Making healthier choices when buying breakfast on the way to work
The Basics
Julia Wolman, registered public health nutritionist says…
“If you work in a city or travel by train, it’s easy to pick up breakfast on the way to work, such as a low fat muffin and skinny cappuccino, fruit juices, bowl of fruit salad or yoghurt and fruit breakfast bowl. However careful choices are needed to prevent these choices being high in calories, fat and sugar. Even a low fat muffin can contain over 300 calories – try checking our food data base for healthy options from many high street food outlets”.
“Having breakfast, whether at home, on the way to work or at your desk is important for good nutrition. It's also important because people who eat breakfast tend to be happier and able to concentrate better during the morning. By eating breakfast you’re possibly doing your work colleagues a favour by making yourself a calmer and happier person to work with”!
“It’s almost inevitable that if you don’t have a nutritious breakfast you will end up raiding the biscuit tin or vending machine midmorning, and as a result, will eat far more calories and fat than if you had eaten a healthy breakfast”.
Common Myths and Misconceptions
- “Coffee is low in calories”. While black coffee contains virtually no calories, the medium cappuccino or latte that you buy on the way to work can contain up to a whopping 390 calories (even more if you buy the largest size). Buying an Americano and adding your own milk or always asking for a skinny latte or cappuccino will help keep the calories down.
- “A muffin or cake that contains fruit or carrots must be healthy”. Beware of the muffin trap – although the names sound healthy: blueberry, carrot, orange or lemon poppy seed, the calorie content can be high. Some muffins contain almost 600kcals and 30g of fat (almost half the amount you should eat in a day). Even ‘skinny’ or ‘low fat’ can contain 300+ calories but are a better choice.
Tips and Tricks
- Ask for a skinny cappuccino or latte (made with skimmed milk) – this could save you around 120 calories and 5.5g of fat in a Grande (medium) size drink.
- Always choose the low-fat option where ever possible – skinny muffins are often 200 calories or more lower than the ordinary full-fat version.
- If skinny options are not available, check out other local coffee shops as they may offer these choices.
- Many places sell bowls of fruit salad which are a great choice either for breakfast or for a midmorning snack.
We all like to be healthy and to be sure that we're doing the best we can for ourselves, and our families, health.
Join GetFit Nutrition and start leading a healthy life today. No joining fee and we're confident that you’ll find healthy ways to lose weight when you join, but for peace of mind, we'll refund your money within 7 days if for any reason you don't! Click here to join today...