What Breakfast Gets You Going?

Crash McBang asks: "Apparently many are foregoing the morning coffee for something sweeter, according to a recent article in RedOrbit. 'There is nothing better than the feel of Coke on the back of your throat in the morning,' said McKinsey, a morning pop drinker since the 1970s, savoring the cold, stinging sensation that coffee drinkers just don't get. What gets you going after waking up?"

Comments

Ahh!

[suso]

You are torturing me! I have to fast this morning until 11am because I have this health screening thing at work. And now a story on Slashdot about breakfast. Of all the days, I swear. I guess though that on any given day someone reading Slashdot has to fast for some reason.

To answer your question though, I usually have some sort of pastry, peanut butter and jelly sandwich or donuts. On the weekends when I have more time, I make eggs and bacon or waffles for my family. And milk of course. I'm not a coffee drinker. Coffee ice cream though, now that gets me going. But not in the mornings.

Re:Ahh!

[Anne_Nonymous]

>> pastry, peanut butter... jelly sandwich... donuts... eggs and bacon... waffles... milk... coffee ice cream

Better get the diabetes test *and* the cholesterol screening.

Re:Ahh!

[lisaparratt]

But they do make you +5, Funny.

Fruit!

[ilovegeorgebush]

Cereal, a nice cup of Tea (yes, i'm British) and some fruit gets me going. Apparently, Apples are more effective at waking you up than coffee!

Re:Fruit!

[xtracto]

I love honey nut cereal mixed with shredded wheat (it is the ONLY way I can stand eating wheat cereals without feeling that I am eating a cardboard box...) . I add some sliced bananas.

Of course I also get a cup of coffee and waffles (difficult to get in UK, the "normal" egg waffles with honey and butter and no the potato waffles they eat here...).

Something interesting is that in UK people often have something really light for breakfast (as parent said), unlike in Mexico where the breakfast my mom used to give us where two scrambled eggs with ham and some mashed refried beans as side order. Or the typical Moyetes (a french like bread sliced in half with refried beans and grated with cheese... oooh god).

Of course you could ask what about the [in]famous English breakfast (bacon, "yummy-looking" black pudding, eggs, some kind of horrible tomatoes, sausage, beans and if u are vegy, mushrooms) but as far as I have seen, it is not until 11:00 (lunch hour) that they take these. My gf used to work in a restaurant where they served "all day english breakfast". It is very "funny" to watch people ask for an english breakfast at 10:00 pm...

BTW, did you know that Irish drink more coffee than tea? well, that is something an Irish man told me maybe it is bollocks =oP

To quote Dave Attell...

[antifoidulus]

"a tongue in the ass. There is no alarm clock on that one, you are up, you are shaking, you are in a karate stance, the day has begun"

Re:To quote Dave Attell...

[clickclickdrone]

>a tongue in the ass
I used to get that from my pet dog. I've learned to sleep on my back these days.

Breakfast of Choice

[pertelote]

A mega-mug of crushed ice filled with Diet Coke, and a doughnut, or that extra special cold pizza stashed behind something in the frig. Hello World!

Re:Breakfast of Choice

[cHALiTO]

Man, waking up and finding leftover cold pizza in the fridge is one of the best things in the world.

But when that's not possible, I usually take some cereal + milk, or just coffee. And the coffee I take usually at work.. then I have a good meal at noon.

Breakfast?

[physicsnick]

My breakfast is an extra fifteen minutes of sleep.

Sugar addiction

[Idaho]

The reason why it works even if you drink soft drinks without caffeine, is because the sugar will give you a quick energy boost.

It seems that having soft drinks for breakfast is quite unhealthy, lowers your attention span, etc.

A Finnish study of 404 10-11 year-olds showed that withdrawal, anxiousness, depression, delinquency and aggression were twice as frequent in those consuming 30 per cent more sucrose in the form of ice cream, sugary snacks and soft drinks.
[..]
Over the longer term, yo-yoing blood sugar levels are also associated with low mood, behavioural problems, lower IQ and poor academic performance.

Here's the source (but I'm sure there are many other sources that say the same thing).

Coke for breakfast?

[nwbvt]

Please tell me you are all just drug addicts and you are talking about cocaine, not Coca-Cola. That stuff is disgusting in the morning. And yes, I have tried it.

And people wonder why Americans are so overweight. We have started drinking sugary soda in the mornings too now. Are you too lazy to brew a quick cup of coffee and get your caffeine rush there?

Re:Coke for breakfast?

[dknight]

boy, you sure got my number there
been drinking nothing but Coke morning, noon, and night for as long as I can remember, and I'm an absolute WHALE at 115lbs!

whooo boy, us Americans are just ready to burst.

Re:Coke for breakfast?

[JoeWalsh]

Long ago, the Coca-Cola management decided that their main competitor wasn't Pepsi or RC or even lemonade. They realized their main competitor was water! So they set out to market the product as a substitute for water. And it's worked very well.

Of course, these days both Coke and Pepsi own bottled water operations - which are much more profitable on a per unit basis than the soda pop they also sell.

Still, it's interesting how a huge company can change a society when it sets its collective, corporate mind to the task.

Re:Coke for breakfast?

[skyhausmann]

"We have started drinking sugary soda in the mornings too now." Shut up. "Are you too lazy to brew a quick cup of coffee and get your caffeine rush there?" Shut up.

Kids

[Dr. Hok]

My breakfast is an extra fifteen minutes of sleep.

This revives a faint memory of the time when I didn't have kids yet. Oh, how I miss those days, when nobody used to jump full speed right into my groins in the middle of the sweetest REM phase...

