Healthy Breakfasts That Won't Make You Late for Work

If you aren't going to eat Pop tarts, doughnuts, bacon and eggs, or fast food for breakfast, how can you get the proverbial "healthy start to your day" without spending hours in the kitchen. Here are five suggestions. Try them. They are healthy, they are easy, and you might like them.

1. Try rye

Many people who live in English-speaking countries find that they lose weight, feel more energetic, and have fewer problems with diabetes and high blood pressure when they visit Scandinavia or parts of Eastern Europe. Part of the difference may be due to eating rye bread instead of wheat bread.

Wheat activates 62 genes that cause inflammation in belly fat. Rye activates 71 genes that counteract inflammation in belly fat. Lower levels of inflammation lead to lower levels of insulin resistance, lower blood pressure, less muscle pain, and better sleep. If you are going to eat toast for breakfast, make it rye toast.

2. Select sourdough

If you eat wheat products for breakfast, sourdough is superior. The process of "souring" the bread breaks down some of the proteins in wheat that can cause intestinal inflammation, and transforms the carbohydrate into a form that raises blood sugar levels more slowly. You are less likely to "crash and burn" if you eat sourdough toast for breakfast than if you eat doughnut.

3. Eat protein bars

You can grab a protein bar for US $2-$3 or € 1-2 each a couple times a day and feel satisfied. Also, over the course of a few years you and your family will have spent enough money on protein bars to pay for a very nice vacation or maybe even a small car. It's not hard to make your own protein bars that taste better, cost a lot less, and contain exactly the ingredients you want.

Make bars from 4 cups of your favorite trail mix (dried fruit or berries and nuts), 2 cups of vanilla-flavored protein powder (whey powders tend to bake better than soy or pea powders), 1 cup of pasteurized egg whites, and 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Mix together, spread over a non-stick baking pan, and cook at 350° F/175° C for no more than 10 minutes, making sure not to overcook. Cool and cut into bars.

4. Drink a small glass of juice

A tall glass of juice contains as much carbohydrate as a breakfast pastry. A small glass of juice, however, provides antioxidants and vitamin C in the amounts the body can use. Prune juice cancels out some of the detrimental effects of nitrates and preservatives in breakfast meats, and orange juice is mildly anti-inflammatory.

5. Go ahead and drink your morning coffee

In the American diet, coffee is the single largest source of antioxidants, more than fruit and vegetables or antioxidant supplements. Drinking coffee keeps blood sugar levels lower and insulin levels lower after breakfast. Both regular and decaffeinated coffee prevent sugar highs that are followed by sugar lows, and reduce inflammation in joints, muscles, and belly fat. The only way you can go wrong with coffee for breakfast is to drink a combination of coffee and cream in roughly equal amounts. Any coffee drink that contains 300 calories or more of cream or milk will increase inflammation rather than decreasing it. One or two creams with your coffee will not have a noticeable effect.