Breakfast

Are you uninspired and unenthused when it comes to breakfast? Read on because your world is about to be changed forever...

I used to hate breakfast. Even on the days when I was eating something nice, breakfast just didn't interest me. Growing up, my two favourite things to eat for breakfast were pancakes with lemon and sugar or porridge with brown sugar.. Notice a theme? Yep, massive sugar addict! It's no wonder I used to have hypoglycaemia!

Once I realised that these sugar loaded foods were no good for me I just became uninterested and in my early days of being a Naturopath my breakfast was usually a protein shake or a protein bar.

But now I love breakfast HURRAH!!

What changed? Maybe me... Or maybe I just discovered some really yummy breakfast options! In summer I love a smoothie, in winter its my hot breakfast bowl and on the days I know I'm going to in a manic rush its my pre-made chia pudding on the go. And the best thing about these 3 options is that you can change the ingredients every time you make it so that you don't have to have the exact same thing day in and day out. Perfection :)

Ohh and the pancakes? I now have the best pancake recipe in the world and i can eat as many as I want without feeling sick or guilty. Life is wonderful and breakfast is soooo fun!

So now you have 4 delicious breakfast recipes to try out and I really recommend that you do try them. A few of my friends and clients have given them a whirl and the feedback has been great so far. I only eat yummy food so I promise they are good!

But what if you haven't done the weekly shop, you have no chia seeds, no oats and no milk! How can we tart up your standard breakfast to make it that little bit more nutritious? Here are a few things you can do to improve the quality of the most important meal of the day:

Peanut butter on toast

I'm a little bit anti-peanut butter but to try and make this exercise realistic I would suggest going for a natural peanut butter rather than the highly processed scarily combined peanut butter that lots of people buy.. You want your peanut butter to be made from Peanuts. FULL STOP.

Here is the ingredients list from what I think is probably the most popular peanut butter brand in Australia : Roasted peanuts (65%), maltodextrin (from tapioca), sugar, vegetable oil (antioxidant (320)), salt, emulsifier (471)

65% Peanuts!! Seriously?! That is just wrong.. Next time you buy peanut butter please read the ingredietns list and buy one that has 100% peanuts.

My preferred option would be that you ditch the peanut butter and go for almond butter, cashew butter or the combo ABC which has almonds, brazil and cashew nuts. These options should be easy to find in the health food section of your supermarket.

The most important rule when you come to bread is absolutely no white bread. White bread is highly processed and refined, it breaks down into sugar in your body and it provides very little fibre. Have you ever noticed that when you chew white bread it turns into a paste in your mouth? Now imagine when you swallow this how it sticks to your digestive tract and clogs it up.. ewww... Now think about when you eat wholemeal or wholegrain bread, how it stays pretty rough in your mouth and when you swallow it, it moves through your digestive tract acting like a brush all the way through.

These are the little pictures I like to plant in peoples heads to help them make the right food choice ;)

 Muesli

No two muesli's are created equal. Again it all comes down to reading the packaging. What you want is for your ingredients list to only contain words that you understand and can pronounce. And you don't want any sugar on the ingredients list. With all of the dried fruit in muesli there is no need to add sugar to it.

Carman's fruit and nut muesli does not have added sugar and can be found at your supermarket. They also have fruit free and gluten free options as well as a bircher style.

I used to make my own muesli and while it was costly, it was the best muesli I have ever had. I would just buy oats, puffed rice, dried fruit, coconut, nuts and seeds and mix it up to my liking. This is the best way to go if you want to know exactly what's in your bowl.

For really good quality health-ful breakfast cereal that comes out of a packet, you can't go past forage. Forage was designed by Australian Naturopath Dr Damien Kristof and while it's fairly expensive at $17.90 for a 500g bag, it is very well balanced, high quality and tasty. Really, you're paying for the quality and health benefits of this one..

Nothing

Lets face it, lots of you skip breakfast and just have a coffee.. And, from my experience in clinic, most of you know that this is not OK! Your body has just been shut down over night and when you wake up it is time to break the fast... Breakfast!

If you find it difficult to stomach breakky, just have a protein shake or my magic smoothie. Something is better than nothing and we want to get your metabolism started to fuel you through the day. Here is a blog post all about how to wake up your appetite in the morning

Here are some of the awesome breakfast photos my clients have sent me this week

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Lime and chilli chicken stir-fry

This week I have been craving a spicy stir-fry. No need to dial take-away this one is super easy.

