Healthy, balanced breakfasts: the method and a full week

Who is this breakfast menu for, and who is it not for?

This menu is designed for healthy adults who want to improve their breakfasts, learn to put together satisfying meals and maintain a healthy weight without rigid plans or special foods. It is an educational tool: it helps you gain variety and avoid hunger and mid-morning snacking.

It is not calculated for pregnancy or breastfeeding, or for anyone under 18. Nor is it for people with diabetes treated with insulin or with medicines that can lower blood sugar too much, or for people with chronic kidney disease. It is not calculated for anyone who has, or has had, an eating disorder. If you have a digestive disease in a flare-up or a plan of your own (coeliac disease, diagnosed allergy, heart or liver failure), your own plan comes first. In those cases, the plan needs a personalised assessment. If you are living with an eating disorder, the first step is not a menu but support from a specialist psychologist. If you are looking to gain weight, we have our dietitian-nutritionist service for gaining weight. And if your goal is to lose fat in a structured way, the reference is our guide to losing weight in a healthy way.

The menu is not calculated in kilocalories and does not give fixed grams per dish: energy needs change with age, sex, body size and each person’s physical activity. What we offer is a meal structure and a guideline shopping list, not an individual plan.

The three-group method: how to build a balanced breakfast

For a complete, filling breakfast you do not need to memorise recipes. You only need three components on the plate or in the bowl:

First, carbohydrates from wholegrain cereals made from whole grains. Wholegrain bread, rolled oats or unsweetened cornflakes provide fibre and energy that arrives more gradually than that from refined or sugary cereals.

Second, a source of protein or unsweetened dairy: egg, fresh cheese, cottage cheese, plain yoghurt, kefir, fortified soy drink, tinned fish or hummus. Protein is the nutrient that fills you up the most. It promotes the release of hormones such as peptide YY and GLP-1, which contribute to the feeling of fullness, according to a review published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition [1].

Third, whole fresh fruit or vegetables, which provide water, fibre and vitamins. Whole is better than squeezed: the World Health Organization (WHO) does not count the sugars in whole fruit as free sugars, but does count those in juice, even if it is homemade [2]. In addition, whole fruit is chewed and fills you up more.

As an optional extra, quality fats —extra-virgin olive oil, nuts, seeds or avocado— make breakfast tastier and more complete.

Complete weekly menu: balanced breakfasts, lunches and dinners

So that breakfasts fit in with the rest of the day, we suggest a full week from Monday to Sunday. Lunches and dinners make up what is missing in the morning: vegetables, legumes, fish and fresh foods.

Weekly shopping list by supermarket section

This list covers what you need for the seven-day menu for one adult. Organising it by supermarket section makes it easier to buy fresh food and avoids impulse buying.

Fruit and vegetables

• Vegetables for soups, stews and sauces (pumpkin, leeks, courgettes, carrots, onions, aubergine, mushrooms): 2 kg
• Fresh vegetables for salads and toast (ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, baby spinach, lamb’s lettuce, broccoli, green beans): 2 kg
• Potatoes: 1 kg
• Varied seasonal fresh fruit (bananas, oranges, apples, pears, kiwis, strawberries or berries, melon): 3 kg
• Avocado: 2

Fishmonger and butcher

• Fresh or frozen fish and shellfish (hake, salmon, desalted cod, cuttlefish, prawns, clams): 700 g
• Poultry and lean meat (chicken breast, turkey fillets, lean minced beef or chicken): 500 g

Legumes, grains and bakery

• Cooked legumes in glass jars or dried (lentils, chickpeas, white beans): 3 jars of 400 g (or 500 g dried)
• Whole grains (unsweetened rolled oats, brown rice, quinoa, wholewheat pasta, noodles): 600 g
• Bakery wholegrain bread (wheat or rye): 1 large loaf, sliced for freezing

Dairy and eggs

• Fresh eggs: 1 dozen
• Whole or semi-skimmed milk, or plant drink fortified with calcium and vitamin D: 2 litres
• Plain unsweetened yoghurt: 6
• Fresh Burgos-style cheese, cottage cheese or ricotta: 350 g

Pantry and healthy fats

• Extra-virgin olive oil: 1 bottle
• Natural or unsalted roasted nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts): 250 g
• 100 % peanut butter: 1 small jar
• Seeds (flax, sesame, chia): 150 g
• Tinned fish (tuna in water): 2 tins
• Hummus: 1 small tub (or chickpeas to make it at home)
• Spices and seasonings: cinnamon, sweet paprika, black pepper, coffee or herbal infusions

Which drinks are best with breakfast?

Water, coffee and herbal infusions, always without sugar or syrups. Coffee can be black or with milk, and tea can be green or black.

If you choose a plant drink instead of milk, check the label: it should have no added sugars and should be fortified with calcium and vitamin D. Soy provides the most protein; oat, rice or almond drinks provide very little.

Juice is better as an occasional extra and not as a daily breakfast drink. When fruit is squeezed, a good part of the fibre is lost and its sugars become free sugars. The WHO recommends that free sugars, including those in juices, stay below 10 % of daily energy [2]. 5 % of daily energy is a desirable target.

Is breakfast essential for weight management?

It is not essential for managing weight. At Alimmenta we recommend having breakfast. For years it was repeated that breakfast was the most important meal of the day and that skipping it made you gain weight, but the current evidence does not support this.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 13 clinical trials published in the BMJ found no evidence that having breakfast helps with weight loss, or that skipping breakfast leads to weight gain. People who ate breakfast ate somewhat more over the day overall [3]. The authors themselves warn that the trials were short and of limited quality.

At Alimmenta we encourage you to have breakfast, at a time that suits you. If it disagrees with you or does not fit your lifestyle, adapt the plan to your case. What matters for health and weight management is the quality of what you eat over the whole day. If you have breakfast, use the three-group method so that it keeps you full; if you have it mid-morning, apply it in the same way. And if you want breakfasts with quantities designed for weight loss, we have our nine breakfast ideas for weight loss.

What mistakes do we see in consultations?

Breakfast is one of the first things we review in consultations, because once you have organised it, it is sorted for many mornings. There are three mistakes that come up a lot.

• Always eating the same breakfast, with no protein. Toast with jam or biscuits, every day. By eleven o’clock the hunger is back. With the three groups you can rotate without thinking about it.
• The flavoured yoghurt that seems light. It usually contains added sugar. A plain yoghurt with your own chopped fruit does the same job.
• Just a coffee until mid-morning. You arrive hungry at the time when the only thing at hand is the vending machine or the café. If you cannot face food when you get up, take your breakfast with you.