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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The most amazing organic breakfast bowl in the world!

I have fallen in love… With breakfast!

One of my clients shared her breakfast recipe with me and I just can’t believe how amazingly delicious and satisfying it is! The recipe I was given was quite summer themed so I’ve made some changes to it to include winter fruit and have also upped the protein and nutrient content.

I pretty much change this recipe every day depending on what I’ve got in the cupboard or what I remember to put in so don’t be scared to experiment.

Using oat bran (ground up oats) means that it cooks really quickly so you only need to set aside 5-10 minutes to make it and its quicker to eat than oatmeal and more filling. When I’ve had this for breakfast it keeps me going way past lunch time and its so good that I wake up craving it!

Want to know the health benefits of having this for breakfast?

• Its full of fibre and great at keeping your bowels regular (a daily bowl of this should result in a daily bowel movement)

• Oats are great at nourishing the nervous system to help you cope with stress and they also help to lower cholesterol absorption

• Almond meal and almond butter along with the seeds provide protein to help balance blood sugar and keep you fuller longer

• Flaxseeds are a great source of essential fatty acids, b vitamins, antioxidants, magnesium and manganese. They are also a source of lignans which are beneficial for fertility and menopause.

• Chia seeds also contain essential fatty acids and antioxidants as well as calcium, vitamin c, iron and potassium. They are also a good detoxifier.

• Pears are a delicious winter fruit and according to Traditional Chinese Medicine very important to include in your diet during the colder months. Kim from Kim Gatenby Acupuncture says “Pears are a great natural treatment for coughs during winter. They are a Yin tonic which is nourishing, especially for our delicate lungs. As a preventative, you can enjoy pears regularly throughout the cooler months, and as a treatment eat as many as you can tolerate to clear your cough!”

So I guess the real question is, why wouldn’t you eat this for breakfast?

Here’s the recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water

• ¼ cup oat bran

• ¼ cup almond meal

• 1 tablespoon coconut flakes

• ¼ cup sultanas/raisins/currants

• 5 freeze dried strawberries (or fresh in summer)

• 1 pear

• 1 tablespoon flaxseed (linseed)

• 1 tablespoon chia seeds

• 1 teaspoon almond butter

Method:

1. In a small saucepan bring the water with dried fruit and coconut to boil then turn heat down to a low simmer.

2. Add strawberries, oat bran and almond meal and stir

3. Grate one pear and add to the pan

4. Add flaxseeds and more water if needed

5. Just before serving stir through the chia seeds and almond butter

Serve with a little milk or yoghurt, a sprinkle of cinnamon and some fresh banana if desired.