What's For Breakfast?

By Dr. Susan Biegel MD, AME

Everyone has heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and this is especially true for pilots. Skipping a nutritious breakfast and having only coffee and a danish is tantamount to putting water in your airplane’s fuel tank.  You depend on your airplane engine to perform well, and you should want your body and mind to be performing at top capacity as well.  After not having had any food all night, it’s time to fill up with quality fuel, not fuel that’s going to give your body a rocket burst of energy and then fizzle out like a used up firework leaving you fatigued, irritated and not thinking sharply.  Your brain and body need to be at peak performance and resilient, able to respond and think quickly.  What are some key nutritional guidelines in your operation manual to getting your day started off right?

Do;
Eat within one half hour to an hour of awakening. This keeps your metabolic rate up and functioning better than if you put eating off until lunch, and you will also be less likely to fall prey to the random donut or danish or candy bar grabbed in haste, two very important issues for those of us who are trying also to manage our weight.

Eat lean protein to avoid eating all carbohydrates such as only toast and cereal with coffee, which offer almost 100 percent carbohydrate content.  Good protein sources are eggs, egg whites, lean meat and cheese, or tofu.  My favorite is an egg white omelet with cheese, sautéed bell pepper, onion, and turkey (such as from a low fat cold cut) diced with salsa.  This is low in calorie and high in protein offering energy that will outlast the carbohydrates.

Avoid simple sugars that raise your blood sugar level high quickly but then leave you with a crashing blood sugar in two to three hours.  Instead, eat whole grains that tend to digest more slowly to give off energy over time and have the added benefit of offering more fiber than the typical white bread or Danish.  Eat fresh fruits and vegetables with dark rich colors which provide the healthful antioxidants that help protect your body from micro damage.

Eat fats which tend to be digested the slowest and along with the proteins can also serve as a long range fuel source.  Plant sources are best, with animal sources being the worst since the body takes animal fat and manufactures bad cholesterol out of it.

For the pilot, low blood sugar or hypoglycemia is something to be avoided.  The signs of hypoglycemia are weakness, shakiness, fatigue, irritability, sweating, palpitations and lightheadedness.  For your safety and others, while flying keep snacks on hand in the plane which offer quickly absorbable sugar such as orange juice, a sugar soda and hard candy. Hypoglycemia is very important to recognize in yourself and also in whomever you happen to be flying with, because passing out cold may be the first sign of hypoglycemia in many instances. Know if the person you are flying with is a diabetic since diabetics will tend to get hypoglycemia more commonly due to medications and other reasons.

With all this in mind, be sure not to skip breakfast, but instead eat a breakfast balanced with protein, carbohydrates, and fats.  By the way, here’s another recipe you might like to have for your morning, preflight regimen:

Very Berry Smoothie

In a blender place:

1 cup strawberries, - may be fresh or frozen; hulled, meaning remove the stem and the inside white core, which tends to be tasteless

1 cup blueberries, rinse and remove all remaining stems

1/2  cup orange juice

1 8 oz Dannon strawberry or blueberry or vanilla greek yogurt

1/3 to 1/2 cup egg white from the carton- such as from All Whites - found by the eggs and dairy in your grocery store.  Don’t worry, these are already pasteurized so there is no worry about eating this raw. This is a way of increasing the protein content of the smoothie in a highly digestible form.

juice 1/2 lime

1/2 cup Almond breeze milk which is only 30 calories per cup.  May also substitute regular milk, such as 2%

3/4 cup of ice

1 package splenda if more sweetness is desire

Blend on high until smooth.  Makes 4 10 to 12 ounce servings.

Cheers and happy and safe flying!

In Flight USA thanks Dr. Biegel for this informative article.  Look for more articles in the coming months from leading Aeromedical Doctor, Dr. Susan Biegel.  Dr. Biegel has been an aeromedical examiner for 22 years and offers first, second and third class certificates at her office by appointment at 1113 Alta Avenue suite 220 in Upland, California.  A competent and “aviation friendly” staff will assist readers in all medical certification needs with the utmost of efficiency.  Call 909-985-1908 or visit www.susanbiegelmd.com for additional information or an appointment.