I Study Brain Health & Longevity: This Is My Favorite Breakfast For Cognition

When it comes to breakfast recipes, something quick and efficient tends to be the goal. By quick, we generally mean less than half an hour or so—perhaps no more than 10 minutes on a good day. By efficient, we mean something that checks all of the nutritional boxes you need to start your morning off right. This includes protein, healthy fats, and, of course, as many vitamins and minerals as possible. 

Eating a balanced breakfast is especially beneficial for optimizing brain function. On a recent episode of the mindbodygreen podcast, we asked cognitive health and longevity expert Max Lugavere about his go-to morning meal—here, he explains how to kickstart your day with a brain-loving breakfast. 

Like we said before, it’s important to incorporate healthy protein early in the day. Lugavere opts for eggs—a few of them, at least. He tends to cook up four to five whole eggs, occasionally mixing in some isolated egg whites to boost the protein content. "I actually think it's really useful to have whole eggs as well as pure egg whites," he notes. "Egg yolks are a cognitive multivitamin, so I'm a huge advocate of whole egg consumption." Specifically, eggs are rich in choline, the precursor chemical for acetylcholine, one of the most fundamental neurotransmitters.

Lugavere adds vegetables to his egg mix as well, typically a leafy green: "I love to buy a bag of frozen spinach, and I'll just throw it in there frozen, because it easily loosens from the bag into the pan," he says. You could always opt for fresh spinach leaves if you’ve got ‘em, but this is a quicker and more affordable way to get your daily dose of leafy greens.

Though some people may love the ritual of eating the same meal every morning, we know others can find it too repetitive. If you stick with the base of eggs and greens, feel free to switch it up. A few ideas include: 

If you’re not an egg-lover at heart (or cannot tolerate them), don’t fret. While Lugavere does consider eggs a “cognitive multivitamin,” you can get your fill of nutrients from other nutrient-dense foods, and might we suggest an actual multivitamin? The mbg ultimate multivitamin+ is a worthy choice, as it contains 14 vitamins, 13 minerals, and six botanical bioactives to support immune, brain, heart, bone, muscle, beauty, eye, & whole-body health.* The formula uses non-GMO and allergen-free sources, plus, it’s 100% vegan—which can’t be said about a daily serving of eggs. 

And for those who tend to have trouble stomaching just about anything in the morning, it’s important to note that the dose, bioavailability, bioactivity, and gentleness of each ingredient in mbg's multi have been optimized.* No queasiness here!