In the morning our body is not only in need of nutrients but is also able to absorb vitamins and minerals better. Which is why it’s important to eat the right breakfast.
How energetic you feel throughout the day depends on how nutritious your breakfast is. A good breakfast satisfies your hunger and avoids overeating later in the day. Although, knowingly or unknowingly, we eat things in breakfast that might sound healthy but are really bad for you. Let us talk about 5 Foods that you should never eat in breakfast. We will also talk about their healthier alternatives. So without any further delay, let’s get started. Hello Friends! Welcome to Dastaan E Hind . Let’s begin.
5 Food that you should avoid eating in breakfast:
Table of Contents
#1 Bread
Bread has become a common breakfast item in Indian homes. White bread, no doubt, is made with 100% maida. But even if you check the ingredients of brown bread or atta bread, it only has a small percentage of whole wheat flour but has a fair amount of maida mixed in it. Even most multigrain breads have maida. And not just maida, these breads also have refined palm oil, dough conditioners, artificial flavors, and preservatives. And then we hear things like “Apni taazi manpasand bread”.
In fact, this bread-like thing that we are sold is not the real bread that has been a staple food in European countries. While real bread is made with just 4 ingredients, this convenient bread is made with more than a dozen fillers. Shockingly, some of these ingredients are even banned in many countries. And yet they say, ”Britannia bread, har slice mein sehat”. You can try baking bread at home, it will begin to get hard and moldy in 2 days. While the commercial bread stays for 7 days even without refrigeration.
A bread should be bread. What’s more disturbing is that the brown color of brown bread is not because it has atta but due to the added color in it. Yes, often brown breads come with this ingredient called INS150a which is nothing but dark brown color which is formed by heating up sugar. So if you are a bread lover and really care for your health at the same time, there are 4 options. First, you can bake your own bread. Now, it might sound a daunting task. But people who bake daily don’t find it that difficult as well. Still, it might not be feasible for you.
I feel the second option is quite smart. You can try and find a trustworthy bakery near you who can bake fresh bread for you. Third, I have shared with you some better bread options which are not 100% healthy but you can include them in your diet sometimes. Fourth is to switch to roti which I think is a good replacement for commercial bread. No wonder it’s called Indian flat bread.
#2 Muesli
Muesli has become quite a popular breakfast option these days. People add milk to it and consider eating it as healthy. And it seems true as well, as its pack boasts the goodness of multigrains, fruits, and nuts. (ad – no hydrogenated oil no etc) Don’t fall for the marketing tricks because what it has is maida, 2 teaspoons of refined sugar in every serving, artificial flavors, colors, bleach, and candied fruits. Basically, the fruit is placed in heated sugar syrup which absorbs the moisture from within the fruit and eventually preserves it. (TVC rewind talking about fruits).
I am not saying that don’t eat it. But don’t count it as healthy. A reliable parameter to judge any such breakfast cereal is its fiber content. 100 grams of Kellog’s muesli fruits and nuts have just 6.4 grams of fiber. On the other hand if you compare it with oats, its 100 grams will have over 10 grams of fiber. Even 100 grams of aashirwad atta has 11.1 grams of fiber.
Now if this packet of muesli has so many multigrains, fruits, and nuts, why then fiber content is so low? The thing is that the ingredients are added after a lot of processing. And then they say “aapne power breakfast kiya?” It’s time we ditch muesli, corn flakes, granola, chocos and things like that. I mean these guys have literally done PhD in fooling their customers.
Even the smartest of customers might fall for their tricks. Best is to buy something which has just 1 ingredient, unflavored rolled oats or millet flakes. Add milk to them and customize it to your own liking. Or you can even make your own muesli premix. High in fiber it will keep you full and energetic for long. Now that’s asli power breakfast.
#3 Ready to eat Meals
Ready to Eat meals are becoming a rage in urban India. But be it ready to eat upma or poha, this you should never buy. Firstly because they use ultra-refined grains which is why their fiber content is really low. This 60 gram packet of poha has just 1.5 grams of fiber. That’s close to maggi. Worst is that they add palm oil which is more unhealthy than refined oils.
It seems dehydrated carrot is added to upma so that they can call it veggie upma. Even MTR’s dosa mix has maida in it. And why dosa? Maida is in uttapam and even rava idli. A South Indian would never appreciate this. If we eat this in the morning and believe that we have eaten something healthy, we will be fooling ourselves. Better would be to eat two bananas and go to the office. And why would you like to eat from a box when poha, upma, and dosa can be freshly made at home in no time.
Similarly, avoid buying masala oats. Instead buy normal oats and then make it fresh using your favourite vegetables.
#4 Nutella
If you like to spread nutella on bread, roti, parantha, and even dosa because they say “asli hazelnuts aur premium cocoa se bana iska swaad” then probably it’s time for filing another lawsuit. Because nutella has only 13% hazelnuts with artificial flavor added. 55% of nutella is plain sugar.
Interestingly, which is even more than dairy milk. After charging 847 Rs per kilo they are adding the cheapest oil in the market. Forget it as a breakfast food. Even rasgulla is healthier than nutella. If you really like eating hazelnut spread then there are some brands that are spending more energy on choosing the right ingredients than advertising them.
Mixed fruit jam is another food that you should stop eating for breakfast. Maybe for dessert. That’s because 100 grams of it has 15 spoons of sugar. Ok chalo if mixed fruit jam is made with 8 fruits then why the dietary fiber is not even 1 gram? What kind of fruits are these?
If your kid really loves eating jam, make it at home using desi khaand or thread mishri powder. Once made it can be kept in the refrigerator without preservative for a month. Some brands have now started making healthy jams. You can try them.
Finally, deep fried food.
For breakfast when the body is in dire need of nutrition, if we eat deep fried foods like chholle bhature and kachori then forget nutrition, it will rather make your metabolism very slow. Eating deep fried stuff is like walking with an extra load.
If you see things like bhature and kachori are firstly made with 100% maida and then deep fried. And if you eat them somewhere outside, they use the same oil again and again almost turning it black. Today it’s out and open that when oil is reheated, it produces trans fats and acrylamides which become the reason for things like heart blockage, fatty liver, diabetes, and even cancer.
When 100 grams of potatoes are deep fried, calories shoot up by almost 4 times but more importantly bad fats get increased by 20 times. So it’s important to limit the intake of deep fried foods like poori, bhature, and kachori. Preferably make them at home once in a while and never reuse the oil.
So these were those 5 foods that people often eat for breakfast but you should either stop eating them or at least stop considering them healthy. Better switch to healthier alternatives. Ideally for breakfast you should choose whole grains, nuts, seeds, fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables and make authentic recipes according to your own region. I have already shared with you some quick and healthy breakfast recipes. You can check them out. If you want this information to reach more people hit that like button. Share this article with a friend who still thinks Nutella is healthy.
Thank you for reading.
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