CLEVELAND — In a perfect world, we’d start each day with a perfect, healthy breakfast to begin a perfect day. Well, one can try, and Consumer Reports can help. CR’s food experts have good advice on making breakfast a healthy—and tasty—part of your day.
Breakfast doesn’t have to be elaborate to be healthy. Two power-packed staples are right in the dairy aisle: cottage cheese and yogurt!
Yogurt is packed with nutrients—protein, bone-building calcium, and blood-pressure-balancing potassium. Avoid added sugars by buying plain yogurt, which has no added sugars, and top it with fruit.
Cottage cheese is low in calories, and high in proteins that help make you feel full. Add cottage cheese to smoothies or scramble it into eggs to fill out your breakfast.
Your cereal choice doesn’t need to be between over-processed with lots of sugar, or bland and boring. Consumer Reports taste testers found some good-for-you cereals that are tasty, too. Here are some top picks: Nature’s Path Organic Heritage Flakes; Post Great Grains Raisins, Dates & Pecans; and General Mills Cheerios.
All of CR’s top-rated cereals contain whole grains, which are linked to lower rates of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. They also add fiber to your diet, which most people don’t get enough of. And now you can find added sugars on the label and keep that number under 6 grams per serving.
And what about eggs? One study showed that overweight participants felt fuller and more satisfied after eating an egg breakfast compared with eating cereal. Add some fiber with leafy dark greens, tomatoes, peppers, or sweet potatoes to make a breakfast that’s healthy and delicious.
Also, instead of drinking fruit juice, opt for whole fruit, fresh or frozen, which contains more beneficial fiber, with less sugar and fewer calories.
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