Breakfast Sets The Tone
Starting the day with a healthy meal can set the tone for the entire day. A healthy breakfast is a ritual that embodies self care and nourishment to the physical body which houses our spirit/soul/essence. If done mindfully, this morning ritual can prove to extend through the rest of the day. Breakfast brings health on so many levels. Here are a few of my favorites.
Chia Pudding
Pudding made from chia seeds is packed with omega 3 fatty acids, protein and fiber. It is so satisfying in texture, and can take on any number of flavors depending on how it is prepared. My favorite is topped with homemade rhubarb sauce which is seasonal this time of year. All in all, this makes a super healthy breakfast!
3/4 cup almond milk
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 Tablespoons chia seeds
Place the milk, maple syrup and vanilla in a jar. Add the chia seeds and stir with a small whisk making sure to capture the maple syrup that is at the bottom of the jar. Let sit for one minute. Whisk and let sit 2-3 more times until the chia seeds stay suspended evenly in the milk mixture. Place a lid on the jar and store in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, top with your favorite fruit or other toppings.
For the rhubarb sauce, wash 4-6 stalks of rhubarb. Cut ends off. Chop the stalks into 1/2 inch pieces and place in a saucepan. Add 1/2 cup water. Bring the water/fruit to a boil and then turn down heat to medium low. Let the rhubarb bubble gently until it turns into a saucy consistency. Add sweetener of choice. This can be brown sugar, coconut sugar, monk fruit… whatever you like. I simply add to taste. Rhubarb is naturally bitter, and I like the bitterness to stand out even though sweetened. You can experiment to find what suits your taste. Once sweetened, the rhubarb sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days. It is great on chia pudding and also on vanilla ice cream! Yum! You can watch my video below… remember to turn on the volume.
Green Smoothie
Smoothies are a great way to start the day healthy with veggies! My morning green breakfast smoothie recipe is as follows:
1 cup almond milk
1Tablespoon flax meal
1Tablespoon chia seeds
1 Tablespoon oat bran
Probiotic capsule (opened and the powder emptied into the smoothie)
1 scoop protein powder
1/2 banana
2 cups of greens – spinach or kale are my usual picks
1/2-1 cup fruit (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, huckleberries… berries are the best!)
1/2 cup ice and maybe a little extra water to form desired consistency
Blend and enjoy!
Avocado Toast
Avocados are such a great source of healthy fat, and good to consume on a regular basis. They should be a part of a healthy breakfast, for sure! I don’t eat a lot of gluten containing foods, but I do love bread and have it on occasion. When I do, I usually choose fresh baked bread made with locally sourced flour from ancient grains, or whole wheat sourdough bread from the bakery. I have various versions of avocado toast, and my favorite is as pictured above but with added micro greens and a little sea salt! So good!
Rice Cake with Almond Butter and Banana
This is a great gluten free option that still gives the satisfaction of biting into something wholesome and dense. For a healthy breakfast, I typically use organic brown rice cakes and top with pure almond butter and sliced organic bananas. So satisfying! Here is a post from Bakalifood on Instagram that gives more ideas for toppings.
Polenta with Greens and Poached Egg
Watch my Instagram Reel for this hearty green and interesting healthy breakfast recipe. It speaks for itself! Remember to turn on the volume.
Fermented Coconut Topped with Granola and Fruit
I avoid dairy, but love yogurt. Cocojune has a delicious and healthy breakfast alternative to yogurt. It is fermented coconut. It has a creamy texture and is full of probiotics. I typically buy the unflavored version. The taste is mild coconut and goes well with many favors. They also have flavored varieties. I love to top mine with a healthy gluten free granola and a banana or berries. You can find them on Instagram @cocojune_organic.
Maca Energy Balls
I actually make these to eat in the evening after dinner if I want a healthy and sugar free dessert. But they also work great for a healthy breakfast. Maca is a nutrient that is super helpful for balancing hormones. Here is my recipe.
- 1 ½ packed cup pitted, stemmed Medjool dates
- 1 cup roasted, salted almonds or a combination or almonds, pecans, cashews
- 1 Tablespoon flax meal
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon maca powder
- ½ cup old-fashioned oats
- ½ cup raw shelled sunflower seeds
- ⅓ cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut
- Line a work surface or baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.
