easy breakfast recipes

Rely on eggs as a lean protein source, and try these sides for a more complete breakfast.

Add a sweet fruit salad to your eggy breakfast.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Easy breakfast recipes aren't just about convenience; they can make it possible to amp up the nutritional quality of your morning meal. If you’re like a lot of people, you probably go with toast, a bagel, or a bowl of cereal for breakfast during the week, and perhaps splurge on pancakes and bacon on the weekends. Those weekday choices are heavy on carbohydrates with almost no protein. Same goes for other don’t-have-any-time breakfast foods like pastries, juice, doughnuts, and fruit.

But the high-quality protein (and some fat) found in low-fat dairy, lean meat, and eggs slows the absorption of carbohydrates into your bloodstream. This is a good thing; it provides you with a steadier supply of energy, for one. The protein and fat combo also keeps you fuller longer, which can help you control your weight. Scientists at Louisiana State University recently found that on the days that people ate eggs for breakfast, they consumed 250 fewer calories than on days when they ate a bagel for their morning meal.

Of course it’s possible to get protein from plant-based foods, but animal protein comes complete with the right proportions of essential amino acids your body needs. You can get complete protein by combining legumes, grains, and nuts over the course of a day, but it’s less efficient to do it this way. You need to ingest 20 to 25 percent more plant-based protein to match the amino acid benefits that animal protein confers. And though a little fat at breakfast will help keep you full, it’s best to go with leaner types of protein, such as low-fat milk or yogurt, lean meat, and eggs. Speaking of eggs, they provide an easily absorbed form of protein, plus riboflavin, iron, folate, phosphorus, zinc, and vitamins B6, B12, D, and E. Whole eggs also come with choline, which may lower cancer risk, and lutein and zeaxanthin, which may promote better eyesight.