Unique Low-Carb Breakfast Recipes
The adage, “You are what you eat,” becomes even more critical as you grow older. Older adults have different nutritional and caloric needs than the younger generation. Their bodies don’t do well with processed foods and sugary snacks. Instead, the older adult body craves protein, fiber, and low-carb meals.
Why Breakfast Matters
Breakfast stands for break your fast. When you wake up, you have fasted for ten or more hours. Breakfast is your first chance each day to give your body the nutrients it needs to stay energized and active to make the day more productive.
Studies show the benefits of eating a good breakfast. It improves your overall energy levels and can help you concentrate. Also, eating breakfast can help with weight management and reduce your risk for chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and dementia.
Breakfast should be part of the healthy eating for seniors plan for everyone over 50. Consider some unique low-carb recipes that will inspire you to eat a healthy breakfast.
Eggs
It’s the breakfast ingredient many people grow up with because eggs are an excellent source of protein. One large egg contains between five and eight grams of protein. Eggs are also loaded with vitamins and minerals such as:
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B2
Vitamin A
Vitamin B5
Selenium
Iron
Potassium
Zinc
Vitamin E
Folate
Calcium
The thing that makes the egg an all-around good breakfast food, though, is its versatility. You can have it fried, boiled, poached — you get a lot of variety out of one egg. When shopping for your eggs, look for ones with free-range or cage-free labels if you can find them—the happier the chicken, the healthier the egg. You can also experiment to find how you best like to eat them. Here is one idea.
A healthy garden egg scramble provides the best in all areas of nutrition. There is plenty of protein in the eggs and helps you load up on healthy veggies at the same time. You can mix and match your veggies to get the taste you want or add some variety to the dish.
Nutritional information:
Makes three one-cup servings
Calories 190 per serving
Fat 13g — 30 % saturated 70% unsaturated 0% trans fat
Protein 14g
Ingredients
6 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped fresh or frozen veggies of your choice (bell pepper, onion, carrots, broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, and/or asparagus)
If you are watching your cholesterol, you can separate out the yolk and only cook the egg whites. You will need to add more eggs to the recipe to get the same portions and protein.
First, scramble the eggs. Put all six in a medium-sized bowl and beat them with a fork until the yolks break and mix with the whites.
Add the milk, salt, and pepper into the egg mixture and mix again.
Melt the butter in a nonstick skillet over medium heat.
Put the cut vegetables into the melted butter and cook until tender. It should take one to four minutes.
Pour the egg mixture over the cook vegetables in the skillet.
Cook the eggs and vegetables together without stirring until the egg mixture becomes firm.
Lift and fold the eggs in half and then fold again until you have large pieces of egg mixed with vegetables.
Continue to cook the eggs for an additional four minutes, folding over, again and again, to break them up into bite-sized pieces. Remove from heat and serve hot.
If you are watching your sodium (salt) intake, leave the salt out of the recipe. Don’t be afraid to try different vegetables to add flavor, too. You can put in spices as well, such as cumin, basil, or oregano, to give it a kick.
Healthy “Pancakes”
Who doesn’t love pancakes? The problem with typical pancakes is that they are full of all the things older adults should avoid eating, like refined white flour and lots of sugar. Does that mean once you hit age 50, you can no longer eat pancakes? No, you just have to switch up a few ingredients to make them healthier.
You can still eat those pancakes, and make them packed with protein and without all the processed ingredients. Chickpeas, or garbanzo beans, are part of the legume family and have a grainy flavor that makes them a good substitute when making dishes that require flour. Plus, they come packed with nutrients that help the older adult keep bones and muscles strong. Chickpeas contain:
Fiber
Protein
Iron
Folate
Phosphorus
Copper
Manganese
Nutritional information:
Makes 10 to 12 pancakes serving size: one pancake
Calories 169 more or less depending on toppings
Carbs 16g
Protein 8g
Fat: 9g Saturated 2g unsaturated: 7g trans 0g
Sodium 334mg
Potassium 235mg
Fiber 4g
Ingredients:
15 oz. chickpeas drained and rinsed
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp of natural maple syrup
Ideally, you would use chickpeas that you soak and cook yourself and avoid canned options.
Pour the chickpeas into a strainer and rinse
Put the chickpeas into a blender.
Add the rest of the ingredients.
Blend until smooth
Grease a nonstick skillet with oil
Pour bread dish sized, about 4 inches in diameter, circles onto the hot skillet.
When bubbles appear in the batter, flip the pancake with a flat spatula.
Once fully cooked, place the pancake on a plate and top with a dab of natural peanut butter and/or your choice of fruit.
Try different toppings for variation. Some good options include blueberries, strawberries, and bananas.
