Easy Healthy Yogurt Breakfast Ideas (Benefits of Breakfast)
You’ve probably read many posts about the benefits of breakfast. And, even though you know why breakfast is important, there are still days when you skip it. Well, my friend, here is another post to convince you that skipping breakfast is not a good choice. Keep reading to learn the benefits of eating breakfast and how to prepare an easy healthy yogurt breakfast. In fact, healthy yogurt bowls are the perfect healthy recipes for busy mornings for the entire family.
What does A Good Night’s Sleep have to do with the Benefits of Breakfast?
A good night’s sleep is essential for our bodies to recover and prepare for the next day. Even though we are resting, our brain does not shut down during sleeping. Instead, it is engaged in many essential activities for quality of life. One of them is maintaining the brain’s neuroplasticity, or the ability of the brain cells to re-wire themselves and regenerate. This leads to better learning ability and better comprehension of new challenges ahead of us when we wake up in the morning.
But, does our brain need any fuel to do all this work at night and during the day? Yes, it does. Our brain runs on glucose and burns calories to maintain normal function. So, what happens when the nutrition supply is low? Our brains will use what is stored and eventually run into a depletion state. And when in a depletion state, it becomes hard to maintain the same level of cognitive performance.
Do you see now what the benefits of having breakfast are?
The Verdict? Eat Your Breakfast!
So, when you wake up in the morning, you should think of all the hard work your brain had to do the day before and overnight. And the least you can do is supply a fresh influx of nutrients so that the brain can function at its best. This is especially true for children. To concentrate on school work, it is essential to have a quality breakfast. But this is true for adults also. Think of all the early morning meetings when your mind was foggy, and you couldn’t concentrate? Well, this has something to do with not having breakfast.
There is mixed information about whether having breakfast in the morning is essential or not. I believe that it is necessary to have some food in the morning for your brain clarity and energy levels—this is why I was very excited to cover the topic of the benefits of breakfast.
Light Breakfast as a Good Start
Many people I know are not having breakfast regularly (and some never). When I asked them to explain their reasons, almost all would say that (a) they don’t have time to prepare it, or (b) it feels heavy on their stomach to have any food in the morning. I’m afraid I have to disagree with both. You can prepare a nutritious breakfast in less than 30 minutes, and you don’t have to eat all your day’s worth of calories in the morning. You can instead concentrate on a light but nutritious breakfast for a lot of essential benefits.
In fact, for all non-breakfast eaters out there, I would suggest starting with light options in the morning until your body gets used to having breakfast. One suggestion is to prepare a yogurt parfait as a good source of calcium, fatty acids, and other nutrients. And you only need simple ingredients for a perfect healthy breakfast.
It is so easy to prepare this yogurt parfait, and it takes less than 10 minutes. You can prepare it in a mason jar the night before.
- Add plain yogurt to the bottom of the bowl for healthy fats, calcium, and probiotics. Your gut will love it! Check out here to see why yogurt might be better than milk. You can choose a regular plain yogurt, or you can go with plain Greek yogurt.
- Choose fresh fruit of your liking and add them on top of the yogurt. I used apples cut into small cubes and added blueberries as an antioxidant boost. Any fresh berries will work great, as well as banana slices.
- Add any raw nuts or seeds of your preference for an additional protein boost. Here I used walnuts and pumpkin seeds. You can add any other favorite toppings.
- Add almond butter or creamy peanut butter.
- Add a teaspoon vanilla extract. You can also add some pomegranate seeds for an additional antioxidant boost, vitamin C, and a healthy flavor combination.
- Add some unsweetened coconut flakes or chocolate chips.
- Add dried fruits for a sugar boost if you like the parfait sweeter. Or add some maple syrup or a drizzle of honey.
- You can even prepare it in the evening and let it sit in the fridge overnight. This way, you would wake up to an already prepared breakfast with a perfect creamy texture, so you cannot use the excuse of not having time to make a healthy choice in the morning!
Benefits of Breakfast List – Reasons Why You Should Eat Breakfast
- When you wake up in the morning, your glucose level is low. And remember, you need that glucose so that your brain can work at its best. To keep the brain out of the depletion state, you should eat a healthy, nutritious breakfast within 2 hours after waking up.
- Since we all have to do some work in the morning, all our organs need the fuel, not just our brains. Where will they find the energy? In the storage. But, the storage will be used up at some point, and we will have to replenish it. If we skipped breakfast, we kept our supplies at a deficient level, and our brains couldn’t think clearly, so our hands would go for any food available. Guess what? We will be more likely to overeat later in the day or reach for unhealthy snacks.
- Did you ever wonder why we reach for unhealthy snacks when hungry or stressed? Well, there is science behind this. There are a lot of chemicals released in the brain as a part of normal brain function. When under stress (including hunger), the brain releases chemicals that can trigger specific mechanisms similar to cravings we get from sugar and fat. So, our brain mistakenly thinks that we need more unhealthy fat and sugar.
- It is essential to get enough fruit every day. And the best way to achieve this is to have your first serving of fruit in the morning. This is especially true for children. Studies show children who skip breakfast are more likely to eat junk food in school and become overweight. I always serve fruit with any breakfast (sweet or savory) to my kiddos. The mornings are when they are most hungry and won’t disobey eating fruit. The same is valid for adults.
- The most important part of this list is that we have to choose wisely. You cannot justify having breakfast with a donut and coffee. Nope, it won’t do it! It has to be healthy and nutritious!
There are plenty of different ways to enjoy a healthy, nutritious breakfast. Since we know now that the benefits of eating breakfast are ample and that it is essential to make a healthy choice in the morning, there is nothing to stop us from trying these great healthy breakfast recipes:
- Healthy Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie (Easy Recipe)
- EASY OVERNIGHT CHIA SEED PUDDING WITH FRUIT
- BANANA CHIA PUDDING
- SIMPLE OVERNIGHT OATS WITH CHIA SEEDS
- EASY & TASTY RICOTTA FRENCH TOAST
- EASY HOMEMADE CRUNCHY GRANOLA BARS (NO PEANUT BUTTER)
Easy Healthy Yogurt Breakfast (Yogurt Parfait)
Ingredients
- 1 cup yogurt plain
- 1/2 apple cut into cubes
- 1 handfull blueberries
- 1 tbsp walnuts chopped
- 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 1 tbsp dried fruits
Instructions
- Add plain yogurt to a glass jar.
- Choose fruits of your liking and add them on top of the yogurt. I used apples cut into small cubes and added blueberries as an antioxidant boost.
- Add any nuts or seeds of your preference for an additional protein boost. Here I used walnuts and pumpkin seeds.
- Add dried fruits for a sugar boost if you like the parfait sweeter.
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