Doable Challenge #1: Get a Healthy Breakfast Boost

This month, power up your days and help control your weight by eating a better breakfast—delicious recipes and nutritionist tips included

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T o kick off a healthy new year, we're introducing a monthly series of Doable Challenges: achievable goals we can all undertake together, one at a time, for greater health and energy. For this debut installment, let's start at the beginning: If you skip or skimp on breakfast, it's time to rethink your mornings, especially if you're trying to lose weight. "Breakfast is absolutely the most important meal of the day," declares Kathleen Zelman, a registered dietitian and director of nutrition at WebMD. "You are breaking the fast," Zelman explains. "You have been sleeping for hours and you have low blood sugar. And in order to perform—whether it's in the classroom, the boardroom, or on the playing field, whatever you're doing—you need glucose. Glucose is the fuel that gives not only your muscles but also your brain the necessary fuel to operate." She adds that there have been "umpteen studies" that demonstrate the benefits of breakfast on all sorts of performance, including how children fare on tests. Still not convinced? Consider this: "Studies have shown us that people who skip breakfast weigh more than people who eat breakfast."

For a good start to the morning, Zelman counsels steering clear of sweets. If you're not used to eating breakfast, start with just a little bit of healthy food (a piece of toast as opposed to a sugary muffin, for example). "Slowly work your way up toward a nutritious meal, but also notice how it makes you feel and how it hopefully makes you feel more energized." According to Zelman, the exact right time to eat breakfast varies from person to person, but "the most important thing is that you don't go too far into the day without it." In other words, eat within a few hours of rising and before you start on any major physical or mental tasks, Zelman says. To make this crucial meal the foundation of a healthy, productive day, dig in to our healthy breakfast recipes and Zelman's easy-to-follow tips.

  • Eat Protein for Power

Have protein at every meal—including breakfast—and as part of every snack. Because protein is digested slowly, it will give you the benefit of a steady, sustained rise in blood sugar, rather than the rapid rise and fall that comes from sugary foods. "Protein at every meal also helps with satiety, so you're less likely to overeat," Zelman explains. Eggs and dairy, such as fat-free or low-fat milk or yogurt, are obvious morning choices, but also consider nuts, which are loaded with healthy fats, as well as beans, a fantastic fat-free source of fiber. Other options include protein powder and tofu. For the most protein in each bite, try Greek yogurt or other strained yogurts, which are more concentrated than regular yogurt. (Learn to make your own regular and Greek-style homemade yogurt.)

  • Consider Eggs

Eggs were once considered the ultimate evil breakfast food due to their cholesterol content, but these days, "even the American Heart Association says an egg a day is OK if you are healthy," notes Zelman. (If you have health problems, such as elevated cholesterol, talk to your doctor about including eggs in your diet.) The amount of cholesterol in the average egg has actually gone down over the years, possibly thanks to changes in chicken feed, "but more important than that," says Zelman, "is studies have shown convincingly that it's not dietary cholesterol that increases your blood cholesterol, it's the amount of saturated fat. And eggs are low in saturated fat." She takes the long view, measuring the AHA's egg-a-day allowance over the course of a week, so it's fine to eat, say, two eggs every other day rather than one each day. And while egg whites are a good source of protein and can be used to stretch a dish, such as an omelet, it's the yolk that contains some of the most healthful ingredients, including vitamin D, choline, lutein, selenium, and folate.

  • Stay Satisfied with Fiber

"People have such a hard time getting fiber into their diets," says Zelman, but "breakfast tends to be a really good time to do that." Fiber from nuts, fruit, vegetables, beans, whole grains such as oatmeal, and some packaged cereals and breads is good not only for overall well-being (including digestive and heart health), it also helps you to feel full. If you're buying packaged foods, look past the marketing lingo and check labels to make sure whole—as in whole wheat—is the first word. Read more about fiber's dietary role and recommended daily intake.

  • Jump-Start Your Recommended Servings

In addition to being an optimal meal for fiber, breakfast is a great time to incorporate some of your other USDA daily recommended servings, including dairy and fruits and vegetables. For example, it's easy and tasty to have cereal with milk or yogurt, and you can add fruit to just about anything, and pack precooked vegetables into omelets, frittatas, and scrambled eggs. "With a nutritious breakfast, you can easily knock off a serving of whole grain, dairy, protein, and fruit," says Zelman. "It really helps you get a jump on the nutrients that you need for the rest of the day."

  • Think Outside the Cereal Box

Don't be afraid to mix it up at breakfast time! Zelman finds that people tend to limit themselves too much: "For lunch and dinner, anything goes, but in my opinion, anything goes at breakfast, too." An easy way to expand your breakfast options is to incorporate last night's dinner—chicken and rice, a bowl of soup, avocado spread on toast, or a sandwich with hummus or turkey—into your morning meal.

  • Eat Enough

While the old adage that you should eat like a king at breakfast, a prince at lunch, and a pauper at dinner might be a bit extreme, Zelman says a quarter to a third of your calories should ideally be consumed at breakfast: "The theory there is that if you have your biggest meal first, you have the rest of the day to burn it off." In fact, she favors a 30/30/30/10 distribution, with 30 percent of calories at each meal and 10 percent for snacks. If you're not much of a breakfast person—or if most of your activity comes later in the day and you'd like to save more calories for snacks—don't feel like you have to overdo it first thing in the morning. Zelman's recommendations for small yet nutritious breakfasts include an egg with a piece of whole-grain toast; a bowl of cereal with low-fat milk and fruit; oatmeal with nuts; Greek yogurt with nuts and berries; a smoothie; toast with peanut butter or nut butter; and whole-grain pancakes with fruit. Another strategy for those who aren't hungry first thing in the morning is to divide up breakfast, eating a bit when you wake, and then refueling a little later after exercise or to get you over a midmorning energy slump.

  • Keep an Eye on Calories

To eat nutritiously, select foods with quality calories, not empty ones. It may be tempting to reach for sugary scones, muffins, and doughnuts, or fast-burning carbs like white bread and bagels, but "a muffin or doughnut is not a good breakfast! They are not good sources of protein or fiber." And when it comes to nutty granola, use it as a topping rather than eating an entire bowl of it, Zelman cautions.

Another way to pare down calories is by limiting them in your drinks: Don't load your coffee with sugar and cream, and keep juice to 4 ounces or less. Even some healthy ingredients—nuts, olive oil, and avocado—have a lot of calories, so use them judiciously, and keep an eye on the total number of calories consumed over the course of the day to keep your weight in check.

When you eat a healthy and energy-boosting breakfast, you lay the foundation for a productive, nutritious, and weight-wise day. Doable challenge? Done!

Megan O. Steintrager

Megan O. Steintrager is a food writer and editor whose work has appeared in Gourmet Live, Epicurious, Food Network Magazine, the Huffington Post's Kitchen Daily, iVillage, Self, and Brides, among other online and print publications. As a firm believer that the most delicious food is also often the healthiest, she is excited to be heading up Epicurious' Year of Doable Challenges.

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