What To Eat For Breakfast With Proper Nutrition: Ideas For Healthy Breakfasts For The Whole Family

The importance of the morning meal. What happens if you don't eat breakfast

Breakfast is on the agenda today - such a curious, mythical meal. We will understand all these myths: why do we need breakfast and whether it is worth skipping it, which breakfast is the most healthy and simple, whether we need to have breakfast at all.

We have all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. For decades, health authorities have linked a hearty, healthy breakfast to improved overall health and weight control.

In most cases, breakfast is really necessary. There are several perfectly logical explanations for this.

1. In the morning, our digestive system works as actively as possible, and the stomach and gallbladder and pancreas are ready to work and are waiting for a full breakfast, and not a cup of coffee with sugar. At the same time, by evening, on the contrary, the activity of the digestive system decreases. Accordingly, if your most voluminous meal occurs in the evening, the food will be more difficult to digest. which can affect both excess weight and sleep.

2. Of course, nutrition should always be approached individually and take into account your characteristics and health status. So, for example, you can move breakfast later in time, for example, to have breakfast after a workout, if it suits you. On the contrary, if you are under severe stress, then you are recommended to have breakfast within an hour after waking up, and training on an empty stomach can play a trick on you.

   Therefore, it is so important to approach the choice of diet individually. If it’s difficult for you to figure it out on your own or you feel that the regimen that you have now does not bring results, contacting a nutritionist may be a good solution - he will assess your current condition and select the nutrition that will suit you.

3. The undeniable advantage of breakfast is the energy level throughout the day. Breakfast - sets the design of the whole day - your energy level, mood, choice of meals. But! For this, it is fundamentally important what exactly you eat for breakfast. Not every breakfast will provide all of these benefits. What exactly should be breakfast for a powerful boost of energy in the morning, we will discuss further.

In addition, there are many studies showing that a balanced breakfast has many health benefits.

• For example, one study found that adding a particularly protein-rich breakfast can be a useful strategy to improve satiety, reduce overeating and snacking, and improve dietary quality in overweight or obese adolescent girls.

  Study: Beneficial effects of a higher-protein breakfast on the appetitive, hormonal, and neural signals controlling energy intake regulation in overweight/obese, “breakfast-skipping,” late-adolescent girls

  Many studies also confirm that breakfast helps control hunger throughout the day. Skipping breakfast often leads to excessive hunger in the evening. It also leads to irrational decisions during lunch: people eat more than planned, choose not the healthiest food.

  A balanced breakfast, on the other hand, can help you avoid overeating at your next meal and snacking on unhealthy foods throughout the day (due to hunger, low blood sugar, and nutrient deficiencies).

• A study by researchers at Tel Aviv University found that dieters lost more weight when they ate the majority of their calories in the morning (approximately 700 calories) compared to dieters who ate more during the day and at night.

• All study participants followed a low-calorie diet (1400). Meal timing significantly affected weight loss: the group consuming 700 calories (or half of their daily calories) in the morning lost more (over a 12-week period) than the group consuming most of their calories at lunchtime.

• In addition, the group that ate half their daily calories at breakfast not only lost more weight and waist inches, but showed greater improvement in glucose control and insulin sensitivity. The researchers also found that those who ate a hearty breakfast had lower levels of ghrelin (the main hunger hormone in our body).

  Study: High caloric intake at breakfast vs. dinner differentially influences weight loss of overweight and obese women

• Another 2011 study found that skipping breakfast causes metabolic and hormonal impacts that can make it difficult to choose healthier foods that day. The study found that those who skipped breakfast had differences in food choices, eaten later, higher appetite, and increased energy intake compared to people who ate breakfast.

• Many other studies show the same and report that for most people who lose weight and manage to maintain weight, breakfast was the reason they were successful in the long run.

  Study: Long-term weight loss and breakfast in subjects in the National Weight Control Registry

Basic mistakes for breakfast. Foods not recommended for breakfast

So, most of us unfortunately make mistakes when choosing breakfast. We start our day in the wrong way, which affects our nutrition throughout the day.

