So Hayley has asked me if our smoothies are a substantial enough breakfast in the morning. Now I don't know about you but I'm really not a morning person and I never seem to wake up hungry. I know though that if I don't eat breakfast I won't have energy to do things or have the brain fuel to concentrate in the morning. Even as a nutritionist I find myself migrating to the choccie biscuits by 10am if I haven't had my bowl of porridge.
Nutritional and dietetic advise is that if you should eat a quarter of your calories at each of the 3 main meals and get a quarter of your remaining calories from snacks. This means that for a woman breakfast should be a 500 calories. Unless you've got the time to russle up a light brunch (or eat massive amounts of cereal and toast) it might be a difficult to acheive this everyday.
Each of your meals should be made up of 3 different foods from the 5 main food groups which are 1) bread, rice, potatoes, pasta and other starchy carbs 2) fruit and vegetables 3) milk and dairy foods 4) meat, fish, eggs, beans and other non dairy sources of protein 5) sugary and fatty foods .
So if you were to have a bowl of porridge and a smoothie you're eating food from 3 different categories:-
1. porridge oats which are starchy carbs and gives you long lasting energy
2. milk which is in the milk and dairy group which gives you calcium and protein
3. the smoothie is in the fruit and veg category and will provide you with 2 of your 5- A- DAY.
A smoothie on it's own is great if you're on the go or as a breakfast drink because they are 2 of your 5 -A-DAY and give you vitamin C and 15 % of your guideline daily amount of fibre. Per bottle there's about 146 kcals in a smoothie which is the same as a banana and another portion of fruit. It's best to combine a smoothie with cereal, a slice or 2 of toast or a granola bar if you can for breakfast. The great thing is that if you drink a smoothie with a fortified cereal you'll absorb more of the iron from the cereal as the vit C in the smoothie will help you to do this.
Another great option for breakfast is our lovely lilac breakfast thickie. This thickie is really special and is made with foods from 3 different food groups i.e. fruit, yoghurt and grains. It's a source of calcium and fibre, is low fat and at 217 kcals per bottle is a more substantial drink.
Hope that's helped Hayley and any more question just drop me a line.
Bye for now.
Dr Shilps































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