15 Healthy Breakfast Ideas for Teachers

We all know how important a good breakfast is. When our students have a big day coming up (a research project presentation, a debate, a field trip, etc.), it’s one of the things we encourage them to do to be ready—right along with getting a good night’s sleep. We also know how important it is for teachers. Skip breakfast and you risk a dull headache, blurry vision, and lethargy–making it awfully hard to gives students your full attention during a writing conference or maintain the energy needed to keep lessons sharp and crisp.

And even though we know all of this, many of us still struggle with eating a healthy breakfast. Every time I work with teachers on the topic of health and balance, I hear familiar refrains:

• I just can’t find time to eat!
• My day starts so early, I’m not ready for breakfast.
• Grabbing a coffee and doughnut is just so easy…

I have a few favorite quick and healthy breakfast ideas (peanut butter and banana, cottage cheese with pineapple, yogurt and granola), and I thought it would be interesting to hear what others like. I threw out the question on Facebook and Twitter and received all kinds of great ideas. Here they are:

I do egg, sausage and cheese tortilla wrap on days I have more time. These can be prepped in advance, but I don’t because I don’t like mushy tortillas. On hurried days, I do a meal replacement shake (Advocare is my preference) with added protein powder. (Amy Smith)

Kashi cereal (loaded with protein!!), a banana and Greek yogurt! I eat it at school though and pack it the night before. (Johnna Ainsley)

I mix a kind of granola combination of fibers, dark chocolate, dried fruit, nuts, mixed with bananas and a little agave sweetener and some almond butter. I make this mixture into what I call power balls on Sunday. I keep them in the refrigerator. Eating one or two for breakfast are very filling. This is from this week, but I add different items each week to add variety. (Ramona McCullough)

Drink a healthy smoothie on the way to work. (Shawn Watkins)

I always have hard boiled eggs on hand each week – on crazy mornings, I grab 2 and eat them with a banana (usually eating the banana in the car on the way and eating the eggs once I’ve arrived at work… (Ellen McBride)

I will cook some eggs and egg whites/veggies the night before so I can just warm them up in the morning (either at home or at school). (Caitie Meehan)

1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt with 2 tbsp natural peanut butter, 1 tbsp local honey, sprinkle of cinnamon and mixed together. Dip apple slices in it or eat plain. Easy to fix ahead and take on the go! (Irena Childress)

Egg and vegetable muffins. You can freeze the whole batch and take them out one or two at a time. (Valeria Scott Laitinen)

Oatmeal with fruit and nuts. (Sarah White Baird)

Homemade oatmeal to go in the morning! Mix in dried berries, nuts, and protein powder for more nutrition! (Matthew Patty)

Grab and go oatmeal with all the healthy and delicious fixins. Don’t forget the orange juice (Ms. Chappel Billings)

Herbalife protein drink. Great flavors. Very healthy. Not only for weight loss. (Michelle McLemore)

Greek yogurt (Missy Lanaux Kennedy)

I keep a couple Greek yogurts in my fridge at school and have that instead of the candy/pastries people leave in the staff room. (Michele Truchon Croteau)

A smoothie with protein powder, frozen spinach and frozen avocado!!! Yummy! (Sheri Leaman Halagan)

Hopefully these educators’ ideas offer some fresh inspiration for practical breakfasts that will give you the energy that your students need you to have. Thanks to Amy, Johnna, Ramona, Shawn, Ellen, Caitie, Irena, Valeria, Sarah, Matthew, Chappel, Michelle, Missy, Michele, and Sheri for sending along your ideas!

If you have ideas you would like to add, please do so through the comments section of this blog. That way, whether people see this article on Facebook, Twitter, or somewhere else, they will benefit from your ideas!

For more ideas about maintaining better health and balance as a teacher, join the conversation on the Well-Balanced Teacher Facebook page and explore many ideas and resources in this LiveBinder.