If you are not up to eating a big breakfast when you wake up, that’s ok. Particularly in residency you may be getting up too early to be hungry. As you are brushing your teeth make yourself drink a big glass of water. Even if you are not hungry at all eat a little something like a piece of fruit or a cereal bar. (Set them out on the counter the night before to grab and eat in the car if you have to.) There will be days that you may not get anything else to eat until the middle of the day, so don’t forego all nutrition in the morning. Take a “real” breakfast to work with you and eat it when you can between 8 and 10.
Easy breakfasts for doc’s on the go
An energy bar (e.g. PowerBar)
Frozen breakfast taco (see recipe below!)
Last night’s dinner (such as rice and meat, rice and an egg, noodles)
A smoothie (you can put the ingredients in the blender the night before, then just put it on the blender in the morning)
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Frozen pierogies heated up in a microwave
Instant oatmeal (add nuts and dried fruit if you want)
Cereal and milk (add fruit to make sure you get fruits into your diet)
MLBs Breakfast Tacos
Buy 10-12 whole wheat tortillas, 1 can of refried beans, 1 bag of reduced fat shredded Mexican cheese. Spread all the tortillas out on the counter and divide everything up between them.
Add whatever else you want:
8oz of cooked chicken or turkey (grilled in the deli is best)
Sausage (veggie soy sausage is good and tastes fine in the tacos)
Corn
Rice
Roasted red peppers (in a jar)
Chiles
Put the tacos in the freezer in individual freezer bags (Ziplock,etc) . (Put the individual bags in a big freezer bag if you want to further limit freezer burn).
2 minutes out of the freezer and into the microwave = breakfast.
I find that hard boiled eggs with a little salt and pepper are great and quick for breakfast!
I’m a surgery resident at Indiana University… I wanted to post a comment because I think breakfast is a great topic to address. I’m the kind of person who’s always starving by 10am, which got to be pretty frustrating on the days when I was actually operating at 10am. The secret for me, particularly on rotations where the days were extra long, was drinking a high protein “Ensure” every morning. Yes, the same ensure you’re trying to get your 80-year-old patients to drink. I could down the little bottle in the car on the way in, even if I wasn’t hungry yet, and the protein kept me full for a while. Plus, you’re getting some vitamins and minerals, too. That’s what worked for me!