Bypass weekend breakfast blow-outs

Fatty, rich food can be tempting at the weekend but there are healthier alternatives.
Drive down any cafe strip in Sydney at the weekend and it will be swarming with people sipping their lattes and enjoying a hearty breakfast with all the trimmings.
It takes a lot of discipline to go to a cafe and order healthy options - especially when you are easily seduced by brioche. While it's OK to have that sort of food every once in a while, try not to make it a habit.
If you check out most cafe menus, you will always find healthy options. Fresh fruit or vegetables with quality protein should be your priority.
Advertisement: Story continues below If you struggle with temptation, ask yourself questions such as, ''Is there a healthier choice?'' and ''What is this food doing to my body?''
Aside from healthier choices, my golden rules are not to overeat and to go for fresh food.

The good and bad
Eggs, beans, salmon, ricotta and yoghurt are great choices for protein, along with oats, fresh fruit, tomato, spinach and avocado, which are on nearly all cafe breakfast menus. Tempting words such as hollandaise, croissant, panettone, brioche, pork belly, bangers, hash, creamed eggs and crispy bacon should be occasional treats. They are just fancy names for saturated fat.
Just because an item on the menu is gluten-free doesn't mean it's good for you. A lot of gluten-free products are made from highly refined flours that are like glue for your insides.
Also try to keep your salt levels lean. We consume about nine times more salt then we need, contributing to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, gastric cancer, osteoporosis and kidney failure.

Healthier options
Eggs are top of my list. Poached and boiled are the healthiest way to eat them. Egg-white omelets are great, too, because the whites contain all the essential amino acids your body needs to nourish muscle and provide optimum health - and they have no fat or cholesterol.
Home-made baked beans are terrific, as are sardines and salmon, if you are lucky enough to find them on the menu. Served with a little lemon, avocado and roasted tomato, this is a meal with great protein and healthy omega-3 oils.
If you want whole grains, go for natural oats because they are complex carbohydrates full of soluble fibre that will fill you up and help lower cholesterol. So think bircher muesli or hot porridge.
And while fresh fruit and yoghurt are always great choices, they're not really the first thing most of us look for when it's cold outside.

So no bacon and eggs?
Not true. You can order bacon and eggs, just don't make it a daily habit; once a week at the most. Your best option is lean eye bacon. Also, look for bacon free of sodium nitrate, as it's a preservative that - when heated - has been linked to cancer, migraines and diseases such as emphysema and bronchitis.
Poached eggs are healthiest but scrambled eggs are fine - as long as you ask the chef not to overdo the cream and butter. Also, try the fish option in place of the bacon.

thehealthychef.com

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