You always hear how breakfast is the most important meal of the day – and it’s true! There’s no better way to kickstart your body and brain in preparation for the work ahead.

Skipping breakfast is a common strategy for people who are trying to lose weight, but unfortunately, it’s usually not a successful one. Your body (or more likely, your brain) expects to be refueled a few times each day. When you don’t eat breakfast you may feel so hungry by lunch time that you eat more foods than you normally would, which cancels out the calories you cut by skipping breakfast. You may also be tempted to choose foods that are not the healthiest choices when you feel like you’re starving.

Here are seven healthy and easy breakfast ideas that tick all the boxes (and are yummy, too!)

1. Fruit and Milo Smoothie

Throw 5 strawberries, 1 banana, 1 cup skim milk, 30g oats and 2 tsp Milo into a blender – blend and serve! Its a 99% fat free breakfast, low in calories, with 6g of fibre, vitamin B, vitamin C, calcium and phosphorus. If you use honey instead of Milo its also gluten free.

Smoothies are so versatile you can also add LSA (linseed soy and almond meal), chia seeds, yoghurt, frozen berries, bananas and kiwifruit.

2. Baked Beans on Toast

Baked beans are so packed full of nutrition, its really hard to say no. 1 cup of baked beans on 2 pieces of wholemeal toast gives you 17g of fibre, protein and complex carbohydrates. It’s also a good source of iron, niacin and thiamin.

When buying any canned product always buy the salt reduced version to ensure your sodium intake stays well within the healthy range.

3. Pesto Mushrooms

Toss fresh mushrooms and 2tbs basil pesto in a small frypan until heated through and slightly wilted – about 2-3 minutes. Serve on toasted sour dough rubbed with garlic and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Yum! This is Saturday morning bliss with a freshly brewed skinny latte! Calorie controlled and a good source of fibre, protein and vitamin B.

4. Passion Muesli

Take a bowl of toasted muesli, top it with a generous dollop of low fat vanilla yoghurt and finish with fresh passionfruit pulp. Very satisfying, high in fibre and low in fat.

I also love adding fresh blueberries, strawberries or raspberries on my yoghurt and muesli each morning. Great for an antioxidant boost.

5. Omelette with the Lot

Crack 2 eggs into a bowl, add 1 tbs skim milk and grate in about 30g of reduced fat cheese.  Then add whatever is left over in your fridge: mushrooms, baby spinach, ham, bacon, capsicum, parsley, basil, feta, eggplant, sweet potato, zucchini – whatever takes your fancy. Mix it all together and pour it into a non-stick frying pan. Cook for a couple of minutes and then flip. Cook for a further few minutes and then serve.

This is a great way to eat vegetables for breakfast.

6. Ricotta Muffins

Toast 1 (2 halves) wholemeal english muffin. Top with low fat ricotta cheese (about 4 tbsp per half muffin), sliced strawberries or banana and drizzle with honey.

This is super duper yum and a great source of low fat protein. You can also substitute the muffins for wholemeal crumpets or soy and linseed toast.

7. Healthy Big Breakfast

Cook up some quality bacon (rind and fat removed) on a char grill. Set the bacon aside on paper towel to soak up the excess fat. Meanwhile spread 2 pieces of soy and linseed toast with avocado and top with baby spinach, sautéed mushrooms, grilled or roasted grape tomatoes and chargrilled asparagus. Add the cooked bacon and serve with a freshly brewed coffee or tea for your weekend breakfast indulgence!

You might also like to try my Scrambled Eggs with a Twist.

And if you’re after something delicious out and about, try Baked eggs with Spanish tomato sugo, chorizo and tapendade with sourdough toast (pictured above) from Broadbean Catering at the Museum Café at the National Museum of Australia.

What do you eat for breakfast?