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20+ High-Carb Breakfast Ideas for Athletes
Now that you understand the importance of carbohydrates for athletes, let’s explore ideas for creating a high-carb, healthy breakfast for athletes.
High-Carb Fruit Smoothie: Nutrient-Rich Breakfast Option for Athletes
A fruit smoothie is a nutritious way for athletes to add carbohydrates to their breakfast. In addition to carbohydrates, fruit provides athletes with a variety of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals.
One of the benefits of a fruit smoothie is that athletes can change the type of fruit used in the smoothie to create different flavor combinations. Each flavor combination will provide different vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals from the varying types of fruits used in the smoothie.
Great frozen fruit options for a fruit smoothie include berries, cherries, mango, pineapple, peaches, papaya, and banana slices.
In addition to frozen fruit, there are a variety of other ways athletes can add carbohydrates to their smoothie. Ideas include:
- 100% fruit juice
- Low-fat milk
- Yogurt
- Rolled oats
- Honey
- Maple syrup
If an athlete plans to enjoy the smoothie with breakfast following a morning workout, they should also add protein-rich ingredients to the smoothie. Check out my post-workout smoothie blog for ideas.
High-Carb Smoothie Bowl for Breakfast
A fun twist on the classic fruit smoothie is a high-carb smoothie bowl. A smoothie bowl is basically a thickly made fruit smoothie that is poured into a bowl.
The smoothie is then topped with an athlete’s favorite ingredients such as fruit, nuts, seeds, and grains. Instead of drinking the smoothie, the athlete enjoys eating the smoothie from the bowl with a spoon.
If you have never made a smoothie bowl, check out the ideas Kathryn Piper, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, shares in her blog, The Ultimate Guide to Smoothie Bowl Toppings.
High-Carb Bagel Breakfast Sandwich
An easy way for athletes to boost the carb content of their breakfast is by adding a whole grain bagel to their meal. A large deli-style bagel can contain over 60 grams of carbohydrates depending on the flavor and brand (2).
To provide a comparison, a regular slice of bread provides ~15 grams of carbohydrates (3). Thus, eating a large bagel at breakfast provides the carbohydrate equivalent of ~4 slices of bread.
At breakfast, athletes can use a bagel to make a high-carb sandwich. Topping the bagel with lean protein fillings such as eggs, turkey or chicken sausage, ham, and/or reduced-fat cheese is a great way for athletes to get both carbohydrates and protein with their morning meal.
Athletes who need a quick breakfast on-the-go can enjoy a bagel topped with nut butter, sliced banana, and honey. Enjoying this breakfast bagel with a glass of low-fat milk is a nutritious way for athletes to start the day.
High-Carb Bagel Breakfast Sandwich Ideas
Some of my favorite high-carb bagel breakfast sandwich combinations include:
- Bagel with egg, ham, reduced-fat cheese
- Bagel with scrambled egg whites, spinach, tomato and sliced avocado
- Bagel with turkey sausage patty, over-hard cooked egg, reduced-fat cheese
- Bagel with almond butter, sliced banana, honey
- Avocado toast bagel sandwich
