To prepare for the upcoming big game, professional football players need to eat an extraordinary amount of calories at breakfast.

Without it, they wouldn’t have the energy to play at their very best. And often, the calories consumed in one day by a professional football player can range from 5,000 to 10,000 calories with a special focus on healthy foods.

Now the majority of us don’t need the same amount of calories as a professional football player, but we can certainly take a few lessons from the types of foods they eat to be at their very best.

In the end, eating healthy foods helps you perform at your best as well. Recently, former Minnesota Viking, Asher Allen, shared with the Midwest Dairy Association what he eats on a daily basis:

 Breakfast

A 2- to 3-egg omelet with bacon/turkey bacon, spinach, onions and cheese. Finish with an apple and glass of fat-free milk.

After-work out drink — a shake made with whey protein or chocolate milk.

 Lunch

A freshly made salad with romaine, radicchio, spinach, red onions, cucumbers, flax seed and feta cheese, topped off with a light salad dressing.

 Snack

I love almonds, or any kind of nuts. So I will eat a handful of almonds with fresh raspberries for a delicious mid-day snack.

 Dinner

I’ll have fish, chicken, beef, turkey or some other kind of lean protein with a vegetable of choice. Dairy foods are a good source of protein so I include them at dinner too. I may top my veggies with cheese.

There are some great patterns you can see from Asher’s example. Focusing on healthy protein and healthy carbohydrate sources is key. Healthy protein options include eggs, turkey bacon, cheese, milk, lean protein and nuts. Healthy carbohydrates include fresh fruits and vegetables.

I would add Asher could increase his whole grains at his meals by including whole grain toast at breakfast, whole grain pasta at lunch and brown rice for dinner.

It’s well worth noting Asher eats breakfast each day — an important part of boosting his daily energy.

We also have a big game to accomplish each day — our daily lives.  To sustain your energy for your daily big game, it is key to eat breakfast. Without breakfast, you can feel sluggish, unfocused, not motivated and unproductive.  But by having breakfast each day, you can change that all around.

One easy way to make breakfast a reality each day is to create a super breakfast bowl.  These ideas are quick, healthy and tasty.  You can even serve them in a football-shaped bowl on the day of the big game. Foods that work great in bowls for breakfast include slow cooker hot oatmeal or quinoa with fresh fruit, fruit with uncooked oatmeal and Greek yogurt and egg scrambles.

Don’t forget to add a glass of milk with your breakfast for even more staying power.   Or blend up a quick smoothie in your favorite team colors and serve in a mug.

As an extra bonus: Take those milk jug UPC’s and enter the Breakfast Blitz contest.  Just enter them into www.milkmoustache.com for your chance to vote for your favorite school to win a $1,000 grant from Fuel Up to Play 60 through Feb. 17.

Chicken sausage scramble

Serves 4

All you need

•Non-stick cooking spray

•½ cup diced chicken apple sausage

•¼ cup diced onion

•¼ cup diced red pepper

•¼ cup diced sweet potato

•4 eggs

•2 tablespoons fat-free milk

•½ cup chopped fresh spinach leaves

•Salt and black pepper, to taste

•2 whole wheat English muffins, split, toasted

All you do

1. Coat a nonstick skillet with nonstick spray; heat over medium. Add the sausage, onion, red pepper and sweet potato and cook, covered, stirring often, until vegetables are tender (test a chunk of sweet potato to be sure).

2. Meanwhile, beat eggs with milk in a small bowl until blended. When the vegetables are tender, transfer them to a plate. Return the skillet to the burner, add the egg mixture and cook, stirring often, until eggs are softly scrambled. Off heat, stir in spinach, reserved sausage mixture, salt and pepper. Serve immediately with a toasted English muffin half.

Nutrition Facts per Serving: 210 calories, 10 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 240 mg cholesterol, 14 g protein, 18 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 410 mg sodium.

 Recipe courtesy of The Breakfast Project.