Breakfast is the first meal of the day and the ideal time to refuel your energy.
A balanced breakfast helps improve overall health, at every age, wakes up the body and brain, and maintains a healthy weight. This is why it is important not to skip breakfast.
A good breakfast, from the list below, will help you start the day feeling energetic, satisfied, and nourished while also making your hair shinier and your skin more radiant!
Skipping breakfast is like starting your day with an empty tank, and on the other hand, eating a breakfast that’s too sugary or fatty (without nutrients) can put the brakes on your morning.
So, say goodbye to morning fasting and unbalanced breakfasts, and welcome the consumption of healthy and delicious foods that are good for your palate and body!
What to Eat for Breakfast to Feel Better Inside and Out
Spirulina Algae for Beautiful Hair
It may sound a bit strange to think about adding algae to your breakfast but considering its energizing properties, high protein content, and high concentration of iron, and vitamins A, B, D, and K, it might be worth trying.
Spirulina cleanses the liver and detoxifies the blood from free radicals.
In addition to its renowned nutritional properties, Spirulina is excellent for promoting healthy hair. Studies have shown that the vitamin B contained in this algae helps strengthen hair while making it more shiny, too!
But that’s not all: its draining function also helps counteract cellulite and promotes lipid metabolism.
So, how do you incorporate it into your breakfast? Spirulina can be added to smoothies, yogurt, shakes, and various other recipes.
Coconut Water for Deep Hydration
Coconut water is a completely natural drink extracted from less mature, still-green, coconuts.
While coconut pulp is rich in fat, the liquid has very few calories.
Furthermore, coconut water is rich in five essential electrolytes: potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium, and phosphorus, which help provide the body with everything it needs to stay hydrated, prevent muscle cramps, and live better.
Drinking it daily cleanses the kidneys, stomach, and intestines; It helps maintain the natural hydration of tissues, ensuring firmer, more elastic, and radiant skin.
The presence of Lauric acid, a substance with antibacterial, antifungal, and antimicrobial properties, makes coconut water a great ally for your immune system.
Just one clarification: coconut water should not be confused with coconut milk, which is prepared by adding water or milk to the ground coconut pulp, making it much more caloric than coconut water.
Beets for Brighter Skin
Rich in iron and nutrients that combat anemia and regenerate red blood cells, beets, thanks to their high concentration of folic acid and essential antioxidants, contribute to giving the skin a healthier and younger appearance.
Moreover, this vegetable has detoxifying, purifying, antiseptic, and mineralizing properties.
The ideal way to consume it for breakfast is to juice or blend it with other fruits and vegetables like carrots, apples, and ginger; A real energy bomb and a treat for your taste buds!
Whole Grains for the Right Boost
To load up on nutrients, give your day the right boost, and feel full until at least lunchtime (without feeling weighed down), a champion’s breakfast is based on carbohydrates, primarily found in (100% whole) grains.
These good sugars, consumed at the start of the day, are easily absorbed by the body and ensure a constant and prolonged energy supply, avoiding sudden fluctuations in blood sugar levels.
Healthy and nutritious, grains in the morning, combined with milk or yogurt (also plant-based), fruit, honey (for those with a sweet tooth), and a handful of nuts (walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts), are an excellent ally for your figure and to start your day off right.
Apples for Detoxifying
Yellow, red, pink, or green apples are perfect thanks to their detox qualities.
Rich in vitamins and minerals, but above all in pectin (a fiber that helps control cholesterol levels in the blood), having an apple for breakfast promotes intestinal transit, especially when eaten cooked, perhaps with a sprinkle of cinnamon.
As they say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away!
Furthermore, apples are rich in bioflavonoids, naringin, and quercetin, which are protective and antioxidant substances.
When ripe, their peel contains a good amount of vitamin C. It is also worth noting that apples (when eaten raw) help strengthen the gums and keep teeth clean due to their fiber and oxalic acid content.
Blueberries for their Antioxidant Properties
Undisputed stars of the so-called superfood category, blueberries are rich in antioxidants, vitamins A, C, B (especially B1, B2, and B3), and minerals (calcium, phosphorus, iron, sodium, and potassium).
Moreover, they are delicious and perfect for breakfast when added to (whole) grains, homemade smoothies, and juices.
Dates for Energy
Those who exercise in the morning shouldn’t eat too heavily for breakfast, but working out on an empty stomach is not healthy either.
The lack of sugars (and therefore fuel for the body) also risks compromising the results of your workout.
To get the right amount of energy in the morning even just two dried dates are enough, a healthy and nutritious food low in fat and rich in vitamins and dietary fiber (which improves digestion) and also helps lower cholesterol levels in the blood.
Remember that, after the workout, it is necessary to have a hearty breakfast based of whole grains, fruit, yogurt, and everything you need to replenish the fluids and energy utilized during the exercise.
Stevia for Light Sweetness
For those who crave sweets from the early mornings (and throughout the day) but want to stay in shape, the ideal low-calorie natural sweetener to use instead of sugar is stevia sweeteners. The plant’s leaves, where Stevia is extracted from, are 300 times sweeter than common sucrose or chemical alternatives.
Perfect for sweetening tea or coffee, stevia can also be used to prepare homemade low-glycemic sweets.
Among its other properties, stevia is rich in minerals such as iron and manganese, vitamins, carbohydrates, and proteins.
Furthermore, it benefits blood pressure because its hypotensive power allows you to control high blood pressure.
Thanks to the presence of flavonoids in its composition, it also fights free radicals responsible for skin aging, helping to keep it young.
Pepper for Your Metabolism
When they say “add a pinch of pepper to…” breakfast! Cayenne Pepper speeds up basal metabolism by burning fat, plus it even combats arthritis and muscle pain.
How to eat it at breakfast? Added to a cold-pressed juice, or simply in some water (preferably alkaline, which provides minerals to the body and maintains water balance). Or, of course, you can have it with your eggs or savory breakfast of choice.
Hemp for Proteins
For vegetarians, vegans, and anyone looking to build and maintain strong muscle mass and a fast metabolism, hemp’s plant-based proteins are perfect.
Hemp protein powder can be eaten raw or cooked, added to other foods and liquids.
The simplest way to eat them is to mix them with fruit juices, homemade smoothies, yogurt, and milk or their plant-based substitutes, such as hemp milk, almond milk, coconut milk, rice milk, or soy milk, etc.
P.S. Hemp protein is also delicious when mixed with any soup!
Ginger for Your Immune System
Winter often brings the flu and seasonal illnesses…
But before loading up on medicine, why not try a natural (preferably preventive) treatment to boost the body’s immune defenses?
Among others, ginger is a real panacea, facilitating the elimination of harmful substances and toxins accumulated while also benefiting the immune system.
To incorporate ginger into your morning routine, the ideal way is to add its fresh root to fruit and vegetable juices or use it (also in powder form) to prepare hot teas or cold summer drinks.
Green Tea for Purification
In winter, it’s more challenging than in summer to go through detox periods, but a cup of hot green tea can help you achieve your goal.
Among the various options, Bancha tea is a Japanese green tea made from leaves or twigs, rich in calcium and capable of helping the immune system stay strong.
To consume it, simply boil the leaves or twigs in water for a few minutes, let it steep, and then strain.
It has a very different taste from regular tea and can be flavored by adding mint leaves, lemon zest, or ginger to enhance its detoxifying power.
**We Can’t Get Enough of Gwyneth Paltrow’s ‘Boyfriend Breakfast’ Recipes**
This article first appeared on grazia.it — Author: Cristina Piccinotti
