5 ways to upgrade your bone-building brekkie

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Breakfast is a great time to top up on essential nutrients to support bone health. HFG dietitian Jess Burvill shows you how to upgrade your simple brekkie into a bone-building meal.

Maintaining healthy bones and reducing the risk of osteoporosis starts with the right food choices. Boost your intake of bone-supporting nutrients by swapping white toast and refined cereals for wholegrain or seeded options, and pair them with calcium-rich dairy, protein and leafy greens.

+ SPINACH

Spinach is a nutritious addition to your brekkie, offering calcium, magnesium and vitamin K to support healthy bones.

Add: A serve of baby spinach.

+ COTTAGE CHEESE

Dairy foods such as cottage cheese are a great choice for bone health, providing essential calcium and protein.

Add: A serve of cottage cheese.

+ EGGS

Eggs are a good source of high-quality protein and are among only a small number of foods naturally containing vitamin D, which is needed to help absorb calcium.

Add: A serve of scrambled eggs.

+ SEEDED WHOLEGRAIN BREAD

Seeded breads are rich in minerals like magnesium and phosphorus which play a key role in maintaining strong, healthy bones.

Swap: White raisin toast for seeded wholegrain toast.

+ FLAT WHITE

A flat white or latte coffee made with dairy milk provides a serve of calcium alongside your daily caffeine fix.

Keep: A regular flat white or latte coffee.

Typical breakfast

2 slices of raisin toast with butter, glass of orange juice and flat white coffee.

2350kJ (560cal), 17g protein, 25g fat, 15g sat fat, 64g carb, 41g sugar, 2.6g fibre, 441mg sodium, 295mg calcium, 83mg magnesium, 317mg phosphorus, 1.6mg iron.

Upgraded brekkie

This reworked breakfast isn’t just lower in saturated fat and higher in fibre, it’s also much higher in bone-strengthening nutrients like calcium, vitamin D, protein, magnesium and phosphorus.

2 slices of seeded wholegrain bread with 2 scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, spinach and a flat white coffee:

2400kJ (575cal), 41g protein, 22g fat, 9g sat fat, 48g carb, 21g sugar, 6.5g fibre, 850mg sodium, 500mg calcium, 172mg magnesium, 712mg phosphorus, 4.5mg iron.