A few months ago, I published two articles on healthy low calorie breakfasts. In the first article I shared tips on what to include with a low calorie breakfast to improve your chances for weight loss success. Low calorie yet high protein meals with natural foods, plenty of fiber, and overall nutritional balance work best. In the second article I included several sample menus.

Best Healthy Breakfasts for Weight Loss: Part 1

Best Healthy Breakfasts for Weight Loss: Part 2

Today I have more sample breakfast menus to share with you. With respect to nutrition, these menus are fairly well balanced. If you need a simple plan for achieving daily nutritional balance on a low calorie diet, I would suggest reviewing the 1500 and 1200 calorie diet plans I have on this site.

One of the sample breakfast menus I have here includes a muffin-like product called fiber cake available from a company by the name of Zen Bakery. It is actually a high fiber low calorie food made with all natural ingredients. Although I have not had an opportunity to try one, I have heard very good reports from others. Evidently these fiber cakes can be purchased from Whole Foods or Trader Joes (neither one of which is located anywhere near me.) I’m working on developing my own recipe but it would help if I could try the real thing first!

Healthy Low Calorie Breakfasts:

Image via Wikipedia Breakfast 1

Enjoy a blueberry fiber cake along with a hard-boiled egg, a raspberry yogurt, and 4 ounces of orange juice.

1 Blueberry Fiber Cake (80 calories, Zen Bakery)

1 Light n’ Fit Creamy Raspberry Yogurt (100 calories, Dannon)

1 hard-boiled egg

1/2 cup orange juice

calories: 313
protein: 20.2 grams
dietary fiber: 13.2 grams
calcium: 309 mg
Vitamin C: 62 mg

Breakfast 2

Make a simple egg frittata with lots of veggies served with an oat bran muffin.

Egg frittata (How to prepare a frittata. Hopefully the article is still available when you read this!)

1/2 cup egg substitute (99% egg white, 104 calories or less)

1 tsp. olive oil (for the skillet when preparing the frittata)

1/2 cup chopped fresh tomato

1/2 cup chopped fresh zucchini

1 Oat bran muffin (178 calories)

calories: 347
protein: 21.2 grams
dietary fiber: 4.8 grams
calcium: 127 mg
Vitamin C: 21.9 mg

Note: You may want to lightly cook the zucchini and tomato first before adding it to the fritatta.

Breakfast 3

Quickly prepare and heat two healthy mini pizzas in a toaster oven that can be ready to eat in minutes (if the turkey bacon has been cooked ahead of time).

1 Whole Wheat English Muffin (133 calories, Thomas)

2 slices Turkey Bacon (one for each muffin half, 60 calories)

2 slices Tomato (one for each muffin half)

1/4 cup Reduced Fat Shredded Mexican Cheese, sprinkle on top of each mini pizza (80 calories, Sargento)

calories: 299
protein: 25.8 grams
dietary fiber: 6.4 grams
calcium: 425 mg
Vitamin C: 22.8 mg

Breakfast 4

Easily prepare scrambled eggs with egg substitute and a little cooking spray (such as Pam). Serve along with 1/2 cup raspberries, and two slices of buttered whole wheat toast.

4 Tbsp. Egg Substitute (99% egg white, 52 calories or less)

2 Slices whole wheat toast (180 calories total)

2 tsp. Light Butter by Land O’Lakes (with part canola oil)

1/2 cup fresh Raspberries

calories: 297
protein: 16.2 grams
dietary fiber: 10.0 grams
calcium: 128 mg
Vitamin C: 16.1 mg

This last sample menu comes up short for calcium and vitamin C. Plan on having a good source of vitamin C later in the day such as orange juice, kiwi fruit, tomatoes, and more. Choose dairy or non-dairy fortified foods for calcium (Also see Low Calorie Dairy Snacks)

Note:

To keep your calorie count down with 1200 calorie diets include water or unsweetened tea or coffee with these meals. If you are following a diet plan with more total calories you have more calories for beverages. Even so do be careful. Beverage calories can add up quickly! (See: The Beverages You Drink May be Making You Fat!).

Getting plenty of fiber and protein and some level of balance for a meal with only 350 calories or less is difficult. I hope the menu ideas I’ve shared in this article and a previous article will be of help (see: Healthy Breakfasts).

