A big part of starting your year off right begins with your morning! When you think about it, breakfast is literally "breaking a fast." It's the first meal your body gets after an overnight fast, so it's important to fuel it with something great. Eating a meal full of nutrients and protein early on can affect the rest of the day. If you fill your body with sugary foods right when you wake up, you're likely to feel incredibly sluggish way before lunchtime. On the contrary, if you indulge in a healthy, protein-packed breakfast, you'll supply your body with the nutrients it needs to stay energized until your next meal.
While a high protein breakfast allows you to stay fuller for longer, that's not the only benefit. A high protein breakfast is a great way to make sure that you reach your daily intake of protein and is linked to long-term health benefits like reduced risk of heart disease and high blood pressure.
Here is one of our favorite high protein breakfast dishes to help you stick with your healthy resolutions for the new year:
Gluten Free Banana Carrot Protein Muffins
Packed with almond flour, whole grain oats, Vanilla Protein Powder Nutritional Booster and carrots and sweetened with fresh banana, these muffins make a satisfying and delicious high protein breakfast.
Quick and easy to make, these vegan protein muffins are incredibly delicious! Packed with protein and other essential nutrients, they're sure to keep you satisfied until your next meal. This simple recipe makes these muffins easy to customize to your unique taste preferences. A real treat, they're also gluten free, oil free and vegan!
Not sure how to top them? We love topping these muffins with berries, chopped nuts, honey, rolled oats, dried fruit and granola!
If you know you won't be home in time to eat your nutritious meals, then pack them with you! Learning how to stick to healthy eating involves a lot of planning, and we encourage you to sit down and create a weekly menu. While doing so, figure out which meals you'll be eating at home and which meals you'll need to pack. Investing in a well-designed lunch bag is a great way to make sure your packed lunches stay fresh until they're ready to be eaten.
Aside from packing meals, we also urge you to pack snacks! Discover what your favorite healthy snacks are. Will an orange along with your lunch keep you full until dinner time, or would a healthy homemade trail mix keep you fuller for longer? Come up with a few delicious, easy and healthy snacks to pack with you daily.
Make it a goal to always have nutritious food with you wherever you go. Whether it's morning breakfast bars that are kept at your office for those early meetings, or homemade snack bags left in the car "just in case," having healthy food on hand will help you stay full and energized and keep you from reaching for sweets every time you have a craving.
This tip is incredibly essentialeat what you love. Just because you've started eating healthier doesn't mean that you have to kick your favorite meals to the curb. Create the recipes and meals you've always loved, just with healthier ingredients! There are so many healthy ingredient swaps out there, that you can turn almost any recipe into a nutritious one. By using whole foods that are minimally processed, you'll add essential vitamins and nutrients to your meals that your health will thank you for!
It's important to note that when choosing to live a healthier lifestyle, you don't have to eat things you don't enjoy. If you're not a fan of salads, then don't eat salads! There are plenty of other ways to get your greens in without munching on a big salad that you don't enjoy. When learning how to stick to a healthy diet, you must find the foods that you love. Eating things that you enjoy won't make this New Year's resolution feel like a chore. You can still eat your favorite food and feel great doing so! Using healthy ingredients to make your meals will leave you feeling full and satisfied, and you might even notice a boost of flavor in your favorite recipes due to all the fresh ingredients being used!
One of our favorite ingredient swaps:
Almost everyone has a weakness when it comes to food. Do you crave sweets around lunchtime? Or salty foods before dinner? Find out what your food weakness is, and then find an excellent substitute for it. If you know that right after lunchtime, you crave a sweet snack to top off your meal, then enjoy that delicious snackjust a healthier version of it! Berries, dates, protein balls and even sweet smoothies are a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth and still stick to your healthy resolution for the new year!
Identifying your food weakness and coming up with a solution will help you stick to your healthy resolutions for the new year. If you are a fan of a salty treat, then get creative and make a homemade trail mix personalized to your palate. Whatever your weakness is, replace it with a healthy version that will keep you feeling 100% and help to avoid any mid-day sugar crashes.
Here is one of our favorite sweet snack substitutes:
Trail Mix Cassava Cookie Bars
A grain free treat, these bars are full of flavor! While we make them with cassava flour, chocolate chips, sweet dried cranberries and crunchy pecansthe possibilities are endless! Get creative with these bars and add in your favorite fresh and healthy trail mix ingredients. They're the perfect wholesome dessert to have on hand to curb your sweet tooth.
