With breakfast our day begins and we want you to ask yourself with what energy you want to start it. With this article and video we invite you to create your own healthy breakfast menu . In the article we will break down all the food groups that you can include in your breakfasts or lunches, their nutritional properties and also ideas for easy and delicious recipes to add variety and richness to your breakfasts.
Remember that breakfast gives us energy and nutrients and that is why it is important that it is as healthy as the other meals of the day. Maybe you are not one of those who likes to have breakfast as soon as you wake up, but you do prepare a good breakfast at 10 in the morning. This depends on your preferences and needs. Let’s do it when we do it, this first meal of the day helps us to establish a habit that leads us to maintain a more regular, complete and balanced diet, not to go hungry, not to feel lacking in energy
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What foods should we include at breakfast?
The foods that we include must meet 2 premises:
1- Make them healthy foods. From any food group, but healthy.
2- That the foods are as varied as possible. Incorporating different groups and different foods within the same group. This will make us introduce different nutrients in our diet.
Dairy at breakfast
The first group that we are going to look at are dairy such as milk, cheese, and fermented dairy such as yogurt or kefir. Dairy products are a very nutritious group, but you intolerant and vegan have options to replace them, so don’t worry. Dairy products provide us with protein, calcium and vitamin D and are beneficial for bone health. It is advisable to consume 2 or 3 servings a day, so it will be interesting to include one at breakfast. If you don’t feel like it for breakfast, it would be interesting if you ate it at another time of the day, for example for a snack or in the form of yogurt, in desserts, etc.
The dairy you choose can be in the form of milk, yogurt or cheese. To the milk you can add coffee, pure cocoa, tea, cinnamon or use it to make a smoothie with other foods. As for cheeses, prioritize fresh ones such as Burgos, cottage cheese or ricotta and take highly cured or fatty cheeses more sporadically. And if you choose yogurt, better without added sugar and you can sweeten them with fruit, nuts, spices (cinnamon, anise), etc.
Vegetable drinks for breakfast
In this group we find the soy drink, almond milk, oat drink, spelled drink, dried fruit drink , etc. Each drink comes from different foods, so each will have different nutrients and different properties. They do not replace dairy, they are different foods. In case of not taking dairy, try that these drinks are enriched in calcium and vitamin D.
Breakfast cereals
The cereal group would include whole grain, sugar-free bread or breakfast cereals such as oat, corn or wheat flakes, muesli or granola . Its integral version, in addition to being more nutritious, provides us with slow absorption carbohydrates that give us long-lasting energy. The whole carbohydrate will be satisfying and there are many quick ways to consume it either in bread, toast, oatmeal, etc.
Cookies and pastries contain added sugar and fat, they are not recommended foods for regular consumption (if you make them at home you can modify the amounts of sugar and fat). Attention to the amount of sugar in breakfast cereals, they usually contain added sugar, so choose those that contain less.
Fruit for breakfast
This group is full of vitamins and minerals: fruit, a true natural pharmacy for sale in greengrocers. We can take it as a whole piece, sliced, in the form of a homemade fruit salad or in a shake, mixed with other groups, etc. Again, we recommend varying its shape when taking it. Remember that it provides us with fiber, vitamins, minerals and other antioxidant substances and therefore, regulates intestinal transit and prevents us from cardiovascular diseases.
We should consume 2 or 3 a day, so including one at breakfast helps us cover one of them. You can take it with breakfast or mid-morning.
Healthy breakfast fats
In the group of healthy fats are foods such as avocado, olive oil, nuts or seeds or natural nut creams. They are a source of energy and prevent us from cardiovascular diseases.
Foods such as avocado or olive oil can accompany the bread. Nuts, on the other hand, are perfect to eat alone or with a yogurt or bowl of oatmeal.
Protein at breakfast
When we talk about protein, we refer to the inclusion of foods such as eggs, ham, turkey, tuna, sardines, salmon , how well it goes with bread, the days that I have opted for this carbohydrate version. It does not always have to be the classic sausage, in fact we recommend that you vary this option. You can include the eggs in an omelette, scrambled or cooked. Both canned tuna and sardines are rich in salt so it is better not to include their consumption more than 2 or 3 times a week. The most recommended sausages are: cooked ham, turkey and chicken. The cured ham or the cured loin can be incorporated, to vary these proteins a little, but in moderation.
Vegetables for breakfast?
If you enjoy eating vegetables, do not hesitate to include them in your breakfasts: sliced natural tomato, radishes, cucumber, spinach, lettuce, aubergine, pepper, carrot, vegetable pate (hummus, eggplant, beet). In short, any vegetable that you fancy is correct.