Let's take a look at the main mistakes in choosing breakfast and try to understand if you make these mistakes?

Of course, there is nothing terrible in the porridge itself. But if we choose, for example, oatmeal with sugar and fruits as breakfast, then all we get is fast carbohydrates. As a result, we are hungry after an hour and we are drawn to tea and cookies. That is, such a breakfast is completely unbalanced and not suitable for breakfast. But this does not mean at all that you need to forget about cereals for breakfast. All you need is to show imagination and modify breakfast into a more healthy one. How to do this we will tell further.

Very often, in order to save time on preparing breakfast, people choose instant breakfasts - corn flakes, granola, etc. What is their downside? In the same as in instant cereals - this is a fast carbohydrate. After 30 minutes in your body - it's just sugar and after an hour you want to eat again. But the situation with them is even somewhat worse - if you look at the composition, you can most often see a large amount of added sugar and other additives that are irrational for our health.

In the pictures of many, the perfect breakfast is a delicious croissant and a cup of coffee. It's one thing when this happens rarely and you enjoy such a breakfast somewhere on the trip, slowly and enjoying every bite. And it's a completely different situation when it's your daily breakfast on the run on your way to work. Grab a croissant and coffee at a coffee shop and quickly shove it all in. This is one of the worst breakfasts you can offer your body.

Why?

1. Firstly, as you probably already guessed, it is a fast carbohydrate, most often with trans fats and added sugars in the composition and is generally very high in calories. There is also no need to talk about balance here - we will not get high-quality fats or proteins from such a breakfast.

2. Secondly, if we talk about breakfast on the run, it’s a pain for our gastrointestinal tract, he doesn’t like it at all and we’ll take a closer look at why later.

Why is that bad:

1. First, coffee will irritate the lining of the esophagus and stomach lining. If you already have gastrointestinal diseases or stomach discomfort, you are not recommended to drink coffee on an empty stomach.

2. Secondly, when you drink coffee, the level of adrenaline in your blood rises, and in the morning we already have a peak in cortisol. Therefore, if you cannot wake up in the morning without coffee, this may indicate that your body is already feeling bad and a cup of coffee in the morning does not help the body wake up, but only exacerbates the problem.

• Do not forget! For every cup of coffee we should drink an extra cup of water.

• Of course, this does not mean that coffee should be immediately completely abandoned. But try drinking it an hour and a half after breakfast.

Why juice is not the best breakfast?

Juice is pure glucose and fructose. In order for you to have a stable appetite throughout the day without sharp jumps in strong hunger, you should not raise your sugar level much for breakfast.

In addition, in order to prepare 1 glass of fresh juice, 3-4 fruits are most often used - this is a large amount of fructose without fiber. You can eat 1 orange or 1 apple as a dessert for breakfast and it will be much more beneficial than a glass of fresh juice.

Smoothies have a place for breakfast, but they don't have to be all fruity. Here's how to make the perfect smoothie.

What should breakfast be like? General rules and recommendations

We figured out how not to do it and now the logical question arises - how to make breakfast perfect? Everything is not difficult at all, we take it step by step.

1. Zen at the table!

   The first and one of the most important points is the organization of meals. The notorious awareness is very useful here. Just think about what kind of awareness for ourselves and our body we can talk about when we throw food into ourselves like a furnace in the morning, not paying attention to either WHAT we eat or HOW we eat.

   Why is it important for the GI tract?

   In fact, our digestion begins long before food enters the stomach. Digestion starts in the head! We start digestion with thoughts about food, inhaling smells, a visual picture of food - this is how our smart body understands what kind of food we are going to eat and what enzymes it needs to secrete.

