The 5 Smart Habits That Help Our Editors Eat a Healthy Breakfast

If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then why is it so darn hard to be good at it? Hectic weekday mornings all too often result in grabbing a muffin and coffee on your way into the office or, worse, skipping the meal altogether. But eating a healthy breakfast each and every day is a possible feat if you find smart strategies to help you do it. Seeking a few words of advice, I asked our editors to share their best tips for a happy, healthy morning meal.

Among all the editors was a common theme: When asked what their secret to a better breakfast is, they all said they rely on stocking their kitchens with the right ingredients and prepping them beforehand.

“Most mornings I eat a 0% Fage or Siggi’s with some almond butter, sour cherry jam, and half a banana,” says News & Culture Editor Ariel Knutson. Yogurt, especially a strained variety like Greek, has enough protein in it to keep you full throughout the morning — and it’s a blank slate for whatever you may have on hand, like roasted nuts, granola, fresh fruit, and more.

Sipping a smoothie is a great way to get a healthy boost of good nutrition in the morning, but gathering and measuring out all of the ingredients can sometimes take away precious moments during busy mornings. Social Media Manager Kaitlin Flannery likes to portion out the frozen ingredients for her smoothie the night before and leave it in the blender pitcher in the fridge. “I let it thaw overnight and then blend in the morning after I get dressed,” she says.

Save the pot of oatmeal for the weekend and embrace hearty, satisfying overnight oats. “It’s easy and travels well. I combine rolled oats, a bit of chia, and almond milk together in a Mason jar, and then I layer some fruit on top,” says Art Director Samantha Bolton. In the morning they’re ready to go and all you need to do is dig in.

Assistant Food Editor Kelli Foster is our resident athlete on staff, which means her breakfast routine is a serious business. “It’s pretty crucial to start my day off with a solid breakfast (usually two of them), and have food prepped and ready to grab from the fridge,” she says. Along with a protein shake, one of her favorite post-workout breakfasts is hard-boiled eggs. She boils up a big batch on Sunday so she can reach for them as she needs throughout the week.

As much as we all try to making things ahead of time, there’s something to be said about a simple, healthy breakfast that can be assembled on the spot without the prep work. Ariel likes to throw a banana, frozen blueberries, almond milk, and granola into a blender for a low-effort smoothie. She also embraces bowls of fresh fruit: “I’ve really been craving fruit lately these winter mornings to combat all that warm soup.”