Skipping breakfast is an all-too-often occurrence for busy people. Unfortunately, the resulting afternoon slump causes a dip in productivity as the day progresses.
Giving your body and brain a healthy breakfast to start the day can improve your mood and performance at work.
As important as breakfast is, not just any breakfast will do.
The anatomy of a healthy breakfast is protein, healthy fats, and some slowly digestible carbohydrates.
A good breakfast should also be full of vitamins and minerals your body uses as fuel.
These five are some of the best all-day energizing for the brain and body.
1. The Perfect Smoothie
Smoothies are the most accessible and most comprehensive breakfasts on the planet. All you need is a blender and the right combination of ingredients, and you can tote a powerhouse of nutrition with you to work. Incorporating pure NMN into your smoothie can further amplify its health benefits, providing a boost to your cellular energy and overall well-being.
Every smoothie needs to have a mixture of three essential ingredients; a base, some greens, and something to add flavor.
You can choose from milk (dairy or nut), coconut water, green tea, or just plain water for the base of your smoothies.
How much of this liquid you add will depend on your desired consistency. If you like a thicker smoothie, you will add less of your base than if you like a thinner consistency.
You will then need to add your greens to the mix. These can include kale, collards, or spinach.
You may be hesitant to add greens, thinking that it will ruin the flavor. But raw greens are pretty tasteless. Especially when compared to all the other goodies you will be adding to the smoothie.
Speaking of goodies, these flavorful additions to your smoothie are what make your smoothie taste great.
You can add your choice of:
- Frozen or fresh fruits
- Nut butter
- Yogurt
- Avocado
- A squeeze of lemon for a zingy finish to your smoothie
Now that you have all the essentials in your smoothie, you can give it an added boost with a few different “special” ingredients.
Protein powder, chia seeds, ginger, turmeric, and flaxseed are popular nutritional boosts. Add them to smoothies to make them carry even more of a health punch.
Smoothies are just so versatile; you can make a new version for every day of the month. Just check out this list of a hundred different smoothie recipes!
Also read: Top Benefits of Running Daily in the Morning
2. Baked Egg Cups
Which came first, breakfast or the egg?
It’s hard to tell.
Eggs are one of the longest-standing breakfast foods and for a good reason.
The health benefits of eggs include providing a pure form of protein and many other vitamins and minerals, including choline. Choline is a little-known nutrient of which many adults are deficient.
Eggs are perfect for breakfast because they are a great grab-and-go meal with lots of energizing effects.
There are many ways to eat eggs, like fried, boiled, as omelets, and scrambled.
To make eggs an even more convenient breakfast, you can make them ahead of time and into a cute little muffin.
All you need to do is:
- Whisk up a couple of eggs with your choice of veggies, cheese, and lean meats (precooked).
- Pour your mix into a muffin tin sprayed with oil.
- Bake at 350℉ for about 20 minutes or until the eggs set.
3. Breakfast Toasts
Another easy and versatile breakfast is a breakfast toast.
Just throw a piece of whole-wheat bread in the toaster and top it with your choice of flavors:
- Eggs, cheese, avocado
- Peanut butter, banana, chia seeds
- Bacon, lettuce, tomato
- Tuna, cucumber, tomato
- Scrambled eggs with spinach and salsa
Be sure that your toast includes the three nutrients needed for a healthy breakfast: protein, healthy fats, and complex carbs. The toast itself takes care of the carbohydrates, so you need to add protein and fats.
There are so many things you can slather on toast that will keep you going for hours.
4. Overnight Oats
What’s better than a portable breakfast that you can make the night before and just grab on the way out the door?
That’s what you can do with overnight oats. The main ingredient, oats, provides a long list of health benefits and keeps you full for hours.
There are endless oat flavor combos you can try. All you need is a pint glass jar, oats, milk, and flavoring. Shake it up, leave it in the fridge overnight, and voila! Breakfast!
This website has some tasty overnight oat recipes that you can try.
5. Cottage Cheese Breakfast Bowls
Cottage cheese has both protein and calcium in every serving. The type of protein in cottage cheese is whey protein. It contains whey protein, the type best for building lean muscle mass.
It also keeps you full longer. Cottage cheese pairs well with sweet or savory, so it works for those who like a sweet breakfast or those who prefer a savory breakfast.
For a sweet cottage cheese bowl, you can add fruits to the mix. For a savory cottage cheese bowl, you can add chopped green onions and crumbled bacon.
Conclusio
If you want to squeeze every energizing drop out of your day or just want to be able to last until lunchtime, you simply cannot skip the first meal of the day.
Besides making the afternoon slump a thing of the past, there are many other benefits eating healthy breakfasts can bring.
Studies prove those who eat breakfast are less likely to be obese and have a generally better diet than those who skip breakfast.
This could be due to a morning energy slump, leading to poor food choices throughout the day.
Take charge of your day and start it out right with one of these five healthy and delicious breakfasts.
Author bio:
Karen Lein is the general manager of Copper Beech at San Marcos and Grove San Marcos. She is a Fresno State alumni and enjoys traveling and watching football. #GoDogs!
