Breakfast of Champions

I am one of those people who has to eat breakfast every morning, as I have a history of fainting in elementary school because of it, almost exclusively in church (why are they always so hot?). Ever since, I've had to have even a bite of something to keep me from keeling over light-headed in the middle of class and save myself the embarrassment of being the girl who fainted all the time. Then, come the end of middle school in which my lunch was considerably later than it ever was before (6th grade ate first, next period was 7th grade, and the last period was 8th grade lunch a little past noon), I had to amp up my breakfast as to not have my stomach growl like a monster in the midst of class. In order to save myself from that embarrassment, I figured out a few breakfast options that would keep my stomach to a very minimal, but controllable, growling.

Personally, I stick by the belief that breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, but the best. I love that we live in a world in which breakfast food is acceptable to eat at all hours of the day. At college, I've got a very, er, specific eating routine in which I grab a bagel and some sort of medium coffee beverage (right now, it's an iced caramel macchiato or iced vanilla latte) before my first class at 8:30. I also had this last semester to last me through classes from 9:45 until 1:20 and very rarely did my stomach not comply. Sometimes I'd get a little adventurous and swap out the bagel for a scone! How risqué.

In high school, if I found a food that I liked, I would eat it every day until I got sick of it. Some of those breakfast foods were: S'mores pop tarts (a whole package, because I was an animal), Cinnamon Roll Toaster Strudels, Vitamuffin Tops, and Crave cereal. While all of those add up to a seriously sugary breakfast, they did the trick. I took lunch and dinner as my option to be healthy as to not have to fuss too much in the morning.

If you have more time in the morning, a fried egg with toast and some orange juice is what I used to make over the summer for myself before work and that kept me full until I got home (and proceeded to stuff my face with the wonderful snack foods that my house was occasionally stacked with).

Since I love lists so much, here's a handy little list of possible food combinations that you could have for breakfast, in order from least time consuming to the most time consuming.

1. A big bowl of cereal (for me, Special K with Chocolate with almond milk) and an apple. Sometimes I'll have a Dove chocolate square for good measure ;)

2. Poptart (Pumpkin Pie or Brown Cinnamon Sugar), glass of milk, handful of blueberries. 

3. Toaster Strudel (Cinnamon Roll) and a glass of milk

4. Chocolate chip muffins (I pre make two dozen on Sunday mornings and eat them throughout the week) and a glass of milk.

5. Italian toast, bacon of the microwavable sort, apple, and a glass of orange juice

6. Bagel, mixed berries, and a glass of orange juice

7. Eggs (fried or scrambled), toast, an apple, and a glass of orange juice

8. Pancakes, sausage, and a glass of milk

9. Waffles and a glass of milk

Those are just some breakfast ideas that I've had through my years of high school and college so far. They've kept my stomach at bay for a majority of the day. Tip: Whenever I feel like my stomach is going to growl during a class, I'll chew a piece of gum or pop a mint or two into my mouth. Something about the mint or very sparse amount of calories settles the grumbling and will usually tide me over until I can eat again.

What's your favorite thing to eat for breakfast before school?