Introduction: As the saying goes, "Eat a good breakfast, a light dinner." A nutritious breakfast is the start of a healthy life, yet people often ignore it—either skipping it or not eating it properly.
A perfect breakfast should meet five criteria: starchy foods, high-quality protein, fruits and vegetables rich in dietary fiber and vitamin C, nuts, and a healthy cooking method. Based on these five aspects, I have designed a scoring standard for a nutritious breakfast, with a full score of 100 and a passing score of 60. Hurry up and grade your breakfast's nutrition!
1. If your breakfast includes starchy staples totaling over 50 grams, you get 20 points. If one-third of that is whole grains or tubers, add 10 more points.
2. For high-protein foods like over 100 grams of dairy, at least half an egg, 20 grams of meat or fish, or a cup of soy milk and a few pieces of tofu, you get 15 points for one type and 30 points for two or more types.
The quality and quantity of protein in food, as well as the ratio of various amino acids, affect the synthesis of various proteins and tissue renewal in the human body. Therefore, it's best to have two out of dairy, eggs, and legumes in your breakfast. They not only provide the body with sufficient protein, making the breakfast more nutritionally complete, but can also delay stomach emptying, prolong satiety after the meal, and make the breakfast more "filling." For example, bread digests quickly, but it's much better when paired with milk. Eating a steamed bun or rice on its own can easily make you hungry, but adding an egg, soy milk, cooked meat, or bean products will increase the feeling of fullness.
3. If your breakfast includes vegetables, you get 15 points; if it includes fruit, you get 15 points; if it includes both, you get 20 points.
A meal without fruits and vegetables will likely have insufficient dietary fiber and will be hard-pressed to meet the body's needs for nutrients like potassium and magnesium. However, for busy modern people, it's not easy to include fruits and vegetables in breakfast. In fact, eating a bowl of vegetable salad, adding a few slices of lettuce or cucumber to a bun or bread, adding some greens to your noodles, or washing fruit to eat on the go are all simple and feasible methods.
4. If your breakfast includes nuts like pine nuts and almonds, you get 15 points; if it includes oilseeds like peanuts and melon seeds, you get 15 points; if it includes both, you get 20 points.
If you want your breakfast to score a perfect 100, nuts are essential. Swap the peanuts and melon seeds you eat while watching TV at night for the morning. A spoonful of almonds, pine nuts, or peanuts can improve your breakfast's quality and help prevent obesity. Additionally, nuts are rich in vitamin E and various minerals, which are beneficial for heart health.
5. If you use a deep-frying cooking method, 15 points will be deducted from the total score. If you use a barbecue or smoking method, 15 points will also be deducted.
If your breakfast includes deep-fried, barbecued, or smoked foods, the quality of your breakfast will be greatly compromised. Deep-frying not only destroys nutrients but also produces various substances harmful to health. Fried foods like youtiao (fried dough sticks) and fried cakes are high in calories, contain high levels of oil and oxidized substances, and can easily lead to obesity. They are also "potential killers" of hyperlipidemia and coronary heart disease. Barbecued and smoked foods, especially meats like bacon and smoked sausages, may produce carcinogens. Therefore, to preserve nutrients, it's best to choose steaming or boiling as your cooking methods.
6. If you didn't eat breakfast, you get 0 points.
Many office workers skip breakfast long-term due to a tight morning schedule. This practice not only reduces work efficiency but, more importantly, is very harmful to the body. Research has found that long-term breakfast skipping increases the risk of obesity, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes, leads to ailments like stomach problems and gallstones, and can also accelerate aging.
For busy modern people, in addition to nutritional requirements, breakfast can also include some challenging conditions: it should be delicious to stimulate the usually weak morning appetite; it should be filling to avoid feeling hungry by 10 AM; and it should be quick and convenient, ready to eat within 15 minutes. Many people might shake their heads and say, "Are these conditions really that strict? Can it really be done?" The answer is yes. I recommend two quick and nutritious breakfasts for you to try.
1. Steamed Bun Sandwich. It's best to use a whole wheat steamed bun. Cut the bun into four slices. Lightly coat a frying pan with olive oil, add the bun slices over low heat, and toast them until dry and fragrant on both sides. Then, chop some large almonds and wash and dry lettuce leaves. Spread a little olive oil or peanut butter on one side of a bun slice, sprinkle with almonds and lettuce, and cover with another bun slice. Repeat for the rest. Pair it with a glass of milk. This breakfast is fragrant and delicious, very filling, and especially suitable for autumn and winter.
2. Soy Milk and Vegetable Bun Set. Make a five-grain soy milk with black beans, soybeans, and black sesame seeds, boil an egg, and add two vegetarian buns with a filling like fennel egg or bok choy egg. If you're short on time in the morning, you can prepare these ingredients the night before.