   Next, a very important stage of digestion occurs in the oral cavity. A person bites and chews a piece of food. In the process, it is crushed and soaked in saliva, which disinfects it and breaks down starch due to the content of special enzymes. As a result, a food bolus is formed in the mouth. Attention! Food should enter the stomach in the form of a homogeneous puree-like slurry, partially digested by salivary enzymes and requiring minimal costs for subsequent splitting. A person's tongue accurately recognizes what product he eats: salty, sour, sweet, bitter. These signals are necessary in order for the necessary digestive juices to be produced in the stomach in advance.

   So, if we skipped all these stages, we disrupted the operation of the ideal system from the very beginning, and then everything can no longer work efficiently. Our gastrointestinal tract is a system, all organs are connected and work as a team. If the work of one organ is disrupted, all the others suffer along the chain. Therefore, it is important to set the right tone for eating! Pay attention to the food itself, smells, take your time and chew your food well.

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   In the context of catering, the issue of stress cannot be ignored. Stress paralyzes the digestive tract. When we are under stress, the body's job is to hit or run, not digest - so the whole process of digestion is disrupted. Of course, we cannot eliminate all sources of stress from our lives, but we can organize our meals in such a way as to reduce the degree of stress.

   How to create zen at the table:

   • Don't eat when stressed! First, we take measures to reduce the degree of stress and calm down. Food in this case is not the best helper - we still won’t be able to digest it normally.

     To switch from stressors to eating, try doing a mini-meditation before eating.

     Mini-meditation: calm the breath for 30 seconds or 1 minute to turn on the parasympathetic (relax the face, lower jaw, stomach, hips. Straighten your back, you can lean back in the chair. Focus on breathing, breathe comfortably, deeply, softly and relaxed). Then focus on food.

   • We remove information noise and sources of information. We move away the phone and tablet and try to concentrate on food.

   • We breathe in food, we look at it, we think about what we eat. We allocate enough time to eat. We develop mindfulness while eating: we feel the temperature of food: are you comfortable with this temperature? Do you want hot, cold? The texture of the food: crunchy, soft, fibrous, elastic, hard? Appearance: serving, color of food, attractiveness.

   • Chew carefully! Chewing should be slow and sufficient as long as the food has taste.

2. Ingredients for the perfect breakfast

   The ideal breakfast is a balanced breakfast, which consists of the components our body needs:

   • Proteins - will give us a feeling of satiety.

     Where to look for proteins: animals - hard cheeses, salmon, trout, salmon, beef, shrimp, halibut, turkey, cod, sturgeon, chicken, eggs, etc. Vegetables: pea, hemp proteins, lentils, mung beans, white and red beans, chickpeas, tempeh, sesame, cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, hummus, chia seeds, walnuts, quinoa, etc.

   • Fats - will give long and high-quality energy.

     Where to look for fats: animals: fatty cheeses, chicken yolk, beef liver, lard, cod liver, sardine, herring, salmon, pink salmon, horse mackerel, capelin, rainbow trout, fish oil, etc. Vegetable: Avocado, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, flax, sesame, tahini, oils: olive, pumpkin, coconut, hemp, avocado, linseed.

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   • Fiber - will give saturation and proper functioning and motility of the gastrointestinal tract.

     Where to look for fiber: greens, vegetables, berries.

   • Carbohydrates (complex) - energy and mood.

     Where to look for carbohydrates: quinoa, millet, buckwheat, brown rice, amaranth, whole grain bread, beets, pumpkin, sweet potato, chilled rice, etc.

3. Water

   Try not to drink too much tea or coffee with breakfast, as this can impair the absorption of nutrients from food. If you feel the need to drink food, let it be ordinary water, not in large quantities.

   Both tea and coffee contain tannins - they remove useful substances from our body. For example, for breakfast, you ate foods rich in iron and B12 vitamins and washed them down with a huge mug of coffee, neutralizing some of the vitamins and minerals from food.

    

   If it is important for you that breakfast is accompanied by some kind of drink - let it be, for example, natural cocoa (without sugar).

   The most useful morning habit is to drink a glass of warm water before breakfast. Warm water (38-40 degrees) is a very comfortable way to support your digestion in the morning.

