17 Ways You're Eating Breakfast Wrong

The morning meal is more complicated than you think.



1. You fry eggs in a pan. Scramble eggs in a microwave-safe mug and cook until firm (usually about one minute). You'll get super-fluffy eggs without greasy cooking oil and extra dishes.

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

2. You open new cereal from the top of the bag. Cereal settles. Flip the bag (or the entire box) before you open it to redistribute any clusters or larger pieces. Bonus: You won't be stuck with a bowl full of crumbs when you reach the bottom of the bag.

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

3. You drink coffee and eat yogurt. To mainline caffeine while you feed yourself, blend chilled coffee with yogurt and ice. Add your go-to sweetener to taste.

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

4. You cook your oatmeal. Even instant oatmeal takes time to cook and cool. Instead, make a no-cook version of old-fashioned oats, which are free of extraneous ingredients (guar gum?) found in flavored oatmeal packets. In a small mason jar, combine equal amounts of oatmeal and any kind of milk. Add a drizzle of maple syrup and couple tablespoons of dried fruit. (You can even sprinkle cinnamon if you want to get *~fAnCy~*.) Then cover and pop it in the fridge. The oats soften overnight and taste perfectly good cold, so you can grab it and go in the morning.

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

5. You pour cereal from the box. Who's idea was this? It's a disaster waiting to happen. To prevent a mess and keep your serving size in check, use a measuring cup to scoop out cereal. If you eat cereal more often than you measure food, just leave the cup in the box.

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

6. You pour cereal before milk. This makes it hard to see how much milk you're pouring, so you almost always end up with a pool of it at the bottom of the bowl. For a better cereal-to-milk ratio, pour the milk first (start with half a cup) and top with a scoop of cereal (see above).

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

7. You eat cereal in a bowl. Because most bowls hold more than one serving of cereal, it's easy to over-serve yourself. Teacups are smaller and therefor hold less cereal. And just like when you eat out of a bowl, you can always refill it if you're still hungry when you get to the bottom.

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

8. You cook eggs every. Single. Morning. That takes time and effort, and produces dirty pans and dishes daily. Prep the whole dozen at one time: Just crack the eggs in a big bowl, scramble with a fork, and pour evenly into a greased muffin pan. Baked at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the centers are firm. Cover with foil and store in your fridge to reheat in the mornings. Then sleep in.

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

9. You eat yogurt with a spoon. Stick a popsicle stick through the lid and freeze to create a yogurt pop you can eat with one hand. Or, if your yogurt has a foil lid, upcycle and use it to scoop the yogurt.

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Here's how to turn your lid into a utensil:

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

10. You cook pancakes on the stove. Batter is super sloppy. And unless you're cooking for a crowd, it's rarely worth the mess. For a single-size serving that won't muck up your kitchen, grab a mug or ramekin, and use a fork to whisk 1/4 cup Bisquick and 1/8 cup milk. Microwave for about a minute, then enjoy the fluffiest pancake ever.

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

11. You top your toast with jam. Congratulations, your breakfast is 100 percent carbs. Top toast with peanut butter, cream cheese, or even deli meat — eating lunch food for breakfast never killed anyone — to add some protein, a nutrient you should eat in the a.m. to stave off hunger and a mid-morning energy crash, says registered dietician Keri Glassman.

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

12. You eat fruit-flavored yogurt. They often pack more sugar than protein, which means they're basically misclassified desserts. Plain Greek yogurt has more protein and less sugar than the flavored stuff. If you can't stand the taste of it straight-up, Glassman says to add three ingredients: a bit of fruit (try raisins, frozen berries, or a diced apple) for fiber and sweetness; a healthy fat (try almonds, peanut butter, or granola) to satiate you; and some sort of spice (think cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, or cocoa powder) for flavor.

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

14. You slice bananas for peanut butter toast. Spread peanut butter on a hot dog bun and put the banana inside. You'll get the perfect banana-bread-peanut-butter ratio in every bite.

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

15. You drink juice. Your body needs fluids to function, and it's especially important to rehydrate after a long, dry night, Glassman says. But there are 22 grams of sugar in a standard eight-ounce glass of OJ. Even if you drink 100-percent fruit juice, the calories (about 110 per glass!) add up. Pass the water.

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

16. You add ice to your smoothie. Ice adds calorie-free bulk to smoothies and creates the illusion of a larger serving. But it can also make a fruity shake taste watery. (Gross.) Use frozen fruit and just a few ice cubes to get the best of both worlds.

breakfast

(Image credit: Kathleen Kamphausen)

Kathleen Kamphausen

17. You don't do breakfast. Even though breakfast might not be the most important meal of the day, skipping the meal altogether is the worst offense. Common sense says that a morning fast can set you up for a major pig-out later on. (What? You're starving!) Even if you don't get hungry in the morning, pop a piece of fruit in your bag to fend off the grumbles when they inevitably hit.

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Elizabeth Narins

Elizabeth Narins is a Brooklyn, NY-based writer and a former senior editor at Cosmopolitan.com, where she wrote about fitness, health, and more. Follow her at @ejnarins.