Healthy Habits for Happy Humans

Make breakfast a no-brainer. Almost.

 

blog coffee morning

Hello again! I hope you took a few baby steps last week and began finding ways to incorporate them into your daily routines. Routines are key to achieving long-term goals. The more happy, healthy habits we can establish, the better.

I’ve seen research saying that we make more than 200 food-related decisions every day. That’s a lot of brain power sucked up by a regular function. But think about how our day starts. Coffee or tea? Cream or sugar? Cereal or eggs? Apple or banana? White or wheat? Now or later?

While I recognize that breakfast is a pretty important start to my day, I also know my brain isn’t fully functional first thing in the morning. The few brain cells that are firing before that first cup of coffee takes effect are doing all they can to just to focus my eyes. For me it just makes sense to plan ahead and have a few healthy go-to options that require little thinking and few sharp objects.

blog one small thought

My priorities for breakfast (aside from delish-iosity and ease) are that it contains several food groups, especially a fruit, a whole grain, and some protein. And I don’t want to be hungry an hour later, so it needs to be “enough.”
Your tastes, dietary issues, and other preferences may be different from mine, but here are a few of the everyday breakfasts that help get my day off to good start.
• Whole grain hot cereal cooked in the microwave with some sort or fresh or frozen fruit (Costco’s frozen mixed berries are my favorite) then topped with a tablespoon of brown sugar and a dollop of plain Greek yogurt for some protein. I’m a fan of Bob’s Redmill hot cereals.
• Two Kashi whole grain toaster waffles topped with fresh berries, plain Greek yogurt and a little syrup.
• Overnight oatmeal—equal parts (usually 1/3 cup) oats, plain Greek yogurt, and milk product of choice with a few raisins, Craisins, chocolate chips, or nuts stirred in. Cover, put in the fridge overnight and eat it cold with a little brown sugar. Look for lots of variations on this theme on Pinterest. Even my ten-year-old granddaughter is a fan, so give it a try.
• A banana split–Slice a banana into a bowl, then add some plain Greek yogurt and fresh berries. Top it with a little Kashi Original and perhaps a few nuts.

This week, think of two or three tasty, healthy breakfasts that are easy and quick to pull together, even on workdays. These should take little cooking and may even be portable if you need to eat on the go. Make a list of what you’ll need and shop. Once you get your supplies home, store them conveniently and in plain sight so you don’t “forget” your plan. For example, the leftover pizza goes BEHIND the berries and yogurt in the fridge.
I think you’ll discover that when you eat a satisfying and healthy breakfast, you’ll feel better and be more inclined to make healthy choices throughout the day. And better yet, you’ll free up some brain power for more important things, like world peace or climate change.

Please share some your own breakfast solutions.

Published by

Lorie Smith Schaefer

Wife, mother, grandmother, reader, writer, kindness warrior. Retired teacher. Volunteer Reading Grandma. Former columnist for the Nevada Appeal. Author of US, NOW AND THEN.

16 thoughts on “Make breakfast a no-brainer. Almost.”

  1. I started a Good Vibes Brekkie routine esp on weekends. I wrote about it in the blog, but in essence, I make a pretty appealing breakfast shared by family, so good that it’s hard not to have a great day after.😄

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  3. HI Lorie,

    I like to start my day with toasted muesli, there’s just something about the crunch that I love. I like to add fruit and Greek yoghurt because my system doesn’t handle too much milk. Believe it or not, this have been my breakfast for years, it fills me up and keeps me going for hours. I do mix it up every now and then with an egg on toast.

    I love reading your Healthy Habits.

    Clare

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  5. First, I’ve always been a breakfast gal. All my life. Never missed a one. Often it had been other kinds of cereals, but the last years, especially in winter, I head oatmeal. Now, I’m using ‘instant’ but plain, and add cinnamon and a teaspoon of pure maple syrup, and 2/3 fat free milk. Nuked in the microwave, and I have a slice of whole wheat toast with almond butter, (unless I run out and then it’s LOL Olive Oil butter), and have about four ounces of apple fresh-pressed juice, and close it all out with a slice of melon.

    It’s actually been something that has gotten my cholesterol down into the completely wonder normal range. But I’m not eating it because of that, but because I love oatmeal.

    I’ll have to find out where your lunch and dinner sections are, because those are my big problem areas. NICE POST! Thank you for the very good info!

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  7. An excellent post, Lorie. My breakfast requirements and options are much like yours, including a cup of coffee as the starter. I’ve never tried the overnight oatmeal, but will do so this week. I laughed aloud at “…require little thinking and few sharp objects.” Yup!

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  8. I’m making a really yummy (and very occasional) version of the overnight oatmeal tonight with a little coconut and a few chocolate chips. I can even skip the brown sugar on this one. It’s like a bowl of Mounds bars. No sharp objects or fire required.

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