Monday, March 4, 2013

An Apple A Day...!


In an attempt to improve my overall health, I have been trying to improve my diet. More water, less soda pop, more vegetables at dinner, and fruit for breakfast and/or snacks. It's a slow work in progress, especially reducing the pop. 

Today, instead of going for a piece of toast or an eggo waffle, I decided to eat an apple for breakfast. Because I was still hungry, I also may have had a chocolate chip muffin and a glass of milk afterwards. Another breakfast option that I plan to try later this week is breakfast smoothies. I even bought some quick oats to include in my smoothies! 

Although I know that eating any kind of breakfast is better than no breakfast, I have been learning about how some breakfast options are much better than others. For example, a healthy breakfast should include fruits, low-fat protein and dairy, and whole grains. This combination will also help you from getting hungry too quickly. 

I may or may not have mentioned this before, I am a fussy eater. As a result, my fruit options are limited. To help save time in the morning (and money, because buying fresh strawberries and raspberries can be expensive), I decided that eating an apple most mornings would be very beneficial. 

To help encourage me to eat an apple a day, I found three interesting health benefits: 

1. Eating one medium apple counts as one cup of fruit. So, after eating one, you are well on your way to meting your daily fruit quota. 

2. Apples are an excellent source of immune-boosting vitamin C. 

3. Prior to your work out, eating an apple may boost your exercise endurance. 

Obviously there are many more benefits, but they aren't very relevant to me at this point in my life. Now, I just have to make sure that my new breakfast routine sticks around longer than a few days. The mornings where I have more time, I plan to make breakfast smoothies with quick oats, frozen fruit, low-fat yogurt and juice -- maybe twice a week. What do you eat for breakfast every day? 

8 comments:

  1. good for you!

    one time i tried to go on an apple diet- i would try and eat an apple before I ate anything else... needless to say it did not work and I really don't like apples anymore haha.

    but good for you. maybe ill try and not drink diet coke tomorrow.

    -harley
    Harley & Jane

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    1. Ha ha, I am the same way with food. If I eat too much of something all the time, I will grow to hate it. I used to always eat bagels for lunch in elementary school, its only been in the past few years that I can stand to eat them. On that note, maybe I wont eat an apple every day, maybe every other day! lol

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  2. I'm with ya, I need to put myself on a healthier path! I love carbs way way way too much! I could definitely gain to add more fruits and veggies to my daily diet! Thanks for the facts!
    Adrienne

    http://myblackwhitecolor.blogspot.com

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    1. It's definitely been hard trying to change bad habits (I love carbs as well) ... but I'm finding by making small changes, its easier to adjust. Good luck adding more fruits and veggies to your diet! :)

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  3. that information is actually really encouraging haha .. off to buy more apples!

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    1. I am glad you found it encouraging, now I just have to find a way to keep encouraging myself, ha ha!

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  4. right now i kinda just eat cereal. i feel better when i eat eggs though.

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    1. I love eggs for breakfast, I just never have enough time in the morning to make them.

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