What to eat for breakfast with proper nutrition?

Let's look at the ingredients of the perfect breakfast with examples. So, back to our porridge. How to make it useful and balanced?

This is not difficult at all, treat it like a game.

1. The first thing we pay attention to is the porridge itself.

   • It should not be flakes, but whole grains of long cooking! Porridge cannot be cooked for 5 minutes. If you buy porridge that takes 5-10 minutes to cook, this means that this cereal has already been processed, steamed, and therefore you do not need to cook it for a long time to cook it. Why is that bad?

   • Such cereals are fast carbohydrates and are not much different from sugary foods. They will quickly raise blood sugar, cause rapid hunger and a desire to eat something sweet throughout the day. Please note - cereals should be whole grains and cook for a long time.

   • Also pay attention to the type of cereal - don't be boring and don't limit yourself to just oatmeal. We have so many delicious cereals - at least try it! In addition to traditional oatmeal and buckwheat, it is also quinoa, amaranth, millet, bulgur, brown rice, spelt, etc.

1. We must add fats to cereals. It can be coconut oil, ghee oil, butter. Also, in addition to porridge, we can eat, for example, an egg - from which we will get not only fats, but also high-quality protein.

2. The third step - add proteins! These can be: nuts, seeds (we will also get fats), an egg, you can also add, for example, protein.

3. The last step is to add fiber. The best choice for porridge will be berries, absolutely any. They are high in fiber and low in sugar. It is convenient to add both fresh and frozen berries to porridge.

All! Delicious and balanced porridge for breakfast is ready. And after such a porridge, you will not want to eat in an hour - it will give long saturation and energy.

Smoothie Checklist:

• the basis is not fruits, but vegetables, herbs and berries;

• no added sugar;

• for saturation and taste - fats (coconut milk, MCT, urbechi, seeds, etc.);

• superfoods (optional: chia seeds, spirulina, protein, etc.)

• thorough chewing (for better absorption and digestion in the stomach).

Example of smoothie ingredients:

1. GREEN FIT

   • 2 cups lettuce

   • 1 1/2 cups water or plant-based milk (coconut, hemp, almond milk)

   • 1-2 drops liquid stevia

   • 1 teaspoon flaxseeds

2. “Green Smoothie”

   • 2 cups spinach

   • 1 bunch of parsley

   • 1 1/2 cups water or plant-based milk (coconut, hemp, or almond)

   • 1 banana

   • 1/2 cup berries

   • 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal

3. “Summer freshness”

   • 2 cups lettuce

   • 1 cup frozen berries

   • 1 1/2 cups water or plant-based milk (coconut, almond, or hemp)

   • 1/2 banana

   • 1 tablespoon coconut oil

   • 1 tablespoon desiccated coconut

   • 3 brazil nuts

Other examples of a complete breakfast:

• omelette in coconut milk with vegetables and herbs;

• avocado toast with poached egg, herbs and vegetables;

• slightly salted fish, vegetable salad and buckwheat bread;

• chia pudding in coconut milk with seeds and nuts;

• quinoa with ghee, egg and vegetable salad;

• and much more - see the recipes at the end of the article.

If there is no time for breakfast:

• If you have little time in the morning and there is no way to prepare a complex breakfast, there are always options for how to make a quick and at the same time healthy breakfast.

• A quick breakfast can be beneficial if you choose the right foods. Choose a granola with a good composition or make your own in advance. Take whole cereals - buckwheat, oatmeal, crushed seeds and nuts. Dry it all in the oven yourself and make yourself a healthy granola. You can fill it with coconut or almond milk - and now a quick and healthy breakfast is ready.

• In fact, even a sandwich can be made healthy and balanced. For example, instead of a loaf with boiled sausage, we take whole buckwheat or rye bread, on top of a poached egg, avocado and a bunch of greens.

breakfast for weight loss

Despite the fact that breakfast has many health benefits, there are many inaccuracies regarding the relationship between weight loss and breakfast.

