Think starting your day with a cup of coffee counts as breakfast? Think again.

You’ve heard it before: you should start everyday with a healthy breakfast. But if it’s fallen on deaf ears, let me try and say it a little louder for you: HEALTHY BREAKFASTS ARE A MUST!

Eating breakfast is important for revving your metabolism in the morning and curbing hunger later in the day.

If cereal and milk isn’t your thing (that’s actually a good thing!), it’s time to think outside the (cereal) box.

Healthy Breakfasts That You Haven’t Thought Of

Oatmeal that isn’t as boring as, well, oatmeal. Take plain oatmeal from blah mode to vacation mode like Tropical Sunrise Oatmeal or to turbo mode like Supercharged Oatmeal. Both recipes are super easy and way tastier than just adding water like you did in college. You’ve come a long way since your dorm room hot pot, so celebrate over a proper bowl of porridge.

Get your brain on grains. Shake up your morning with whole grains you normally reserve for dinner like brown rice, barley, and quinoa. These fiber and protein-rich wheat-free grains taste great simply heated up with milk, such as almond, cow’s, or coconut, or you can add ½ cup fresh berries, ½ tsp honey, 1/8 tsp cinnamon, and ¼ tsp vanilla for extra flavor.

Go fish. Fish for breakfast? Yes! If you’ve never tried (or pronounced) taramasalata, now’s your chance to become a breakfast lover. Perhaps the reason you never got into breakfast was because you only stuck to croissants and bagels and never thought of seafood as an option. Here’s a great recipe for lox and toast, and here’s another yummy one for salmon pesto tartine.

Griddle me this.  Give the whole flapjack thing another chance. Experiment with Spiced Applesauce Pancakes or shake things up by replacing flour with quick-cooking oats in this easy Oatmeal Pancake recipe. Top your hotcakes with ½ cup Greek yogurt or ¼ mashed mango instead of syrup if you aren’t into sticky fingers and that whiff of maple syrup that lingers through lunchtime.

Finally, don’t forget the psychological power that breakfast has when you make healthy choices in the a.m. You somehow just feel better about your whole day, and you’re more likely to make better choices at lunch and dinner when you start the day fueled on healthy foods.