It’s no secret that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Especially when exercising and living the healthy yogi lifestyle. Starting the day off with energy is a sure way to improve productivity, be less hungry, and have a better mood throughout the day. We wanted to give you the best opinions on healthy breakfasts from professional yogis, so we interviewed The Yoga Room, The Elbow Room and Little Bird here in Dublin.

Elena Moreo, yoga instructor and manager, at Little Bird iterated the importance of breakfast period in addition to the specific foods consumed.

“The first piece of advice I would give regarding breakfast is actually to make time to sit down and enjoy it! I know this may sound like a platitude or an unworkable piece of advice, but being constantly in a hurry is certainly not conducive to healthy eating.”

When asked what advice they give clients when it comes to eating breakfast, Ciara Cronin from the The Yoga Room said, “We encourage our yoga students to eat healthy live foods. Organic when possible and to go easy on sugar, dairy, meat and wheat products.” This advice is excellent for everyone, however. Eating organic healthy live foods will help keep you feeling good and healthy since processed foods that have a lot of sugar are what make you crash midday and gain unwanted weight.

A breakfast idea recommended by The Yoga Room is oat porridge with seeds, nuts and fruit. Little Bird also recommends cooking porridge in coconut milk to make it extra creamy! Elena from Little Bird gave us ideas for porridge (or granola if you prefer!) perfect for every season:

The Elbow Room and The Yoga Room also both recommend a smoothie to kick off the day. When you have time, consider combining protein (nut butter or vegan protein powder), probiotics, fruit, vegetables, yogurt, and a little essential fatty acid (udo’s oil is a great choice). However, if you need a quick breakfast and don’t have time to find all those ingredients, The Elbow Room says that a smoothie with nut milks and butters (for lots of protein), a small amount of fruit to avoid sugars (half a banana should be perfect), and any vegetables you want will still make a great superfood smoothie and give you a strong start to the day.

In addition to porridge and a smoothie, eggs are a great option for healthy lasting energy. Both poached and scrambled eggs are extremely versatile and only take a few minutes to make! To make your eggs more exciting and add extra nutritional value, Little Bird recommends placing poached eggs on top of sourdough or rye bread if you need those carbs and with wilted spinach or crunchy greens (asparagus, green beans, broccoli, etc.) for a vegetable boost. Little Bird adds avocado and roasted tomato salsa to their poached eggs for color and a kick! See below for great ways to enhance your scrambled eggs AND use leftovers!

A fun challenge to spice up breakfast is to incorporate last night’s dinner into breakfast. This also helps reduce waste and save money! Also, if your dinner was healthy, then your breakfast will be too. The Catering Manager of The Elbow Room, Caitriona Nic Philibin, gave us two of her personal tips for using leftovers to make a delicious and waste-free breakfast: “Adding leftover roast vegetables to your scrambled egg and baking tomato sauce with egg on top for a delicious baked egg dish.” Scrambles are an excellent choice for many leftover ingredients in addition to vegetables. Adding in leftover chicken or sausage would add protein and flavour to any breakfast.

Elena from Little Bird also likes using leftover vegetables for healthy and colorful frittatas and fritters. At their caf&#233, they serve Green Eggs which are scrambled eggs with rocket pesto and herbs and fritters made from sweet potatoes and courgette served with lemon yogurt, double yum!

Rice is a common leftover that is extremely multipurpose. Making a breakfast fried rice is an excellent way to change up the flavor of the rice from the night before. Consider adding tomatoes, peppers, onions, beans, and lots of herbs for a quick, healthy, and leftover-inspired breakfast!

Skipping breakfast or resorting to pre-made processed foods can be tempting with our busy lives, but taking the time to sit down and make a nutritious and delicious breakfast is key for starting of a productive and healthy day. Hopefully this article gave you some ideas for making energizing and quick breakfasts, and even some ways for reusing leftovers from the night before!