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Last month, we asked Synergy readers what their fave breakfast is on a typical workday. We learned a couple of things for your responses. First, breakfast lovers are enthusiastic about the foods they start the day with and, second, we never realized good old fashioned oatmeal was so popular.
In fact, oatmeal topped the list of go-to breakfasts you enjoy. Fruit, served with oatmeal, as a side to other dishes or in a bowl by itself was also popular. The number one fruit favorite? Bananas, often eaten with protein rich peanut butter.
“My favorite workday breakfast is a multi-grain English muffin topped with peanut butter and a sliced banana!” a reader told us. Another puts natural peanut butter and half a sliced banana on toasted sprouted wheat toast and still another survey participates starts the day with a peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole wheat toast, sprinkled with cinnamon.
Traditional breakfasts of eggs – boiled, scrambled or made into omelets – with toast, coffee and orange juice were slightly more popular than cereals. In addition to the cold variety of cereal, cream of wheat got several votesand one reader recommended “ quinoa with almonds and dried tart cherries with a soft boiled egg on top.” When meat in on the morning menu, turkey bacon and low-fat ham were mentioned most frequently.
“I recently added breakfast into my every day routine,” a reader shared. “At home I have eggs with a piece of toast and some grapefruit or orange or oatmeal. If I’m running late, I grab a grapefruit and a piece of toast with margarine to bring with me to the office. It makes a huge difference in my energy for the day! It’s important to always plan ahead for breakfast and you’ll stay away from the high calorie sugar choices in vending machines.”
Several of you get creative with morning eggs. “I fix scrambled egg whites with fresh veggies and wrap them in a low fat, high fiber tortilla,” a survey participant wrote. Another Synergy reader makes an omelet with last night's leftovers for the filling.
“Chopped broccoli and chicken, mixed with cheese, for example, makea good combo. Had a salad? Pick out the tomatoes and add some avocado chunks! I chop ingredients as I'm cleaning up after dinner for faster morning prep,” she told us. “Now my kids ask for them too, instead of frozen waffles or cereal.”
Other fave breakfast choices are yogurt – Greek style with berries ranked tops with readers --- protein and granola bars. Cottage cheese, waffles and breakfast burritos also drew multiple votes.
And what do Synergy readers choose at the drive-in window? Fast food breakfast choices included Chik-fil-a hash browns and granola parfaits as well as Egg McMuffins from McDonald’s. However, the most votes came in for bagels. Readers sang the praises of Dunkin’ Donuts’ “everything” bagel with cream cheese, lox and bagels from Einstein’s, and the Bagel BeLT combo (bacon, egg patty, lettuce, tomato and cheese in a bagel) from Tim Horton's (a restaurant chain popular in Canada and the northeastern US).
We picked survey participant Brenda H. at random to receive a $50 Visa gift card. “I eat a peanut butter dark chocolate and protein bar and drink an eight oz. glass of orange juice with pulp,” Brenda told us. “Since the brain needs protein, carbs and fats this gives me all that plus much more. And it is healthy!”
Thanks to everyone who participated. |
Sherry Baker is a writer from Atlanta, Georgia. She last wrote the article Breakfast Really is the Most Important Meal of the Day for Synergy. |
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