Breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day.  I could eat breakfast foods at any meal.  I am excited to share some of my favorite healthy breakfast ideas.  First off why is breakfast so important and why is it important to eat a healthy breakfast?  A good breakfast fuels you up and gets you ready for the day.  I always tell my 6 year old how important it is to eat breakfast, you’ll have more energy, do better in school, and eat healthier throughout the day.  Without breakfast, we can get irritable, restless, and tired.  It’s usually my biggest meal of the day.

Lets get started on some of my favorite and top healthy breakfast ideas.  When it comes to breakfast there are so many options to choose from, eggs cooked any possible way, oatmeal with fruits, yogurt parfaits, hash brown, whole grain toast with nut butters, bacon, sausage, cold whole grain cereal with almond or coconut milk, protein pancakes, I could go on and on.

My go to healthy breakfast idea that I eat a lot of is egg whites, chopped spinach, and hot sauce.  I buy my egg whites at Costco in the cartons to make it easier but we also have chickens so I like to use the fresh eggs as well.  Eggs are high in protein and also a great source of fat, I love eggs but only scrambled or in an omelette.

Another good healthy breakfast idea and another favorite of mine is steel cut oats or Quaker oatmeal.  Steel cut oats are the best but take a lot more time to cook than the Quaker oatmeal.  It has been a favorite since I was a kid, my mom made the best oatmeal, I loved it with milk, sugar and a piece of toast.  Now I don’t eat it quite like that, I love to put raw honey, cinnamon and add some fruit like fresh strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries.  Oatmeal keeps me full, and is a great source of fiber.  Some days I’ll eat oatmeal and eggs for a bigger breakfast depending on my workout.

Let’s move on to the next healthy breakfast idea.  I have never been a huge yogurt fan until the last 2 years, I started eating healthier and seen yogurt was approved on my meal plan I was following.  So I bought some at the store to try, the plain greek yogurt isn’t all that great plain so I doctored it up a bit.  My kids love the way I make it as well, which is a huge plus.  I like to buy the Fage Plain Greek yogurt, I will add a bit of honey to sweeten it up and add some chopped apples or any type of berry to it then I’ll sprinkle it with some cinnamon, flaxseeds and sometimes some granola or nuts to give it a crunch.  I don’t eat this a breakfast very often but its a great meal to take on the go if you are in a rush and need something quick.  It’s a great source of protein, and a great probiotic to keep us regular.  When it comes to yogurt be careful with the added sugar, I like Fage greek yogurt because it only has 6 grams of added sugar some yogurts have up to 22 grams of sugar.  That is almost as much as a woman should eat in a whole day.

Last but not least, I love any type of nut butter.  Peanut butter or almond butter can be paired with a lot of different types of food.  I try to stay away from bread not because it makes me gain fat but because the gluten in it upsets my stomach.  I do like to have a piece of toast every once in a while for breakfast and adding nut butter to it makes it so much better.  We are always told to stay away from bread but it is not bad for you, excessive amounts are definitely not good but every once in a while a piece of toast don’t hurt.  I love adding peanut butter or almond butter to it to give it some extra flavor even a drizzle of honey is great.  Peanut butter is a good source of protein and is a healthy fat.  If you are allergic to nuts there are other options to go when it comes to nut butters for example sunflower seed butter or tahini.

Have you seen a pattern in what I like to eat, I don’t eat super fancy.  I love to eat simple, anything that is healthy and saves me time.  All of these foods I listed are also high in protein, protein keeps up full longer and keeps our muscles growing.  I eat protein with almost every meal during the day.  If any of the healthy breakfast ideas would be something you’d like to try or already eat, share  blog and comment with any other yummy ideas.