Eating Clean - Easy Breakfast Ideas

Eating clean and healthy foods for breakfast is not as difficult and time consuming as one would think. In fact, many healthy breakfasts can be prepared with common items out of your own pantry.

Since breakfast is the first meal of the day it only takes some common sense to realize that this meal sets the tone for the rest of the day. Assuming your last meal from the previous day was eaten somewhere in the evening then approximately 8 to 10 hours will have passed since your last bite of food.

It is important to remember that you need protein and some carbohydrates at breakfast. Protein is important in helping to build healthy muscle mass and carbohydrates are important because they give you sustainable energy until your next meal. The following is a list of some really healthy meal ideas:

1. Oatmeal with fruit. Add 1/2 cup of rolled oats to 1 cup of boiling water. Boil the water for 2 minutes in the microwave. Add the oats to it and cover with a plate to allow the heat to absorb the oats. In a couple of minutes your oatmeal is done. Add 1/2 cup of berries like strawberries, blueberries, or any other type of berry. If you cannot buy them fresh then buy them frozen. Add 2 teaspoons of cinnamon for a better flavor. I personally add 2 teaspoons of flaxseed (found in the health food store or health markets). Flaxseed is rich in omega-3 oils.

2. Egg Whites with fruit - You can make your egg whites by several methods. The easiest method is hard boiled. It's easiest to hard boil your eggs in advance of when you want to eat them. This method allows me to pull a few eggs out of the refrigerator in the morning. After I peel them I remove the yokes. I then add cut up fruit to the bowl. The eggs have the needed protein and the fruit has the carbs that are needed.

3. Grainy bread and peanut butter - There are many reasons why a peanut butter sandwich is a healthy breakfast option. But what's also important to know is that you should choose a healthy grain bread and natural peanut butter. The best bread is a very grainy wheat bread that does not contain high fructose corn syrup as one of it's ingredients. All natural peanut butter is the best nut butter to use. The peanut butter gives you the protein and the bread gives you the necessary carbs.

4. Protein Shake - Although I don't personally drink shakes as a meal replacement it doesn't mean you can't. In general shakes don't fill me up for 3 hours and I only end up feeling very hungry rather quickly. However, you may want to have a shake. The following is an idea for a healthy breakfast smoothie: 1/2 cup skim milk, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup berries, 1 tbsp flaxseed, 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, 1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt, 2 scoops protein powder, ice cubes. Puree it all together.

Another good tip to starting your day off clean and healthy is to drink at least one tall glass of water right when you wake up and drink another glass of water throughout your breakfast.

For other healthy breakfast ideas please visit my blog at http://www.themommyorganizer.com.

Low Fat Low Calorie Recipes Made Easy

With your effort to begin living your life wholesomely, you've decided to enjoy purely low calorie foods. Although reachable, it needs to be supported via the understanding of exactly what foods to enjoy then when to eat them. Generally, it's best for you to have fewer portioned servings which are spread out over five to six times each day. Most of all, ensure that the servings are prepared using low calorie meal tested recipes.

I've discussed the portion for the meals, but where specifically are you able to find a listing of quality recipes for these meals? Visit a nearby bookstore to get low calorie recipes or use the internet to find them.

Make yourself a list of recipes so you can have access to them for your low calorie breakfast, noon time meal, supper and treats. As a result you won't find yourself in trouble eating a similar meal over and over. Like they say, variety is considered the spice of life and it's always nice to put together several food varieties.

What you might want to do is maintain an adequate supply of food that's readily available when using your low calorie meal recipes. You will be able to plan and prepare them over the weekend and make enough servings to last for 7 days. It's certainly better whenever you can simply get hold of the lunch you have prepared instead of visiting a diner and eating unhealthy food. Simply by making the meals in your own home, appropriate food choices you have prepared are merely a reach away.

Among the advantages of planning meals ahead of time is that you will cease from giving into harmful urges. When working hard everyday the whole day, the very last thing you want to do immediately after getting home is stress about what to prepare and eat.

Good you can now adjust that routine of dialing the phone to buy pizza to pushing the reheat button on the microwave. There is absolutely no prep time, as it's all been completed in advance. You will have the meal ready in a minute or two.

Aside from maintaining a healthy diet make use of low calorie meal directions. Consider setting aside time for daily workouts so that you can drop some weight quicker.

Do both of these together regularly, then having that healthful slender body is simply just a matter of time.

Jim Valicenti, is an online marketer and fat burner addict. Visit his site to learn more about weight loss and how to burn off that stubborn belly fat that never seems to go away http://fatburnertips.net

Delicious Smoothies - The Almost Instant Breakfast

These days when we are all trying to cram more and more into twenty-four hours, multi-tasking, generally doing at least two things at once, it is still hard to find time to sit down and eat a healthy breakfast. Smoothies could be your answer, they are quite a thick drink and they do fill you up, which is a bonus as they are also low in calories which is probably pretty important to you if you are watching your weight. If you can add some oatmeal and/or nuts, the smoothie will make you feel full for even longer.

Why are smoothies better than a glass of fruit juice, you may ask? Fruit juice is good for you - period. But it will only ever be the juice of the fruit, you miss out on the 'whole fruit goodness' that you get from a smoothie. The fruit pulp contains the soluble and insoluble fiber which are both so vital for our digestive health and which protect us from health problems in later life such as bowel and colon cancer. A smoothie is also packed full of vitamins vital for the health of our immune systems, chiefly vitamins A, B6 and E plus minerals such as calcium, magnesium and zinc which also play a vital role in fighting off infection.

All these nutrients are presented blended into a form which is more easily digestible, especially if you include probiotic yogurt in your smoothie blend which is also brilliant for digestive health and supporting the immune system.

You do not even have to have lots of fresh fruit to hand to make your smoothie. All fruits except for citrus can be frozen and adding frozen fruit to a smoothie will make your drink extra creamy. So it could not be easier to peel a few bananas, chop them into chunks and pop them in the freezer to be ready for a smoothie any time you want. Berries such as blackcurrants, blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, raspberries all freeze well for smoothies - strawberries are fine too as although they are rather 'mushy' for a dessert once thawed, popping them frozen into a smoothie, they taste as good as fresh.

If you have a smoothie maker and about three minutes, you can whiz up a delicious healthy smoothie and pop your smoothie into a flask to drink on your way to work if you are too rushed to drink it before you go. If you choose a smoothie maker with dishwasher safe parts, taking care of it could not be easier or quicker, no fiddly bits to wash by hand, nothing time-consuming at all. So absolutely no excuse to neglect yourself and not eat a healthy breakfast every morning!

Alison Graham I have a website which explains how to choose the right Smoothie Maker for your requirements and how to make healthy and delicious smoothies which are not only good for our immune systems but also good for our digestive systems because of all the soluble and insoluble fiber they contain. I write on healthy food topics and gardening.