10 Breakfast Foods One Should Avoid for Good Health | HealthBeat

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it is also important to know what exactly to eat so that you make a healthy start to the day.

It’s but natural that people would like to have a healthy, tasty, filling and wholesome breakfast. But at the same time one must remember that tasty doesn’t necessarily mean healthy. The healthiest breakfast choices contain a combination of protein, fiber, and healthy fats to keep you feeling full until lunchtime, along with a moderate amount of unrefined carbs to provide quick energy.

Unfortunately, many common breakfast foods don’t meet these criteria and may leave you feeling either hungry shortly after eating or uncomfortably full.

Here are some breakfast foods that one should skip if one wants to make a healthy start to the day.

1. Sugary or highly refined cereals

Despite their sweet, crunchy profile, most sugary cereals won’t sustain you for long.

They’re typically full of sugar and low in protein, which means that they’ll rapidly increase your blood sugar levels. This can lead to irritability and hunger once the blood-sugar-reducing hormone insulin takes effect.

Likewise, even unsweetened cereals like corn or bran flakes tend to be low in protein. So, while they contain less added sugar, they’re still not the best way to start your day.

Even more natural-seeming options like granola are often loaded with added sugars, which have been linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.

2. Pancakes or waffles

Pancakes and waffles while very tasty, are not a nutritious way to fuel your mornings. Despite their tasty profile, these comfort foods are often made with refined white flour and topped with butter and syrup, which is essentially pure sugar.

This makes pancakes and waffles high in calories, fat, and sugar, and lacking in protein and fiber. So, while they can fill you up quickly, they won’t keep you full for long.

Buttered toast is one of the most popular breakfasts. Nevertheless, this option won’t sustain you for any lasting amount of time due to its lack of protein. The vast majority of the calories in buttered toast come from the carbs in the bread and the fat from the butter.

But, bread and butter can still be an appropriate breakfast option if you choose whole grain bread and add protein-rich toppings like eggs or shredded chicken breast. To further boost the nutrient content, add sliced vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, or leafy greens.

4. Puris

Keep away from anything that is fried, especially in the morning for breakfast. Puris are deep fried and due to this, it will cause acidity and heart burn. The meal has negligible protein and packs a lot of calories. Threfore, this is one of the many unhealthy Indian breakfasts to avoid.

5. Fruit juice

While fruit juice contains nutrients and antioxidants, it’s high in sugar and low in the fiber found in whole fruits, meaning it’s not particularly filling, therefore, making it nit the best drink choice for breakfast.

6. Sweetened and low fat or nonfat yogurts

Yogurt’s are a good source of protein and probiotics. Probiotics are live bacteria that may improve your digestive health. However, some yogurts are loaded with added sugar, making them less healthy choices. What’s more, many popular varieties have had most or all of their fat content removed, which means they may be less filling than full fat alternatives.

In these busy times at times one is forced to make compromises with one’s food, particularly breakfast. In such situations fast food items are very alluring as breakfasts. However, know that most fast-foods breakfast options, such as breakfast sandwiches or burritos with eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese, or a hash brown patty, are packed with calories, fat, and refined carbs.

Specialty coffee drinks like mochas, frappes, or caramel macchiatos can be a sweet fix full of sugar. In fact, some drinks contain a whopping 70 grams of sugar, equaling 280 calories or more per serving.

Having one of these drinks as your breakfast may quickly spike your blood sugar levels. This will cause your body to secrete insulin to bring those levels back down, which can leave you feeling hungry and irritable.

Furthermore, if you’re having one of these drinks alongside breakfast foods, your meal likely contains excessive calories and sugar, which can lead to weight gain.

Stay away from parathas especially those made from maida. They are unhealthy for the digestive system and thus leads to that nauseous feeling. Opt for healthier parathas made from jowar, ragi, wheat etc. Further, stuffing inside the parathas actually adds on to a lot of unwanted calories. The vegetable ratio or the stuffing inside should always be more than the dough ratio. Instead of the usual aloo or paneer, you can use soybeans, sattu (ground black chickpeas), broccoli, mixed vegetables, and tofu.

10. Maggie Noodles

Maggi, an instant noodle is made up of refined flour and oil. Maida or refined flour doesn't come with any health benefits or nutritional value. It is rather high in calories, therefore eating Maggi on a daily basis can be bad for your health. Maggi contains trans fats, which can up the levels of bad cholesterol in the body, thus creating problems for the heart to function properly. Maggi contains 46 per cent sodium, which is a substance that can make you prey to serious, and life-threatening diseases. Consuming Maggi on a daily basis can thus up your body's sodium levels causing conditions such as Hypernatremia.