Breakfast Habits

Something as simple as changing your breakfast habit can have a profound effect on your health. When you have a great breakfast, you set your body up for the day. A high nutrition breakfast, with heaps of proteins and fats, will make you feel on top of it, and really full all morning. A breakfast high in carbohydrates will leave you hungry again soon. A breakfast high in refined carbs (anything out of a box or bread bag, or from the patisserie) will set up a sugar craving cycle for the day, with your blood sugars bouncing from too high to too low at an alarming rate, taking your concentration with it. Not to mention it's the quickest way to put on weight.

So, a breakfast habit high in proteins and fats. There are many ways to achieve this, you can use whatever combination suits you. The foods to focus on are:

Eggs: the perfect breakfast food! Scrambled, fried in butter, omelet... The yolks are wonderful sources of fat soluble nutrients, and you can pop them in breakfast smoothies. I buy Cackleberries eggs, they're biodynamic and nice and fresh.

Home made baked beans: Soak white beans overnight, then boil them up, preferably in some home made broth, then stir in a home made red sauce. Freeze into portions, defrost the previous evening and heat up in the morning. You could add cheese :) mmmm

Avocado and cheese on Rye toast: might pair well with the next one...

Nitrate free bacon: excellent protein source. Must be nitrate free, and free range if possible.

Oats: soak overnight, then cook with raw milk, nut milk or coconut milk for fats and protein. You can add some activated nuts too, and some raw honey. Usually I soak the oats in the thermomix, so in the morning all I have to do is add milk and turn it on. I only do this one in winter. Doesn't appeal to me in the hot weather.

Smoothies: These are indispensable when you're in a hurry. Here's the smoothie recipe I make for Antonio each morning

• Raw milk or nut milk, I have also used a combo of coconut milk and coconut water
• 2 raw yolks from high quality eggs
• Some berries, fresh or frozen (or any other fruit. Mango works with coconut)
• Half a banana, fresh or frozen
• large tsp mundella plain yoghurt, kefir or some of my probiotic powder

Other potential ingredients might be chia seeds or some other superfood supplement or a fibre supplement.

Green smoothies: This is a fabulous habit to get into. It's one that I'm trying to cultivate right now, so I wont carry on too much about it yet, I don't feel qualified! The basic premise is a fruit and veggie smoothie. Do google it, if you feel you're ready for a real health surge!


So you see that these are all really dense, nutrition filled breakfasts. They all contain enough protein and fats to keep you healthy and satisfied for hours. Contrasted with a bowl of bits of cardboard from a box, it doesn't take a nutrition expert to see which will serve you better! So change your habit to one of these! Pick the one that appeals the most, stock up on ingredients and give it a whirl!
                                           

Healthy Habits - post series

Since recently becoming pregnant again, I have attempted to incorporate several new habits into my lifestyle, to take my health status to the next level. I've had varying levels of success thus far, and it has led me to the conclusion that the key to health is habit. Your daily habits. The habits you grew up with, just as your child is learning his habits from you. To change your health, you need to change your habits.

The philosophy is simple; a habit is just something you do all the time. The more healthy habits you gradually incorporate into your day, the less room there will be for habits that degrade your health. I think this is a much easier and more attainable goal than adhering to a diet. When you change a habit, say, your breakfast habit, you understand your reason for doing so. You have replaced a health degrading habit with a healthy habit.You get a result, e.g. increased energy levels, you begin to do it voluntarily, rather than out of obligation to a 'diet plan'. It slowly becomes your habit, and voila, you've increased your health in a sustainable way.

A child's preferences reflect the habits of the family. I hear from mothers who complain that their toddlers prefer processed foods to whole food. This reflects the food choices made regularly within that household. I also know many families whose toddlers prefer whole foods, simply because that's all they've ever eaten. Antonio enjoys sharing my herbal teas with me! I love watching him drink half a mug of nettle and rose hip tea. Herbal tea is one of my favourite health habits, especially in winter. It's wonderful to know I'm passing this on to him.

So I'm going to do a series of posts on healthy habits to incorporate into your day. They will all be 'do's' rather than 'avoids', or healthier alternatives to your current habits. I'll include things like shopping choices, take away choices, meal and snack choices, alternatives to processed meals, and home treatments for minor ills. If you can incorporate them into your lifestyle, one by one, you will notice a huge difference in your health.

Snack on a hot day

As always I'd love your feedback, so please leave a note in the comments bellow. If there's a health habit you'd like to break, if you have one to suggest I cover, or if you have made a habit change you'd like to share, please do!