MACRO-FRIENDLY IRISH BREAKFAST

It's almost impossible to travel in Ireland and not at least see photos of the typical Irish Breakfast. The breakfast may vary slightly from region to region. Our first experience was at the hotel breakfast buffet.

As we were assessing the breakfast options I was happy to see the European version of bacon. This always makes me laugh as almost every other part of the world has the actual MEAT portion of bacon while in America, the marketing of bacon has us fooled. What every other country considers, “the scraps” is what Americans pay extra for. The European bacon is actually quite lean. Don’t get me wrong, I love the fatty bacon in the US, although while trying to keep dietary fat low, the Euro bacon makes room for fat in other areas. Don’t worry, they have that fat area covered.

Here is what the typical Irish breakfast includes:

• Bacon Rashers

• Irish Pudding

• Toast

• Grilled Tomatoes and sometimes Mushrooms

• Baked Beans

• Pork Sausage

• Hash Browns

As you can see in the photo above, I skipped the baked beans hash browns and the pork sausage. Skipping these items allowed for a little extra fat and carbs in the form of butter and toast.

What is Irish pudding, you may be asking yourself? Well, I had the same question and I could have never guessed what it actually was.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IRISH PUDDING

​The traditional white or black breakfast pudding is comprised of oats or barely, pork meat and fat. The original recipe included pork blood which, from my understanding, is not typically used in the current Irish breakfast pudding. The pork blood that is used in other countries provides a good source of iron which would put a check on my list as to why I would think about adding this to the breakfast plate. With just oats and pork meat/fat, I would just rather have straight bacon or sausage, thanks. The consistency of the Irish Pudding in my opinion is similar to a dog treat. Hard, somewhat bland tasting and what do you know, it is also used as a treat in canine training.

NOW FOR THE MACROS

For the typical Irish Breakfast of bacon, baked beans, toast, hash browns, Irish pudding and tomatoes the break down would be approximately

• Calories : 790

• Protein: 34.9g

• Carbs: 71.9g

• Fat: 42g

Now that is a large breakfast in terms of fat and carbohydrates to consume all at once. The adjustments I made to include toast, low fat butter, Bacon rashers, tomatoes and Irish pudding works out to approximately:

• Calories: 393

• Protein: 24.3g

• Carbs: 32.9g

• Fat: 15g

Depending on someone’s goals and body type, the first breakfast could work with a little reduction of fat by removing the pork sausage. So, if you are looking to get the full Irish breakfast experience, this can be a handy guide to help you navigate the morning. I’ll leave the choice of Irish dog treats to you ;)