11 Keys To A Complete And Balanced Breakfast

Nutrition experts have long emphasized the importance of a good breakfast. It is easy to understand its effect on our performance throughout the morning, but we rarely imagine the impact that an unbalanced breakfast can have on our general state of health.

Studies have shown that skipping it or neglecting its nutritional quality can be related to problems as diverse as gastritis, obesity, diabetes or various cardiovascular ailments.

Look for foods that nourish you for your breakfast

Unfortunately, breakfast is one of the meals of the day that receives the least attention in our country, to the point that, many times, it simply consists of a pasta and a coffee.

In some northern European countries, you usually start the day perhaps with a cereal flake muesli with nuts, fruit and some milk or yogurt, freshly squeezed juice and even whole wheat bread with some protein.

Also in the Middle East, as in Lebanon, the first meal of the day still retains its relevance and includes nutritious ingredients such as chickpea hummus or fig jam.

Avoid refined sugars and industrial pastries

Formerly, our activity was connected with natural cycles. The first meals of the morning covered the nutrients needed to cope with the tough jobs in the fields or construction until the main meal arrived.

But since then things have changed. Currently, we often eat foods that do not meet the minimum nutritional needs. The carbohydrates in breakfasts are usually made up of refined sugars devoid of nutrients that demineralize the body and cause blood glucose ups and downs.

Taking these kinds of sugars produces a feeling of euphoria after breakfast, followed by a mid-morning slump. Many people turn to coffee to rescue them from that loss, but that leaves a debt of energy, which leads to a vicious cycle.

The keys to a complete and balanced breakfast

Here we solve some common doubts about what a breakfast should be like so that it is healthy and gives us enough energy to face the day well.

1. What should a balanced breakfast provide?

It should include 25% of the day’s calories, fiber, liquid, 60% slow assimilation carbohydrates (whole grains) and 15% protein (nuts or seeds, tofu …).

The healthy fats are present as olive oil or nut.

2. Should breakfast include fresh fruit?

It is important to include a piece of fruit in the first hours of the day, because it is easy to digest and helps to break the fast at night. It provides vitamins, minerals and fiber, stimulates the appetite and helps to rehydrate.

We can include it as a natural juice or by adding it to a muesli.

3. Are whole grains important?

They form the basis of a balanced breakfast, as they provide regular energy throughout the morning. They are the best source of carbohydrates and contain fiber.

They can be taken in flakes, porridge or toast.

The oats and rye are excellent.

4. How can I make my breakfast more complete?

The breakfasts are extraordinarily enriched if complements are added, such as:

• Wheat germ
• Beer yeast
• Sesame and sunflower seeds
• Goji berries

Incorporating them into our breakfast we will increase the nutrients and antioxidants.

5. How do I include protein in breakfast?

If enough protein is eaten in the morning, we will feel more awake and more predisposed to action. You can choose, for example:

• Walnuts
• Tofu
• Some protein-rich vegetable pate

6. What time is the best for breakfast?

It is ideal that breakfast is not right after waking up. Thus the organism will gradually adapt to the activity. You can have something else in the middle of the morning.

For oriental doctors, the stomach cycle runs from 7 to 9 in the morning (solar time), when digestion is most efficient.

7. Is it better to have sweet or salty breakfast?

Although many breakfasts are sweet, there are also healthy options to have salty.

It is important that you choose carbohydrates from fruit, not sugar, and that they are balanced with the rest of the nutrients. You should not abuse jams and, where appropriate, choose jams with healthy sweeteners.

8. Does eating a full breakfast make you fat?

Studies show that people who eat a consistent breakfast are less likely to be overweight, because the metabolism is more active in the morning.

A breakfast with fruit and whole grains has satiating effects, preventing you from obsessing over food.

9. Do the servings have to vary with age?

When we get older we need to reduce our calorie intake and breakfast should be more frugal. There is also more need to hydrate and you have less digestive energy.

For this reason, it is advisable to divide it into two doses and include natural juices or hot cereal drinks.

10. Is breakfast important for children?

Children who eat a good breakfast have been shown to improve their school performance.

In addition, they tend to have more iron in their blood, which increases their attention span, and a well-nourished brain, thanks to slow-assimilating carbohydrates and healthy fatty acids.

11. What if I don’t have an appetite when I wake up?

It happens when you have a late dinner, because the metabolic processes that are activated during the night have not completely finished. It is solved by making a light dinner, or dividing breakfast into two parts.

We can also get up early and exercise before having breakfast.