Anyway: Kids DO get you going in the morning, whether you're ready or not. And forget about those extra 15 minutes of sleep.

Irish Coffee

[Phil John]

Sorry to nitpick, but Irish Coffee is actually neat Whisky mixed with Cane Sugar, after which Black Coffee is poured on. Finally the mixture is topped with Double Cream whipped till slightly thick. This makes a lovely looking glass with half the liquid almost black and the other half almost white. When you drink it the two parts start mixing.

Interestingly it's also a relatively new invention, not much more than 50 years old.

Ruination of good Coffee and good Whisky as my dad always says ;o)

Re:Irish Coffee

[cerberusss]

Irish Coffee is actually neat Whisky mixed with Cane Sugar, after which Black Coffee is poured on

Aaaah Irish Coffee... the only drink which contains all the necessary daily nutritients, namely:

• sugar
• fat
• alcohol
• caffeine

Re:Irish Coffee

[stonecypher]

Interestingly it's also a relatively new invention, not much more than 50 years old.

Also interesting is that Irish Coffee is an accidental American invention. An individual from a San Fransisco bar called "the Buena Vista" stumbled across a variation on the theme in the Shannon Airport, and on returning home talked the bartender into experimenting with him at length. The drink they ended up with is significantly different than the Irish drink, which was really just a heavy unpasteurized spiked coffee with sugar.

For example, the characteristic "double cream on top" was created here when the local proprietor misunderstood what kept the cream afloat (the cream only floats when cold enough that the drink won't melt it until it releases air; in the original Irish version, it's a thick-walled, refrigerated mug, whereas in the Americanized version, the cream itself is first frothed to make stronger bubbles (as with Cappucino,) then intensely chilled to get the puff to last without the support of the glass.

Unfortunately, Ireland has begun to retcon history to make this drink their own. C'est la vie.

Re:Irish Coffee

[kfg]

Ruination of good Coffee and good Whisky as my dad always says

That's why I use the cheap stuff for my breakfast. Coffee and whiskey you wouldn't deign to drink straight turns into the elixer of the gods when you mix 'em. Throw in a quarter ounce of good, unadulterated tobacoo and I'm good to go for the day.

Interestingly it's also a relatively new invention, not much more than 50 years old.

A coincidence that it arrived just in time for my arrival? I don't think so.

In any case the Irish have always been pretty good at making stuff up yesterday and tommorow calling it an ancient tradition. Bumpy Jumpers (Irish sweater for the Yanks; not to be confused with a lumpy jumper, you might acutally want one of those; and they do look good in bumpy jumpers); little more than an early 20th century marketing gimmic as a way to bring some money into Aran. The "traditonal" Irish outfit? Designed out of, ummmmm, whole cloth by nationalist commercial fashion designer about 1920. The traditional Irish music of my youth bears almost no resemblence to the "traditional" Irish music you hear today. Who let the 'zouks and goatskins in anyway?

As an aside I showed up for a gig as a traditional Irish fiddler once and the folk nazi promoter got all bent out of shape because I wasn't wearing the prescribed native peasant dress for the music. I was wearing a nice, gray suit and a tie.

Look at some old photographs. A nice, gray suit and a tie is the traditional clothing of the 19th century Irish farmer/fiddler. Just because it's "normal" don't mean it's not ethnic. The suit is the ethnic clothing of the Brits; which they spread to the world at the point of a gun. Indians are now prone to call their own clothes "ethnic."

Anyway, so maybe I'll have an apple or a bannana at breakfast as well. It's no surprise that an apple wakes you up better than coffee; coffee is just a stimulant. Glucose is the fuel your brain runs on. Rule of thumb, carbs when you want to be alert, fats and protein when you want to just veg out/go to sleep. Think about it, Chinese food and an hour later you're hungry again and looking for more food, Christmas goose and you fall asleep on the sofa while trying to watch the game.

KFG

Re:A very common breakfast

[value_added]

Coffee and a smoke. Then some more coffee.

Indeed. I'd go so far as to say it's common world round.

On the other hand, the question is a bit dumb. What works for breakfast has to be taken in context with what happened before breakfast and what routinely happens after breakfast.

If you're accustomed to eating 3 full meals a day, your body will expect (demand, actually), a full breakfast when you wake up. If you do the cigarette and coffee routine (with or without the traditional croissant, beignet, etc., and/or a shot of something to help you start your day), a full breakfast will make you feel nauseous for most of the day. And that's irrespective of whether you work the land or sit in a chair and stare at a computer screen.

Personally, I think the Italians, etc. have it right. Eat a light breakfast and set aside 2-3 hours for a large lunch. Note that beverages manufactured from corn-syrup aren't part of the equation. Asking a food question from those who haven't been taught or discovered what it is for themselves is entertaining at best.

A bowl of Cheerios, with Pepsi in lieu of milk

[vrmlguy]

Actually, that was my great-grandmother's usual breakfast. It always used to freak me out when I saw her eating it, but I guess it isn't much different from eating dry cereal and washing it down with soda. She was born in the 1890s and out-lived all of my other great-grandparents, so maybe it's good for you. I always thought that habit was unique to her, but a few years ago I saw a review of a play wherein an elderly character did the same thing. Google doesn't seem to turn up anything, however.

Totally off-subject, but she had a son who lost a total of 7 fingers in multiple cotton gin accidents. Dispite this handicap, he could still roll his own cigarettes, which was truly amazing to my five-year-old eyes. IIRC, he died of lung cancer about the same time as her; perhaps he should have been eating the same breakfast.