We’ve probably all heard at some point that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” But so many breakfast foods are super processed and full of sugar & fat: think, waffles and syrup, pancakes, bagels with cream cheese.
Even when you want to keep in shape and eat healthy, if you’ve got no alternative to what’s out there, it becomes more tempting to just grab a croissant and go in the morning.
So, we’ve put together a few ideas from the team at BuiltLean that will hopefully give you some tasty – and healthy – options for breakfast ideas that will keep you energized as you start the day!
Best Healthy Breakfast Ideas #1 – Whole & Unprocessed
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If you like a savory breakfast, eggs and sautéed veggies provide protein, healthy fats, healthy carbs, fiber, and essential vitamins and minerals.
For an on-the-go breakfast, a quick green shake is an excellent option, and a great way to sneak in veggies. Blend a frozen banana, some spinach or kale, and water or unsweetened non-dairy milk (optional ingredients: your favorite protein supplement, a scoop of nut butter, berries or other fruit). For more, see: Best Protein Shake Recipes. Whatever your breakfast preference may be, opt for whole, unprocessed, unpackaged foods to get the most nutrients and energy to start your day. |
Best Healthy Breakfast Ideas #2 – Eggs With Extras
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My favorite breakfast is a couple whole eggs and a couple egg whites scrambled with onions, peppers, a little cheese, and a grapefruit. It’s only about 400-500 calories, but hits the spot. If I want a bigger meal, I’ll have a bowl of oatmeal.
I love eggs for breakfast because they are easy to digest, have a solid nutritional profile with ample protein. It’s the best way to start my day. The other option if I’m having a lazy Saturday morning is a simple strawberry/banana protein shake (See: Best Protein Shake Recipes). |
Best Healthy Breakfast Ideas #3 – Over-Easy Eggs & Avocado
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Considering what most people eat for breakfast is not healthy, I would suggest no breakfast over some of the high glycemic carb bombs people eat. No breakfast is also, coincidentally, my favorite breakfast. I feel that if you don’t workout in the morning and you’re not trying to put on muscle, no breakfast can be ideal for a good number of people, once you get used to it.
If I do eat breakfast though it’s usually 4 over-easy eggs made with organic, grass-fed butter with ½ an avocado. This breakfast is high in protein, fiber and healthy fats that keep me full for a long time. |
Best Healthy Breakfast Ideas #4 – Low Carb
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I‘ve found that you can’t go wrong with eggs, meat, and vegetables in any combination. Veggie omelets, hardboiled eggs, or just meat and veggies, have always been my go-to meals for breakfast. If you noticed, I didn’t include any type of grain. There is a reason.
Popular belief has always been that your body needs carbohydrates when you wake up to provide you with sustainable energy. The fact is that your body typically has more than enough energy stored from what you ate yesterday. Personally, I consume most of my carbohydrate for the day post workout or later in the day when I am more apt to indulge. Instead of limiting myself when I am out with friends or family, I find it easier to avoid carbs in the morning and instead opt for high protein/moderate fat meals that most people need more of anyways. I have found that eating like this has provided me with more energy throughout the day as well as making food choices easier when I am out and about. |
Best Healthy Breakfast Ideas #5 – Hard Boiled Eggs & Whey
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Unless I’m exercising early in the morning, I’m not a breakfast person. I tend to eat based on hunger signals, and they don’t usually kick in until lunchtime. But for the purpose of nutritional optimization, my pre-workout breakfasts are generally rather austere (no complicated fruit smoothies or 8-ingredient omelets). They usually consist of a few hard-boiled eggs, some meat and veggie-based leftovers, and a scoop of whey protein in kefir for the road. Occasionally, the protein shake is substituted or supplemented with a protein bar depending on availability and hunger. In general, it’s an attempt to balance convenience and with nutritional optimization. |
What are your favorite healthy breakfast ideas?
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What Are The Best Healthy Breakfast Ideas?,
Egg White Omlette with Avocado and Hotsauce accompanied by a slice of pumperknickle with almond butter.
John Leyva, can you expand on your comment about skipping breakfast? Are you bringing that from a fasting viewpoint?
Erik
@Erik – My largest meal is my last meal of the day, which is usually at 11 pm. With that, I try to have 12 hours in between my last meal of the day and the first of the next day. I’m usually not on a diet, but I have tried intermittent fasting and 16 hours was too much for me on most days. Skipping breakfast is really about convenience for me as I’m not hungry, have more mental clarity, and as long as my first meal is healthy (usually meat, nuts and vegetables), my hunger is easily controlled throughout the rest of the day. Also, since I don’t workout til later in the day, I’m not really worried about peri-workout nutrition. Hope that helps. Let me know if you need more clairfication.
Can’t believe you’re advising not eating breakfast?! There have been studies that show skipping breakfast puts your body in a “fasting mode” which causes you to deposit more fat. Eating breakfast gets your metabolism kick started for the day, and eating something is definitely better than eating nothing if you are trying to burn fat.
Great article! There are some really good ideas here for those of us who live on the go. I think though I am going to have to buy some chickens to save money on eggs. lol. I did have a question about meal size. I recently read that it’s a good idea to build your daily meal plan like a pyramid. Have a large breakfast and then tapper it down throughout the day so that your smallest meal is at dinner (or evening snack if you eat 5-6 times a day). Is there any validity to that model?
