life. I actually remember my mother chasing me down the street with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice in the mornings when I would head off to school on an empty stomach, so trust me, I have been there! Waking up with no appetite can actually be a sign of elevated cortisol, the stress hormone. Cortisol is naturally higher in the mornings anyways – it’s what gets us out of bed and ready for the day, but if it is too elevated, it can suppress hunger (after all, if we are running away from a tiger, we don’t want our tummy to be rumbling, do we?) Think about it, if you have not eaten for 10-12 hours, you should be hungry. And actually, a healthy appetite in the morning is a sign of a healthy metabolism, not something we should strive to lower.
So, if you are struggling with appetite in the mornings, start with something small, such as:
- A milky drink with some maple syrup or honey and some collagen
- A cup of salty bone broth with a side of cooked or ripe fruit
- A bowl of Greek yogurt with some ripe fruit, honey and bee pollen
You can then have a more substantial meal about 30 to 60 minutes later. I will guarantee you that your hunger will return after you start doing this! Once it does, you can just go straight to your delicious breakfast.
What should I have for breakfast?
Breakfast – as every meal you consume – should have a balance of protein and carbohydrates to keep blood sugar stable. I know everyone is harping on about the importance of protein, and whilst it is super important, you need carbohydrates to balance the protein out. Without carbs, you can cause as much of a blood sugar rollercoaster than if you are eating a high carb diet too. Protein and carbs are made for one another, don’t separate these beauties, and please stop villanising carbs!
Some lovely combos of protein and carbs are: eggs and fruit, eggs and toast, dairy and fruit, oatmeal with dairy and collagen.
I’ll share my favourite breakfast, which is what I have been having pretty much every single day for the past 18 months: two egg omelette with parmesan cheese, a bowl of cottage cheese with chopped up kiwi, a slice of sourdough toast with butter and marmalade or jam, and a milky coffee with collagen and maple syrup. Yes, all of this in one meal. It’s about 600 calories right off the bat and it is fuel in my tank to slay the day. I usually train in the mornings, so this sets me up for a great training session. But even on days when I don’t train, this is still my go-to breakfast.
And guess what? My lunch is just as bombastic. Think: ‘logs on the fire’ vs ‘kindling’. Salads can be tasty but they are very low in calories and will not sustain you for more than an hour. Have a salad (in the summer) but have it as a side dish. Get some protein in your lunches and some substantial carbohydrates such as root veggies, grains, and/ or fruit.
I can almost guarantee you that if you eat this way, you will not experience the afternoon crash which will send you to the biscuit tin at 3pm. Why? Because you are giving your body the fuel it needs to power you through your busy day and it doesn’t need to send out the alarm signals that send you diving into the Nutella jar after dinner.
Speaking of dinner, if you have eaten a hearty breakfast and lunch, should you go light on dinner? I think that depends on your activity levels and goals. Personally, I like to have three ‘logs on the fire’ meals a day, but some people may like to eat a little lighter at night. But by light I still mean a meal, not a snack! And gauge what works for you by seeing how you sleep at night. If you are eating a light meal at night and are going to bed hungry or waking up in the night, you may need more calories.
So there it is: my secret weapon to slay the day!
I’ll leave you with this: in a world obsessed with starving yourself, I challenge you to go against the grain and truly nourish yourself to reclaim your vitality. If you have lost track of what that looks like, I’d love to chat to you! Click here to book a discovery call and let’s see how eating in a way that supports your physiology will help you flourish.
