5 simple healthy swaps to upgrade your breakfast
Are you fed up with the usual bowl of cereal or are you looking for a healthier alternative to bacon and eggs? Spice up your mornings and start the day right with these five breakfast swaps.
1. Skip the store's granola bars
According to Yahoo, the typical granola bars you find in a supermarket contain corn syrup or some form of processed sugar. Steer clear of the sugars, additives and preservatives by making your own bars at home.
With making your own bars, you can decide what goes into the mix and change the ingredients according to your needs. For instance, if you are allergic to nuts then Yahoo suggests using sunflower seed butter instead.
2. Say no to instant oatmeal
Instead of going for those flavored oatmeal, just add your own fruit and spices to make your morning grub more savory, says Woman's Day. For instance, instead of buying apple and cinnamon-flavored instant oatmeal, you can add apples and a pinch of cinnamon to a bowl of steel-cut oats.
Steel-cut oats have been processed less compared to instant oats. According to the report, they take longer to digest, making you feel full longer while the sliced apples and cinnamon add a bit of crunch and flavor to your meal.
3. Avoid the packaged sandwiches
Instead of buying sandwiches that look like they've been on the store shelf for weeks, you can make your own burrito. Yahoo says that a study conducted by Consumer Reports in 2014 revealed that many of the sandwiches they tested used substandard ingredients or contained a high level of salt and saturated fat.
Fox News suggests making your own by mixing black beans, cherry tomatoes, mashed avocados and some hummus. If you don't feel like making one each day, you can simply make a batch of burritos and freeze up the rest.
4. Go Greek
Skip the flavored yogurts and go for non-fat Greek yogurt instead and just add fresh fruits to the mix, like berries.
Woman's Day says that Greek-type yogurts contain two times more protein than other variants. Fresh berries such as strawberries and blueberries contain antioxidants.
5. Pass the corn flake cereal
If you are one who loves cereals in the morning, opt for bran flakes topped with raisins instead of corn flake cereals.
According to Woman's Day, just a cup of bran flakes gives you a quarter of the recommended daily amount of fiber. In contrast, the same amount of corn flakes hardly contains any fiber.