@Russ – Possibly others can chime in, but I do think there is validity to the model and in fact a research report came out in the last couple days supporting this idea of pyramiding your food intake => Timing of food intake predicts weight loss effectiveness. I’m hoping we can analyze this report in more depth in the next couple weeks. Hopefully Bill can take a stab at it. With that said, I think we’re all different, so it really depends your body.
When it comes to a fat loss program, I would recommend having 3 square meals per day. Keeping things structured can help control energy / hunger levels, which is based on both research and practical experience. For maintenance, I think it’s a lot less important, figuring out what works with your body and schedule is the best bet.
isn’t butter bad. since it has trans fat or at least i think it does?
@Seb – Butter does not have trans-fat (well it might have a little bit CLA which technically is trans-fat, but not the man-made trans-fat you’re talking about and has actually been shown to help with fat-burning). Instead it is higher in saturated fat, but the fat tends to be more short and medium in length which allows your body to burn it more efficiently for energy, while having a mixture of the fat-soluble Vitamins A, D and K. Margarine on the other hand has a lot of trans-fat which more closely resembles plastics than it does actual fat. Trans-fat has a lot of negative consequences, with the most significant being that it seems to attenuate inflammation throughout the body. That inflammation tends to cause a slew of other issues.
2 apples..2 tbsp almond butter and a scoop of whey
I found this one, as an alternative to my protein shakes.
1/4-1/2 cup Ezikiel cereal
1 tbsp. each of hemp hearts, ground chia, ground flax
1 tsp. of ground maca root (if you can find it)
topping the cereal can include berries OR mashed banana and 1-2 tbps. cacao nibs
add kefir (plain or strawberry)
lots of protein and crunchy.
Breakfast #1
-Grilled Chicken (however much it takes; I figured I only eat two meals and is pretty much lean protein)
-Sweet potatoes (2 medium), mushrooms (8oz), 2 bell peppers red and green; all cooked in olive oil.
-Sometimes I replace the veggies above with Brown rice
-for a drink 1 cup of low fat milk mixed with a scoop of protein and fill the rest of my container with water and mixed. (I get very hungry and try to save calories by adding water to the milk and protein)
And I repeat this meal at nigh. Am I a fat pig? I am trying to build muscle
@Freddy – if you are trying to build muscle, it requires eating A LOT of food, almost to the point of being gluttonous. This is a another reason why I generally recommend losing fat without losing muscle to see how much muscle you have and question whether you really want/need more. And if you do want to build muscle, work at it really hard for 3-6 months, and that should be enough time to get to where you want to be for maintenance. In other words, my sense is that constantly trying to build muscle requires such a huge calorie intake, it’s just not optimal for the body to be processing so many calories/food over long periods of time. I hope to explore this concept more in another article.
I have to have a sweet breakfast. I normally do a cup of egg whites with some fat free Mozzarella cheese, with red pepper flakes and garlic. (Reminds me of pizza). Then, I follow it up with a bowl of oatmeal mixed with a tbsp of 100% cocoa powder and a tbsp of Almond Butter. Comes to roughly 500 calories, with 51 grams carbs, 50 grams protein.
Really helps with a morning workout routine and helps control hunger for a good amount of the busy morning.
Nothing wrong w/ eating breakfast but if you’re really trying to get lean and get stuck, skipping breakfast is the best way to go about it. I never do breakfast… after I quit, I immediately got leaner and have way more energy.
Skipping breakfast = longer window for the body to burn fat every day.
@Mark – I’m happy it has worked well for you. I still believe that for most people on a fat loss program, breakfast helps. It’s happened countless times with several clients; once they start eating breakfast they stop massively overeating at night. But again, it really depends on the individual and I’m thrilled to hear that skipping breakfast has worked well for you.
1Tbs ground flax seed, 1Tbs ground chia seed. I grind fresh every morning 10 seconds in a coffee grinder. Add this and 2 Tbs nutritional yeast flakes to a glass of water and drink. Also take 1 garlic pill, 1 vitamin C (1000 mg.) and 1 multi-vitamin (in case I missed anything). After that, green tea and a whole wheat bagel with butter and peanut butter, and usually a banana.
Carbs at breakfast turn off catabolic processes that have started due to an overnight fast. Everyone is metabolising muscle when they wake up, and carbs turn that off quicker than protein, or continued fasting. It doesn’t matter if you are trying to gain muscle or lose weight, morning carbs preserve muscle, and that’s a good thing. You don’t need much, but you need some.
Sorry I cannot reference this.
I would love to hear more about the timing of food intake, there is a lot of conflicting info out there.
@Stephen – What do you recommend for meat at breakfast? Presumably not bacon or deli meat… Chicken works, but for variety would you recommend ground turkey or turkey sausage?
Also, I know this is a “best breakfast” post, but fat free Greek yougurt didn’t make the cut? It’s been mentioned before on the site as a healthy snack.
And finally a question: oatmeal is often tauted as a superfood, but does it have any benefits beyond being low fat and making you feel satiated? You still need to add protein…
Hey! These are great breakfast ideas! If you’re still looking for some new, fun and tasty breakfast recipes check out my new cookbook.
Hope you enjoy it!!!
Hello All,
I am student from Bulgaria. I want to start eating healthy breakfast but I am not morning person and when I go early to work I don’t have time for eggs or vegetables. I have time for “banica” (something like salty cheesecake, Google it is very popular here) on the way to work. Can you give me some ideas to eat something fast while walking to work which is healthy. I don’t think bananas work because you need to peel it which is not suitable while walking. Also I sometimes skip breakfast because I am tided of banicas which is not good too.