3 Healthy breakfast recipes to start your day off well

With the cold crisp mornings of November, some of us are rising to dark mornings and this is when getting out of bed feels even harder than usual.

Ely Mattress understands the struggle – the feeling of getting out of your warm and cosy bed, the thought of bracing the cold can be quite off-putting. Plus, many of us are thinking about our health and weight – especially with December just around the corner (the month of indulgence) cutting back on the calories now, can maybe allow us to indulge in the Christmas treats, guilt-free.

So, if you’re after some healthy breakfast inspiration, we have narrowed down three of our favourite healthy breakfast recipes for you to try.

1)     Healthy Banana Pancakes

These pancakes are sugar free so make for a great healthy breakfast and we promise you won’t miss the sugar in these! With morning’s getting colder, it would be a treat to have a warm pancake for breakfast.

Ingredients –

• 3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 cup of any variety of pancake mix

Method –

• Heat large skillet over medium heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
• Combine all the ingredients except the pancake mix into the pitcher of a blender. Blend on high speed until ingredients are smooth. On low speed, blend in pancake mix.
• Pour batter into medium circles. When the pancakes start bubbling a bit and the bottom is lightly browned (about 5 minutes), flip them over and continue cooking for about a minute on the other side. Serve warm with fresh fruit

2)     Grab and Go Breakfast Bars

Mornings can be rushed – and we may not have time for a healthy cooked breakfast, so why not do some extra preparation beforehand and make a batch of home-made breakfast bars. These contain no sugar but are just so delicious and convenient!

Makes: 6 bars

Ingredients –

• 150g jumbo oats
• 2 very ripe medium bananas
• 50g melted butter
• 60g blueberries
• 60g cranberries
• 20g Pecans
• 30g sunflower seeds
• 30g pumpkin seeds

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 200C (fan 180C, gas mark 6). Mix the oats, blueberries, cranberries, pecans and seeds together in a bowl. Pour in the melted butter and mix in thoroughly to make sure the oats are well coated.
• Mash the banana to a pulp with a fork in another bowl and then add it to the mixture above. Spread it out in a 30cm x 20cm tin and press it down gently to help the mixture stick together.
• Bake the mixture in the oven for around 25 minutes.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool and then cut them into 6 individual bars.

3) Vanilla-Cinnamon Chia Pudding

Chia Seeds are known as a superfood because they are packed with so much goodness! Some studies even suggest that the fibre that is contained in a portion can help people lose weight. Here’s how to make your very own pot of goodness containing chia seeds.

Ingredients:

• ½ a cup of chia seeds
• 2 cups of almond milk
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of kosher salt
• Yoghurt or Any fruit you fancy with it – such as kiwis, berries and bananas

Method:

Combine the almond milk, chia seeds, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl. Stir until well combined. (Make sure the chia seeds are completely coated in almond milk in order to ensure proper absorption.) Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Stir before serving.

If you love rice pudding or tapioca, chia pudding will be right up your street! Best of all: the recipe is so simple, so it’s perfect for rushed mornings: throw all the ingredients into a jar and it basically makes itself!

A healthy sleep is just as important as a healthy breakfast

We’ve all heard the saying: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day – but did you know, for optimum health, we also need to look at getting sound sleep, night after night?

What we sleep on matters just as much as what we put in our bodies. Have you ever thought about the toxic materials used to make mattresses in today’s industry? Glue, adhesives, foam are all non-natural sleep surfaces and could be harmful to us.

Therefore, we created a healthy mattress – handmade from natural materials – and better yet, fully biodegradable so you will sleep easy, knowing you’re leaving less of a carbon footprint by buying an Ely. Take a look at our About Us page to learn all about why a natural mattress is best for your health.