I grew up in Levenshulme, Manchester, and didn’t have much if at all, especially when we’re talking about money, finance, wealth, financial power, and things of that nature.
As a result, you do what you have to do. Including:
- Eat certain types of foods.
- Buy on the cheap.
- Prioritize price over quality.
- And eat shitty breakfasts at the expense of health.
Unhealthy high-carb breakfast foods were part of the program, naturally. Even well into adulthood when I made and bought my own foods and breakfast.
Years later I ended up with Hidradenitis Suppuativa, Folliculitis, Skin issues, Heart disease, sugar sensitivity, and my anaemia got worse.
Let’s talk about these specific foods I used to eat, stuff my face with, and why you should avoid them if carbs are your concern.
Also, when I talk about high carb breakfast foods:
- I’m talking about how easy it is to rack up the carbs (because it’s addictive).
- Or just how the food is high carb regardless.
Here’s a list.
1. Chicken Batchelors super noodles 100g
Super noodles were the thing when I was growing up. Everyone at them. Everyone loved them. And everyone bought them from the supermarket once they reached adulthood.
It wasn’t just a matter of being a kid that likes junk food to a certain degree.
They’re only 100g so you can eat 2 or 3 of these for breakfast with ease, or throughout the day, and rack up 60+g of carbs with ease. Including the bad ingredients (gluten).
2. Honey nut cheerios 370g
Honey nut cheerios were one of the cereals with praises being sung at the top of people’s lungs. Especially the food industry and the health industry by association.
I mean we all know how HEALTHY honey is, right? Plus the food is loaded with added vitamins, nothing could go wrong.
Except the amount you shove down your throat per meal is brutal as far as carb count goes.
3. Ricicles cereal 450g
Ricicles weren’t as famous as honey nut cheerios, but they’re still known and were eaten until there was nothing left.
The problem I had with this cereal is I’d not just eat it for breakfast with tons of milk, i’d also eat it later In the day, or at night, for a “snack” when hungry.
I wonder why….
4. Shanghai noodles 340g
From time to time I’d have Sharwoods noodles for breakfast, a brand of egg noodles in the UK. And these might be the most shocking items on this list.
Each pack has 340g, a portion is 125g (for the pack, not carbs). I’d easily eat half the pack in one go, meaning I was almost hitting the 100+ range in carbohydrates.
5. Coco Pops breakfast bar 20g x6
Notice how on the breakfast bar they brag about the amount of calories, implying that it’s “Low” and healthy by association.
What they don’t brag about is the carb count. Each bar is 14g, with 5.4 being sugars. But more importantly, most people aren’t ONLY gonna eat 1 bar, more like 2 or 3.
One by itself for breakfast is a joke. You’ll be starving by lunchtime and you’ll eat some more, spiking your blood sugars to the moon.
6. Müller Corner Vanilla Yogurt With Chocolate Balls 124g
Yoghurt is legit, so why not add some chocolate balls and vanilla to the mix to make it even tastier? Oh don’t worry, it being tasty doesn’t take away from the health benefits in the slightest.
Sarcasm aside, the ingredients list sugar early on the list with gluten, etc, meaning you won’t be satisfied with JUST one yoghurt, so the carbs will stack like Tetris blocks.
Relevant: Low Carb Filling Foods: A Helpful List You’ll Love (Guaranteed)
7. Brioche Chocolate Chip Rolls
Brioche rolls. French bread basically. It sounds good, rolls off the tongue well, looks as good as it tastes, and can only be a harmless snack.
The truth is with 16.9g of carbs per brioche roll, with 8 being in the pack, just 2 to 4 (which is likely) will rack up your insulin.
I did this for years because they were cheap, which was s a mistake.
8. 6 Pack Tiger Rolls
Tiger rolls or “Tiger” bread is a type of dutch bread that tastes miles better than regular bread. In fact, the taste is so good you don’t even need butter or anything to improve the original taste.
That’s the problem though. Each roll, which is quite big, is over 40g of carbohydrates per bite.
I’d eat at least 2 of these for breakfast, some days I’d only have one (which is still a lot of carbs).
When bread like this cost 80p per pack, it’s no wonder people go for it if they don’t have the money for much more.
9. Croissants
Another European bread you see a lot in supermarkets. This type of bread if you call it that tastes much better than regular bread.
No questions asked.
Each croissant though is stacked with carbs, at least it is when you eat it outside of Europe anyway. I’d easily eat 2 or 3 of these for breakfast, or less if paired with someone equally as bad.
10. Warburtons wholemeal bread
Notice how on the front they sell it as WHOLEMEAL. As well as “rich in whole grains” on the right side in green, and “high fibre” on the left.
