I’m putting the finishing touches on a talk I’m giving this Saturday (OMG! My first TALK!) to a group of moms who are interested in tips and tricks to help their families eat more healthfully. I’m going to break down an average day by meal time, so of course I’m starting with breakfast.

One really simple thing you can do to make breakfast healthier is to switch to a whole grain cereal. You want to find one that has at least five grams of fiber per serving.

One study showed that women who got at least one serving of whole grains a day—a cup of whole grain cold cereal, for example, or one slice of whole grain bread—weighed less and had slimmer waists than those who ate none.

Of course, cold cereal is EXPENSIVE! Have you noticed this? Plus, it’s almost always got added sugar and other stuff in.  So your best choice is actually oatmeal.

You can buy plain rolled oats for around sixty-nine cents per pound—that comes out to about four cents per serving!—which is a lot cheaper than cold cereal, which can be thirty or forty cents per OUNCE. Don’t buy the instant flavored oatmeal, because that’s full of chemicals and sugar (and costs a lot more). You can add your own fruit and even a spoonful of sugar and it will still be much healthier.

Serve it with low fat milk for you and older kids, whole milk for young kids, and some fruit, and you’ve got a great, healthy, FAST breakfast.

Plain rolled oats—not even the instant kind—only take two–three minutes to cook in the microwave, so this really doesn’t take much more time than pouring a bowl of cereal.

And, by the way, if you’re not sitting down to eat breakfast, you probably should, because another study found that eating breakfast meant that women were far more likely to have a body mass index under 25, putting them comfortably in the healthy weight category.

But plain oatmeal? Yeah, that can get a little boring.  So I’ve rounded up a MASSIVE list of fun (and healthy!) oatmeal recipes so that you will NEVER get bored!

55 Fun and Healthy Oatmeal Recipes

1. My go-to favorite is oatmeal with sliced bananas, walnuts, and a drizzle of maple agave nectar.
2. Don’t think you have time to make oatmeal in the morning? Try overnight oats in a jar.
3. Baked Oatmeal for One
   
4. Sugar Cookie Oatmeal
5. Apple Pie Oatmeal
6. Baked “Apple Pie” Oatmeal
7. Never-Ending Oatmeal Bowl
8. Vanilla Spice Oatmeal
9. Frappuccino Oatmeal
10. Healthy Mocha Oatmeal
11. Vanilla Bean Rhubarb Oatmeal—Bonus: this one features rhubarb for seasonal spring eating!
12. Strawberry Swiss Oatmeal—another seasonal recipe with strawberries!
13. 5-Minute Chocolate Oatmeal
14. Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
15. Pumpkin Spiced Oatmeal
16. Pumpkin Oatmeal
17. Oatmeal with Pumpkin Butter
18. Sweet Potato Oatmeal
19. Crockpot Oatmeal
20. Melted Banana Trick
21. Coconut Peach Oatmeal
22. Peanut Butter Breakfast Pudding 
23. Irish Oatmeal with Agave Nectar
24. Blueberry Muffin in a Bowl
25. Banana Bread Oatmeal
26. Steel-Cut Oats with Dates, Coconut, Cinnamon, and Pecans
27. Chocolate-Strawberry Hugs Oatmeal
28. Raw Oats with Strawberries & Almonds
29. Chocolate-Cherry Bomb Oatmeal
30. The Kitchen Sink Oatmeal
31. Voluminous Oatmeal Trick
32. Oatmeal-Raisin Pudding
33. Mixed Berry Oatmeal Porridge
34. Snickerdoodle Oatmeal
35. Chocolate-Raspberry Truffle Oatmeal
36. Quick, Spiced Oatmeal
37. Kozyshack-style Oatmeal Pudding
38. PB Banana Power Oats
39. Oatmeal with a tropical twist
40. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Oatmeal
41. Oatmeal & Cottage Cheese with Dates and Walnuts
42. Chocolate Mudslide Oatmeal
43. Cookie Dough Oatmeal
44. Tim * Barnsley House Porridge with Whisky
45. Peach Pie Oatmeal
46. Date Nut Oatmeal
47. Nectarine Oatmeal Topped with Caramelized Nectarines
48. Green Coconut Oats
49. Cinnamon Eggnog Oatmeal
50. Coach Dean’s Blue Oatmeal Recipe
51. Oatmeal Crème Brulee
52. Apple-Cinnamon Slow Cooker Oatmeal
53. Baked Gingerbread Oatmeal
54. Orange Cranberry Slow Cooker Oatmeal
55. Hot & Fruity Oatmeal

Whew! I bet there are more out there, this is just where I stopped.  🙂  All of these can be made gluten-free if you be sure to buy gluten-free oats, and most can be made vegan by substituting your favorite non-dairy products.

So what do you think? Has this inspired you to give oatmeal for breakfast another try? Let me know in a comment below!

Original Photo Credit: chotda via Compfight cc