Make yours a healthy breakfast

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We all know breakfast is an important meal of the day, so getting it right is important.

Rather than opting for white toast loaded with margarine or a bowl of sugar-coated cereal that will have your mood drop before you get the bus, instead choose a meal packed with protein, vitamins and minerals that will keep you full until lunchtime, or at least your 11am banana break.

Poached Eggs With Mushrooms and Tomatoes
Beef tomatoes and golden brown mushrooms served with a perfect poached eggs is a breakfast winner. To help the egg whites set, add a splash of vinegar to your water and add a little olive oil to the toast. If you want to make this into a hearty dinner, add extra mushrooms, smoked salmon and a serving of iron rich spinach.

Avocado & Strawberry Smoothie
This creamy breakfast blend is high in calcium and low in calories and a great way to start your day, especially if you are on the run. You will need:

• ½ a ripe avocado stoned, peeled and cut into chunks
• 150g of strawberries
• 150g of blueberries
• 4 tbsp. of natural yogurt
• 200ml of almond or oat milk
• Lemon or lime juice, to taste
• Honey if needed
• Ice cubes

Put all the ingredients in a blender and whizz until smooth. If the consistency is too thick, add a little water then either enjoy at home, or put in a bottle and take to work.

Nut Butter, Banana & Chia Seed Toast

This is a superfood twist on classic peanut butter on toast. It is packed with vitamins and minerals and for one tasty serving you will need:

• Half a large banana (sliced)
• A teaspoon of chia seeds (soaked for 15 minutes)
• 1 slice of dark rye break, toasted
• 1 tablespoon of nut butter (we like almond)
• 4 strawberries

Toast the bread then spread the nut butter on top. Place slices of banana on the nut butter and top with chia seeds and serve with the strawberries for an extra vitamin boost and enjoy before making a second round!

Avocado on Toast
There’s a real benefit to starting your day with creamy avocado on toast, a dish that is popular with our team. The fruit is loaded with fibre and fab cholesterol-lowering monounsaturated fats. Plus, the whole meal is ready in just three simple steps so you have to time to make it every day of the week. Mash the avocado onto toasted rye bread, drizzle with a little olive oil and lemon juice, then sprinkle with black pepper and enjoy. If you are extra hungry, added a serving of hot scrambled eggs.

Blueberry Muffins
Made with plump blueberries, whole-wheat flour, oats and Greek yogurt, these healthy muffins keep you full during those long Monday morning meetings. For 12 muffins you will need:

• ¼ of a cup of wholewheat flour
• 1 cup of large organic oats
• 2 cups of fresh blueberries
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 a teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt
• ½ a cup of light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest, plus two tablespoons of pure orange juice
• 2 medium free range eggs
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

To start with heat your oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 and line a muffin tin with muffin size paper liners.

Place the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a food processor and blitz until you have a fine powder. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, butter, orange zest and juice, egg, and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and mix together before adding in the blueberries. Make sure all ingredients are folded together well. Divide the mix into the muffin cases then bake for 20 minutes until they have raised and golden. Eat them at home or take to work and share.

Happy breakfast eating.

Team Pure Beauty

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The most important meal of the day

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bagel, banana, berries, blueberries, breakfast, content, energy, five a day, grades, green smoothies, levels, low-fat, microwave, oats, porridge, protein-packed eggs, salmon, semi-skimmed, smoked salmon, stress, surgar, wholemeal

When you have a busy morning, it’s easy for breakfast to become low on your list of priorities. However, taking a few minutes to have something to eat can make a big difference to your day on so many levels.

Breakfast provides your body and brain with fuel after fasting overnight and that’s where the name originates, breaking the fast. If you don’t eat it you will be running on empty and it will be a bit like trying to drive car without petrol. Tricky!

It is suggested that breakfast should be eaten within two hours of waking and it should make up around 25 – 30% of you daily allowance of calories. We all have different energy needs based upon gender, activity levels and life stage and men generally require more calories than women. Men typically require around 2500 kcals a day and women 2000.

Just like any other organ, the brain needs energy to work at it’s best. Breakfast restores glucose levels, which the brain needs in order to function. Studies have shown that eating breakfast can improve memory and concentration levels, make us happier, improve our mood and lower stress levels – which is always helpful.

It is also interesting to notice that children who eat breakfast tend to have better attainment and behaviour levels and ultimately grades too. If you can, eat breakfast together. Establishing and maintaining healthy breakfast habits from childhood throughout adolescence can help develop good eating habits that last a lifetime.

Apart from providing us with the energy we need to function, well chosen breakfasts tend to offer excellent good sources calcium, iron and B vitamins plus protein and fibre. Fruit and vegetables are good sources of vitamins and minerals so try to include a portion of your daily five at breakfast. That can be a serving of melon, a banana over cereal or a goodness packed smoothie.

Breakfast can be good for waistline too because if you eat it you’re less likely to reach for sugary snacks that pile on the pounds when the mid-morning munchies strikes.

Even if you are short on time, these ideas will ensure you are fuelled up for the day ahead:

Muesli, fresh fruit and yoghurt
Fruit added to your muesli (one with no added sugar) counts towards your five a day and a low-fat yoghurt provides calcium and protein. Do remember if you go for low-fat to watch out for the sugar content as this can be higher.

Porridge with banana and blueberries
Mix oats with semi-skimmed milk then heat in the microwave for 3-4 minutes, stirring every so often. When ready, add the banana (a great sugar substitute) and the berries and enjoy.

Smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel
Halve and toast a wholemeal bagel. Spread low-fat cream cheese on one side and top with super-fresh smoked salmon. Add a squeeze of lemon and a little black pepper and you have a breakfast fit for a king.

Beans on wholemeal toast
This is not only naturally low in fat but also packed with fibre and protein making it a brilliant start to the day. If you are really hungry, or have had an early workout, add two poached eggs.

With energy-boosting porridge and protein-packed eggs, green smoothies and homemade granola bars, breakfast isn’t just the most important meal of the day but it can also be the tastiest.