Head of Athletic Performance Matt Parr shares his thoughts on what makes a great breakfast.

Good food not only keeps you fuelled, but is also essential for keeping your digestive system running smoothly. Making the right choices at breakfast is a key step in making sure athletes, staff, and fans are ready for the day ahead.

Head of Athletic Performance Matt Parr talks breakfast:

Q. Take us through what a great breakfast looks like? 
A. For our athletes, that means including complex carbohydrates and a high protein content. If they can also add some brightly coloured berries, that’s a great boost for immunity and helps reduce inflammation.  

Q. Is it true that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? 
A. Breakfast is a key meal for our athletes. It replenishes energy and fuels performance for the day ahead, supporting focus, endurance and recovery. 

Q. What do you encourage the players to eat for breakfast? 
A. On high-load training days, we ask them to consume more complex carbohydrates compared to lower-intensity days. One constant, however, is a high protein intake - 2.2g per kg of body weight. As a standard, they aim for 30–40g of protein every three hours, around six times a day. For breakfast, this could look like 3-4 eggs with tofu or sausages, and maybe some Greek yoghurt.  They could also include a Yakult. 

Q. Does it matter what time the players eat breakfast? 
A. We would always encourage the players to eat more than 60-90 minutes before training to avoid indigestion.

Q. How long before a game would players typically eat? 
A. 3.5 – 3 hours before kick off  is generally a good idea. 

Q. For the players, does  a matchday breakfast differ from a typical breakfast? 
A. Yes, a match day breakfast is very high in complex carbs, moderate in protein and needs to be low in fat.  

Q. And finally, Yakult Original or Yakult Balance? 
A. Team Yakult Original 

In partnership with Yakult. To find out more about Yakult, visit: https://www.yakult.co.uk/