As physique-conscious females, we're used to "feedings" rather than meals and thinking in terms of protein grams and sodium content rather than flavor and texture. But we still have a hard time thinking outside the cereal box.

Yes, you may be beyond Special K with berries and skim milk (or not?), but I can almost guarantee that breakfast is the meal with the least variety and the most boredom for you.

Maybe you are a Special K gal, and if so, this article will teach you how and why to transition beyond your breakfast with Mr. Kellogg. If you already consider yourself pretty breakfast savvy, then this will take you from merely a balanced breakfaster to a breakfast brainer!

The Reverse Pyramid

Based on the hundreds of Biosignature assessments and client consults I've conducted, the average body-conscious person is eating a moderate breakfast and lunch, small snacks, and dinner is often the biggest meal. This is considered quite optimal compared to what the general population is doing.

The average person spends her lifetime tip-toeing past breakfast, snacking through the day, and sometimes even missing lunch before filling her face with as much nutrient-deficient "food" and caffeine as possible come late afternoon. That usually does the trick until later in the day, when there's another instalment of high-calorie, no-value food at dinner.

Truly optimal distribution of calories is actually quite the opposite of the above, literally. It's known as the Reverse Pyramid, and if you think about it, it makes complete sense.

We need to "break the fast" that took place overnight and provide ample fuel to tackle the activities of the day to come. Thus, breakfast should ideally be one of your biggest meals both in calories and nutrition. As the day goes on, portion size and calorie content tapers off until your last meal, which is quite insignificant.

For a 130-pound female, it may look like this:

Breakfast: 400 calories
Snack: 350 calories
Lunch: 300 calories
Snack: 250 calories
Dinner: 200 calories
Snack: 150 calories

For a total of 1,650 calories.

The Lean and Green Challenge: Eat Dinner for Breakfast

Now that we've established the importance of a substantial breakfast, let's look at what that 400 calories should ideally consist of. After having spent ten years transitioning to the "best breakfast," I certainly have the experience to confirm that lean and green is the way to go.

Forget toasted rice flakes with some odd dehydrated form of fruit impersonating a strawberry — when you get right down to it, sugar is sugar. Whether you're taking in low-fat yogurt and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, a multigrain bagel with low-sugar jam, or organic spelt crunch cereal with baked-in dates and honey, it's all converted to glycogen in your body.

A significant percentage of the population has become terribly carb intolerant due to all of the processed, refined, non-foods we eat. We've set ourselves up for storing carbs as fat, not in the muscle cells to be used as fuel. The fact that we're overall less active and more stressed also contributes to the insulin resistant epidemic.

The best way to reverse this and switch to an optimal fat-burning, carb-tolerant mode is to eat dinner for breakfast.

A traditional meat-based dinner with a side salad and steamed vegetables is your best breakfast. This way, you aren't downing the sugar that starts the insulin-driven rollercoaster ride when you're still half asleep. Even the lean, "carb-gifted" individuals will benefit from eating meat, veggies, and essential oils for breakfast. They'll have their chance to consume carbs at other, more effective opportunities.

Here are some examples of my typical breakfasts:

• Organic ground turkey, steamed snow peas, and one teaspoon of Udo's oil

• Grass-fed extra lean ground beef, steamed asparagus, and one teaspoon of organic pistachio butter

• Wild salmon pan fried in goat's milk butter with sautéed leeks and red onions

• Elk or chicken sausage, spinach, and olive oil

Have you ever had a sugary treat such as waffles or even something more savoury like leftover pizza or Chinese food for breakfast? What you likely noticed is that you craved those same disastrous foods the entire day. That's because your first meal paves the energy and hormonal path for the day to come.

If you don't believe me, just replace the Special K Challenge with the Lean and Green Challenge. Over the next five days, eat different animal proteins, steamed vegetables, and healthy oils for breakfast and note the difference in your energy levels, cravings, and body composition.

What About Dinner?

So if dinner is for breakfast, what's for dinner? Breakfast, of course!

Here's the great thing, even on these lean and green days, you can have more traditional breakfast foods. The key is timing. If it's a training day, have your oatmeal, cereal, pancakes, fruit, and other "healthy carbs" post-workout and properly combined with adequate protein.

If it's a non-training day, an omelette is your best dinner. Egg yolks, especially the free-range organic variety, are high in choline, which has a positive impact on brain health. Dinner is often a crazy time for women juggling multiple agendas and responsibilities, so an egg-based dinner will provide a timely mental boost!

Acetylcholine also helps us get a restful night's sleep by strengthening the so-called stimulus barrier that can make someone a light sleeper. Additionally, choline is often taken to boost libido and sex drive, so that 6:00 pm veggie frittata may help you get a better night's sleep one way or another.

Eggs aren't your only dinner option of course, so eat a variety of protein sources throughout your day. If you had hard-boiled eggs for a snack, consider what hasn't made its way onto your plate yet. Lean and green eating doesn't have to be synonymous with bland and boring. In addition to aiming for lots of variety in your meat, vegetables, and healthy fats, look for new recipes or create your own to avoid a dietary rut.

