How to Make Tiny Breakfast Tweaks at the Grocery Store

by Megan O. Steintrager, Epicurious

We're three weeks into our first monthly Epicurious Doable Challege: Get a Healthy Breakfast Boost, and hopefully you've tried eating a bigger morning meal, adding protein to breakfast, and enjoying a serving of fruits and vegetables at the start of your day (it's not too late to jump on those now, by the way). This week, I'd like to suggest some small tweaks to make at the grocery store--these little buying changes can make a difference over the long run for overall health and weight control and they're all really easy:

Choose fat-free milk rather than whole: In one cup of milk, you'll save 63 calories and take saturated fat from 5 grams to zero.

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Pick 100% whole grain products: A Thomas' Original English Muffin, for example, has just 1 gram of fiber, while the brand's 100% Whole Wheat muffin has 3 grams for 12% of the daily recommendation for fiber. Look for whole grain as the first ingredient on the label of cereal, breads, waffles, and pancake or muffin mixes. (Pictured above is one of my favorite breakfast breads: a 100% rye from Nordic Breads that I learned about from Kemp Minifie.)

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Choose plain over flavored or sweetened products: A 6-ounce serving of Dannon All Natural low-fat plain yogurt has 12 grams of (naturally occurring) sugar, while the brand's Fruit on the Bottom strawberry has 26 grams in 6 ounces, and its Activia vanilla has even more (nearly 28 grams in six ounces). Choose dairy substitutes like soymilk, cereal, and other products that have minimal added sugar and instead give breakfast a touch of sweetness with honey, molasses, fruit, or even just a bit of table sugar (there are about 4 grams and 15 calories in a level teaspoon of table sugar).