Breakfast: the most important meal of the day
Tip of the Month: December 2011

Breakfast is arguably the most important meal of the day and yet it is the one that most of us get horribly, horribly wrong. We tend choose speed and ease over nutrition and health when we make our breakfast choices. In the UK boxed cereals are the number one choice for breakfast with over 95% of households stocking an average of 5 different types of cereal. This is a worrying trend when we put together the health benefits of the boxed cereal with the research showing the importance of a good breakfast.

So what is wrong with the boxed cereal? Firstly, the sugar content of many of these cereals rivals that of a chocolate glazed donut 2, secondly most are so nutrient poor that they need to be fortified with vitamins and minerals to actually be considered a food group and finally many people cannot actually digest the minimal nutrients from their bowl as the grains in the cereal have not been prepared correctly.

With numerous research showing the importance in a good healthy breakfast in not only improving brain power, memory and concentration 3,4,5 but also in maintaining a good body weight 6, is it not time you reconsidered your breakfast choices? Below is a list of five of my favourite breakfast recipes from 5 of my favourite nutritional experts. Go on give them a go!

Breakfast Porridge by Sally Fallon
from Nourishing Traditions

A good warming breakfast ideal for a cold winters day. With a little forethought this is a wonderfully quick breakfast.

• 100g oats, rolled or cracked
• 240ml warm filtered water plus 2 tablespoons whey, yoghurt kefir or buttermilk
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 240ml filtered water
• 1 tablespoon flax spoon (optional)

For highest benefits and best assimilation, porridge should be soaked overnight or even longer. Once soaked, oatmeal cooks up in less than 5 minutes – truly a fast food.

Mix oats with warm water mixture, cover and leave in a warm place for at least 7 hours and as long as 24 hours. Bring and additional 1 cup of water to a boil with sea salt. Add soaked oats, reduce heat, cover and simmer several minutes. Meanwhile, grind optional flax seeds in a mini grinder. Remove from the heat, stir in optional flax seeds and let stand for a few minutes.

Serve with plenty of butter or cream and a natural sweetener like raw honey and maple syrup.

Eggs Benedict Florentine by Dr. Joseph Mercola
from Dr. Mercola's Total Health Programme

A great twist on an old classic that can make any weekend brunch healthy and enjoyable.

Spinach

• 1 teaspoon organic butter or coconut oil
• 3 medium spring onions, sliced
• 170g cooked turkey or ham
• 550g baby spinach

Hollandaise

• 2 tablespoon organic butter
• 1.5 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 large whole egg
• ½ teaspoon water

Eggs and Assembly

4 large eggs

Spinach

Preheat oven to 375 0F. In a large skillet or ovenproof ceramic casserole over medium high, sauté the spring onions in butter for 1-2 minutes. Add chopped turkey or ham and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes longer, until meat starts to crisp or brown. Add spinach to pan and stir-saute until starts to wilt. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Transfer spinach to pie plate or ovenwear, if applicable. Cover and place in oven.

Hollandaise

Melt butter with lemon in small saucepan over medium to low heat. Separate the egg, saving white to add to the 4 whole eggs. Beat egg yoke with ½ tsp water, just to blend in small cup or custard cup. Stir in a little of the hot butter, stirring with a wire whisk to blend and ‘temper’ or elevate temperature of egg yolks. Blend yolks, stirring constantly, with the rest of the lemon butter to make a smooth sauce. Put pan off and on burner, 3 or 4 times, to avoid overcooking. When thick remove from heat.

Eggs and Assembly

Take casserole with spinach out of the oven. Remove cover and break 4 eggs over top of spinach, making little nests or indentations for eggs to rest, if necessary. Add the remaining egg white.Replace cover and return to oven for 4-5 minutes, just until whites start to firm. Remove from oven, remove cover and pur or spoon warm hollandaise over top of eggs. Replace cover.

Serves 4. Preparation time: 15 minutes.

Synergy Smoothie by Jordan S. Rubin
from Restoring Your digestive Health

This smoothie is ideal for anyone suffering from digestion issues as it sooths and repairs the lining of the gut wall.

