Why You Should Be Eating a Balanced Breakfast

A balanced breakfast is most certainly not a muffin in one hand and coffee in the other. People often get hung up on what a balanced breakfast is. Heck, people get hung up on breakfast in and of itself. I’ve heard every excuse from I don’t have time, I’m not sure what
balanced is, I can’t eat in the morning, I grabbed a coffee, and I’m just not hungry. But these are all excuses.

Studies have shown it really is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast provides you with the energy and nutrients needed to have a productive morning; whether you’re learning, working, or just hanging out, you have gone anywhere from 6 to 12 hours without eating, and it’s important to break that fast.

Having breakfast helps keep your metabolism at peak performance. It reduces the urge to snack on foods high in fat and sugar. You are more likely to get your proper daily intake of vitamins and minerals when you eat breakfast in the morning. Eating breakfast is also essential in maintaining healthy body weight.

It’s important when considering a balanced breakfast that you incorporate high-quality proteins (eggs, nuts, lean meats like chicken or fish); they are digested more slowly, so they allow you to feel fuller longer. Secondly, include complex carbohydrates (whole grains, fruits and vegetables). Most people don’t get adequate fiber to begin with, so adding these to your breakfast will help you get closer to your daily requirements. Healthy fats (dairy, olive oil, and avocados), when included in your morning breakfast, have been proven to lower your overall fat intake throughout the day.

Vegetable omelet

Here are five quick and easy balanced breakfast ideas.

1. Veggie omelet with cheese — Two eggs, minced veggies and 1 ounce of cheese can be easily prepared in less than five minutes. You can also get a nifty little device that allows you to microwave the omelet.

2. Whole-grain waffle with almond or peanut butter — This one actually makes it to the portable category. Toast the waffle, smear a little nut butter on it, and you can eat this on the run.

3. Fruit smoothie — A handful of strawberries, almond milk and a blast in the blender and you have another breakfast on the run.

4. Turkey roll up — Two slices of turkey breast rolled around a piece of string cheese and a handful of whole wheat crackers; easy and portable.

5. Oatmeal with fruit and nuts — This is my personal favorite. I probably eat this five days
out of the week; once a week I make a large pot of steel cut oats. I make the oatmeal
with water so that all I have to do is microwave my serving each morning. I then add a
splash of milk, a small pat of butter, and whatever I feel like having that day (chopped pecans, chopped almonds, canned pumpkin, dried cherries, golden raisins, minced apple, dried apricots, dried cranberries, fresh blueberries/raspberries or strawberries). It’s healthy instant oatmeal made for pennies per serving and exactly the way I want it.

Give breakfast a try. I guarantee you’ll feel much better in the long run.

10 Comments

  1. Kim on February 11, 2013 at 8:39 am

    Try making oatmeal with apple juice instead of water! It’s a lot tastier:-)



  2. KRinaldi on February 11, 2013 at 9:33 am

    Sounds yummy. Gonna have to try that.



  3. dbatiste on February 23, 2013 at 12:37 am

    sounds good. gotta try that. love oatmeal. love apples. it’s cinch for wholesome awesomeness



  4. Haseeb on March 27, 2013 at 4:04 pm

    omlettes (add mushrooms, chrrey tomarotes, spinach, or whatever you like to your eggs and cook)mix together in a pan and cook until warm: 1 cup almonds, 1 cup (dried and sliced) apricots, 1 cup old fashioned oatmeal, 1 cup honey, 1 cup 100% all-natural peanut butter, 3 scoops muscle milk protein powder now that’s alot of calories, if you’re going to eat that in just one sitting. so, just eat a LITTLE bit of the mixure and use the rest of it to make protein energy bars!! . it’s actually a protein energy bar recipe found on youtube (toneitup channel) that i love just eating when warm and not in protein energy bars Protein pancakes recipe (youtube): .PS: i know you want something warm, but green smoothies are the best!! (find recipes on youtube).



  5. Natalya on March 27, 2013 at 4:07 pm

    Omelets are easy to make. If you are concerned about cheorstleol simply use egg whites to make your omelet. Add a couple of slices of whole wheat toast with butter and some fruit or berries and you’ve got a good breakfast. By the way, low-carb dieters are often misinformed about the role of carbohydrates in the diet. Refined carbohydrates are indeed high in calories and low in nutritive value but complex carbohydrates should make up the largest portion of your calories.



  6. Armando on March 27, 2013 at 8:55 pm

    Its not bad and definitely not bad enugoh to take medication. I am not a doctor but I am a natural health nut who has family with high cholesterol and I watch this stuff closely.Medication is an absolute last resort. What you will usually get is Lipitor and one your on that, its pretty much forever . its tailored that way.The best way to lower cholesterol is change your diet.. figure out what foods created it in the first place (chips, mashed potatoes and gravies, red meat, bacon ..its pretty obvious what does unless you just naturally produce cholesterol in your bloodstream) and eliminate them. A good routine is always eat a whole grain breakfast within 30 minutes of waking in the morning (even if you dont eat breakfast, its the most important meal and your cholesterol will lower just by doing that in most cases)as well drink 8 to 16 oz of water, clean fresh water, not tap. Then eat fibre througout the day at least every two hours.. carrots, apples, fibre bar whatever . drink lots of water (this is the nectar of life, it has been neglected for years but science is realizing its really important to keep cells in your body working properly). There is also another thing you can do drink an ounce of apple-cider vinegar every morning .. it cleans the arteries . and get a multi-vitamin that contains B50 and niacin . these also help keep the arteries clean and feed the heart which is what we worry about with high cholesterol. I know this is long but I just wanted to help I dont promote taking any pills for quick fix because its not good for your body to take pills.. then you have to take other pills to offset side effects and the next thing you know you have 20 pills to take every day.. the body isnt designed to filter pills .. which is why I believe people are sick in this day and age.Good Luck



  7. KRinaldi on June 5, 2013 at 9:56 am

    Tried your recipe, it was YUMMY! Thanks. Have you tried Kale, grapefruit, pineapple and mint as a green smoothie? It’s sunshine in a glass.



  8. KRinaldi on June 5, 2013 at 9:57 am

    There are so many natural healing alternatives, I highly recommend we try natural before we resort to chemical. Thanks for sharing your insight.



  9. Nicole on October 11, 2013 at 5:26 pm

    I love oatmeal with berries and walnuts. And that picture you posted looks AMAZING. Do you do house calls? 🙂



  10. Nicole on October 11, 2013 at 5:27 pm

    great idea!