A healthy breakfast at the bar: what to eat if you’re on a diet

Some of us are never hungry as soon as we wake up. Others are short of time and prefer to grab something to eat as we make our way to work. Instead, for others, breakfast is simply one of our favourite habits. But unfortunately, managing to eat a healthy breakfast at the bar is not exactly easy, and more often than not, the road to hell can be paved with good intentions.

Savouring a tasty espresso at the bar can be easy if we taste one of the exclusive blends of Caffè Aiello, but when it comes to choosing what to eat for breakfast, things are not as simple.

All-Italian tradition points us towards the delicious routine of cappuccino and a brioche or croissant. Not exactly a healthy habit, especially the appetising pastry half of this breakfast duo, often high in calories and full of damaging hydrogenated vegetable fats. And if we’re on a diet?

The importance of a good breakfast

A good breakfast is the most important meal of the day, a concept that you’ll undoubtedly have heard about many times by now, as it has also been scientifically confirmed.

This is true for various reasons:

• Those who eat within half an hour after waking up are less likely to go overboard with food during the day. And by eating breakfast, we can easily last until lunchtime without experiencing dangerous hunger pangs.
• A nourishing breakfast awakens and accelerates our body’s metabolism, providing us with more physical energy and improving the concentration levels in the brain.
• A healthy breakfast improves our control over our blood sugar (the quantity of sugars in the blood), so counteracting excess weight, obesity and cardiovascular problems.

What to eat for breakfast at the bar without gaining weight

OK, we all agree that the first meal of the day is the most important. The problem is that those on a diet and also those who want to make a healthy choice need to adopt a correct, well-balanced diet. And this is where the initial dilemma returns: what can we eat at the bar for breakfast without gaining weight?

5 foods to order at the bar for a good breakfast

1. Fresh fruit. The ultimate healthy choice, recommended by nutritionists. A source of carbohydrates, vitamins, fibre and antioxidants, fruit is generally also available in bars. But no fruit juices: they contain too many simple sugars. At the most, choose fresh fruit juices or smoothies.
   
2. Nuts. Not quite as easy to find in bars. If you find them, give them a go! But go easy, given their high calorie content: (a few) walnuts and (4 or 5) almonds contain “good” fats (the famous Omega 3s) and good quality proteins.
3. Skimmed milk or low fat yoghurt. A precious source of protein with a high biological value, containing calcium and milk enzymes.
4. Wholewheat bread and a thin scraping of jam with no added sugar. Nowadays it is not uncommon to stumble upon healthy, typically home-made solutions like this one in bars. Wholewheat bread contains fibre and complex carbohydrates, while the light jam gives the palate the sweet, but not sickly sweet taste we all crave.
5. What if you just can’t resist a sweet breakfast? After all, it’s the only time of the day when it’s easy to justify treating yourself. To whittle away that guilt, order a plain wholewheat croissant, which at least plies the organism with fibre.

The king of a healthy breakfast

The one and only king of any breakfast, including a healthy one enjoyed at the bar, is always the same: Italian espresso.

Especially for those on a diet, one of the virtues of coffee is indeed the fact that it turbo-powers the metabolism, speeding up the loss of fat. So, not only does it taste good, it does you good too and it also has a fascinating past: discover the story behind espresso coffee.