Here's one of my favourite dinners to get you started:

Leek and Feta Frittada

1 large leek, sliced and rings separated
1/4 red onion, chopped
1 cup organic baby spinach
2 tablespoon of goat's milk feta, cubed
6 organic free-range eggs
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Fresh ground pepper

Directions: Start preparing the vegetables by sautéing the leek and red onion in olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the spinach until wilted and then remove the vegetable combination. Next, whisk the eggs and ground pepper in a medium size bowl. Add more oil to the pan if necessary or spray with olive oil spray. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Pour beaten eggs into the pan, cover until half cooked (outsides will be cooked and insides runny). Pour sautéed vegetables evenly over the eggs and cover. When the eggs are almost entirely cooked, add crumbled or chopped fat and cover until melted and the egg mixture is fully cooked.

Saved by Carb Cycling!

Carb cycling is another way to avoid singing the food blues while eliminating any nutritional deficiencies. Even if you're the most compliant, motivated "lean and greener" out there, the day will come when your conditioned brain kicks in and craves a typical breakfast.

Great news! It came be done, with some careful planning and proper nutrient combinations.

If you're itching for some oatmeal, simply take out the fat and replace it with a clean starchy carb and/or low-glycemic fruit, such as mixed berries. Be warned, however, odds are that you'll consume more carbs and total calories on this day. The timing may be ideal, as after your Lean and Green Challenge you've earned a higher, clean carb day. Again, keep the fats low during these meals.

Note how I said a clean carb day. I highly recommend getting back on the 5:1 day rotation or allowing yourself a transition day of moderate carbs, protein, and fat (40/30/30) if your goal is fat loss.

Heck, this is the queen of breakfast plans for all of your goals; unless you're that unusual "I'd love to be a skinny-fat" person who tolerates carbs like oil does water. If that's the case, cereal for breakfast with a side of orange juice or a flavored yogurt parfait with granola is for you.

One of my favourite reward recipes after a cycle of Lean and Green breakfasts is healthy pancakes. It's a family staple and great hot off the grill or left over as a quick snack or bread substitute.

Healthy Pancakes

1 part egg whites
1 part 1% cottage cheese
1 part dry oatmeal
Cinnamon and vanilla extract

Directions: Mix in a blender until the smooth consistency of pancake batter. Let it sit for a few minutes to thicken. If the mix is too runny, add some more oatmeal. Too thick? Then a bit more egg whites are required. Cook as you would pancakes, on a hot griddle until bubbles appear through. Flip. Top with berries, organic plain yogurt, some agave syrup, and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Each medium-sized pancake (4 inch diameter) is only about 55 calories.

A delicious alternative is to add pumpkin puree or leftover sweet potatoes and nutmeg to the mix for heavenly and nutrient-dense harvest pancakes. The variations are endless if you keep proper nutrient combinations in mind.

Some other breakfast choices on a higher carb day:

• Organic ground chicken, quinoi flakes, and goji berries

• A shake made with organic hazelnut milk, whey powder, and cinnamon

• Egg whites, oatmeal, and blueberries

• A shake made with strawberry Metabolic Drive, frozen raspberries, and Superfood.

On my higher carb days, my only source of intentional fat comes from Flameout capsules (two per feeding for a total of 12 grams). I get the rest from trace amounts in the white protein sources, clean carbs such as sweet potatoes, brown rice, and oatmeal, and protein powder.

I aim to keep fat at 10 to 20% of my total caloric intake on these days. Whereas on my lean and green days, fat makes up as much as 55% of my total calories, with the rest consisting of about 10 to 20% carbs (almost exclusively post-workout) and 35% protein.

Transitioning

Many people say they can make drastic dietary changes easily and are committed to doing "whatever it takes" to get results, but in reality this is short lived. Once the going gets tough, the tough crack open a box of cereal bars and scarf down two on the way to work because they're running late.

This isn't to say that not a single soul can make it happen; some people have what it takes to make cold turkey changes and can fast-track beyond transition dieting. If this applies to you, great, you can go fold your laundry for a bit.

For the other 99% of you, for long-term success and lifestyle changes, I highly recommend transitioning. What this means is that you assess your current breakfast with the goal of progressing to the next level of a better breakfast.

Over time, you'll continue to transition to the next level, whether it be every month, three months, or a year, until you reach the Perfect World level. For me, this process has taken about ten years. Yup, a decade.

This may sound like slow progress, but the way I eat is now totally normal for my brain and body. I don't feel like I'm following a program, a "diet," or some part-time plan for temporary results. It's been an organic metamorphosis from really crappy breakfasts, like chocolate Pop Tarts and peanut butter sandwiches (not kidding), to bison with a side of Swiss chard and red onions. During that time, every other aspect of the journey to my best body has transitioned accordingly — training, supplementing, lifestyle, and knowledge.

Don't try to change everything all at once. Start with just changing your breakfast first and foremost. Take the time to note how your body reacts to certain food changes, food combinations, new recipes, and ways of eating.

Putting it All Together: Your Perfect World Breakfast Plan

Wow! That's a lot of information on just one meal. Sure, it's the most important one of the day, but it's not the only meal. Let's see how this Perfect World Breakfast plan is put together.

Breakfast is Served

If you fall off the Perfect World Breakfast plan, don't write your attempt off as a failure and return to multigrain bagels and light cream cheese. Remember that building your body and adhering to your plan is a day by day, meal by meal, and minute by minute process.

You likely won't transition from Special K to buffalo overnight. But by striving to master that first meal of the morning, you'll one day wake and realize that you're officially the queen at thinking outside the cereal box.