Well, that’s nothing but a flipping lie. Including the idea of “NO ADDED SUGAR” in the middle.
It has over 16g of carbs per slice, and the fibre is LESS than 3g. That means by UK standards the carb count is already accounted for with the fibre, so it’s still over 16 per slice.
There’s sugar as well, plus added ingredients.
11. Brown/white sugar with tea and milk
It’s not like I was only having 1 teaspoon of sugar. No, I had at least 3 or 4 teaspoons of sugar with my tea.
That means 16g of sugar in a cup, NOT including the amount of milk poured into it.
I’d have this with breakfast, but I’d also have this tea, milk, and sugar combo at least 3 times per day.
12. Honey and tea
I used to add at least 3 teaspoons of honey, if not more to my tea. And if I didn’t have tea, I’d add it to water on a regular basis.
If I didn’t have the water with honey in the morning with breakfast, I’d just take a scoop to two for myself (the honey by itself).
Honey’s healthy after all. A couple of spoons a day is known for its supposed health benefits.
13. Begel
Begels are nice. Even without any butter they taste good. But if we judge by supermarket standards, which basically is the standard, there are over 45g of carbs per begel.
That’s insanity.
I used to eat at least 2 of these per day to “fill me up”, meaning almost 100g of carbs (or much more when combined with other foods) by the end of breakfast.
14. Pitta Bread
I wasn’t even fond of this bread. It’s not like I loved the taste or I was hooked on it. Again, like I said in the beginning, I chose this product based on the PRICE (£0.55p for 6).
Also, just one of these pieces of bread seemed to be more filling than the others.
28g of carbs per pitta bread with an OK amount of protein.
15. Nan Bread
A food eaten a lot and made a lot by Asians in the UK. Asians meaning Indians, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, etc.
You can buy packs for cheap from the supermarket, which was my motivation at the time, and it tastes good with garlic.
60p per pack, around 30g carbs per nan bread. Starch is also high. A relatively good amount of protein.
This also was one of the pieces of bread that “filled me up” more than other carb foods.
16. Pancakes
Pancakes are relatively lower per piece than other carby foods (13g says Tesco), but it’s still unhealthy for breakfast in their standard form.
It’s not something you eat “Only” plain either. I had it with syrup, drizzled over 2 or 3 of them at a time.
That only makes the carbs AND sugar content worse on your body over time.
17. Crumpets
This food is a cliche in the UK. It’s the one thing most people outside the UK, though mainly the USA remembers the UK for.
Or I should say stereotypes and criticizes the UK for eating.
Jokes aside, I really did have 2 crumpets with butter. 21g of carb per crumpet if bought from a supermarket. And that’s ignoring the long list of bad ingredients (dextrose).
18. Tea and biscuits
Now, this is where it gets even more cliche. But it’s true. Being raised in the UK the “tea and biscuits” stereotype is true and there’s no point denying it.
Jokes aside, the combination of tea and biscuits is DETRIMENTAL to your health if your diet is pure carbs and sugary foods.
You end up eating multiple biscuits, like 5 or more if you’re doing it for breakfast. And you can only imagine what that did to my energy since I have gilbert syndrome.
19. White bread and butter
When you mix sugar with healthy fats like butter, you essentially RUIN the digestive process and force your body to fight harder than it needs to.
This is the reason why they claim fat is bad (it’s the sugar actually).
Bread and butter are one of the best combinations out there if you can only have a slice with it, but most don’t, and that’s where the problems begin as a breakfast food.
20. Scones
Despite plain scones being somewhat better, they have 34+g of carbs per scone. There’s 7.4g of sugar as well, depending on where you buy it.
Scones taste like heaven, but that comes at a price for a breakfast meal.
21. Crackers and cheese
The crackers and cheese I’m talking about didn’t look this fancy, but still, it’s all the same. The cheese is good, but the pairing with crackers is bad because it’s easy to indulge.
More so if you’re sensitive to carbs or are having so much that you WILL end up sensitive.
It’s a nice breakfast but at the cost of not being too filling and everything else.
22. Waffles
And can’t forget waffles. You can buy a pack from the supermarket for dirt cheap. So why wouldn’t you buy it?
That’s what I thought, and I chomped through it on most mornings. Sometimes with syrup or honey, other times plain to “save” money.
It shows you how messed up the food industry is.
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In the end, I changed my diet over time and got healthier, but I’m still on the journey because I haven’t been doing this for years just yet.
The bottom line though is breakfast foods like this are slow killers, and even those who tolerate carbs won’t handle them for long with the amount of abuse, insulin spikes, and so on in the grand scheme of things.