It turns out that this common breakfast is not always a healthy choice! The researches have shown that almost every three of four common brands of muesli offer us the products with one or more type of potential harm to our health. In particular, one known brand, The Muesli, contains almost 100 percent more fat than a McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder. Therefore, eating a portion of such muesli can hardly bring anything good to our health! It was also found out that other brands, like Nu-Vit Low Fat Fruity Muesli Gluten Free or Sunsol Gluten Free contain up to 43 percent of sugar. This index if very high and is actually 7 percent higher than the one of Choco Pops.

“Whilst much of the fat content in muesli is the ‘good’ unsaturated type, coming from oats, seeds and nuts, the high fat varieties can still pack a high number of kilojoules,” says Ingrid Just, a spokesman for CHOICE organization. “If you are eating muesli to try and lose weight then the overall fat and sugar content needs to be taken into consideration,” she underlines.

However, the most important problem is the fact that nutrition claims that we can see on the packs of most muesli brands to do have true or whole information about chemical content of the product. “The most common are gluten-free and wheat-free claims or relate to fibre and or wholegrain content. But low in salt, no added sugar, high protein, low GI and low fat claims are also popular,” the expert says. “Morpeth Sourdough Muesli Delux says it has ‘no added sugar’ but its dried fruit content and added honey result in a product that’s almost 28 per cent sugar,” CHOICE spokesman says. Be careful when choosing muesli!

The findings of a new study carried out by a group of specialists from the Else-Kröner-Fresenius Centre of Nutritional Medicine in Germany were published recently in Nutrition Journal. The research included analyzing and observing nutrition history of 300 participants of different age and gender. All of them were asked to record everything they consumed for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sometimes they were offered a large nutritional breakfast, sometimes they had a small one, and sometimes they did not have anything for breakfast at all.

According to Dr Volker Schusdziarra, one of the team leaders, for those who eat a small or big breakfast, there was no big difference noticed for lunch and dinner, in terms of the size of the meals. “People ate the same at lunch and dinner, regardless of what they had for breakfast.” The only difference was a tendency to skip a morning snack when a big breakfast was consumed. However, a person immediately was compensating the missing calories at the expense of a large dinner.

Therefore, these German specialists are not convinced in the effectiveness of a large breakfast for those people who have an aim to lose several extra pounds. These nutritionists recommend using certain diet plan, eating 4-5 portions of 100% organic fruit and vegetables a day, and cut down on harmful saturated fats and sugars. Being back to the size of breakfast, now it seems like we received one more obvious controversy, when some specialists say it is right, and other specialists say it is wrong.

However, most of us realize the importance of healthy breakfast as a part of so popular today healthy lifestyle or a weight loss program. So, what do we usually eat for breakfast? Omelets, whole wheat bagels, English muffins, toasts or cereal. Actually, what we eat in the morning depends on how much time we’ve got for preparing and eating our breakfast, right? Check out several fast and effective healthy breakfast ideas below, and use your morning meal for bringing you energy and optimism for the whole day. Remember that even if you need to eat fast, you should eat smart and choose the most organic options!

• If you are really hard pressed for time every morning, you can think about something that will go great together with your morning cup of coffee. Keep some oat granola bars ready (you can buy them or cook them yourself in the weekend), or choose eating a slice of whole wheat dark bread with some light cheese or high quality organic honey. Also, you can just eat some organic fruit or veggies like apples, carrots, oranges or bananas, which will provide you with herbal vitamins and antioxidants. Finally, a glass of freshly squeezed orange or tomato juice will also do as a very quick and healthy breakfast.
• If you have a little more than 10 minutes for preparing and eating your morning meal, healthy breakfast ideas like smoothies or fruity yogurt cocktails can work great for you. To prepare a smoothie, cut pieces of your favorite fruit and greens, and blend them together with a little of ice, juice of water. Or, mix some fruit or berries with some small amount of organic yogurt, add some cereal or seeds – what can be healthier than this?
• As an alternative, you can choose such fast breakfast ideas as boiling eggs or making omelet and eating those with a slice of dark bread and some veggies (however, try not to eat eggs for breakfast more that two times a week). You can prepare some easy fruit salad by using some sliced apples, bananas and other types of your favorite fruit, and mixing them with some nuts, seeds, cereal and so on. Also, having just a bowl of cereal with low fat milk and a handful of dried fruit can be an awesome and very healthy choice for those who love healthy breakfasts.

