The Fried Breakfast - Not As Bad As You Might Think

[Boss Man]

Now this isn't me advocating such a meal as a regular thing, but I think if someone wanted to do this on a Sunday for example they could, and if you make the following changes, you could make it a more than occasional thing, by making it healthier.

These are your classic staples of the fried breakfast.

Sausage.

Fried Bread.

Mushrooms.

Tomato.

Baked Beans.

Fried Egg.

Bacon

Here's the way to change this around.

1. The Sausage.

Limit yourself to one sausage. Make sure the Sausage has a good quality Meat content, so buy a good sausage either brand name or award winning butchers sausage, that has a very high meat content, a little to no fillers.

Beef is a good choice, and contains good Iron and Copper levels, but Pork ones are good for Selenium, so those would be the two choices, or some have a mix of both Beef and Pork.

The secret is to grill the Sausage. So you allow a lot of Fat to channel / drip off.


2. The Bread.

Should always be toasted not fried, only need one slice, and is better as Whole-grain Bread. Could be spread with a Polyunsaturated / Monounsaturated spread, or something like Olive Oil spreads, but go easy on the spread, so as not to bump up calories too much.

Many Whole-grains also contain Beta-glucan, very good for Cholesterol lowering, and healthy Heart, and Manganese, which I think is good for protection against Cancer.


3. Mushrooms.

Grilled not fried. A good source of Protein and Carbohydrates, roughly 33 / 66 ratio, and has thing in it like B Vits and Copper as well.


4. Tomato.

You only need a small grilled one, to keep your Carbohydrate totals down, but you get some very good Lycopene, which is an Anti-cancer agent, and helps to fight skin aging Free radicals.


5. Baked Beans.

1/4 Cup. Can be kept as normal. Very good for the Lycopene in the Sauce, also good for Protein, Carbohydrates, Folic Acid, and possibly Catechin Iso-flavones, so a potentially good antioxident source.


6. Egg.

Should be scrambled, and if possible try to get Omega Eggs, as the Fats are good for additional Fat soluable vitamins, and Eggs are good for Carotenoids and Zinc also. You only need a whole one in this instance.


7 Bacon.

Trim off the Fat, and Grill. A good source of Iron.


This has now become a very good meal, for all of the following reasons.

Haem Iron.

Non-heam Iron.

Calcium.

Magnesium

Manganese

Zinc

Selenium

Copper

Vitamin A

Vitamin B's

Vitamin C.

Vitamin D

Vitamin E

Vitamin K

Lutein

Lycopene

Zeaxanthin

Catechins, (possibly).

Also Arachodonic Acid, (present in Egg), which has a positive interplay with Prostaglandins, substances which amongst other things help with Blood Clotting, Blood flow, and the contraction of "Smooth Muscle", around the Bladder and intestinal tract.

The only thing you might not get from this meal is Beta and Alpha Carotene.


Caloric values, (I admit I had to look a few of these up.)

Bread 11.5g Carbs, 3.5g Protein, 3g Fat including spread, 87 calories.

Mushrooms 1 cup 8.3 Carbs, 3.4 Protein, 44 calories

Tomato 3.9 g Carbs, 15.6 calories

Omega Eggs, 1g Carbs, 6g Protein, 4.5g Fat, 70 calories

Baked Beans 1/4 Cup 13g Carbs, 4g Protein, 1g Fat, 77 calories

Sausage 2.5g Carbs, 3.2g Protein, 6g Fat, but could allow for about 50% less through draining off. Calories 49.8.

Bacon, with Fat trimmed. 0.1g Carbs, 2.3g Protein, 1.3g Fat, 22.9 Calories


40.3 g Carbs, 22.4g Protein, 11.0g Fat, (about 30% is healthy Fat).

Gross calories 366.3, not allowing for some Fat, Carbohydrate and possibly Protein loss from cooking.


If you compare this to the traditional way of cooking it, by frying everything, and leaving the Fat alone, you would get roughly about another 39 calories of bad Fat, but less omega Fat and other healthy Fat, making the food worse.

Of course you could add more calories on this, depending if the person using the fried method, had another Sausage, and Bacon Rasher, and put a dollop of something like Lard or Dripping in the pan first, both very bad sources of Fat. Then you're probably above 500 calories.

All in all this could be a good meal as an occasional Breakfast or Lunch, I would say, and packed with Vitamins, Minerals, and some Antioxidants.