What is a good Mediterranean diet breakfast?

March 14, 2012

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day by any diet standard and this is not an exception for the Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day for all the nations of the Mediterranean Sea. The question is: what is a good Mediterranean diet breakfast? And the answer is more or less the same for all Mediterranean nations: A simple protein and fiber rich breakfast.

Why is breakfast important?

Mediterranean diet breakfast

Breakfast is an important meal and should not be skipped because it fuels up the body and the brain with enough energy to cope for the day. Breakfast is usually skipped by people who try to lose weight but in most of the cases this has the opposite effects because the deprived body gets the wrong signals and stores fat and food to cope for the deprivation. Having breakfast keeps the body metabolism running thus burning calories that may result to the loss of weight.

Is any breakfast healthy and good for us?

The answer is definitely not. It is better to have no breakfast than to have the wrong breakfast. Breakfast foods that contain sodium, sugar, saturated fats and high calories should be avoided. Such foods are sugary cereal, bacon and sausages as well as sugary pastries.

What is a good breakfast?

A good breakfast contains foods high in fiber and proteins. This combination satisfies the hunger feeling and gives the signal of fullness to the brain till lunch time. The foods which contain protein are dairy products, eggs and nuts and the foods which contain fiber are fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Therefore a breakfast meal that contains this high fiber and high protein foods is the best breakfast a person can have.

The right Mediterranean diet breakfast.

The foods constituting the good breakfast are the foods that are the basic components of the Mediterranean diet and the foods that are included in the daily or most frequent category of the Mediterranean diet pyramid. The Mediterranean diet has in its daily consumption category fruits, vegetables and nuts, whole grain breads and cereal and in the frequent category, three to four times a week, dairy products, eggs, yogurt, white cheese. Therefore preparing it should be easy to devise a healthy diet plan with alternate Mediterranean foods for breakfast so that you would avoid eating the same breakfast daily.

In order to get some ideas about the Mediterranean diet breakfast we can find out what the Mediterranean people have for breakfast.

Cretan breakfast: The Cretan breakfast is simple. It consists of olives, cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, yogurt, whole grain toasted bread, paximadia or tacos as they are known in Crete, honey, eggs, usually hard boiled, orange juice and coffee or tea.

Turkish breakfast: A typical Turkish breakfast consists of the Turkish white cheese, Beyaz Peynir, olives, eggs, honey and various types of soups that are eaten mostly during the winter. There is a Turkish breakfast specialty called menemen prepared with tomatoes, olive oil and eggs with some variations adding green peppers and onions. Coffee or tea, complete a proper Turkish breakfast.

Italian Breakfast: There are many variations for an Italian breakfast. Since sweets should be avoided for the right breakfast the next options for the Italians is bread and cheese. Ciabatta is the popular bread used for breakfast and the preferred cheeses are: mascarpone, ricotta or parmigiano-reggiano. Coffee in the morning is a must for the Italians.
Spanish Breakfast: The Spanish people have different breakfast variations depending on the region of the country. One variation is toast with soft cheese spread on top. Coffee is a must

Moroccan Breakfast:  A typical Moroccan breakfast consists of mint tea or coffee, olives, dried fruit, bread – mafrock, or cringal, or embissis bread made from semolina, dates and milk or yogurt.

Israeli breakfast: the Israeli breakfast consists of whatever food was available for consumption in the kibbutz. These foods are: fresh vegetables, fresh juice or fruits, eggs, bread, milk and various other dairy products such as yogurt and cheese.

The possible variations of the Mediterranean diet breakfast are many and this gives the opportunity of the Mediterranean diet followers to experiment while at the same time gives them many options and essentially no limitations. So wherever you might me, home, on the road, at a hotel in Europe, Australia or America you can certainly find the right Mediterranean foods to that you make you a nutritional and healthy Mediterranean diet breakfast.

The Mediterranean foods that can make a quick and nutritional breakfast are: low fat yogurt, whole grain bread, white cheese and fruits or fresh juices.


Andrea Aurelio
About the author

Andrea Aurelio adopted the Mediterranean diet and the Mediterranean way of living after evaluating a series of diets and realizing that the Mediterranean diet is a proven diet and the best way to adopt a healthy lifestyle. You can connect with him on Google+, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

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