While many of us tend to enjoy a hot breakfast cereal for the heat it generates on the inside, these cereals can also be high in fiber, low in fat, and one of the best sources of whole grains. When you add in a little milk, almond or soy milk, nuts and your favorite unsweetened fruit, you end up with a nutritious breakfast dish guaranteed to get your day off to a good healthy start.
Scanning the Supermarket Shelves
If you take the time to scan the various brands of hot breakfast cereal on the shelves in your local supermarket, you might be shocked at what you find. Many of them contain as much sugar as approximately 2/3rds of a Milky Way candy bar. Others have as much fat as you might find in three strips of your favorite bacon. Finally some may contain as much, if not more, sodium than found in a medium sized order of fast food French fries.
At the same time, if you are careful you can find several brands that contain very little or none of these ingredients. These brands make the perfect start to putting your healthy hot breakfast together. Keep this in mind as you start looking at ways to make your morning meal healthier for everyone in your family.
Adding Ingredients
You can increase the amount of calcium and protein you get from your hot breakfast by using a little low-fat milk to make it instead of water. Bear in mind when using any form of milk it is going to take your hot breakfast cereal a little longer to cook. Speaking of healthy eating, it is easy to fall into the trap of buying pre-flavored oatmeal, as the unflavored ones tend to be rather plain. Those little pre-flavored packages are loaded with unhealthy ingredients you should try to avoid at all costs.
A much better way to spice up your morning meal is to add your own flavorings. Try using cinnamon, nutmeg, chopped nuts, dried or fresh fruits, hemp seeds or a number of different extracts such as coconut or vanilla. Not only will these provide you with the same tastes as those flavored pouches, many of them add a lot of extra nutrition.
Different Hot Cereals
Most of us have grown up eating oatmeal as a staple hot breakfast dish. However there are several other grains to consider to add more variety to your morning meals. Try porridge made from steel cut oats, faro, quinoa, or teff. You can make all of these in large enough batches they can be reheated on those days when time is running a bit short. Remember not to add the toppings until after you have reheated the dish as this will ensure the toppings retain all of their flavor and texture.
