Breakfast youth hockey players skip most often is also the meal that costs them the most energy later in the day. Part 6 of 9 in the Athlete Nutrition series, built from the weekly nutrition tips in the Hockey IQ book. New here? Start with the Nutrition Basics intro. My oldest daughter has never been a morning person. Her biorhythm just doesn’t function that way. So there was a specific kind of quiet in the car at 5:40 in the morning on the way to a 6:00 am ice time. Nobody talks. The smelly hockey bag is in the back, the 14-year-old is in the passenger seat with her hood up and headphones in, and the question “did you eat anything?” gets the same answer it always gets: “I’m not hungry.” I believed her, for years. It’s early, her stomach isn’t awake, and I wasn’t going to force food on her; I don’t believe that force-feeding creates healthy eating habits. So she skated on nothing, most days went to school on nothing, and by the time she came home in the afternoon she was the hangry version of herself I wrote about in the carbs post. Today she is a senior in high school, and she spent this summer living by herself, away from home, in her own temporary apartment for an internship. When I joined her for the last week of her stay, something really surprising happened. My daughter got up and made breakfast for us. She fried some eggs, buttered toast, and added berries and avocado to the plate. She looked at me and said, “Well, you always said breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” So all the things we do are setting examples for our kids. And sometimes it just takes time, and patience.
Breakfast Youth Hockey Players: The Tip From the Book
Skipping breakfast can hurt energy, focus, and reaction time. Breakfast refuels the body after sleep and prepares it to train or compete. This is breakfast youth hockey players cannot skate around: skip it, and the tank starts empty. HealthyChildren.org backs this up too, noting that kids who eat breakfast show better focus, memory, and energy through the morning. The book’s rule is blunt: No breakfast = lower energy later in the day. By morning a kid has gone ten to twelve hours without food. The energy stores are low and the brain hasn’t been fed. Send that player to school, then to practice at 4:00, on a snack of a bag of Goldfish grabbed on the way out the door, and the whole day is already running on fumes. Breakfast is the easiest place to hit two rules from earlier in this series at once: the big protein earlier rule and the steady, low-glycemic carbs from the carbs post. And if your kid is like mine and really doesn’t like to eat breakfast, try an ALOHA bar on the way to the school bus, or one of those fruit smoothies we talked about earlier.
Breakfast Examples for Hockey Players, From the Book
- 🟥🟨 Eggs + toast
- 🟨🟪 Oatmeal + fruit
- 🟥🟨 Yogurt + granola
- 🟨🟦 Smoothie
Each one pairs a carb for energy with a protein for staying power. None of them take more than five minutes.
Breakfast Youth Hockey Players Recipe: Two-Minute Microwave Egg Cup
Faster than cereal, and it’s real protein. All three of my girls can make this half asleep, which is the point. You need:
- 2 eggs 🟥🟧🟩
- A splash of milk 🟥🟩
- A pinch of salt and pepper
- A small handful of shredded cheese 🟥🟩
- Optional: a spoon of salsa, or a few spinach leaves torn up 🟩🟪
- 1 slice of whole-grain toast or half an English muffin 🟨
- A coffee mug
Steps:
- Crack the eggs into the mug. Add the milk, salt, and pepper. Beat with a fork until yellow.
- Stir in the cheese and spinach if using.
- Microwave 45 seconds. Stir. Microwave another 30–45 seconds until the eggs are set (not runny).
- Let it sit 30 seconds (the mug is hot), then eat with toast. Add fruit if there’s time.
Protein, carbs, a little healthy fat, and done before the car is warm. It also works in a dorm-room microwave. Quick rule for breakfast youth hockey players: no breakfast means lower energy later in the day. Every week of the Hockey IQ book ends with a nutrition tip like this one, plus a full Nutrition IQ appendix at the back. Get the book · Back to Athlete Nutrition
