Easy Plant-Based Breakfast

Finding plant-based breakfast options can be extremely easy and challenging. How about that contradiction to start… Here, I’ll share some challenges, how to overcome them, and how you can make eating breakfast out or at home very easy. I also have some of my favorite recipes and resources at the end.

Challenges

I think breakfast is one of the easiest conversions when moving to a plant-based lifestyle. At home I find it really easy and share my go to options at the end. One potential challenge to overcome at home is replacing cow’s milk with the plant-based milk that suits your taste. I use them all ranging from almond, soy, oat and cashew. Try them all and see what suits your taste. Another challenge could be finding a replacement for eggs. If you are used to eating eggs I have two scramble recipe options below that are dynamite and take me less than 10 minutes to prepare.

When eating out at a traditional breakfast type of restaurant or diner, a challenge could be finding anything listed on the menu that doesn’t have animal products in it. I searched over a dozen breakfast restaurant options in the area yesterday and found it quite difficult but I can make any restaurant work for me now.

What I find and saw yesterday when searching were menus loaded with egg dishes, omelettes, and pancakes. Eggs are the most concentrated form of cholesterol and the cheese making up the omelettes have the most concentrated form of saturated fat via the dairy. I recently went to a breakfast type restaurant after a race and took the following plan of attack that you can do in almost any situation like this. I ordered potatoes (2 servings) and all the veggies they had that they include in other dishes and asked to have no dairy (butter, cheese) and/or meat (if somehow prepared together). I also ask if they have any other ideas or examples they have created in a similar request in the past. Most of the time they offer options pretty quickly.

Sometimes you can luck out and find a traditional restaurant that makes pancakes without eggs but I have found that rare. Also, many places offer avocado toast and when they do I check for no dairy (cheese, butter, etc.) if it’s included.

At Home

At home I have my go to and super quick to make cereal bowl, The Healthy Giraffe Breakfast Bowl, that I crave every morning! Check out the link to see the gloriousness and let me know when you make it for yourself. Several times a week I also have avocado toast for a mid-morning snack that bridges me to lunch. The breakfast bowl and avocado toast are loaded with greatness – fiber, protein, antioxidants, and carbohydrates to fuel my body for the day.

Tips for breakfast

Look for cereals with zero sugar, made from whole foods/grains and cover them with your favorite fruits, oats, cinnamon, etc.
Avoid cereals containing sugar, artificial flavoring, high fructose corn syrup and if they contain words in the ingredients you don’t recognize…do your research…be careful what you put in your body…can fuel you or destroy you
Load up with whole plant food carbohydrates to deliver energy (fruits, veggies!!!); avoid the refined carbs that don’t provide nutritional value (white flour, white bread, pastries, sodas, sugar cereals and table sugar)
Replace cow’s milk and products containing cow’s milk like yogurt and oatmeal with plant-based options
Find alternatives to anything that has animal products in them (meat, dairy, egg, and/or fish) as they cause immediate inflammation as well as all the other side effects; you want to fuel your body with energy to start the day…not deliver a blow
When eating out simply ask what they can make that doesn’t have meat, dairy, egg and/or fish
If you aren’t sure at the grocery store, look at the nutrition label under the ingredients – it will say, “contains eggs and/or milk”
If fasting, consider skipping dinner vs. breakfast

Impacts of eating a plant-based breakfast

Increased energy
Reduced inflammation
Relief of arthritis aches and pains
Quicker recovery equating to an ability to nail your next workout harder
Mitigated risk of cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, Alzheimer’s Disease and other chronic illnesses

Breakfast Recipe Examples and Resources

The Healthy Giraffe Breakfast (Cereal) Bowl
The Healthy Giraffe Pataya Bowl (replace pataya with acai for an acai bowl)
Pancakes via The Happy Pear
Tofu Scramble via The Happy Pear
Chickpea Scramble via The Happy Pear
Vegan Blackberry Galette via Rainbow Plant Life (minus the ice cream I think…Lauren’s find today and pictured below)
Are Carbohydrates Good?
How to Eat Out – Vegan
Fuel Your Body to Start the Day
Breakfast for Dinner Rocked!
Eggs Not All They Are Cracked Up To Be
Ditch Dairy for Overall Health
Dairy is Scary!
Cow’s Milk Allergy vs. Lactose Intolerance

It’s fun trying out different recipes and combinations…think of it as exploration, not depriving yourself. I hope you enjoy the resources and let me know how you fuel your morning the plant-powered way.

– Add Health to Your Life