Seven Ways to Pack More Nutrition into Your Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day giving you the fuel you need to run,  jump and THINK, yet it’s oh so easy to miss.  So we’re giving you seven ways to pack more nutrition into your breakfast that just so happen to be delicious.

The kiddies are back to school, deadlines loom and the commute just got longer thanks to all those yellow buses.  It’s easy to skip breakfast or eat crap on the go, but you’re not doing your brain any favors.  Without breakfast your brain has no juice, it’s like having a super computer but no power cord.  You gotta’ hook up to the grid before it works otherwise it’s just a fancy thing attached to your shoulders to put hats on.

Besides, a breakfast that’s nutritionally rich helps keep hunger at bay, and that just makes for a happy tummy.  A happy tummy means less snacking, and cravings for sugar-laden junk from the vending machine (no, it’s not just you).  So let’s get that tummy content and that brain-box revved up.

Seven Ways to Pack More Nutrition into Your Breakfast

1.  Whole Grains:  Touted for fighting everything from heart disease, hypertension and obesity, to lowering your risk of developing type II diabetes, unrefined, whole grains are chewy, tasty and fast.  A couple of varieties you’ll find in my pantry; steel-cut oatmeal and barley as well as a couple of gluten-free varieties like quinoa and amaranth flakes, but there are plenty to choose from.  I don’t bother to cook them most times, just handle them like cold breakfast cereal – pour a bowl and grab a spoon.

2. Raw Nuts & Seeds:  Packed with plant protein, this category could easily fall under the healthy fats title, because most raw nuts and seeds (such as pumpkin & sunflower seeds) contain both omega 3 and omega 6 as well as fiber.   Toss a few almonds in a bag and you’re good to go.

3.  Fresh Fruit:  It’s fruit, need I say more?  The fresher the better, in the winter try frozen berries, mango or peaches for your blender drinks.  Picked at the peak of freshness and flash frozen, you will often get more nutritional bang for your breakfast from frozen over the winter selection of fresh fruit, shipped over many miles.

4.  Healthy Fats:  Our brain is largely fat, so when we talk about powering the brain, we would be remiss if we did not touch of healthy fats.  A drizzle of omega three oil in our smoothie, a tablespoon of ground flax on our grains or a scoop of  cultured coconut (also a dairy alternative, similar to yogurt) , are all packed with essential fatty acids and terrific brain food.

5. Food Based Nutritional Supplements:  Don’t be shy about using food based supplements, it’s a hectic life and sometimes we overlook our own nutrition.  My favorite go-to morning supplement with breakfast is nutritional yeast.  A deactivated yeast, that looks like golden flakes and tastes lightly nutty; nutritional yeast is sold in the health food aisle at most grocery stores.

If this is the only change you make in your breakfast it’s a good one because nutritional yeast is packed with the B complex vitamins that help keep you happy, one tablespoon goes a LONG way, in your favourite smoothie.

6.  Dairy & Dairy Alternatives:  Milk works, but there are ways to get more out of the cow than just calcium (and added vitamin D).  Yogurt and kefir yogurt contains healthy cultures to help keep your digestive track balanced and doing it’s job.  Dairy alternatives like Almond or soy milk contain less calcium but offer more fiber and vitamins (but less calcium), while rice milk has a higher carbohydrate level (often with added vitamins and calcium) and all are lactose free.

7.  Alternative Sweeteners:  Need something sweet to start your day?  Skip the white sugar and go for a less refined sweetener like brown sugar, molasses (on oatmeal), malt sugar (in your fruit shake), agave syrup (above), or honey.  I’m a big fan of honey, particularly in it’s raw, unpasteurized form, loaded with living enzymes.

So grab a bowl and pour it on, or toss an assortment of tasty treats from this list into a blender and make your self a nutrient packed breakfast to go.   Plug that brain in and rock your world.  

Breakfast – it’s not just coffee anymore.