In general, when we look at research done over the past decade, we see very mixed results in terms of what constitutes the ideal mealtime. Some studies show that people can maintain their weight more easily when they eat a big breakfast in the morning, but other studies show that the opposite can also work.

It must be remembered that if something is observed as a correlation - in this case breakfast and a healthier weight - it does not mean that one definitely causes the other.

• For example, one study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that, contrary to popular belief, there was no metabolic increase after breakfast, appetite suppression, or calorie intake later in the day, and no difference in terms of weight gain or loss between people who ate breakfast and those who didn't.

• While overall body weight, blood sugar, and adiposity (fat levels) did not differ between those who ate breakfast and those who skipped it, those who ate breakfast moved more during the morning. But this increase in physical activity had no effect on weight, cardiovascular health, insulin response, or other markers.

  Study: The causal role of breakfast in energy balance and health: a randomized controlled trial in lean adults

• Another 2014 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found the same results: there was no difference in weight loss between a group of people who ate breakfast every day and those who skipped breakfast.

  Study: The effectiveness of breakfast recommendations on weight loss: a randomized controlled trial

  Knowing that there is evidence to support both the benefits of breakfast and avoiding it, it should be understood that personal preferences and habits play a big role in creating sustainable and healthy eating patterns that allow you not only to lose weight, but also improve your health.

• For some people, a hearty breakfast (especially a high-protein meal) works best because it keeps them from overeating during the day and not having strong food cravings.

• But for others who don't enjoy a hearty breakfast, there may be no benefit in forcibly forcing yourself to eat.

Conclusion:

1. Different composition of breakfast affects metabolism and blood sugar levels in different ways. The ideal breakfast - one that consists of equal parts of protein, healthy fats and fresh plant foods (especially vegetables) - will stabilize your blood sugar and prevent you from overeating at lunchtime. A breakfast high in sugar, syrups, pastries and fruits will not have such effects.

2. What is more important than meal times is that we eat healthy food in the right amount. What you should really focus on is getting the most nutrition and listening to your body's true signals of hunger and fullness, rather than getting too caught up in the timing and frequency of meals.

3. And of course, the amount of food also matters. Everything is poison and everything is medicine. Even healthy foods can be overeaten, so it's important to adjust your meal times to see what works best for you. Just as we all have differences in our internal circadian rhythms and different preferences for when we fall asleep and wake up each day, we also differ in terms of when our hunger is at its peak.

Healthy breakfast recipes for every day

Ingredients:

• avocado

• eggs

• greens

• corn

• salt pepper

Cooking method:

1. Wash avocado, cut in half, remove pit.

2. Use a spoon to remove some of the pulp from the middle.

3. Mix the rest of the ingredients, fill the avocado halves with the mixture.

4. Send to preheated oven: 180°C for 20-25 minutes.

Ingredients:

• chickpeas

• quinoa

• cucumber

• radish

• spinach

• Cherry tomatoes

• avocado

• parsley

• olive oil

• salt - optional

• sesame - if available

• paprika (optional) - pinch

Cooking method:

1. Soak chickpeas in cold water for several hours to swell.

2. Let the chickpeas and quinoa cook, in separate bowls, for about 15 minutes.

3. Transfer the cooked chickpeas to a deep bowl, pour in a little oil, salt a little

4. Arrange the spinach, radishes, and quinoa in a circle on a shallow plate.

5. Remove skin and pit from avocado, cut into thin slices.

6. Cut cherry tomatoes in half, cucumber in circles.

7. Arrange the vegetables around the plate as well. Put chickpeas on spinach.

8. Lightly drizzle the vegetables and quinoa with olive oil and lemon juice, and a little salt to taste.

9. Sprinkle with parsley leaves.

Ingredients:

• eggs

• milk

• salt pepper

• spinach

• tomatoes

• ghee oil

Cooking method:

1. Whisk two eggs with milk. Salt, pepper.

2. In a preheated skillet, add the ghee oil, chopped (or frozen) spinach, and tomatoes.

3. Pour in the omelet mixture. And on a small fire, under the lid, steam for about 5 minutes. This will help the omelet rise and be tender and delicious.

