You’ve heard me preach about nutrition being the single most important part of a healthy lifestyle.

If it’s in a bag or box, don’t eat it.

It’s not just what and how much, but also how often.

I could talk all day on this particular subject as nutrition is vital and very personal. Each and every one of us is as unique as our exact nutritional requirements, though there is some common ground simply by being human.

Healthy Breakfast Foods

I’ve been working on the The Brutor Guide to Empyrean Health for a while now, but have finished enough to be able to speak with authority on this. The proof is in the pudding, and no, pudding is not on the healthy food list. I used to be 33% body fat. Less than three years later, I’m 14% body fat and the first two years of that time were spent screwing around in the gym, ignoring the very things I am now going to share with you.

Ask anyone who is lean. Lean bodies are built in the kitchen. Period. There is also some other sagely advice that in this day and age of go, go go, we often ignore or forget:

Breakfast is the single most important meal of the day.

Think about it. You’ve been sleeping for eight hours, ideally. Your body is now awake and is craving fuel for the day ahead. A coffee and a cigarette just won’t cut it.

What to eat?

Good proteins and carbohydrates are essential to your breakfast.

Breakfast is the time to stockpile energy. The best way to do this is with carbohydrates that will take a while to breakdown and heavy proteins. The longer you can keep your body occupied with digestion, the better. The assumption in everything I say, of course, is that you eat clean and healthy.

This is a portion of the food chart from the Brutor Guide.

Go to www.nutritiondata.com and simply do a search for anything you want to eat. Below are the foods you are allowed for breakfast.

PROTEIN
BEEF	POULTRY	PORK & LAMB	SHELLFISH	FISH	EGGS & DAIRY
BrisketChuck, Arm PotRoastCured, Dried BeefEye RoundFilet MignonFlank Steak Ground Beef, 95% Lean New York Strip Rib Eye Skirt Steak Sirloin	Chicken, BreastChicken, LegChicken, ThighChicken, WingTurkey, BreastTurkey, LegTurkey Sausage	Canadian BaconHam, Fresh 95% LeanLamb, Leg, ChopPork LoinPork Chop, Sirloin, BonelessPork Tenderloin	ClamsCrabLobsterOystersScallopsShrimp	AnchovyBluefishCodFlounder,SoleHalibutHaddock Herring Mackerel Orange Roughy Salmon Sea Bass Snapper Swordfish Tilapia Tuna, Fresh Tuna, Canned	Egg WhiteWhole EggCottage Cheese, NonfatMilk Protein PowderWhey Isolate ProteinMozzarella Cheese, Nonfat

CARBOHYDRATES
LEGUMES	FRUITS	VEGETABLES	WHOLE GRAIN BREADS	OTHER GRAINS & STARCH
Black BeansBlack-eyed PeasChickpeasGreen PeasKidney BeansLentilsLima Beans Navy Beans Pinto Beans White Beans	AppleApricotBlackberriesBlueberriesCantaloupeCherriesCranberries Grapefruit Grapes Honeydew Kiwi Mango Orange Peach Pear Pineapple Plum Raspberries Rhubarb Strawberries Watermelon	ArtichokeBeetsCarrotsPumpkinRutabagaSquash	100% Whole WheatMulti-grainOat BranPita, 100% Whole WheatPumpernickelRyeTortilla Wrap, 100% Whole Wheat Tortilla Wrap, 100% Whole Wheat, Low-carb, High Fiber	BarleyBuckwheatQuinoaOatmealOat BranSweet PotatoYam

FREEDOM VEGETABLES
Arugula Asparagus Broccoli Brussels Sprouts Cabbage Cauliflower Cucumber Eggplant Lettuce Mushroom	Okra Onion Peppers Radish Snow Peas Spinach Tomato Watercress Zucchini

WATER

You must consume 1 L per 50 lbs of body weight daily

There is a LOT of choices for breakfast. You’ve got fruits, meats, grains, all kinds of choices! We’ve now conquered the first hurdle to a good breakfast.

But how much?

This is the tricky part. The very tricky part. How much to eat of each of your proteins and carbohydrates depends on your weight, your fat percentage, and your current fitness program. A heavy weight program will require a lot of calories whereas a strictly cardiovascular program will require less calories per day. Rest days require even less typically.

This isn’t the part where I give the hard sell to buy the Brutor Guide when it comes out, though to be blunt, you should. I’ve developed Excel worksheets for each type of fitness program listed above, and the only two fields you need to fill out are your weight and your body fat percentage. Here’s a sample breakfast below for a heavy weight training male, 185 lbs, 14% body fat.

Contents	Protein	Carbs	Fat	Calories
P+C Meal – Combine any Protein with any Carbohydrate from the Carbohydrates List; Add Free Veggies as Desired	57	113	0	679

That’s a pretty impressive breakfast!

To figure out loosely how much you should be eating for breakfast, use the following basic formula:

• MEN – 10 calories per lb of ideal body weight/(number of meals per day – 1). This will give you a sufficiently heavy breakfast and allow you to divide your daily remaining calories across lighter meals.
• WOMEN – 8 calories per lb of ideal body weight/(number of meals per day – 1). It’s the exact same formula with slightly less calories.

Again, those are generic formulas. To really maximize your nutrition you need a customized meal plan.

But wait, there’s more!

I’m a nice guy. We all know that. Because of that, the first 100 people to contact me  via email, eve mail, twitter, facebook, or comments below with “Brutor Guide Beta Request” will get a single customized meal plan tailored to their nutritional needs from me absolutely free! That’s right, free! You pay nothing now. You pay nothing later! Act now!

As always, please post your comments/questions below so we can open a dialogue together.

Fly strong.

EDIT: I hate tables in WordPress.

UPDATE: I am overwhelmed anew with how quickly I received 100 requests. It has shown me that while I don’t get many comments on my blog, I do have many lurkers. Now I just have to figure out how to get you all more involved.

UPDATE APRIL 6: Because I received so many requests via Twitter and not everyone included their email address, EVERYONE gets the Brutor Guide Beta until April 10th, at which time the link will be dead. http://db.tt/lJlDhCoV