Running needs a lot of energy and therefore, it is very important for you as a runner to have your breakfast.

In addition, studies show that runners who regularly have breakfast are healthier and leaner than those who skip it.

Breakfast dictates the tone for your day. Is your day going to be a great clean-eating day? The answer to this question is likely to come together or fall apart during your decision to have breakfast or not in the morning.

Now that we know about the importance of breakfast, let’s get on with what is the best breakfast for runners to eat.

A good breakfast for runners provide complex carbohydrates for sustainable energy supply, some simple sugars for quick energy release, some protein and some healthy fats. Here we have compiled the four runners’ breakfast options:

Oatmeal or porridge

Oatmeal is a truly timeless breakfast dish for runners. It has all the right proportions of complex and simple carbohydrates, fat and protein. It also tastes delicious. Not everyone, however, can eat oats. If you are one of these people, then you can try rice congee, which is very easy to digest, or quinoa porridge, millet porridge and buckwheat porridge.

Granola

Granola is basically baked oatmeal with some oil added. It is a recipe founded in 1951 by Willie Pelzer, who wanted to discover a better way of eating rolled oats. It reached popularity in the 1960s among the hippies and has since considered as one of the better health foods available.

Toast

Toast is very easy and fast to make. This is a great option for runners who feel that they do not have enough time to prepare their breakfast meals. We recommend you to look for bread which has short and sweet ingredient list. If it has sugar or wheat gluten or anything else you cannot comprehend, then do not buy it. Serve your toast with 100 percent all natural almond butter and sliced banana.

Hot chocolate

You should not consume the sugary type of chocolate you often find on the high street but a simple mix of warm milk and top-notch cooking chocolate, which generally consists of around 70 percent cocoa solids. You need around 30 grams of chocolate for each cup of milk. Add a little sugar to provide that initial boost. You will have the fat and protein in the milk to fuel the energy and to help you recover a couple of hours after your run as well.