A Healthy Breakfast
Part of the Healthy Habits series
Let’s talk about breakfast…
Breakfast eaters tend to consume less calories throughout the day and have a better-quality diet than non-breakfast eaters, but the typical American breakfast is often filled with sugar, highly processed, and lacking in quality protein, good fats, and fiber. Let’s face it, our bodies could use better fuel to start the day. It’s time for a healthy breakfast!
I used to love a sweet breakfast nearly every morning. Once I began branching out into savory options with protein, fat, and fiber, I realized how much better I felt starting the day with this healthy breakfast formula. This breakfast style fuels my body in the best way and reduced my cravings for a mid-morning snack or a ridiculously early lunch. Occasionally, I will have a “sweeter” breakfast, but I still make sure that it fits the profile: protein, fat, and fiber -and the sugars are minimal. Typically, we put food into categories and say, “This is breakfast food and this is NOT.” Get out of the typical breakfast box – if it tastes delicious, makes you feel good, and fuels your body for the day, then it is, in fact, an appropriate breakfast.
What’s on My Healthy Breakfast Plate
I usually include the following on my breakfast plate:
Try This: Take your leftover vegetables from the night before and add an egg, some nuts and or seeds, and a Greek yogurt sauce. Not only is it delicious and healthy, but it also makes eating a nutritious breakfast much more doable since the base has already been prepared. Nearly any vegetable will work as a base.
Get out of the typical breakfast box – if it tastes delicious, makes you feel good, and fuels your body for the day, then it is, in fact, an appropriate breakfast.
Digestive Rest (Fasting) Before Eating a Healthy Breakfast
I routinely practice a 12-14 hour digestive rest. So if I eat dinner at 6:00PM, I don’t eat anything else until enjoying a healthy breakfast sometime between 6:00AM and 8:00AM. I find this is relatively easy to-do with some practice. At first, the most difficult part for me was not having any more food after dinnertime – giving up that regular evening snack.
Digestive rest may:
Try this: Sub your usual evening snack for a square of dark chocolate right after dinner.
What a Typical Sweet Breakfast Does to Us
The typical American breakfast isn’t doing us any favors. Consuming a breakfast high in sugar and refined carbs and without adequate protein, good fats, and fiber may:
What a Healthy Breakfast with Protein, Fat, &, Fiber Does for Us
Getting out of the typical breakfast rut can make us feel so much better! A breakfast fueled with good protein, healthy fat, and enough fiber may:
Carbs in the form of fiber and paired with protein and fat will have less of an impact on blood sugar than when the meal consists mainly of carbs (especially refined poor quality carbs)
Looking for a healthy breakfast recipe?
These Breakfast Bowls with Roasted Veggies and Sriracha Yogurt Spread have all the healthy breakfast requirements discussed in this Healthy Habits installment!
Sources:
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