No matter your body weight goal, a healthy breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day.
Studies have shown that ghrelin, the hunger hormone, is greatly reduced in individuals who start the day with healthy breakfast.
In fact, eating a healthy breakfast has such a lasting impact on your hunger hormones. It can actually curb midnight snack cravings 16 hours later!
Blood glucose and insulin are also better regulated in individuals who never skip breakfast and are sure to always include a healthy source of protein in this important meal.
When planning the perfect breakfast, you want to be sure to include lean protein, fiber, and antioxidants. You also want to make the meal enjoyable without excess calorie intake.
This is actually easier than you think. Just stick to some basic meal plans with slight variations to keep your taste buds interested!
Time-saving shortcuts
Regardless of your nutritional goal, you may not think you have time to make a healthy breakfast every morning. However, there are some time-saving shortcuts you can take.
For example, while preparing an omelet can take considerable time, a scramble with the exact same ingredients is much quicker. And just as delicious.
Simply add a tablespoon of healthy oil to your skillet and then sauté your favorite fillings such as mushrooms, onions, spinach, kale, and peppers.
With these ingredients spread evenly across the bottom of the skillet, pour your whipped eggs directly over the top.
Fold the eggs as you would normally do to make scrambled eggs and voila! You'll have a tasty breakfast full of protein and the nutrients you need to start the day.
You can also add herbs like thyme and parsley to your eggs for an additional burst of antioxidants.
On mornings you are in a serious rush, eating a small bowl of unsweetened high protein.
Greek yogurt is an excellent option.
You can easily add highly nutritious whole foods like nuts, seeds, berries, and sliced stone fruits to make your Greek yogurt breakfast even healthier and tastier.
These whole foods add high levels of quality protein, fiber, and antioxidants. Plus, the probiotics in the yogurt will aid in your digestion. If you add granola, try to find a variety with no sugar.
Adding maple syrup or honey will only account for a small amount of a natural sugar source.
Above all, avoid consuming large amounts of sugar at breakfast since this will trigger the release of ghrelin and cause a significant spike in your blood sugar.
Spice up your healthy breakfast with an international flair
To add flavor and variety, consider incorporating an international flair to your breakfast.
You can turn your omelets and scrambles into a Mexican dish by adding black beans or pinto beans. This will add more protein and a great deal of fiber.
You could also convert your scrambled eggs into egg foo young.
Just add ingredients like bean sprouts, shredded carrots, shiitake mushrooms, chopped green onions, bok choy, soy sauce. And a few hot pepper flakes for flavoring.
You'll also need to add about a tablespoon of corn starch to stiffen the eggs into the characteristic egg foo young pancakes.
It can be fun and highly nutritious to eat a non-traditional breakfast from another culture occasionally.
For example, the Japanese often eat a piping hot bowl of miso soup for breakfast.
This is fermented bean soup full of healthy probiotics.
If you have leftover seafood or other scraps from dinner, you can add this to your miso soup breakfast and get a healthy dose of omega 3. Miso soup also makes a super quick breakfast.
You can pick up ready-made miso in many natural food stores or oriental food stores. All you do is add boiling water!
No matter what you choose for breakfast each day, remember that you are literally “breaking a fast,” hence the name “breakfast”. It is an important meal for the replenishment of nutrients in your body.
If you always eat a healthy breakfast full of quality protein, fiber, and antioxidants, you'll automatically improve your diet and your overall health.
In fact, many people find they lose weight and have more energy when they start eating a better breakfast!
