Today, I’ll stand on my pedestal and say it: a healthy breakfast is important and should be prioritized! There are so many excuses to eat crap, or not eat at all in the morning and I just don’t think any of the excuses are good enough. Breakfast is the first meal of the day, it sets the tone for the day, it gets your metabolism going, it levels your blood sugar, and there are a whole lot of reasons why it is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle. You’ve heard enough about the why, but I want to help you with the how. So let’s dive straight into the 7 steps to create and maintain a healthy breakfast routine.
STEP ONE: Figure out your personal why for creating a healthy breakfast routine.
Take a few moments to write down or think about why you want to make this change. Do you want more energy? Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to feel better in your body? Do you want to reduce your Starbucks bill? Do you want to boost your metabolism?
STEP TWO: Take your why one step further.
Go a little deeper. Why do you want more energy? Why do you want to lose weight? What will you do differently if you feel good in your body? What do you want to save money for? Why would a faster metabolism help you? Writing out or fully thinking through why you are making a healthy breakfast routine will allow you to have something to fall back on when you want to give up. Just saying “I want to lose weight” isn’t going to be enough motivation to create and maintain this healthy habit. Find the real why, not the surface why.
STEP THREE: Stock your pantry.
If your pantry is stocked, a healthy breakfast can be made any day of the week, even if you haven’t gone to the grocery store recently.
What to buy:
- A variety of grains that can be made into porridge at anytime (oats, quinoa, millet, amaranth, brown rice, buckwheat..).
- Dairy-free milk that doesn’t need to be refrigerated for porridge and smoothies.
- Frozen fruit and frozen greens for easy smoothie making.
- Nut butters (almond, peanut, cashew) and a variety of seeds (chia, flax, hemp, sesame, poppy) for toppings to porridge and smoothies.
- Rice cakes and/or sprouted, whole-grain breads to spread nut butters or avocado.
- On-the-go storage containers like mason jars (with straw lids for smoothies!) for busy mornings when eating at home isn’t possible.
STEP FOUR: Find recipe inspiration.
Make a list (or a Pinterest board) of 30 of your favorite easy & healthy breakfast recipes. That way, when you are feeling uninspired, you can reach for the list and remind yourself of a few breakfasts that excite you.
{Join the FREE Healthy Breakfast Challenge to get you started on your healthy breakfast routine today!}
STEP FIVE: Make a habit of planning two breakfasts for the week.
Eating the same thing everyday gets boring real fast, so on Sunday or Monday, decide on two breakfasts you’d like to make that week and put the ingredients on your grocery list. That way, the ingredients are there and it’s easy as can be to wake up, decide what you want to eat, and whip up a healthy breakfast.
STEP SIX: Batch cook breakfast foods.
When you have free time, make big batches of breakfast items that can be stored or frozen for long periods of time. Like homemade granola, oatmeal cups, egg muffins, breakfast cookies, granola bars, etc.
STEP SEVEN: Plan out your morning the night before.
Make a general outline of how your morning will go, making sure to include a time to eat breakfast. That way, it’s already part of your plan. And worst-case scenario, if the morning is busier than planned, you can grab a quick breakfast that you have on hand to eat on your way to work, as your pantry and freezer are already stocked.
{BONUS} STEP EIGHT: Join the FREE Healthy Breakfast Challenge.
Do you want a kickstart to create this healthy breakfast routine? Be sure to join me for my free healthy breakfast challenge. Get five exclusive healthy breakfast recipes, lessons on why and how to create this healthy change, and live cooking demos to show you how easy making breakfast is. Plus, accountability! We all need a bit of accountability to make change. The live version starts January 9th, but can be done as a self-study anytime. Take less than a minute to sign up here.
It doesn’t seem so hard, does it? Sure, there is a bit of prep work, but once that is out of the way, you will have a healthy breakfast routine in no time at all. Pretty soon you will be a breakfast champion and if I were to bet, this healthy routine might leaking into other aspects of your life. Like a healthy lifestyle! And who doesn’t want that?
2 Responses
I used to not want to eat breakfast because I wasn’t feeling hungry, but by noon I was STARVING and then pooped by the afternoon! So I forced myself to eat breakfast and now I can’t live without it. I’m starving when I wake up. But I’m on a kick now where I just eat cereals and I would like to switch it up. I am addicted to yogurt, pomegranate seeds, and honey so I usually eat that for my second breakfast, I’m like a hobbit, I eat all day long. But I’d like to get inspired with more oatmeals and smoothies and have stuff ready for on the go. Also, I think my husband would be more inclined to eat in the morning if he has something to grab; he can be so busy or rushed that he won’t eat at all and then binge.
Good! Glad you made the change! That’s the problem – not eating and then eating ALL the things because you get too hungry. Those breakfast cookies you posted a while ago might be a good thing to always have in the freezer? I’ll have to do some recipe testing and make my own healthy version 🙂 Coming soon!