Jump Start Your Day With Mediterranean Diet Breakfast
“Too-late-for-breakfast, grab-something-for-lunch, eat-a-big-dinner, and nibble-nonstop-until-bedtime” (Jane Brody’s Good Food Book). Sounds familiar? I used to grab something for breakfast on the way out of the house and nibble right up to bedtime. I did that until I found out that breakfast could actually help me lose weight and live longer! That’s what researchers found out about people who ate breakfast almost every day.
Now I get up a little earlier, meditate for 15-20 minutes, and eat breakfast leisurely. Only then I start my day. Apparently eating breakfast benefits our well-being, our level of energy, and improves our performance on the job. Our blood sugar level is low in the morning since we didn’t eat all night. Our body needs “refueling”. Breakfast supplies our body with some essential nutrients such as protein, calcium, riboflavin, and vitamin C.
We are probably not going to replenish what we missed at breakfast as the day progresses. So we are likely to develop a deficiency in some very important building blocks in our body like calcium, vitamin C, iron, and thiamin (vitamin B).
Your breakfast should include portions from the 3 major sources of nutrients: proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Whole grain cereals and bread will provide you with carbohydrates (complex) for your immediate energy needs. Follow the serving sizes from the food groups.
Low fat milk, yogurt, cheese, and eggs supply your proteins, calcium, and some fat. Vegetables, fruit and fruit juice contain vitamin C, an important part of breakfast. Two tablespoons of peanut butter or a tablespoon of olive oil will provide the fat you need.
Here are four ideas for breakfast
1. Rice Pudding Cereal with 1/2 cup low-fat milk topped with 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed or ground toasted nuts, 1/2 Red grapefruit or 1/2 cup citrus juice, and 1 slice whole grain bread lightly toasted and dipped in sesame seeds sauce.
2.1 cup tossed salad dressed with 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 hard- boiled/sunny-side up egg, 1 slice whole grain bread dipped in sesame seeds sauce, low-fat yogurt with 1 tablespoon of freshly ground flax seeds, and 1/2 Red grapefruit.
3. Fruit bowl with banana, berries, walnuts, ground flax-seeds, and topped with vanilla yogurt.
4. High fiber cereal topped with fresh fruits like apples, pears, apricots,nuts, and soy-milk.
Include green or herbal tea with each breakfast.
You get the idea. It’s a mix and mach game you play with your Mediterranean diet breakfast. Be creative with your most important meal of the day.
Muhammad Aqib