• 300ml 30 hour cultured goat’s milk yoghurt or full fat coconut milk
• 1-2 organic eggs
• 1-2 tablespoons unheated honey
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon cold-pressed flaxseed oil
• 1 tablespoon goat’s milk protein powder
• 1-2 scoops high-potency digestive enzyme powder
• 100g fresh or frozen organic fruit
• vanilla extract (optional)

Place the following ingredients in a high-speed blender and mix well. Pour into a tall glass and drink immediately. Refrigerate any leftover and drink within 24 hours.
Makes 3 cups.

Mini Crustless Quiche by Mark Sisson
From www.marksdailyapple.com

This is a great weekend recipe that will keep giving for much of the week ahead. Cook ½ lb. meat of choice. Nitrate-free bacon or ground pork with some crushed fennel seed works well. Saute 50g veggies of choice such as mushrooms, white onion, red bell pepper, spinach or scallions. Mix together with 25-75g cheese of choice. Set aside.

Whisk 5 eggs and 180ml milk, and pour into muffin tins. (Use foil cups if desired.) Add meat and veggie blend to each cup of egg mixture. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

These can be stored in the fridge until they are ready to be eaten.

Heavenly Sourdough Buckwheat Pancakes by Chris Kresser
from www.chriskresser.com

A breakfast for the whole family, as children love this as much as the parents do!

Step One

• 1 C buckwheat
• 2 C water

The amount of liquid you add in the second step will vary. I add enough for it to blend easily into a relatively thick batter. You can also vary the amount of liquid (eggs and milk or water) added in the third step for making thicker pancakes. This recipe makes relatively thin pancakes.
Place buckwheat in a bowl, cover with a plate or towel and soak for 2 – 24 hours.

Step Two

After soaking strain water off buckwheat and rinse. It will be very mucilaginous. Put buckwheat in blender with another 1/3 to 1/2 c of water. Blend until smooth. Rinse out bowl that buckwheat was soaking in and add the blended mixture back to the bowl. Cover and let sit for another 12 to 24 hours.

Step Three

Put a non-stick or cast iron pan on the burner over medium to medium high heat and let the pan heat up while you are mixing up the batter. The secret to cooking pancakes is to make sure the pan gets hot before you add the batter.

Add to buckwheat batter:

• 1 whole egg beaten
• 2 egg whites whipped to stiff peaks
• 1/2 c milk (or unsweetened almond milk or water)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt

Note: the whipped egg whites increase the fluffiness and volume and make these more like pancakes. You can omit them and use 2-3 whole beaten eggs instead, but what you’ll get will be more like crepes than pancakes.

Mix in the wet ingredients. Then sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the surface of the batter and thoroughly mix it in.

Make sure the pan is hot and add a generous amount of fat (ghee, coconut oil, lard etc) to the pan. When fat is shimmering ladle pancake batter into the pan. Allow pancakes to cook almost all the way through before flipping. You can either continue to add fat before each new pancake or not. With more fat the pancakes are almost like fritters, with less they are more like typical pancakes.

Step Four

Top with fruit, butter, kefir cream, whipped cream, coconut butter or coconut milk. You can also add a small amount of honey if you don’t have blood sugar issues, but I find they are sweet enough with the fruit alone.

References

1. Statistics from the Association of Cereal Food Manufacturers' ("ACFM") Breakfast Cereal Information Service ("BCIS").
2. Better cereal choices for kids? Some child-focused products are 50 percent sugar. Consumer Reports. November 2008. Found at http://www.consumerreports.org/health/ healthy-living/diet-nutrition/healthy-foods/breakfast-cereals/overview/breakfast-cerealsov.htm .
3. Mahoney CR, Taylor HA, Kanarek RB, Samuel P. Effect of breakfast composition on cognitive processes in elementary school children. Physiol Behav. 2005 Aug 7;85(5):635-45.
4. Randall J Kaplan, Carol E Greenwood, Gordon Winocur and Thomas MS Wolever. Dietary protein, carbohydrate, and fat enhance memory performance in the healthy elderly. Am J Clin Nutr, Vol. 74, No. 5, 687-693, November 2001.
5. Rampersaud GC, Pereira MA, Girard BL, Adams J, Metzl JD. Breakfast habits, nutritional status, body weight, and academic performance in children and adolescents. J Am Diet Assoc. 2005 May;105(5):743-60; quiz 761-2.
6. Ma Y, et al. “Association between eating patterns and obesity in a free-living U.S. adult population.” Am J Epidem, July 2003, pp. 85-92