The Importance of Protein

 I wanted to reiterate this point because even though we all know how important protein is as a macronutrient (obviously not to the exclusion of others, in my opinion), it can be easy to forget even when you're years into your weight loss journey.

I'm sick, and I have been for a few days now. I had bought some lovely cinnamon raisin bread to make into French toast with egg whites, which is a breakfast I eat fairly regularly, and it still winds up having about 20g of protein. Yesterday morning I was exhausted and not up to actually cooking but I wanted to eat the nice fresh bread so I decided to just make myself a couple of slices of toast with honey, which would actually have fewer calories than my usual French toast.

Well wouldn't you know, less than half an hour after eating my toast, I was absolutely starving again. Hungry like I had never eaten at all. This simply hasn't happened in ages because even my sweet and carb heavy breakfasts like pancakes also come with quite a bit of protein and that keeps me satiated. Apparently my body has gotten used to that and it wasn't happy to have such an insubstantial meal. It's not just the Ozempic keeping me full at this point; it's the protein, too.

This is why I strive to have protein in every meal if I can, even my late night snack, although it has seemed to be of least importance there. If I'm having a sweet treat it doesn't tend to make me hungry later on, but that might be because I've probably consumed more protein earlier in the day freeing up room in my budget for a piece of chocolate or a cookie or something like that. Apparently my body agrees that breakfast is an important meal and does need to be balanced properly for my needs.

So, this morning I'm tucking into cinnamon raisin French toast made with egg whites, with 25.6g of protein. Delicious, very similar to yesterday's breakfast, but I'm not going to be hungry thirty minutes later.

There's nothing wrong with carbs and fat. Personally, I think that cutting out a whole macronutrient isn't the healthiest way to live, unless it's been specifically recommended for you by a medical professional. I don't even think there is anything wrong with sugar in moderation, and I'm a type 2 diabetic (in remission as of my bloodwork in July!!) But at least for me, keeping balanced with a good amount of protein in the morning works best to keep me satiated and having energy for my day.