Tips to make a healthy, stress-free breakfast

It's #NationalNutritionWeek and breakfast is the focus for a healthy start to your day. Pexels

It's #NationalNutritionWeek and breakfast is the focus for a healthy start to your day. Pexels

Published Oct 11, 2018

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These tips will get you into shape and eating right, because its #NationalNutritionWeek

Be ‘breakfast ready’ and beat the morning rush

Breakfast doesn’t have to be a big production - with some planning and preparation, it can be quick and easy.  

Before you go to bed at night, set up your kitchen for breakfast.  

Soak the oats and slice the fruit so you don’t have to do it in the morning. 

Cook extra maize meal porridge for the next day’s breakfast when making supper, or boil some eggs the night before.

Make it healthy and enjoyable 

“It’s easier to make breakfast a daily habit if you enjoy it,” says Carol Browne of the Nutrition Society of South Africa (NSSA).  

“While our cultures may define what breakfast foods are, there are really no hard and fast rules. For example, maize meal porridge with maas and an apple; brown bread with pilchards and sliced tomato."

Last night’s leftover beans can be used as a sandwich filling on brown bread for a great breakfast. 

Tips to make a healthy breakfast stress free. Pexels

You don’t have to do a mega breakfast all in one go 

There are many people who question the advice to eat when they don’t feel hunger after they have woken up.  

However, breakfast can take place within 3 hours after waking.  

You can stagger your healthy breakfast by starting with an unsweetened, low-fat yoghurt before you leave home; having a banana en-route to work and eating a brown bread peanut butter sandwich just before you start work.

Get your children involved in breakfast 

Parents and caregivers are role models for the healthy lifestyles we hope our children will adopt for their lifetimes.  

Studies have shown that children who eat breakfast perform better at school than those who skip it.  

Eating breakfast has an immediate, positive impact on cognitive function, especially memory and concentration.  

Parents are the major influence on whether children make eating breakfast a habit.  

It helps to make breakfast a family activity and involve children in preparing breakfast and eating together.  

Parents also need to ensure that healthy breakfast options that their children like to eat are available in the house.

Don’t let breakfast break the budget 

Drawing up a monthly food budget and sticking to it can make a healthy breakfast, and all other family meals possible.  

Shop smarter wherever you can. 

Buy in bulk wherever possible, sharing, especially bulk fruit and vegetables, with extended family, friends and neighbours so that you can all benefit from healthier food choices.  

Monitor and reduce any household food waste.  

Think about how you can include more affordable healthy ingredients such as dry beans and lentils in your family meals.

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