What are your suggestions for a balanced breakfast? I typically eat a bowl of special k vanilla almond cereal and a glass of milk. My diet severely lacks in fruits, simply because I don’t really like them except in juices. How can I incorporate more fruit into my diet without filling up on sugary juices?

What are your suggestions for a balanced breakfast? I typically eat a bowl of special k vanilla almond cereal and a glass of milk. My diet severely lacks in fruits, simply because I don't really like them except in juices. How can I incorporate more fruit into my diet without filling up on sugary juices?

Answer - Permalink

callowyouth-wrinkledmaturity

Hi Jessica,

This is what I had for breakfast today:

- 1 big glass of water
- 1 tea (green tea would be a slightly better choice but today I had black tea)
- Oatmeal: 1/2 cup of dry unsweetened oats. I put boiling water on it and let it sit and thicken for a few minutes. I then add a teaspoon of flax seeds or chia seeds for added texture and a few frozen berries (they thaw in the warm oat mix).
- 1 hard boiled egg and 3 egg whites. (I have an egg cooker to cook hard boiled eggs easily).

By eating special K vanilla almond cereal you get 9 grams of sugar per serving: http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-special-k-vanilla-almond-cereal-i110333 + 12.5 grams of sugar with one cup of skim milk http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-milk-nonfat-fluid-i1151

By eating oatmeal with blueberries I get a maximum of 7 grams of sugar. The proteins of the eggs keep me full and going all morning long.

Cereals with a weight loss claim are just fancy marketing. These cereals are often low in fat - but the majority of breakfast cereals are low in fat anyway. There is really nothing special about them. Plain unsweetened oats are much cheaper and much lower in sugar.

About your diet lacking fruits: you don’t have to incorporate more fruits into your diet if you eat enough vegetables, salads and soups. For example, one large red bell pepper contains 209 mg of vitamin C, which is almost three times the 70 mg of an average orange.