Eggs, salad and bread: how does a cafe breakfast turn into a calorie bomb?
A cafe breakfast can look nutritious and healthy, but oil, dips, bread, butter, juice and a large coffee can easily push it to over 1,000 calories. Here is how to enjoy a pampering meal and save hundreds of calories without giving up what you love.
For many, going out to a cafe is a pleasant part of leisure time, meeting friends, or a morning when you don't feel like preparing a meal at home. It can be a nutritious meal rich in protein and vegetables, but the differences between the options available on the menu are very large.
A cafe breakfast usually includes eggs, cheeses, vegetables, and bread — a combination that can provide protein, calcium, fiber, and carbohydrates. The problem is not the meal itself, but the quantities and sometimes the ingredients that are not visible to the eye: oil, cream, or butter in fried eggs, oil and dressings in the salad, fatty cheeses in the dips, several rolls, butter and jam, juice, and a large coffee.
The same title on the menu, for example "Israeli breakfast", can amount to a balanced meal or easily reach a very large amount of calories.
A late meal instead of breakfast and lunch
One of the logical solutions for balancing calories after a rich breakfast at a cafe is to skip lunch. If the large breakfast is eaten at a late hour, for example at 11:00, it can be treated as breakfast and lunch together. Most likely we will still be full at noon, and there is no need to eat a full lunch again just because the time has come.
The goal is not to fast, but to balance the amount of calories and adjust the rest of the day to the large meal that has already been eaten.
How to choose a more balanced meal
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Protein: It is recommended that the meal includes a clear source of protein: two eggs, cheese, yogurt, tuna, or salmon. Alongside the protein, you can choose a vegetable salad and ask for the dressing on the side.
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Bread: There is no need to automatically eat all the rolls that come in the basket. One small roll or one slice of whole-wheat bread can be enough for most people.
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Dips: Instead of tasting all the dips, it is better to choose two that you really like. Cheese, tahini, butter, and jam accumulate calories quickly.
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Drinks: Water, soda, or regular coffee almost do not add to the meal, but a large glass of juice or a large coffee with a lot of milk can add another 100-200 calories without contributing much to satiety.
A large Israeli breakfast
This is one of the meals that looks especially "healthy": eggs, salad, cheeses, tahini, and bread. Here, the calories do not necessarily come from the main foods, but from everything that joins them. Scrambled eggs from three eggs can contain butter, oil, or cream, and reach over 500 calories on its own. If you add a "hafooch" coffee and a glass of juice, the entire meal can reach about 1,150-1,200 calories.
And what about Eggs Benedict?
These are sometimes perceived as a more moderate option, mainly because the eggs are poached and not fried. But precisely here a large part of the calories is hidden in the sauce. Hollandaise sauce is usually made from butter and egg yolks, and therefore even an amount that does not look large can add a great many calories.
What does a more balanced breakfast look like?
It is possible to enjoy almost the same ingredients and still stay in the range of about 450-600 calories:
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2 sunny-side-up eggs — 250 calories.
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Three dips (30g each) — 90 calories.
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One small roll — 100 calories.
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"Hafooch" based on water with a little frothed milk — 30 calories.
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Glass of celery-carrot juice — 50 calories.
The big difference between a breakfast of about 600 calories and a meal that exceeds 1,000 is not necessarily between "healthy" and "unhealthy" food. Many times it is about exactly the same basic ingredients. If you choose correctly, it is possible to combine a rich breakfast at a cafe even while on a diet.
