Start Your Day Right – Best Breakfast Ideas

The experts are always telling us that it’s important to make the right choice when it comes to breakfast, and I am inclined to agree with them. However, just because I realize this meal is essential nutritional wise, I am also aware that it can often be the most difficult of meals to both prepare and indeed eat.

The fact is that we all lead busy lives, and that often means a clear majority of the population rarely have time to consume breakfast. Added to this, not everybody has that instant urge to reach for food as soon as they open their eyes in the morning!

The nutritional benefits of eating breakfast cannot be stated enough. So, if you can put aside even just a minimum of ten minutes per day, you could set yourself up to greet your day ahead with more vigor and energy and, in some instances, work on maintaining a steady weight as you do so.

Breakfast is a fuel which ideally takes us through to lunchtime, thus meaning that we are less likely to be inclined to snack at various times throughout the morning. So, conquer the preparation of this essential meal, and you get to reap the many benefits that it offers and set yourself up for an ongoing healthier lifestyle as a result.

Fruit: When I suggest fruit as part of breakfast I am often met with opposing looks. The problem we seem to have as a society with fruit is believing it to be as a light snack throughout the day, or just something that you may pick up to eat occasionally. By taking this attitude towards fruit, we miss out on some great ways to incorporate it into our breakfast choices. One of the easiest and quickest of breakfasts to create, it is also the most nutritional and provides a huge energy boost for the day ahead:

  • Look at fruit as a sweetener and add it to the toppings of cereals
  • Try a different color of fruit each day in a smoothie
  • Chop up pieces of fruit and add them to a yogurt
  • Add selected sliced fruits to crepes
  • Prepare a fruit bowl with as many of your favorite types of fruit as possible and drizzle with a fruit juice
  • Roast some pears and add a dash of low-fat cream to serve
  • Bake up a batch of oatmeal with an added sweet fruit cooked in it
  • Select two or three of the most delicious fruits and make a popsicle with them!
  • Cook up a big bowl of porridge or plain oats and mix in a variety of fruit

Eggs: Yet another quick and easy choice, eggs can be used for breakfast in a variety of ways and once again deliver the energy that you need to see your day through. From the plain to the extravagant, they are cheap to purchase and always taste great as a light breakfast first thing in the morning:

  • Egg and soldiers! Okay, the most basic of choices but who can resist dipping that little rectangle of toast into that Humpty Dumpty style egg! Better still, if that bread happened to be whole grain, what a start to your day!
  • Bake up some French toast and start the day continentally, using up leftover
  • Place an omelet in a bun! Take a wholegrain bun or baguette and complement it with some peppers for a surge of protein.
  • Throw an egg into a cup and microwave it for an instant made egg muffin. Then add some grated broccoli to garnish.
  • Whip up a quick batch of scrambled egg. You can never go wrong with this dish, and it can be on your plate accompanied by wholegrain toast within just a few minutes.

If you are one of the thousands of people who struggle to eat breakfast, why not take a different approach to the food that you would not necessarily think of straightway when it comes to breakfast choices? By this I mean think about a food choice you could manage but add a healthy twist to it:

  • Baked beans on toast. This can be eaten at breakfast and be made extra healthy by choosing low sugar beans, making the toast with oatmeal bread and then adding a little garnish to finish.
  • Bake a batch of healthy muffins. Who said that muffins were not healthy when you can load them with oatmeal, fruit and various nut choices?
  • Treat yourself to a healthy BLT. You could prepare a BLT in minutes using grilled low-fat bacon trimmed and wholegrain bread, then pile on the lettuce and tomatoes at your pleasure!
  • Devise a morning pizza. Pizza can be a healthy breakfast choice if the toppings selected are healthy, of course! You can also use a light base flour for the dough. Once again, fill up on those healthy toppings.

As you can see, breakfast on the go does not have to mean a boring bowl of sugar-filled cereals or a soggy piece of cold toast! Neither does it have to say spending hours on preparing that perfect dish. The main point is to make time to eat this most important meal. Once you begin creating a breakfast pattern, you will find yourself starting to enjoy the act of making a satisfying and nutritional meal first thing in the morning. Ultimately, once your taste buds start to develop, you will begin to look at being more inventive with your breakfast choices – and that is when the love affair with food really does start!