FitSugar

Diet Tip: Timely Breakfast

FitSugar — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 02:30:00 -0700

By now I hope you all know that breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. However, your early morning meal is like a good joke: timing is everything. It is important to eat breakfast early. Delaying your first meal of the day can begin the slow down process of your metabolism. You need to eat to stoke the fires or your metabolism.

If you tend to skip breakfast or wait until later in the morning to eat it, try setting your alarm 10 minutes earlier. Buy some healthy toaster waffles you can eat on the run. Hard boil some eggs the night before!

Ten extra morning minutes will give you enough time to make toast with almond butter and eat it. Or at least make and eat a bowl of Kashi cereal!

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Healthy Eating Tip: Eat Breakfast Early

FitSugar — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:30:50 -0700

From a recent poll, I was happy to see that most of you are eating breakfast. It really is the most important meal of the day since it jumpstarts your metabolism, regulates your blood sugar levels, gives you energy until lunch, and can make it easier to maintain your weight. Breakfasts that consist of healthy carbs, protein, and fiber are the best. Remember too that what time you eat is just as important as what you eat.

Aim to enjoy breakfast shortly after you wake up. If you're not into eating early, have your first meal by at least 9 or 10 in the morning. If you're working out first thing, make sure to eat something small like a piece of toast with almond butter or a hard-boiled egg. Then eat something a little more substantial after your workout. If you're not exercising but are in a rush, grab a granola bar and a banana or a drinkable yogurt. The best thing to do, though, is make time for breakfast. Get up 15 minutes earlier if you have to, so you can sit down and enjoy oatmeal, cereal, or an omelet. You'll not only feel more energetic, but it's a nice, calm way to start your day.

Healthy Eating Tip: For Breakfast, Don't Forget the Protein

FitSugar — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:00:00 -0700

Toasted bagels, blueberry muffins, and warm waffles with fruit are some of my favorite choices for breakfast. Although they're tasty, they don't offer much protein. This essential nutrient makes you feel full and gives you sustained energy. So after eating a breakfast that's low in protein, you'll end up feeling hungry and sluggish soon after, and are more likely to reach for an unhealthy pick-me-up before lunch. If weight-loss is your goal, or you just want to prevent unnecessary weight gain, a high-protein breakfast can help.

Since the average woman needs between 40 and 60 grams of protein a day (depending on your weight and activity level), eating 10 to 20 grams of protein per meal is a great way to make it happen. To see which high-protein foods I recommend keep reading

Healthy Eating Tip: Sit Down and Eat Breakfast

FitSugar — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:30:00 -0700

I always eat breakfast. The thing is that I eat it while doing about a million other things and then when all is said and done I don't really feel like I've eaten breakfast at all. Recently I've been trying to actually give myself five minutes each morning to sit down and eat - I do this at lunch and dinner, why not breakfast too? This way I can take a step back and focus on my upcoming day and enjoy my meal. An added bonus is that once I get into the office I feel satisfied and don't need to scavenge on whatever morning treat is waiting in the kitchen here at Sugar HQ.

This is way easier said than done, by the way, but if you find yourself starving by the time you get to work even though you already ate then you may want to give it a try.

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What do you eat for breakfast?

FitSugar — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 07:30:00 -0700

I am curious what you all eat for breakfast, or if you even eat it at all.

Learn to Love: Persimmons

FitSugar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:00:01 -0800

Now that berry season is long gone, I'm expanding my breakfast fruit horizons. Celebrate the cold weather with pomegranate seeds in your oatmeal, or slice pears or persimmons and serve them with nut butter on toast or whole-grain waffles.

You probably know how to pick and slice a pear, but persimmons have a steeper learning curve. They're worth learning to love, so read more.

Persimmons come in two varieties: hachiya, which are orange-red and shaped like acorns, and fuyu, which sort of look like yellow-orange tomatoes. The hachiyas are bitter and astringent when they're not ripe, but when ripened, they have a soft, jelly-like texture. Fuyu persimmons are a bit firmer like a pear when ripe and can be sliced up like apples.

This fruit is an excellent source of antioxidants and chock-full of vitamins. One persimmon packs 55 percent of your daily allowance of Vitamin A and 21 percent of your recommended Vitamin C, plus six grams of fiber. In addition to having persimmon for breakfast or a snack, you can slice them up and serve them in a pretty Fall salad.

Have you tried persimmons? Tell me how you like to eat them in the comments.

Fact or Fiction: Not Eating Breakfast Before Exercise

FitSugar — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:30:00 -0700

I think it is safe to say that we all want the most out of our morning workouts. For many of us that means firing up our metabolism and burning fat, which are two benefits of getting the heart rate up. Is it beneficial to run on an empty stomach? Does it burn more fat and fire up the metabolism to skip breakfast? Take this one question quiz to see if this is a piece of fiction or a fitness fact.

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Take the quiz

Holiday Diet Tip: Don't Skip Breakfast Before a Big Dinner

FitSugar — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:00:54 -0800

Christmas is almost here, and many of you are gearing up for gifts, time with the fam, and that enormous Christmas dinner. It may seem like a great idea to forgo breakfast to save room for your decadent evening meal, but it's not a good strategy for a few reasons. Not only will you feel exhausted and too crabby to socialize, but avoiding breakfast will also slow down your metabolism. To compensate for the calories you didn't consume, your body will conserve them, so you'll actually end up burning fewer calories. If you skip your first meal, you'll be starving by the time dinner rolls around, so you could end up devouring way more calories than you otherwise would.

Research also shows that eating breakfast reduces your risk of heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and heart failure. So do your body good by enjoying a hearty meal first thing in the morning. Choose foods that are high in protein, low in saturated fat, and full of fiber. Yogurt, high fiber cereal, oatmeal, and vegetable omelets are great choices.

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Healthy Eating Tip: Load Pancake Batter With Fruit

FitSugar — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 03:00:00 -0700

Homemade pancakes have become a weekend tradition in my family, but I know that if I eat a stack doused in syrup, I end up feeling tired and hungry within an hour. If this sounds familiar, try this the next time you're making pancakes: add tons of fruit to the batter. I don't mean just a few pieces - really load up the batter. Mix in at least three different kinds such as blueberries, raspberries, or cut up cherries, apples, or bananas.

Not only does this add fiber to your breakfast to satiate your hunger longer, but since fruit is so sweet, I don't even need to add syrup. Serve your pancakes with fresh fruit, and this warm Summer breakfast will satisfy your taste buds and give you energy all morning.

Healthy Eating Tip: Top Yogurt With Rolled Oats

FitSugar — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:00:55 -0700

I've 'fessed up to eating the same thing for breakfast every day: cereal and fruit with milk or yogurt. But lately, with all the delicious berries in season, I've been cutting down on the grains and loading up on fruit.

Hence, my latest healthy eating tip: treat your grains as a topping for your fruit and yogurt. Rather than load up on granola, which can be high in sugar and fat, use plain rolled oats (one of the foods women should eat daily) to add texture to your breakfast. A quarter cup of rolled oats has around 150 calories, but if you treat it as topping, you'll be eating less than half that amount.