Nutrition by Addition: French Toast
If you’re familiar with a previous post on the blog that discusses gentle nutrition through the lens of “nutrition by addition”, here’s another installment of just that. If you’re not familiar and want to check back on that one (all about pizza!), head here for the full post: Add Instead of Subtract to Increase Nutritional Value
Today let’s talk more about a delicious breakfast item - French toast. This time of year you may be home more, hosting brunches or just trying to find fun things to cook for your children. Different breakfast ideas can be useful to have! French toast is relatively simple to whip up too; it can seem fancy, but it’s basically just bread soaked in a mixture of eggs, dairy and perhaps some cinnamon and brown sugar, and then pan fried in some butter - yum!
Some ways we can consider “nutrition by addition” when it comes to French toast include:
Fiber: this might be a dish that’s lighter on the fiber content naturally. Some ways to amp it up could be to use a higher fiber bread such as a whole wheat option, enjoy some berries or fruit on the side with the finished meal, or sprinkle some flax or chia seeds into the french toast mix.
Protein: by using eggs and some kind of dairy (milk, cream, half and half, etc) there’s already a fair amount of protein in French toast actually! More could be added by using a higher protein milk (such as the brand Fairlife) to the egg mixture or having a glass of milk on the side with breakfast. Of course if it’s a bigger brunch spread you can always add more in the form of cooked eggs, Greek yogurt or a breakfast meat. Keep in mind if you need to use dairy alternatives in the mixture (versus dairy products) that the protein content will be lower and you might want to consider some of these other options for a satiating meal!
Bonus - cinnamon: this one might surprise you, but cinnamon has some great potential health benefits! It has anti-inflammatory properties, and has been shown to have positive impacts on blood sugar levels, improved cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
Happy brunching and gentle nutrition to all!