Starting your day with nutritious and well balanced breakfast is the best way to provide yourself most of the essential nutrients you need. A tasty and nutrient dense breakfast will provide you with energy while reducing the feeling of being hungry for the rest of the day, as well as giving you the benefits of the antioxidants and other nutrients they contain to maintain a healthy system.

These recipe ideas will help to start your day in a healthy way:

Eggs

Eggs are high in essential protein and low in calories, they help you control your blood sugar and insulin levels. They are also incredibly versatile you can have the boiled in the shell, poached, in an omelet or raw in your favorite smoothie. Just be sure to get the best quality eggs you can, preferably free range, pasture and naturally fed organic eggs. Duck eggs are also wonderful and can be substituted anywhere for chicken eggs, especially when baking.

Eggs contain selenium, copper, zinc, zeaxanthin, lutein and vitamin E which are all powerful antioxidants as well as choline for brain and eye health They have a high proportion of good cholesterol that can modify bad cholesterol lowering the risk of heart disease.

Live Greek Yogurt

Not only is Greek yogurt, delicious and nourishing, it is full of probiotics to help you gut health; it also increases your metabolic rate. The high linoleic acid content helps with body fat loss and helps to decrease cancer risks

It can be eaten alone with nuts and berries or as a great topping on muesli or fruit.

Coffee or Tea

These are both great beverages to start the day; they are high in caffeine, which has the advantage of improving peoples moods, relieve tiredness, sharpen alertness and generally improve mental performance. Their rich antioxidant benefits help to protect cells and blood vessels, reduce inflammation while decreasing the risks of liver and diabetic disease and premature aging

Oatmeal

About the best cereal either cooked as in porridge, in muesli or energy bars, oats are very filling as they contain called oat beta glucan. This important fiber helps reduce bad cholesterol while its high antioxidant benefits tend to protect fatty acids from becoming rancid and lower blood pressure.

Plums and Berries

These are the powerhouses that contain the highest amounts of antioxidants as well as fiber, both of which help reduce the aging effect. They are also crammed full of vitamins and minerals while being very low in calories.

Nuts

All nuts are high in monounsaturated fats, magnesium, potassium and selenium and are a very healthy addition to any breakfast

Fruit Smoothies

A cup of mixed fruit contains about 80 to 125 calories, all the necessary vitamins and minerals to make a really healthy and tasty smoothie. Adding yogurt, cottage cheese or protein powder makes a complete breakfast. Freeze it and have for lunch, it's a win-win combination.

Having a breakfast made up of the highly nutritious foods described above will set you up for the day, giving plenty of energy and a feeling of fullness avoiding hunger pains and the urge to snack during meals as well as helping your immune system fight infection