No-Cook Energy-boosting Breakfasts

Your mom is right - breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But it's not always easy or convenient to have a healthy breakfast on a busy morning. Here’s how you can make the most of your morning meal with easy, tasty, and power-packed breakfast recipes you can make on your own in minutes.

 

Quick, Easy, On-the-Go Breakfast Ideas

• Wheat bagel with lox and cream cheese
• Peanut butter and banana on a rice cracker
• Grab-and-go granola bars
• Snack-sized bag of granola
• Drinkable yogurt like Kefir
• Slice of melon and a glass of vanilla almond milk

No-Cook Recipes

Overnight oats

Instant oatmeal is good, but once you’ve tried overnight oats, you may never go back to the dried stuff in a pouch. After dinner or any time before bed, take a moment to prepare your breakfast for the following morning. All you’ll need is a clean 32 ounce jar or container and a spoon, and the following ingredients to make one serving:

• 1/2 cup raw oats
• 1 cup of milk or non-dairy milk like soy, rice, or almond milk
• Four tablespoons total of a mixture of mix-ins. Some ideas: berries, nut butter, chocolate chips, bananas, chia seeds, Nutella, and/or honey

Combine the ingredients in the jar, close the lid and shake well. Place it in the refrigerator and let it sit overnight for up to 2 days. Enjoy straight from the fridge or heat it in the microwave for 30 seconds before enjoying.

Smoothie

We know how mornings are — sometimes it’s all you can do to pop a straw in a cup and drink your nutrients. Prepare a smoothie the night before by combining 1/2 cup of plain yogurt with a banana, berries, a teaspoon of honey, and 1/2 cup of milk or juice of your choice in a blender. Keep it in the refrigerator overnight. Grab a straw and your smoothie on the way out the door.

Parfait

Dress up plain or vanilla nonfat yogurt with chia seeds, oatmeal, berries, or your favorite breakfast cereal for a quick and easy — and fancy-looking breakfast.

Chia pudding

Chia seeds are packed with nutrition and fill you up so you can stay alert all morning long. When you place chia seeds in liquid, they absorb the liquid, plump up, and become blobs that are slimy on the outside and crunchy on the inside — the texture isn’t for everyone, but if you like it, drop two tablespoons of chia seeds into 8-ounces of cranberry juice or your favorite type of milk into a large glass. Stir and put it into the refrigerator to “sprout” overnight. In the morning, you’ll have chia pudding!

Crepes

You can get pre-made crepes at the grocery store or in the freezer section at Ikea. For a deliciously comforting breakfast, warm one crepe according to the package directions and add a spoonful of your favorite nut-based or nut-substitute spread like Nutella, peanut butter or soy nut butter. Add cut strawberries. Roll up the crepe and enjoy at home or on the way to school.

How to eat your vitamins

There is an alphabet of vitamins and minerals that are important for normal cell function, growth and development. Taking a multivitamin is good, but getting them directly from food is even better.

Here are the basic vitamins you need every day:

• Vitamin A for teeth, bones and skin
• B vitamins for healthy metabolism
• Vitamin C as an antioxidant
• Vitamin D for calcium absorption
• Vitamin E to regulate cholesterol and antioxidant properties
• Folate for DNA and cell growth
• Vitamin K for healthy blood

Some foods naturally pack in more of these vitamins than others, and those are the ones to seek out when planning how to start your day.

Vitamin-Packed Ingredients

Try adding these foods to your morning menu for extra vitamins:

• Eggs: Eggs can pack a hefty payload of vitamins, including Vitamins A, B2, B5, B12, D, and E. They’re not just healthier for you—eggs are also the easiest way to satisfy your hunger and keep you full for whatever the morning throws at you.
• Berries: A handful of blueberries (fresh or frozen or in juices or smoothies) can not only boost your immunity and fortify your body against certain types of cancer, it can also help you keep your focus longer and boost your attention span. Add a handful of berries to your morning cereal or atop your yogurt. The result? No more nodding off in class.
• Nuts and seeds: Packed with Vitamin E, these protein-rich food groups can fill you up and keep you satisfied for longer. A serving of nuts fills your body with antioxidants that help you stay healthy. At the same time, proteins in nuts work to help you stay focused and retain more information for a longer time.
• Citrus fruits: You’ve seen the juice commercials boasting the cold-fighting Vitamin C provided by citrus juices, and you’ve probably heard tales of the scurvy-fighting properties of citrus fruits from old pirate lore. But oranges, grapefruits, lemons and all their pulpy cousins also provide plenty of Folate. That helps keep your cells healthy and promotes growth of new cells — a really important vitamin to have a lot of during growth spurts!
• Natural sugars: We’re not telling you to grab a spoonful of sugar when you’re feeling foggy. That would only lead to a quick burst of power followed by a dull fizzle. We’re talking about natural sugars found in fresh fruit, sugar-free fruit drinks and whole grain carbohydrates like pumpernickel bread. These foods have just enough natural sugars to let your body release the energy inside slowly and efficiently, resulting in even energy levels and a boost to your memory and mental abilities.
• Chocolate: You heard it right! Chocolate can be good for you. Dark Chocolate gives similar brain-boosting and antioxidant benefits to nuts and also contains a little caffeine. Each serving of dark chocolate has about 1/8 the caffeine in a cup of coffee, or 1/4 the caffeine in a cup of black tea. That’s just enough to give you some zing in your step without all those pesky caffeine buzz side-effects like getting the jitters or getting a caffeine overdose. But if you’re adding chocolate to your smoothies and oatmeal, reach for the dark chocolate. It has less sugar and fat than milk chocolate.
• Squash and Melon: Pumpkin, zucchini, and other typical squash varieties don’t normally come to mind when you think of breakfast foods, but they’re worth reconsidering for their health benefits alone. Squash delivers Vitamins A, B complex, C, Folate, and K, and they’re great when baked into muffins and breads for a grab-and-go snack. Some squash varieties have seeds perfect for roasting to snack on throughout the day for a dose of Vitamin A. But did you know that melons are considered part of the squash family,too? Start your day with add watermelon, honeydew, casaba or Crenshaw melons to your list of breakfast foods to start your day with vitamins.

Why You Need a Good Breakfast

When you wake up in the morning after a full night’s sleep, your brain can feel like it’s covered in fog. Eating the right foods at breakfast can lift the fog and keep you going all morning long. On the other hand, sugary cereals, white breads and rolls, jam, pancakes and pastries can give you a quick fix to get you out the door, but an hour later, your energy level crashes and your sharp edge is dulled. And if you head out the door after eating nothing at all, your morning is fueled only by the fumes at the bottom of your tank.

Starting the day with vitamin-packed foods refills your empty energy tank and powers you up for a healthier day ahead. The good news is, it’s not hard to get into a routine where you start your day with foods packed with vitamins. Grab a protein packed breakfast that includes eggs, nut butters, rice cakes, or oatmeal. Foods like these are packed with vitamins and provide a slow, steady burn to get you on your way and keep you going all morning long.

Have Your Say

What's your favorite on-the-go breakfast? Have you ever tried chia pudding? Comment below!