Are you hoping to eat healthier this year? Start with breakfast. In this post, you will find some helpful tips.
Get Healthier with Breakfast
When people ask me how they can eat healthier, I tell them to start with breakfast. Breakfast meals come together quickly, they are simple to incorporate more whole grains, they often use the same ingredients over and over so you aren’t buying gobs of new items and homemade breakfasts always taste better.
If you have busy mornings, there are definitely things you can do to still have a good filling, whole food, homemade breakfast, though, it will require some forethought and prep work ahead of time. It is worth it because you are worth it.
Cereal Has Lots of Sugar
Often, our solution to busy crazy mornings is cereal but cereal is not a great breakfast choice for anyone.
Cereal is typically full of sugar. If you look at the ingredient list you will more often than not, see several forms of sweetener. Part of the reason for multiple sweeteners is so the sweetener isn’t the first on the ingredient list. Let’s give you a few examples of the sugars found in a few cereals:
Reeses Puffs: Sugar, Sweetened Peanut butter (sugar, molasses), Dextrose, Corn Syrup
Cinnamon Toast Crunch: Sugar, Fructose, Maltodextrin
Honey Nut Cheerios: Sugar, Honey, Brown Sugar Syrup
Rice Chex: Sugar, Molasses
Even some “healthier” cereals have lots of added sugars
Cascadian Farm Hearty Morning Fiber Cereal: Cane Sugar, Honey, Invert Cane Syrup, Molasses
Annie’s Cocoa Bunnies: Cane Sugar, Tapioca Syrup, Invert Cane Syrup
Cereal Has Food Dyes and Processed Grains
Second reason to avoid cereal is food dyes. Fruit loops give me the heebie geebies. Probably because I have seen first hand the behavioral problems they can cause. Don’t give your kids food dyes – especially if they have challenging behavioral problems that you would like to decrease. Food colors are chemicals that mess with those little brains and there is no reason for them to be added to our food.
In addition to the sugar and dyes, the way the grains are processed in the making of cereal takes away most of the whole food nutritional benefit. Once they remove all the goodness they then try to add it back in with a non – whole food version of the vitamins and minerals that our body can’t hardly absorb and call it “fortified”. Cereal is just not really the best way to start our day or our children’s days.
Plan Your Breakfasts For Better Success
I am a menu planner. I have used the same paper schedule for years and years. When I don’t use my schedule, I type in my phone notes a list of six or seven meal ideas for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It helps with the chaos of meal times to have a plan.
Each week for breakfast we have one day with some kind of healthy pancake or waffle. They are fast, easy and filling. Even puff pancakes count for this day. All of these batters can be mixed up the night before and quickly cooked up in the morning. Or prep this pancake mix ahead of time to speed up the process even further
The toppings you use here really make or break this meal. Don’t use regular table syrup. Use pure maple syrup, honey, nut butter, applesauce, fruit, yogurt or this berry syrup is amazing. Throw in an egg and some fruit and bam! Great breakfast!
We also always have a day with some form of potato. I chop up cooked potatoes and fry them with onion and a little olive oil. I shred potatoes for hash browns or I use frozen hash browns. Azure Standard has a frozen southern style hash brown that is organic and has no additives.
So Many Awesome Options For Breakfast
Another regular around here is a muffin and smoothie day. Muffins can be made ahead of time and frozen. Alternatively, batter can be mixed up the night before to be cooked up hot and fresh in the morning. Muffins on their own are great but we also love to pair our muffins with a fresh fruit smoothie with loads of greens.
Muffins can vary greatly in their healthy status. Be sure your muffin is more like a muffin than a cupcake. These Apple Muffins are great!
Typically, each week, we have a hot cereal day. Oatmeal, (this is a favorite) cream of wheat or rice, or a baked oatmeal. We love this Amish Oatmeal recipe. It’s a good one to make when your apples are getting a little soft and no one will eat them. He he! It can be mixed up the night before and baked in the morning.
Eat All The Good Stuff
We also like a day or two with eggs. Chop up whatever veggies I have in the fridge, fry them up in a pan with a little olive oil, mix up eggs with some salsa and add those to the pan with salt and pepper and voila, an amazing breakfast skillet. We also like toast and eggs or breakfast burritos filled with eggs, veggies and salsa. Breakfast sandwiches count for an egg day as well.
On days when I can’t cook, we pull out granola from the pantry, this is my favorite recipe, and serve it over yogurt and fruit or with almond milk and bananas.
It Is Worth it Because You Are Worth It
Still need more ideas? Smoothies with greens, nuts, seeds and frozen fruit or a smoothie bowl, breakfast tacos, fruit salad, yogurt parfaits, french toast with a healthy loaf of bread, breakfast casserole prepared the night before, sourdough scones, buckwheat crepes, chia seed pudding, overnight oats, and the list goes on and on. Having a plan in place can really help get a healthy breakfast on the table quickly.
Muffins can bake while you shower, oatmeal can boil while you do a few dishes, and potatoes can fry up while you help a kid with a lingering math assignment. Food can be made ahead of time and frozen to be pulled out quickly when needed.
Good wholesome food is worth the extra time. Your body and your kid’s bodies will appreciate it in the long run. So many of the health problems in our world can be solved or avoided just by changing the way we eat.
Start in the morning for a better outlook throughout the day. Here’s to a good breakfast!