Ingredients:

• 200 g coconut flour;

• 500 ml coconut milk;

• 2 eggs;

• 100 ml of water;

• 2 tbsp. l. green buckwheat flour;

• 2 tbsp. l. coconut oil or ghee.

Cooking method:

1. Mix all ingredients.

2. Bake with coconut oil or ghee.

Ingredients:

• Chicken liver 500 g

• White onion 2 pcs.

• Carrots 2 pcs.

• Bay leaf 1 pc.

• Salt, pepper - to taste

Cooking method:

1. Grate the carrots on a coarse grater and send it to the pan. Simmer the carrots for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Chop the onion into medium cubes and also send to the carrots in the pan for another 5 minutes.

3. Free the chicken liver from unnecessary tissues.

4. Put the liver to the vegetables in the pan and simmer until tender. The pan can be closed with a lid. Do not forget to stir the contents of the pan from time to time.

5. Salt the future pate and add ground black pepper to it to taste.

6. To make a chicken liver pate with carrots and onions, grind the finished contents of the pan in a blender. Or pass through a meat grinder twice.

7. Chicken liver pate with carrots and onions can be stored in the refrigerator in a glass container with a lid.

Ingredients. For 1 serving you will need:

• Chicken egg - 1 piece

• Oatmeal (medium grind) - 30 gr

• Natural yogurt - 70 gr

• Broccoli - 100 gr

• Grated cheese - 30 gr

• Coconut oil or rice bran oil (heat resistant for

• frying)

• Salt, pepper - to taste.

Cooking method:

1. If the oatmeal is coarse, then it needs to be crushed a little for breakfast. Next, mix the egg, oatmeal and yogurt. Add salt and pepper to the mixture to taste. Let it brew for 10-15 minutes.

2. Pour heat-resistant oil into the pan - it can be coconut or rice bran oil. When the pan is hot, lay out our pancakes. Fry them for 10 minutes. It is advisable to use a lid so that they do not turn out very dry.

3. Cut the broccoli finely and stew. We rub cheese. Broccoli and cheese wrapped in pancakes. The right breakfast is ready.

Ingredients:

• green buckwheat - 120 g

• egg - 2 pcs.

• spinach s / m - 50 g

• vegetable milk - 250 ml

• salt - 3 g

• coconut oil - 20 g

Side dish for 1 serving:

• sour cream - 40 g

• fresh spinach - 30 g

• vinaigrette sauce - 10 g (see recipe below)

• nori seaweed to taste

Cooking method:

1. Rinse the buckwheat and soak for 4-5 hours in cold water. Then drain the water and rinse.

2. Defrost spinach and allow excess moisture to drain completely. Combine buckwheat with egg, spinach, vegetable milk, salt and beat well with a blender until smooth. Here you have to try.

3. The more homogeneous the dough, the tastier the pancakes. And it will be easier to roll over.

4. Bake pancakes.

5. Take two warm pancakes and place on a plate. Put sour cream on top. Season fresh spinach with vinaigrette sauce and send as a side dish to pancakes.

6. Garnish with finely chopped nori seaweed.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp millet

• 2 tbsp ground flax

• 2 tbsp water

• 1 tbsp vegetable milk

• 100 gr pumpkin puree

• a pinch of cinnamon

Cooking method:

1. Rinse the millet several times until clean water is poured over with boiling water.

2. Boil water, pour millet, cook over low heat.

3. When the millet is almost ready, add ground flax and milk, close the lid and turn off the heat.

4. Porridge will come by itself when serving, lay out pumpkin puree and sprinkle with cinnamon.

If there is no ready-made puree, you can add pieces of pumpkin during cooking along with millet.