- Pulse dates, nuts, flax, maca, maple syrup, vanilla and salt in a food processor until the mixture forms big sticky clumps. You want chunks of nuts left. Pulse in oats and sunflower seeds, scraping the bowl occasionally, until the mixture forms a sticky mass around the blade.
- Put the coconut in a shallow dish. Use a 1-ounce (1 1/2-tablespoon) cookie scoop or a heaping tablespoon to scoop the mixture into about 24 mounds and place on the parchment paper. Roll the scoops into balls.
- Roll each ball in the coconut to coat completely, then transfer to an airtight container. Sprinkle any leftover coconut over the balls. Refrigerate until ready to eat.
Sweet Potato
Sweet potatoes are full of fiber, rich with beta carotene, an antioxidant, and high in vitamin A. They can be prepared many ways to create a healthy breakfast. I often eat them baked, topped with ghee as I love the taste of the combination. They can also be sliced and put into the toaster and used as toast to top with almond or cashew butter or avocado. Be creative… it’s a nice alternative and always feels soothing to me.
Quinoa Bowl
A gluten free super-seed that acts like a grain… that’s Quinoa! It is an ancient whole grain, pseudo-cereal. It is high in protein and super nutritious. Here is a great article from Huffington Post that tells all you need to know about quinoa and includes some fantastic recipes that can be used for breakfast, lunch, or dinner . I highly recommend reading for the recipes… and the quinoa fruit salad makes a great healthy breakfast… especially if topped with cocoa nibs!
Cold Pressed Juice
I love my juicer! When I take a little time to make a cold pressed juice, it feels like pure liquid vitamins and nutrients… which it is! Cold pressed juice is truly a healing liquid vitamin and a great way to capture many colors and phytonutrients into your diet. I feel so refreshed and healthy after drinking fresh pressed juice in the morning. I highly recommend a masticating juicer like mine (I have an Omega). Masticating juicers work by crushing the food slowly to press the juice. They do not heat up like typical centrifugal juicers do, and for this reason, more nutrients are retained in the finished product due to less heat exposure. Here is a review of some of the top masticating cold press juicers.
Grapefruit, Poached Eggs, & Toast
This is always an easy go to for me. What can I say… it sort of speaks for itself. Grapefruit is high in fiber and vitamin C. If you are taking prescription medication, however, you should check with your pharmacist or doctor before consuming grapefruit to see if it interacts negatively with your medication as is sometimes the case. When it comes to eggs… I prefer fresh, local, pasture raised eggs from the farmers market or local farm. And eating toast is a rare occasion for me, but when I do eat it, I choose fresh baked whole wheat sour dough bread from the local bakery and top it with ghee and perhaps a little local honey or chia jam.
Mush
This is a sentimental one for me. I grew up eating mush… cooked oatmeal. I remember my grandmother making it every time we visited her. She would serve it in her lovely cream colored dishes that had little green ivy leaf patterns. And the milk and sugar would also be served in the same dishware in a small pitcher and a sugar bowl set carefully on the table. I can picture the table vividly. Sprinkled with a little brown sugar… it was pure delight.
My dad also made mush for himself and my sisters and I each morning at home before school. He knew how to cook it just right… how to bring it to a slow bubbly simmer that I have yet to perfect. I can remember the sound of that. He would add raisins to his version at just the right time in the cooking to make the raisins soft but not too soft. Again, it was perfection to me. I cherish the memories of how carefully and thoughtfully and lovingly he cooked the mush for us each morning. And now, especially when I need to feel soothed… I make mush.
Food Is Medicine
One of the basic pillars of my work is nutrition. Like I have said so many times before, FOOD TRULY IS MEDICINE. To be deeply healing, this practice of food as medicine must be intentional. It requires imagination, intuition, thoughtful planning, mindful preparation, and to be most effective it must be honored. If you would like more information on how I use nutrition in my practice, and how it might help you to heal at a very deep level, go to my website and schedule a FREE 15 minute telephone consultation, and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.
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