Healthy breakfast ideas and recipes

The importance of a healthy breakfast is now known to everyone: even on low-calorie diets, it is important to ensure that our body gets the right nutrients it needs to face a new day. So, here are some useful tips and the best mouth-watering recipes for a healthy and natural breakfast. Start your day with a both light and nutritious breakfast!

The importance of a healthy breakfast cannot be overstated. On the contrary, we should emphasize the importance of a healthy breakfast for your well-being: actually, to get the day off to the best possible start and deal with the stresses of the daily routine, the first meal in the morning is crucial. Starting with the right amount of calories, minerals, and vitamins ensures that our bodies are energized to make it to lunch without fatigue.

Eating a good breakfast in the morning allows us not to eat more than we need throughout the day, so we don’t get weighed down and subject the body to unnecessary digestive ‘stress’ that would compromise our vitality and freshness at work, in the studio or in the gym. This is why skipping breakfast believing that this will help us lose weight faster is as wrong as it gets.

Even if you don’t have a lot of time in the morning to devote to a dietary and natural breakfast, learn to prepare the essentials the night before. It’s a healthy habit that will allow you to start each day with the sprint and energy you need.

Let’s now see the mistakes not to make and vice versa the good habits to assume.

Healthy breakfast: mistakes to avoid

There are, in fact, some typical errors that we tend to make during the most important meal of the day but we can easily manage to correct them by adopting better eating habits for a healthy and nutritious breakfast:

• reduce or avoid sugars: although our typical breakfast tends to be ‘sweet’, that is, based on cookies, cakes and jams, always consuming only foods that contain sugars does not help to be full for a long time. These foods, in fact, tend to satiate only momentarily, promoting a rise in blood sugar levels with a consequent increase in the feeling of hunger a few hours after eating.
• don’t overindulge in fruit juices: often mistakenly considered health drinks, they too contribute to sugar intake, as opposed to, on the contrary, smoothies or centrifuges prepared on the spot at home; alternatively, you can opt for the direct consumption of a fresh fruit to start the day in a decidedly healthy way.
• eating too much, too late and too fast: a healthy breakfast requires not overdoing the quantities, risking feeling too full and heavy right from the morning, devoting the right amount of time to this first meal but without waiting too long after waking up (preferably within an hour).
• drinking only coffee: having the habit of not eating in the morning settling for only a coffee, perhaps gobbled down in a hurry, is not good for your health, especially of the stomach since you risk in the long run encouraging the onset of gastric disorders, such as gastroesophageal reflux.

Healthy breakfast: habits to adopt

There are, then, recommended habits to easily ensure a healthy breakfast, ideal for contributing to mental and physical well-being:

• drink water: immediately after waking up a gesture as simple as important for our well-being is to drink some warm water, preferably with the addition of a little lemon juice: lemon water helps to purify the body and strengthen the immune system.
• consume protein: alternating the first meal of the day with ‘salty’ breakfasts is a good way to keep fit by avoiding mid-morning glycemic spikes, caused by too many sugars and carbohydrates, and thus postponing and limiting the feeling of hunger.
• fiber intake: during breakfast, the presence of fiber promotes a sense of satiety; therefore, it would be advisable to vary the morning diet with nuts, which also support the regularity of bowel functions.

The right foods to start the day well

To make a perfect breakfast, you need to start as soon as you wake up by drinking aglass of water that can purify the body and promote hydration. You can also try to vary breakfast periodically so as not to make it monotonous.

One possibility consists of a cup of milk (also in its variants of, rice, oat, soy milk, etc.) to which one can add a slice of whole-wheat bread on which to spread some organic jam and a fresh fruit.

Alternatively, honey can also be consumed, along with a few slices of toast.

Doughnuts or croissants, preferably homemade with simple and natural ingredients, can also be a good base for the day along with a glass of milk and a piece of fruit.

Grains are, likewise, a great food to include in the first morning meal to get fiber and vitamins.

Some recipes for a healthy breakfast

Here are some simple recipes to make for those who want to eat with taste even in the morning without caloric ‘excesses’.

Sunflower seed cream and chocolate

Here is a healthy, light, but equally tasty alternative to Nutella. A vegetarian spread made from sunflower seeds, sweetened by 100% natural chocolate to be enjoyed on cookies, toast or as a filling for more elaborate desserts. Great for breakfast, but also for a tasty snack or treat, this chocolate cream is free of refined sugars, allergens and preservatives.

Try experimenting with the recipe by preparing small amounts first, so you can dose the ingredients depending on the creaminess and sweetness you prefer to achieve.

Here’s how to do it:

• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 3 dates
• 1½ tablespoons of coconut oil
• ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 tablespoon of bitter cocoa powder
• 1 and a half tablespoons of dark chocolate chips

Preparation:

• Toast the sunflower seeds in an oven at 180° for 5 minutes. Pour them into a food processor and blend for about 3 minutes until you get a rather grainy powder.
• Add the dates, half the coconut oil, vanilla, and salt. Continue blending to make the mixture creamy, and occasionally dilute with the remaining coconut oil to best work the mixture.
• Meanwhile, soften the chocolate chips over a gentle heat for a few minutes or directly in the microwave for 30 seconds. Incorporate them into the mixture in the blender along with the unsweetened cocoa, continuing to blend.
• Once you have obtained the optimal density, your chocolate butter can be transferred to an airtight glass jar and stored at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Quinoa and fresh fruit cup

Here is another fresh and original recipe to enjoy all the properties of pistachios (or dried fruits such as hazelnuts and almonds) and honey.

A veg-friendly, gluten-free recipe that you can enjoy changing with different ingredients every day.

Ingredients (4 servings):

• 4 cups almond milk
• 1 cup of quinoa
• 15 fresh strawberries or other seasonal fruit
• 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios
• 1/2 tablespoons of honey

Preparation:

• Heat the almond milk over low heat for a few minutes.
• Add the quinoa and stir gently, continuing to cook for 15 minutes, still over low heat.
• Once the quinoa is cooked transfer the mixture to 3 cups or glass jars and garnish with pistachios and honey to cover.

A simple, yet delicious recipe, ideal for a dietary and natural breakfast that will allow you to face even the busiest day with sweetness and vitality.

Berry and yogurt muffins

You can also start your day with a healthy recipe that is perfect for making a nice natural breakfast, berry muffins without butter or eggs. We will link to our step-by-step recipe soon!

Useful insights

Here are also other interesting articles for a wholesome meal or healthy breakfast:

• 10 foods you should eat for breakfast
• 3 simple recipes with Oatmeal
• Natural Foods To Discover: Bulgur
• Buckwheat, a superfood you should add to your diet right now
• 9 amazing health benefits of Nutmeg
• A healthy recipe for a homemade organic Nutella
• 10 energy foods for athletes