We are in week 7 of a 10 week effort to build a few small nutrition habits and drop some bad ones. It seems that everyone is pretty aware that getting each day off to a good start is important. Why? Eating breakfast results in:
- Better daily vegetable and fruit consumption
- Higher overall nutrient intake
- Higher fiber intake
- Lower weight
- For children, there is better performance, attention, and test scores
Need more information on why you should eat breakfast daily. Check out this video from Harvard.
Therefore, this week the small habit to build is to identify two breakfast options that you will eat and eat breakfast daily.
These are ideas for breakfast which may need to be made larger if you are very active and/or a larger person; I have also included my daily breakfast:
| #1
2 scrambled eggs with 1 cup of peppers and onions 1 sweet potato 1 banana Coffee/tea and water
|
#2
½ cup quinoa ½ cup brown rice 2 cups roasted vegetables (leftovers!) 2 tsp. olive oil with 1 tsp. balsamic vinegar Coffee/tea and water
|
| #3
1 cup Greek yogurt ½ cup berries ¼ cup of chopped walnuts (7 whole or 14 halves) Coffee/tea and water
|
#4
Two hard boiled eggs 1 slice whole grain toast with ¼ avocado 1/16th of a watermelon Coffee/tea and water
|
| #5
1 cup cooked steel cut oats (made from ¼ cup dry) 1 apple, chopped 2 tsp. honey Coffee/tea and water
|
#6 My breakfast
¼ cup raw steel cut oats mixed with 6-8 oz. Greek yogurt (mix, refrigerate overnight) 1 cup berries or apples Cinnamon Coffee/tea and water
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Previous weeks’ topics in case you missed them:
- Drink at least ¾ of your beverages as plain water each day.
- Eat ½ the amount of sweets per week that you typically eat now.
- Taking sides. Communities and their role in supporting healthful eating.
- Get back on track!
- Hydration coming from vegetables and fruits.
- Stop negative self-talk (out loud or to yourself) about your food choices.
The idea is to keep working on these six things and add the new habit related to breakfast. There are 3 more weeks in this effort. Keep up the good work!
Happy and healthful eating,
Donna G. Pertel, MEd, RD, LDN
If you have an idea for a nutrition habit that you recommend building, email me, at