Ingredients:

·         2 chicken breasts, sliced

·         ½ brown onion sliced

·         ½ small red chilli

·         1.5 tablespoons sesame oil

·         150g bean sprouts

·         2 cloves of garlic, crushed

·         1.5 teaspoons grated ginger

·         90g snow peas

·         100g sliced red capsicum

·         100g shitake mushrooms

·         2/3 cup flaked almonds

·         Juice of 1 lime

Method:

1.       Sauté onion and garlic then add chicken and chilli until chicken is cooked through

2.       Add vegetables and cook for 2 to 3 minutes

3.       Add most of the almonds and stir through then drizzle over lime juice and sesame oil.

4.       Serve with cauliflower rice, brown or basmati rice and sprinkle remaining almonds on top.

10 reasons to eat Chia Seeds

Chia seeds are likely to help balance blood sugar, improve heart health, reduce inflammation, aid weight loss and improve digestive function. All fantastic reasons to include them in your diet!

I am a little bit obsessed with chia seeds at the moment. I add them to my oat bran of a morning, make puddings, put them in my banana muffins, choc mint brain power bites, smoothies, yoghurt, salads and pretty much anything else I can think of!

Here are 10 reasons why you should add
some chia seeds to your diet:

1. They are high in fibre which improves digestive function and bulks up the stool to make bowels more regular
2. Chia seeds contain all 8 of the essential amino acids making them a complete protein. Protein helps with muscle repair, blood sugar balancing and appetite regulation.
3. They are high in antioxidants so they help to destroy disease causing free radicals.
4. Chia contains good amounts of lots of essential nutrients including calcium, iron, vitamin c and potassium.
5. They are mucilaginous which means they secrete a gel like substance that is nice and soothing and healing to the gut – put some chia seeds in a small amount of water and watch it turn to jelly. Now imagine this in your digestive system. So good!!
6. Can be used to substitute egg. Yep! If you’re allergic to egg you can mix chia seeds with water so it goes all jelly-ish and use that in place of egg in your recipes! To make Chia gel mix 1 part Chia seed with 10 parts water, stir, then let it sit for around 10 minutes
7. Chia is full of omega 3 ALA fatty acids which are anti-inflammatory and good for cardiovascular health as well as arthritis sufferers. If you’re a vegetarian you can use chia seeds as one of your non-meat or fish sources of omega 3.
8. Chia slows the digestion of carbohydrates to glucose which provides a slow release of energy to keep you going and going and going.
9. Chia seeds have been shown to increase HDL cholesterol and lower Triglycerides as well as lower blood pressure all good news for heart health.
10. Chia seeds are gluten free so can be enjoyed by coeliacs and those with gluten sensitivities.

If you are a naughty person who doesn't drink water, you will need to start if you are going to include chia seeds in your diet. A lack of water may result in constipation due to the high fibre content.

While chia seeds are an amazing superfood to include in your diet to boost overall health and nutrition, if you do have any medical conditions such as diabetes or heart disease, you still need to seek professional medical advice for your condition.

Giveaway - Closed, sorry!

The lovely people at The Chia Cohave given me one prize pack to give away to a lucky Burton Health friend :)

The pack includes:

• 1 x 150g black Chia
• 1 x 150g white Chia
• Sunscreen
• Jute bag with recipe card

Just head over to the Burton Health Naturopathy Facebook page to enter. You will need to 'Like' our page and comment on the competition picture to tell us how you will use your chia seeds if you win. Winner will be drawn on Monday 26th August. Good Luck xx

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ANZAC Cookies - Healthy ones of course!

ANZAC day is coming up fast so its time to start thinking about getting your ingredients together for your ANZAC cookies.

These cookies are a hit in my house, really easy to make and totally delicious!

You will need:

• 1 cup almond meal
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• ½ cup coconut sugar
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons raw honey
• ½ teaspoon bicarb soda
• 1 tablespoon water

Method:

1. Combine almond meal, coconut, sugar and oats in a bowl.
2. In a small saucepan slowly heat and stir the oil and honey until melted.
3. Mix the bicarb soda and water in a small bowl, remove saucepan from heat and add the bicarb mixture to the saucepan. The mix will froth.
4. Pour the liquid into the bowl of dry ingredients and combine well.
5. I rolled mine into 20 cookies but could’ve made 2-3 more if my partner hadn’t been hovering around eating the raw mix!
6. Place on a cookie tray or baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake on 150 degrees C for 13-15 minutes or until golden.
7. Allow to cool

About the ingredients:

I've used Almond meal instead of flour to make these cookies a great wheat free option (please note they are not gluten-free due to the oats). It also makes them a fairly good protein snack - Yay!

Coconut oil is used instead of butter as it is high in medium chain fatty acids and will not raise blood cholesterol. In fact, it is good for heart health.

Coconut sugar has twice the iron, four times the magnesium and over ten times the zinc of brown sugar. It’s a great low GI alternative to cane sugar.

Honey is used instead of golden syrup. Golden syrup is made in the process of refining sugar cane juice into sugar, or by treatment of a sugar solution with acid. Honey is made by bees so is naturally a better choice and is full of antioxidants. I've used raw honey as its even more antibacterial and healthful!

These cookies are such a great Low GI, healthy oil, protein-full snack and they are very difficult to stop eating! Enjoy them on ANZAC day or any time of year!