Breakfast is often regarded as the most important meal of the day, but it can be tricky to get right. If you’re looking for a new and healthy vegan breakfast option, why not take some inspiration from these renowned plant-based doctors?
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Plant Based News caught up with a number of health professionals to ask what they enjoy for breakfast, and the result was a variety of nutritious and innovative vegan breakfast ideas. Oats were the most popular choice, and each doctor who chose them recommended a different combination of healthy toppings.
Oat dishes are commonly prepared with with a mix oats and fresh or frozen berries, and enhanced with seeds such as flax, chia, or hemp for a boost of omega-3 fatty acids. Some doctors blend these ingredients into smoothies, adding greens like kale or spinach and fruits for a portable, quick, and nutrient-packed meal.
The savory breakfast lovers might opt for a tofu scramble rich with spices and herbs. These scrambles might be enjoyed alone, with baked potatoes, or wrapped in whole-wheat tortillas for a satisfying breakfast burrito.
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For those with a penchant for simplicity and speed, avocado toast sprinkled with nutritional yeast and seeds offers a quick, nutrient-rich start. Alternatively, vegan burritos packed with scrambled tofu and vibrant spices provide a filling and flavorful option.
Here’s what seven plant-based doctors have for breakfast (you can watch the full video below).
7 doctor-recommended breakfasts
Dr Shireen Kassam, founder,Plant Based Health Professionals
“There’s got to be one best breakfast, which has to be oats. Whether it’s hot cooked oats or whether it’s overnight cold soaked oats or steel cut whole oats, which are then eaten with some sort of fruit like berries and additions like flaxseeds or hemp. I think you cant go wrong if you eat oats, berries, and some sort of seed for breakfast.”
Dr Cyrus Khambatta, cofounder, Mastering Diabetes
“My favorite plant-based meal of all time is a large Açaíbowl. What I usually do is take an Açaí packet and I blend it with something like bananas and it turns into this sort of soft serve thick ice cream consistency. And then on top of that I will add a bunch of fruit. I’ll add mangos, I’ll add papayas, I’ll add bananas, I’ll add dates on top of that. It tastes great, it’s nice and cold, it’s super refreshing, and it’s very satisfying.”
Dr Mahesh Shah, general practitioner
“Oatmeal is great. Lots of fiber, lots of vitamins, lots of minerals. I sprinkle flaxseeds on it which are great for omega-3. Chia seeds, which are again great for omega-3. Hemp seeds, great for protein and omega-3 as well. And some sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, and then I like to put a little bit of date sugar on top as well to give it that slight sweet taste, and maybe a bit of cinnamon as well.”
Dr Pamela Popper, president, Wellness Forum Health
“My favorite breakfast is not only my favorite breakfast, it’s what I eat 363 days out of 365. I make a smoothie. It has almond milk and vegetable powders and banana and frozen fruit and brown flaxseed. And I have with that two pieces of Ezekial bread toast with fat-free houmous. It gets me through the morning exercise and keeps my blood glucose levels for a real long time, so that’s my favorite breakfast.”
Dr Caldwell Esselstyn, author, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease
“For breakfast, I almost always will have old fashioned Quaker Oats with raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries, some raisins, a banana and some oat milk. That really holds me.”
Dr Ayesha Sherzai, physician
“My favorite breakfast recipe is tofu scramble. We eat a lot of tofu, which is an excellent plant-based protein. And I make it very spicy. I lived in India so I have this love for spices. We cook it with onions and garlic and turmeric and paprika and coriander and cumin. We eat it as is with some baked potatoes sometimes, or we roll it up in a wholewheat tortilla as a tofu scramble burrito. And I think that’s my favorite breakfast.”
Dr Roxanne George, pediatrician
“My favorite by far is probably a plant-based cliché, but avocado toast with tomatoes and salt and pepper and nutritional yeast. I put a little bit of kelp seasoning on there so I get a little bit of my iodine dose for the week.”
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