If you want your brain to remain functional during the day, you should start the day with a healthy breakfast. In addition, with age, the body's requirements for healthy food increase, and dietary breakfast becomes an everyday necessity. After getting older, you can not just take any box of cereal or baked pancakes to start the day. You should choose a full meal, containing all the useful substances that can help your body.
Studies show that, in addition to improving performance, dietary breakfasts can help maintain blood sugar levels at a constant level, lower cholesterol and prevent the development of type 2 diabetes. The trick is that your body needs fewer calories with age, but not in the amount of nutrients. Your body will not forgive if you feed it with sweet rolls, donuts or fatty sandwiches.
Preparing a healthy breakfast is not so difficult. Just have a few key points in mind:
Do not be too "economical" with calories. Your body was starving all night, and the morning is the most suitable time for refueling and getting energy. A full dietary breakfast for an active woman should be 450-500 calories. Men can add another 100 to 200 calories( by increasing the portion).
Always include a healthy amount of protein( not less than 15 grams) and plenty of fiber - from 8 to 10 grams. Use products with "slow" carbohydrates, for example, fresh fruits and whole grains.
Below are some examples of how a full-fledged dietary breakfast should look. Use them as templates, which can be changed to suit your tastes.
Everyone knows that eating classic pancakes with jam or syrup is the right way to raise blood sugar levels. A curative alternative can serve as pancakes baked from oatmeal or whole wheat flour - they are as delicious and fragrant. Instead of watering them with syrup or jam, season the pancakes with fresh cut fruits and yogurt.
Bread with fried eggs is a usual breakfast for those who are always in a hurry. But when a toasted egg is combined with fat bread or a croissant, and even with a supplement in the form of fatty sausage or cheese - such breakfast becomes a source of harmful cholesterol, not energy.
To turn your favorite combination of foods into a dietary breakfast, just make an egg sandwich on whole grain bread. And replace sausage and cheese with foods that provide more nutrients - vegetables( spinach, sweet pepper, onions, tomatoes) or mushrooms.
A bowl of cornflakes or small round oats muesli with milk is also a familiar morning meal. However, such breakfasts consist of "fast" carbohydrates and greatly increase the level of sugar in the blood. Therefore, it is better to concentrate on whole grains, having at least five grams of fiber per serving. In addition, dietary cereals and muesli should not contain a lot of sugar. Five or six grams of "sweet death" per serving( just more than a teaspoon) is a lot. It is better to cut seasonal fruits finely or add berries that contain all the nutrients, as well as much needed fibers that help keep your digestive tract in good shape.