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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Dr. Ken Berry advises diabetics to choose higher-protein, higher-fat breakfasts such as eggs, avocado, bacon, steak, and full-fat Greek yogurt, and to avoid carbohydrate-heavy options like oatmeal, bananas, English muffins, muesli with berries, and boxed cereal with skim milk. He says these choices should be checked against personal blood sugar readings, and that skipping breakfast can also be an option.
Key Points
- The five better breakfast choices named in the video are: 1) eggs, 2) avocado, 3) bacon, 4) steak, and 5) full-fat Greek yogurt with a sprinkling of nuts.
- The five worst breakfast choices named in the video are: 1) oatmeal, 2) banana, 3) English muffins, 4) muesli with berries, and 5) cereal with skim milk.
- Berry's reasoning is that carbohydrates break down into glucose and fructose, which he says spike blood sugar and fructose promotes liver fat storage.
- He argues that eggs, bacon, and steak supply essential amino acids and essential fatty acids that the body cannot make on its own.
- He cites avocado as having about 500 mg potassium and 8 g carbohydrate per 100 g, compared with about 350 mg potassium and 22 g carbohydrate per 100 g for banana.
- He says skipping breakfast can be acceptable, since fasting lets blood sugar and insulin levels drift lower.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Check blood sugar with a glucometer or continuous glucose monitor (CGM) at 30, 60, and 90 minutes after eating, the first time you try a new breakfast, and compare the reading with the breakfast recommended by Berry versus the one recommended by the American Diabetes Association or other guidance. A large spike means the food is a poor choice for you regardless of its nutrition profile.
- Concrete instructions: When choosing eggs, prefer pastured or natural eggs, which Berry says have higher omega-3 content and more vitamins and minerals. For bacon, a pastured variety is preferred for the same reason; he says cheaper cured bacon is also acceptable.
- Concrete instructions: For steak, choose grass-fed, grass-finished cuts if possible, though he says even the cheapest steak provides vitamins and minerals.
- Concrete instructions: If you want to skip breakfast, drink black coffee, unsweetened tea, or sparkling water instead of eating.
- Berry says oats and muesli are high in carbohydrate and that adding sugar, honey, or agave to oatmeal makes blood sugar spikes worse.
- He notes that a banana's potassium reputation is overstated compared with avocado, based on the per-100-gram figures he cites.
- He describes the lactose in skim milk as contributing glucose, fructose, and galactose, which he says raise blood sugar and promote fat storage in the liver.
- Berry frames these as his own views that viewers should test, rather than as professional medical advice, and encourages diabetics to verify results with their own monitoring.
Bottom Line
Berry's approach centers on personal blood sugar testing rather than on general guidelines: diabetics should test how each breakfast affects them, favor protein and fat over grains, fruit, and sugar, and consider whether skipping breakfast suits them better.