To produce the best green smoothies, it is recommended to use 40% of greens and 60% of fruits. Mix your favorite greens like spinach, lettuce, parsley stalks, silverbeet, kale or others with apples, pears, bananas and other fruits. Health benefits of green smoothies are numerous, and below you can see only the most important of them.

1. Green smoothies can provide your body with essential antioxidants and phytochemicals which can protect you against aging, cancer and other health problems in a long term perspective.

2. Well-blended green smoothies make the nutrients and vitamins assimilate easily in your body. Specialists say that green smoothies begin getting absorbed right in your mouth.

3. Green smoothies provide your body with dietary fiber which is essential for improving your digestive system function. In particular, regular consumption of green smoothies is linked to lower acidity in the stomach this way creating less favorable environment for cancer and infections.

4. Health benefits of green smoothies include improving blood quality and speeding up body cleansing which can be achieved at the expense of a high chlorophyll content of the greens you use.

5. Chlorophyll also assists in boosting your immune system.

6. Green smoothie benefits include the power of this amazing food to give you more energy and protect you from depression and mood swings. Have a green smoothie for your breakfast and you’ll be more focused, creative and energetic during the day.

7. Green smoothies can help in stabilizing blood sugar levels, therefore, they are recommended to everyone who suffers from diabetes and high levels of blood sugar.

8. Stimulating the processes of natural weight loss is one of the most important health benefits of green smoothies.

9. Regular consumption of green smoothies will help your skin look youthful and radiant, your hair look glowing and gorgeous, your nails and bones be stronger.

10. Those who drink green smoothies experience less cravings for too sweet or processed foods which are harmful to our health.

11. Also, a regular consumption of green smoothies will help you form a habit of eating greens every day – a very good and very healthy habit.

12. Green smoothies are very delicious and nutritious foods, which can be given to both children and adults, and usually cause no allergies.

1. Your breakfast helps to charge your body with a great amount of energy for a new active day. When you wake up in the morning, your body needs nutrients and vitamins for starting its normal function. The experts say that a good breakfast can increase our efficiency and performance for about 30%. That is why regardless of how hard your day will be, if you eat a good breakfast, you’ll do your job much faster and more effectively.

2. Your breakfast helps to control your hunger and meal cravings during the day. American specialists are convinced that those people, who eat breakfasts regularly and who regularly start their day with eating 2 eggs, tend to consume less amounts of calories during the day than those people, who have no time for a good breakfast. The same can be said about those people, who eat oatmeal and cornflakes for the breakfast.

3. Your breakfast helps to reduce negative effects of stresses. Many specialists are convinced that a good breakfast can make a person calmer and less irritable, but this rule applies only to those types of breakfasts which do not include coffee.

4. Your breakfast can help to improve your memory and attention. Studies suggest that those people who regularly have a good breakfast have better abilities to focus and concentrate, as well as memorize all possible data and information. This rule applies to those people who eat the foods with a high content of fiber and carbs, such as eggs, fish, dairy products, fruit and veggies.

5. A good breakfast aids weight management. It helps to stimulate metabolism and calorie burning processes in your body, this way assisting you in putting extra pounds off. Especially if you regularly exercise and maintain an active lifestyle.

I hope these reasons not to skip your breakfast were helpful. Just try to spare 10-15 minutes every morning and have an efficient nutritious breakfast for a week or two – and you’ll notice positive changes in your daily performance and health.