What does your morning routine look like? Are you chasing after your kids and yelling at them for the fifteenth time to get their shoes on? Are you rushing to work and getting your make-up on when you’re riding the train? Are you hitting the snooze button more than 10 times?
In whatever way you start your day, ensuring you have a nutritious breakfast is important. According to studies, eating breakfast is linked with better health, lower levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol, better concentration levels and memory. But, you may find squeezing in a healthy and nutritious breakfast to be a tedious task. If you’re quite time-poor in the mornings, don’t worry. There are a number of excellent breakfast choices to help you get through your morning (and day), even if you’re running late!
Breakfast smoothies
Smoothies aren’t just for a quick drink to cool down in the summer. A smoothie for breakfast is a quick and easy breakfast that can be full of nutrients and minerals.
Depending on what you add to your breakfast, you could have the perfect start to your day that is healthy, nutritious and filling. The best part is, you can pre-plan your smoothie contents and either freeze or refrigerate the ingredients in zip-lock bags. All you need to do in the morning is grab a bag of ingredients, fill your blender with your desired milk (you can use cows milk or plant-based milk such as almond or coconut milk) and mix until you get a blended drink.
Depending on your equipment, you may even be able to blend your drink and bring it with you on the way to work, making it an even more convenient option for busy mornings.
Here is one of our favourite recipes for a fresh start!
Berry Protein Blast
Ingredients:
- ⅓ cup of baby spinach leaves
- ½ cup of frozen mixed berries
- 1 cup of unsweetened coconut milk
- Sprinkle of sliced almonds (optional)
Method:
- Combine all ingredients into a blender
- Pulse blender until ingredients are properly blended and mixed together
- Enjoy!
- Extra tip: If you’re using fresh berries instead of frozen ones, add a couple of cubes of ice to make it thicker and colder (which is even better in the warmer months).
Breakfast Muffins
Muffins can easily be a high-calorie option that lacks any real nutritional value. If you’re buying muffins from a takeaway store or cafe on the way to work, chances are it contains quite a bit of sugar and not much that will sustain you for the day ahead.
Instead, baking your own muffins for breakfast will help you to know exactly what is in each muffin and you can choose exactly what flavour you want.
You can also make muffins ahead of time. You may even bake your muffins on a Sunday afternoon, ready for the week ahead. You can choose a variety of sweet and savoury muffins such as blueberry, banana or spinach, feta and sundried tomato. If you want a gluten-free option, you can also customise your flour of choice by using coconut flour or almond flour.
Fruit Salad
A simple fruit salad is sometimes all you need for a great start. Even if you don’t prepare it the night before or ahead of time, a fruit salad is simple and quick to make. You don’t have to cut your fruit into fancy cuts or present it beautifully. Even just throwing some grapes, strawberries, sliced banana and some blueberries can be the perfect breakfast. It’s a great option to choose what fruits you love and incorporate them into your salad.
Vitamin Sachets
When you’re really in a rush, but you want to ensure you get the right vitamins and minerals, a quick vitamin sachet could be a good option for you. While it shouldn’t replace a healthy diet, it can be a good fix for those days where you simply don’t have the time for a meal. The best part about choosing this for a breakfast is that it’s fast and ensures you get a lot of vitamins and minerals into your diet to start your day off right.
No matter what breakfast you choose, ensuring you get a portion of healthy food or drink into your morning is only going to benefit you throughout your day. Some people find not having breakfast means they tend to overeat come lunch time. Avoid lunchtime over-indulgence and start your day with a healthy breakfast!