How to make a healthy breakfast? Three important ingredients that food experts recommend

Healthy breakfast: On a pleasant morning, when the Sun is not beating down too hard and a soothing wind is blowing, the only thing needed to complete the experience is a plateful of scrumptious food. The deep breaths of fresh air make it feel like the toxins in your body are leaving, and you decide to start leading a healthy life, starting with your breakfast. But what does make a healthy first meal of the day? Something that would be delicious and go with the enjoyable weather and still be healthy?

Well, a healthy breakfast can be anything you want it to be, as long as you take care of three important ingredients and stay away from refined carbohydrates, says The Indian Dietetic Association National President Dr Jagmeet Madan. During a panel discussion by CII and PepsiCo on ‘Nourishing Young India’, Dr Madan was assertive of the fact that India has a “rich heritage of healthy carbs” and as long as people knew their ingredients, they would be able to lead a healthy life.

And the change starts from breakfast.

So what are these three important categories of ingredients that you must ensure?

Maintaining a healthy breakfast

Dr Madan said that a healthy breakfast should have three things – protein, antioxidants and dietary fibre.

Carbohydrates and proteins should go hand in hand to balance each other out. However, while carbohydrates find their way onto any plate and don’t need special mention, proteins usually end up being overlooked. But, incorporating proteins is important, and fairly easy. Eggs, pulses and milk, all contain protein, and adding them to your plate makes your food that much healthier. A simple hard-boiled egg, a glass of milk or a bowl of sprouts would make your breakfast protein enriched – simple, elegant solutions sitting right at the periphery but ignored.

Antioxidants are important to save your body from “free radicals” which can cause genetic changes and cause harm. This makes antioxidants an essential part of the breakfast. Grapes or tea, especially green tea, can work as excellent antioxidants. Needless to say, make sure that if you have green tea or grapes on your plate, then maybe use sprouts or eggs for protein, instead of milk.

Dietary fibre is important for keeping the gut healthy, and it decreases the chances of constipation, heart diseases, stroke and type-2 diabetes. Dietary fibre food items include wholegrain cereals, like barley, oatmeal and millets. Apart from that, they also include unsalted nuts. Apart from that, pulses and fresh or dried fruits also make a part of dietary fibre or roughage.

Smartly incorporating these ingredients into a wholesome meal would ensure your health and give you enough diversity on your plate. You can easily find complementary foods that give you all the nutrients you need and still make for a delicious meal, without needing any extravagant expensive produce. You just need to look and put in a little bit of effort into your research.