Rise and Shine: Easy Ways to Eat a Healthy Breakfast Every Day

It’s incredibly easy to skip breakfast. You might not feel too hungry before you leave for work or you simply might not have enough time. However, as one of the most important meals of the day, you should be making time for breakfast and that doesn’t mean chowing down on muffins, donuts and croissants on your way to work!

There are a number of healthy options available for breakfasts, and ones that don’t have to cost you a fortune. Forget those $10 juices you see advertised and find some helpful tips about healthy breakfasts below:

What You Need to Know About Healthy Breakfasts

The key to a healthy breakfast is to provide your body with the healthy nutrients that it’s been starved of during the night. It helps to rejuvenate your body and will also help to keep those hunger pangs at bay for much longer, reducing the amount of snacking that you’re doing throughout the day.

So, the first rule you need to adhere to is to have breakfast every single day. At first, you might not feel like eating breakfast but getting yourself into a routine will mean your body starts to crave this meal just like it does all the others you have. This will help to kick-start your metabolism ready for the day ahead, providing you with more energy.

What to Eat for Breakfast

Eating breakfast doesn’t have to involve spending hours rustling up tasty treats for you and your family. Instead, there are a number of quick and easy ways you can enjoy your breakfast. Here are some important essentials you’ll need:

Liquids: As you’re supposed to drink up to 8 glasses of water a day, it’s great to start your day off with one of these glasses. And, as the body can mistake thirst for hunger, it’ll also help to reduce your snacking throughout the day.

If a glass of cold water just isn’t doing it for you in a morning, why not try a glass of hot water with a slice of lemon in it or herbal tea. Or, if you need that caffeine-induced kick in a morning, opt for unsweetened tea or coffee but try not to overdo your caffeine intake. Try to reduce how much coffee you drink by drinking it when you’re eating food as this will help to boost your metabolism slightly.

Lean Proteins: If you choose that bagel for breakfast, you’ll probably find that you’re hungry again within an hour. However, if you opt for proteins for breakfast, you’re going to feel fuller for longer. When eaten in moderation, eggs are perfect for breakfast because they contain lots of protein and they’ve got a number of other essential nutrients in them too.

Alternatively, you could make your own shake using protein powder and low-fat milk, or just add some nuts into your breakfast. What’s more, the paleo diet focuses on protein-based foods, so you’ll find lots of paleo breakfast ideas that you can choose from with this diet.

Fruits and Vegetables: Getting some of your recommended 5-a-day at breakfast time is ideal, as it’ll provide you with fiber, minerals and vitamins that will give you that added boost. You could choose from a wide range of things including scrambled egg whites and a kale or spinach smoothie. If you don’t like to have fruits in a solid form, just toss some ice and fruits in the blender and turn it into smoothie. Make sure you have the blender strong enough to crush the ice. Or, if you have got to be at an early meeting and you don’t think you’ve got time, munch on some asparagus spears, snap peas or broccoli whilst you’re on the move.

Fats (Healthy Ones!): Thankfully, not all fats are bad for us, and those healthy fats, when eaten in moderation, are incredibly good for us. So, you can create an indulgent breakfast that won’t just satisfy your hunger pangs but your taste buds too!

Why not try scrambled egg whites or eggs with avocado and olive oil, a slice of whole grain toast with mashed avocado or even low-sugar and low-salt peanut butter on a whole grain cracker? Yum!

What to Avoid at Breakfast Time

Finally, don’t be fooled by some of the ad campaigns that certain breakfast companies run. Those that claim to produce healthy breakfasts might not actually be doing so. Many bowls of cereal contain a vast amount of sugar, which will give you a quick energy boost followed by a huge low halfway through your morning. And that banana bread that sounds quite nutritious, really isn’t, and is loaded with calories, so try to steer clear of that too.

Leah Warren has been working as a nutritionist for several years. She loves seeing the change in people when they start eating whole, nutrient rich foods and writes about this in her articles.