5 Simple Tips to Make Your Pancakes More Nutritious

Pancakes are a breakfast staple! While typically enjoyed with butter and syrup, all sorts of different toppings can be added to these delicious round cakes, ranging from bananas and berries to bacon and chocolate chips. There are even restaurants known specifically for the quality of their pancakes! And while they are certainly tasty, pancakes usually aren't very nutritious, often packed with calories from simple carbohydrates, fat, and sugar.

But there are ways to modify pancakes to be more nutritious. Here are 5 simple strategies:

1. Add fruit. 
   Simply cut down on how many pancakes you eat and replace them with fruit. For example if you’d usually eat 2 large pancakes – adjust that to 1 pancake and 1 cup of fruit of choice.
2. Switch to sugar free syrup or Maple Syrup. 
   Sugar Free syrup will have a lot less calories and carbohydrates compared to regular syrup. Maple syrup is high in antioxidants and contain essential vitamins and minerals.
3. Replace regular flour with Oat or Buckwheat flour. 
   Oat or Buckwheat flour pancakes have much higher fiber content, which may help manage your blood sugar and cholesterol, as well as keep you fuller longer. “Kodiak” is a great brand that makes oatmeal-based breakfast products, including a pancake mix.
4. Add protein powder. 
   Replace up to half of the pancake mix with protein powder when making pancakes. For example, if the recipe calls for 2 cups of pancake mix, you can use 1 cup mix and 1 cup protein powder. Keep all other ingredients the same.This will significantly lower the carbohydrate and increase the protein content of your pancakes, making them a lot more nutritious and filling.

Aleksandr Gavrilov, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist at the Excela Health Well-Being Center