Bagel with Cream Cheese
If you’re getting your bagel and cream cheese on the go, you’re probably not getting a calorie-conscious, whole grain bagel with reduced fat cream cheese. Whole grain is made up of all the essential parts of the entire and original buckwheat, spelt, kamut, bulger, barley, millet, corn, oat, amaranth, grain, or rye gain. This means it hasn’t been cracked, crushed, rolled, or extruded.
However, if like many, you crave a toasted bagel in the morning, you can easily cut the calories in half by toasting and smearing your own whole grain bagel at home. Or better yet, skip the high caloric and fatty cream cheese and use low fat cottage cheese or natural nut butter instead. Raw nut butters like almond, peanut, macadamia, and soy butter are all tasty and melt nicely onto a bagel.
Cereals are considered ideal breakfast foods, but you need to choose the best ones. The market is flooded with sugary cereals, which are not healthy for your body.
These cereals taste good because they have added sugar and artificial flavors. When you eat these cereals, the body converts the extra sugar calories to fat, thus increasing the risk of obesity.
Furthermore, the sugar causes blood sugar levels to spike, making you hungry again and you start craving more unhealthy, sweet and fatty foods. Plus, the food dyes used in colored cereals are not healthy.
According to a recent analysis by the Environmental Working Group of 1,556 cereals on the U.S. market, many are as sweet as cookies and should not be considered a part of a healthy breakfast.
Choose your breakfast cereals carefully. Look for those made with whole grains, as the fiber will help you stay full longer.
Plus, the vitamins, antioxidants and minerals found in whole-grain cereals can protect against problems like obesity, digestive issues, cancers and heart disease
Fruit juice is another staple breakfast item. The problem lies with processed fruit juices, which contain added sugars and preservatives.
Plus, processed fruit juices are often low in nutrient value, lacking healthy fiber, enzymes, minerals, antioxidants and vitamins.
In fact, to get the most health benefits from fruits, it is recommended to opt for whole fruits rather than fruit juice. Although the juice has as much sugar as the fruit, it does not contain fruit pulp which is rich in dietary fiber.
Unlike the juice which gets absorbed faster, the whole fruit with its fiber content that can help tame hunger pangs until lunch time.
A 2013 study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition reports that intake of whole apples or clear apple juice has contrasting effects on health.
While whole apples are rich in polyphenols and pectin, these constituents segregate differently during processing into juice form, thus the clear juice lacks these constituents.
bacon as part of your most important meal of the day.
Starting your day with bacon may increase your risk of heart disease and cancer due to its saturated fat, sodium, nitrate and nitrite content.
According to the American Heart Association, eating foods high in saturated fat raises blood cholesterol levels, which in turn may increase the risk of heart disease and strokes.
The World Health Organization says that high red meat intake increases the risk of colorectal, pancreatic and prostate cancers.
A 2005 study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggests an association between high intake of red meat and processed meat and an increased risk for pancreatic cancer.
Make sure to eat something nourishing and sustaining for breakfast to keep you energetic throughout the day.