Choose The Right Beverage
A hot cup of coffee? Go for it. It’s chock-full of antioxidants, plus the caffeine can give your metabolism a jolt. A cold glass of milk? Absolutely. The protein and fat will help you stay full throughout the morning while also promoting muscle building and fat burning. Juice? Not so fast. The juice in your fridge may be nothing more than sugar water. Even if it’s 100 percent juice, it should contain no more than 120 calories as per serving. You’re better of sticking to whole fruit. A cup of orange juice has 110 calories. But the whole orange contains just 60 calories. Plus, unlike juice, whole fruit is loaded with fiber, which helps counteract its natural sugars.

Load Up On Oatmeal
Oatmeal contains a type of fiber called beta-glucan, which can help control appetite for up to 4 hours, according to a study in the journal Nutrition Research. Your perfect pick: steel-cut oats. They’re made from chopped oat grains (aka groats), whereas instant oatmeal consist of chopped and flattened groats. “The enzymes in your gastrointestinal tract take a longer time to penetrate the unrolled groats in steel-cut oatmeal,” says David Jenkins, MD, PhD, a nutrition and metabolism researcher at the University of Toronto. “This results in a slower uptake of glucose, and that makes steel-cut oatmeal better.” Plus, steel-cut oat packs 8 grams of soluble fiber per cup – twice the amount in instant oats. Try Arrowhead Mills Organic Steel Cut Oats.

Explore Oatmeal Alternative
Tired of the Quaker man? Try Ralston, which is essentially a whole-grain, fiber-rich version of cream of wheat. For a shot of flavor, drizzle it with a small amount of honey or real maple syrup. Another option: hulled buckwheat, which packs nearly 6 grams of protein per serving. The downside is that it takes a while to prepare, so make a big batch that you can reheat through the week.

Build A Healthy Smoothie
If you need a 60-second breakfast, homemade smoothies are one of the healthiest choices – but only if you choose the right mix-ins. Drinking a protein-rich smoothie for breakfast, compared to a carb-heavy or fat-laden one, can help you consume fewer calories at lunch, according to a study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Try using 1% milk as milk as your base (a little fat helps you absorb milk’s nutrients), or add low-fat Greek yogurt as your thickening agent. A cup of 1% milk contains 8 grams of protein, while a 6_ounce cup of low-fat Greek yogurt packs in 17 grams.

Bring On The Dairy
Morning dairy isn’t confined to milk drinkers, Try stirring berries into Greek yogurt, or melt Swiss cheese on your English muffin sandwich. They all contain calcium, a nutrient shown to boost fat burning. Always opt for low-fat dairy – it has just enough fat to help you absorb key nutrients, such as vitamin D and E, but not enough to send your calories count through the roof.