Healthy Meats to Eat for Breakfast

While you might love the taste of greasy sausage and bacon in the morning, your body probably doesn't. Most breakfast meats are full of saturated fat, calories and salt. Instead, create a healthy breakfast that will give you energy and help you feel good throughout the day. For a healthy breakfast that will keep you going, the Mayo Clinic suggests combining whole grains, low-fat dairy, fruits and vegetables, and low-fat protein, which could include "lean slices of meat and poultry."

Traditional breakfasts are full of saturated fat and cholesterol.Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images.

Ham

Choose natural ham over the processed kind and you can include it in a healthy breakfast. The American Dietetic Association recommends a simple breakfast of a whole-grain English muffin with a slice of lean ham and some low-fat cheese. The American Council on Exercise provides a healthier version of a strata in its Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole recipe, which makes a well-balanced breakfast. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and oil a large baking dish with cooking spray. Whisk 4 eggs, 4 egg whites and 1 cup nonfat milk. Add 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard, 1 tsp. rosemary, ¼ tsp. pepper, 5 cups spinach, 4 cups cubed whole-grain bread, 1 cup diced ham steak, ½ cup chopped roasted red peppers and ¾ cup shredded Gruyere or Swiss cheese to the egg mixture. Mix everything together and put the mixture into the baking dish, pressing to make the mixture flat. Cover and cook for 40 to 45 minutes. Uncover the casserole, add a little more cheese to the top and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Poultry

Poultry is generally low in fat if grilled or baked, and you can add pieces of it to omelets. The American Dietetic Association suggests wrapping one to two slices of turkey and some low-fat cheese into a tortilla. Turkey sausage and bacon are other options to incorporate poultry into breakfast.

Homemade Sausage

Control what goes into your breakfast meat by making the Mayo Clinic's recipe for homemade sausage. Combine ½ lb. lean ground pork loin and ½ lb. ground turkey breast. Add 1 tsp. each of sugar, dry mustard, sage, black pepper and onion powder. If you like a spicy flavor, the Mayo Clinic notes you can add ½ tsp. red pepper flakes. Mix the spices into the meat and make 12 flat sausage patties. Oil a pan with cooking spray and heat it over medium heat. Put the sausage patties in the pan, cover and cook them for about 5 minutes for each side until they are brown and cooked all the way through. Two of these patties contain 102 calories, 3 g fat and 1 g saturated fat, according to the Mayo Clinic.

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