Till next time, watch those calories and eat healthy!

calories Health Maintenance weight loss

It’s mid-summer and fresh fruit is abundant! Gotta love it! Fresh or otherwise, fruit makes a healthy choice for snacks as well as side dishes or desserts. If you are like me, it becomes a substitute for many of the less than healthy sweets such as candy, cakes, pies, cookies, and more. However, as healthy as fruit may be, it’s all too easy to overdo a good thing.

Image via Wikipedia

Fruit is NOT calorie free. The calories do add up. I’ve put together a list of fruits that are generally well known and readily available in various seasons here in the United States. Fresh, frozen, canned, or dried, you’ve got lots of possibilities.

To help you meet your nutrient needs with fruit and still keep your calorie count down, you will want to have an idea of about how many calories are in your favorites. Keep portion size in mind.

You may want to copy and paste this list into your own word-processing program, print it off, and post a copy on your refrigerator to easily refresh your memory. I do have a print option on this page but it comes up with an annoying error message at the top of the page. (Anyone who could tell me what I need to do to get rid of that?)

The calorie counts are based on information provided by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Agricultural Research Service. Given that the values are estimates at best because no two pieces of fruit will be exactly the same size even if both are “small”, “medium” or whatever, I’ve adjusted the calorie counts just slightly. I have rounded the values up or down by no more than 2 calories to arrive at a value that might be easier for you to remember.

(I am not including fruit juices in this list because I will include them later along with other low calorie beverage choices. Also, I strongly encourage you to choose whole fruit rather than juice as much as possible.)

FRUIT

Apple - 1 medium - 80

Apple Sauce, sweetened - 100

Unsweetened - 60

Apricots, fresh - 1 medium - 20

Banana - 1 small- 90

1/2 medium - 50

Blackberries - 1 cup - 90

Blueberries - 1 cup - 80

Cantaloupe, cubed - 1 cup - 55

Clementines - 1 small - 35

Cherries, sweet, fresh with pits - 1/2 cup - 45

Figs - fresh - 1 medium - 35

Grapefruit - 1/2 medium - 40

Grapes - Red or Green European Varieties - 10 grapes - 35

Honeydew Melon, cubed - 1 cup - 60

Kiwi - 1 medium - 45

Mandarin Oranges, canned, juice-pack, drained - 1 cup - 70

Mango, thinly sliced - 1/2 cup - 55

Nectarine - 1 medium - 65

Orange - 1 medium - 65

Papaya - 1 cup sliced - 55

Peach - 1 medium - 40

Pear - 1 medium - 100

Pineapple, fresh 1 cup - 75

Pineapple, canned in juice - 75

Plums, fresh - 1 medium - 35

Plums, dried (prunes) 3 medium - 60

Raspberries - 1 cup - 60

Strawberries - 1 cup - 50

Tangerine - 1 medium - 35

Watermelon, diced - 1 cup - 45

Fruit can be a good source of dietary fiber. Both the fiber and the high water content of fruit can work together to manage your hunger. However, not all fruits are equally good sources of fiber. As a general rule the best sources include the berries, citrus fruits (eaten whole not as juice), and fruit eaten with the skin such as pears and apples. If you would like to know the best choices by season you may want to refer to a few of my earlier articles.

Best Low Calorie, High Fiber, Summer Fruits and Vegetables

Fall Fruits and Vegetables: Low Calorie and High Fiber

Low Calorie, High Fiber Winter Fruits & Veggies

High Fiber Low Calorie Spring Fruits and Vegetables

(Remember, I adjusted the calories just slightly for the fruit listed on this page so the values may not agree exactly with what I have listed elsewhere.)

If you are on a low calorie diet, do remember to balance your food choices to stay healthy. You may want to refer to my 1200 and 1500 calorie diet plans to see how many servings of fruit are recommended along with other food choices. Here’s a refresher for what nutritionists refer to as a serving of fruit:

4 oz. juice (1/2 cup)

1/2 cup sliced/chopped cooked or raw fruit
(Fresh, frozen, or canned.)

1 whole medium piece of fruit

1/4 cup dried fruit

These amounts provide a guideline to help you manage your food intake, keep your calorie count down, and achieve nutritional balance especially when you are on a low calorie diet.

Hope this information helps. Have a great week, watch those calories, and stay healthy!

calories Health Maintenance weight loss