By Renee Martinez
With the kids heading back to school, are you ready to whip up some healthy, delicious breakfasts without losing precious sleep? Don’t worry if you are feeling uninspired – we have some quick and easy breakfasts with a surprisingly healthy (and sweet) ingredient: honey. So, forget the sugary cereals – you can satisfy your family’s morning sweet tooth with these treats.
Some sweet tips about honey:
Honey is made up of simple sugars (monosaccharides) as well as complex sugars (oligosaccharides). The complex carbohydrates formed by these complex sugars in honey are indigestible, but when consumed, will encourage the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria – hence, the practice of using honey to aid indigestion.
Honey has a healthy Glycemic Index, meaning its sugars are gradually absorbed into the bloodstream and will not cause a drastic spike in blood sugar level. It also has vitamins and minerals that help metabolize undesirable cholesterol and fatty acid on the organs and tissues, which helps prevent obesity.
Honey contains a number of vitamins and minerals which varies depending on the type of flowers the bee collected from. Generally, honey is high in vitamin C, a variety of B vitamins, and potassium, and also contains antioxidants. Because it does not expire, honey can retain almost all of its nutrients regardless of freshness.
Hearty Toast
Layer on a hearty whole grain toast in this order:
1) peanut butter
2) banana slices
3) a drizzle of honey
Breakfast Parfait
Layer in a parfait cup:
1) yogurt
2) cottage cheese
3) granola or cereal
4) strawberries, or other fresh fruit
5) a drizzle of honey
Breakfast Smoothie
Blend together:
Yogurt + banana + a splash of orange juice + frozen or fresh fruit + a tablespoon of honey.
About the Author: Renee Martinez consults and speaks professionally on social media marketing, integrated marketing communications, public relations and branding. She is the president of Ruby Marketing Communications (www.rubymarcom.com), a boutique marketing communications company that specializes in providing branding, social media strategy and integration, and creative services. Her blog (www.lisac95.sg-host.com), provides resources on everything marketing and social media for her active audience.
Renee has contributed as a featured monthly columnist in the monthly jewelry industry publication, JCK on matters related to internet marketing as well as in InStore Magazine as a featured blogger where she writes about developing effective marketing strategies for the jewelry industry using social media. She is the founder of: Social Media Biz Summit (www.socialmediabizsummit.com), the first large-scale SM conference to come to Buffalo, NY; #jewelrychat, a weekly twitter chat for the jewelry industry and www.RaisingBoysWorld.com. Renee teaches social marketing courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY for the business school as well as offers small group social media marketing training and educational seminars for businesses in Western New York and beyond.
Renee has dabbled in internet marketing arena since the early 90′s and is not ashamed to call herself a “marketing geek”. From chatting in AOL, “sharing” music on Napster, and teaching HTML classes before it was considered “cool” to developing comprehensive social media strategies, effective public relations campaigns and managing online communities (most recently Chevy Girls Buffalo).
She enjoys being able to help people find their voice online and to create buzz about their product or service that will give them the results they desire. Renee can be found on Twitter (@reneemmartinez) and Facebook (http:/www.facebook.com/RubyMarCom).
