Friday Feast – Enhanced Yogurt

Last week I showed you what I had for breakfast as an alternate to the typical cereal or oatmeal. Today I will show you a different option that is another one of my favorites and also carb-protein-fat balanced for my recovery day today. My training for today will be an hour swim this evening so I will just try to eat balanced meals throughout the day and have a late afternoon snack that is slightly higher in carbohydrates before my swim.

The meal I like is plain non-fat yogurt mixed with wheat germ, milled flax seed, and a little bit of whey protein to boost the protein content. I top it with a cup of fresh blueberries and some peanut butter. If you don’t know already, I eat a lot of peanut butter.

Here’s a look at the macronutrient breakdown:

You can see it’s fairly balanced between all macronutrients. These would be easily manipulated (less peanut butter = less fat), more or less whey protein (I used 1/3 of a scoop) can modulate that. If you need a few more carbs you can add banana or other fruit.

If we look at the macronutrients by grams, this is what we get:

This meal has 10 grams of fiber – which is great considering the recommended daily intake is 25 grams.

A lot of people add granola to their yogurt and fruit – this is a very common snack we see recommended in fitness magazines and also for sale in coffee shops. That is definitely an option if you are going for a higher carbohydrate punch, say if I were doing a mid-morning workout. But since I will (unfortunately) be sitting around most of the day, keeping the carbs a bit lower and higher protein and fat, this meal will keep me from feeling too hungry.  It also packs an appropriate calorie load for breakfast, about 25% of my daily requirements with 500 calories.

Another reason I like this meal is that it is highly modifiable and very quick to make. You can use different fruits, or even microwave frozen fruits for a warmer snack. I love peanut butter, but you can use other nut butters or a variety of raw nuts. For a more chocolaty taste, add a tablespoon of dark cocoa (only 20 more calories and extra antioxidants). So experiment and enjoy!

How would you modify this meal for your needs?