Breakfast of Champions

I've been thinking, "Maybe it's not so bad to bring eggs back to my diet." I've been consuming them on and off for a while, wary of the egg whites' allergenic effects: my eyes and throat would dry out occasionally. I was convinced that was due to the egg whites releasing histamine. Well, while I was vacationing, I could not help but eat eggs. And during that time, my eyes and throat were fine. So back to square one. Here come the eggs and my breakfast of champions.

I'm taking to heart Terry Wahls' suggestion to eat 9 servings of vegetables daily. Steamed green beans, along with kale and collard greens, are my staple green vegetables. I also eat lots of raw onions, boiled cabbage, and lately, oven-roasted plantains. Here're 5 servings of vegetables, highlighted by peeled cucumber slices, sprinkled with cinnamon, thyme, ginger and apple cider vinegar. That's a lot: before this, I never consumed a plate full of veggies for breakfast.



Cucumber slices dipped in vinegar with plantains and green beans.

Which is not to say the entrée is entirely vegetables. Here're 2 thick slices of restaurant-style bacon, 4 Canadian bacon (had 2 before snapping the picture), and 2 eggs fried in bacon grease with thyme and cinnamon as seasoning.

So what's the damage? Using caloriecounter, I had my spreadsheet spit this out:

Under 500 calories. Net carbs = 24 grams, counting 10g of fiber. The sugar is a bit high because of the plantains and PUFA is a tad high at 6%. As for sodium, what would you expect eating 6 slices of bacon (not so much concerned with sodium nor nitrates). That's 25% carbs, 30% protein and 45% fat: macronutrient ratios I can live with -- the protein will go down when total daily calories are calculated, as would PUFA. I don't usually check my daily intake but I was curious ever since introducing 9 cups of vegetables and plantains (as well as eggs) to my diet.

Conclusion: Those 9+ cups of vegetables add negligibly to total calories; it will barely move the needle. The difference is in increased fiber intake, depending on whether your veggies have fiber. With plantains, you need to watch out for sugar which will caramelize while being roasted. This breakfast of champions did a lot less damage than I thought: I usually don't eat until late into the afternoon after eating like this. So the net effect is less calories consumed.