The Perfect Breakfast Smoothie
The classic breakfast smoothie is a quick pick-me-up at breakfast time. It offers the perfect balance of nutrition and taste but is something you can throw together in minutes. There are a lot of recipes out there for smoothies, but not all of them are healthy.
Stay away from smoothies that add unnatural ingredients like processed protein powders. They tend to have refined sugar in them. Mother nature provides you with plenty of ways to get protein without resorting to a processed powder.
From there, the basic breakfast smoothie can contain anything you want. It can even be a mix of fruits and vegetables. It may take some trial and error to find what you like, though. Here’s one to consider.
The Perfect Breakfast Smoothie
Nutritional information:
The recipe makes two servings.
Calories 250 per serving
Fat 10g 0g trans fat
Fiber 6g
Protein 9g
Sodium 150mg
Carbs 34g
The nutritional information is based on 1% milk and frozen blueberries.
Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 medium banana, sliced
1 cup of frozen fruit, such as blueberries
2 tablespoon peanut butter or sunflower seed butter
1 handful loose spinach leaves
The best part about making smoothies is there isn’t much of a recipe. Pick the ingredients you want and throw everything in a blender. You can try variations of this recipe, too. For example, use fresh berries instead of frozen ones. You can add strawberries or bananas. You can mix fruits, as well.
Apples
There is a reason they say, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Some studies show that apples offer health benefits that are hard to find in other foods. One medium apple contains:
Fiber
Vitamin C
Copper
Potassium
Vitamin K
Eating apples can be a critical part of a heart healthy diet. They promote brain function and lower your risk of type 2 diabetes, some forms of cancer, and asthma. They are also a great sweet treat to start your morning off with or as a snack for later in the day.
The downside is the apple can be a little boring on its own — that’s why apple “nachos” is such a brilliant recipe. It mixes apple slices with other fruits and natural peanut butter.
Ingredients:
2 apples, sliced
1/4 cup natural peanut butter, microwaved for 20 seconds
1/4 cup chopped strawberries
1/4 cup blueberries
Raisins, for topping
Honey, for garnish
You can change up these ingredients based on what you like and your own dietary needs. For example, you could use unsweetened coconut and nuts for crunch. You could use fresh or dried fruit, as well.
Lay the apple slices out on a large plate.
Drizzle the melted peanut butter over the top of the slices.
Add your choice of toppings.
Drizzle local honey over the top and serve.
If you want to make your own nut butter to control the ingredients better, it’s not hard.
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups raw almonds
1 tbsp coconut oil melted
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Add all the ingredients to a bowl and toss to cover the nuts.
Lay the nuts out on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 9 minutes.
Remove the baking sheet and stir the nuts.
Roast for an additional six minutes
Take out of the oven and let cool for 15 minutes.
Place the roasted nuts into a food processor and blend for two minutes.
Taste and add more cinnamon if necessary.
Keep processing until you get the desired texture.
You can add chopped almonds to the paste after blending if you want chunky nut butter.
Cauliflower
Cauliflower is an excellent substitute for those high carb breakfast traditions like the English muffin. Ground down, it provides a similar flavor but without all the carbohydrates. You’ll find that cauliflower is the answer for many high carb things that you are missing in your life like mashed potatoes and even pizza crust.
Nutritional information:
It makes about 8 muffins
Serving size: Two muffins
Calories 165
Protein 10.6g
Carbohydrates
7.6g
Fiber 2.7g
Fat 11g — saturated fat 5..9 g unsaturated fat 5.1g trans fat 0g
Vitamin C 54.5 mg
Folate 89.7 mcg
Calcium 237.1 mg
Potassium 438.6 mg
Sodium 31.5 mgt.
The exact calories will depend on what you use to top the muffin, such as an egg, a slice of avocado, or tomato.
Ingredients:
5 cups of cauliflower florets — one pound
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 egg lightly beaten
¼ tsp salt
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
Place the cauliflower in a food processor until finely grated.
Place the cauliflower in the microwave on high for 3 minutes
Transfer the cooked cauliflower to a clean kitchen towel or cheesecloth and wring out the moisture.
Place the cauliflower in a clean bowl.
Stir in the egg, salt, and cheese
Use a biscuit cutter to create the English muffin. If you don’t have a biscuit cutter, just form a muffin-shaped patty with your hand.
Place the muffins on a baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
Bake about 25 minutes or until the muffins are browned and crispy around the edges.
Serve these warm with your favorite topping.
Make breakfast your most important meal because it provides you with fuel for the rest of your day. You’ll be less likely to skip your exercise if you do.
If you are over 50 and wondering how to lose weight or how to maintain weight after weight loss, the Mighty Health app might be the answer. If you have questions like "Is oatmeal good for you?" you can ask your online health coach. For more recipes and nutrition content, try it free then subscribe for less than $1 per day.
