Fit with Fave Week 6: Most Important Meal of the Day

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Hi friends.  It’s breakfast time.

Let’s review, shall we?  At this point in our journey, you’re eating off of salad plates instead of those monstrosities that pass for dinner plates these days.  You’ve taken half that plate and covered it with veggies/fruit/somethingthatqualifiesassalad and, in doing so, minimized your main course serving to what can fit on that other half of your little plate.  You’re making an effort to eat at the table, and you’re drinking at least one glass of good old fashioned water every day.  How does it feel to know that, even if we stopped right here, you’ve already taken serious strides toward portion control, hydration, and eating more plant foods?  Yay you!

This week, we’re adding something instead of taking something away, and it’s my favorite: eating breakfast!  Yes, you habitual breakfast skippers, you coffee only drinkers, I’m looking at you.  It’s time to eat some honest to goodness food in the morning.  Breakfast calories are important.  Take it from the kids: studies have shown that children and teen who eat breakfast have statistically lower BMIs, do better in school, are better at math, are less likely to snack on unhealthy foods, you name it.  I believe the children are our future, after all, and if it works for them, it probably isn’t going to suck for you.  Eat breakfast.

There’s a curve here, obviously.  Some of you are already eating breakfast every day.  So we’re going to do three categories: No breakfast eaters, crappy breakfast eaters, and nutritional rockstars.  Take this brief quiz to determine your category:

Do you eat breakfast?  Yes or No

If you answered No, you’re a No Breakfast Eater.

Is your breakfast rainbow colored, sugar-coated, purchased in a drive thru or at a Jamba Juice, or made up entirely of white flour, eggs, and dairy?  Yes or No.

If you answered Yes, you’re a Crappy Breakfast Eater.

Does your breakfast consist of oatmeal or unsweetened cereal, homemade smoothie or juice, veggies and fruit, the occasional egg, or some other snooty healthy stuff that isn’t a Clif or Lara bar?  (Side note: what is it with bar makers and omitting letters from names?  Cliff?  Laura?  Explain yourselves.) Yes or No

If you answered Yes, good for you.  You’re a Rockstar.

If you answered No to all of the above, you best comment below and tell me what the heck is going on with you.

Attention, No Breakfast Eaters!  Your instructions are as follows:  Eat breakfast.  Any breakfast.  Whatever you can stomach in the morning.  Get your body used to eating something before you start your day.  Some good ideas to ease in – a piece of fruit, a glass of no-sugar-added juice, a small serving of oatmeal or relatively bland cereal, a piece of whole wheat toast with peanut butter.

Crappy Breakfast Eaters: Ditch the sugar.  If you’re eating a donut, switch to a whole wheat bagel.  Frosted Flakes?  Get thee some plain Cheerios or something.  Crazy sugary oatmeal?  Tone it down a bit, try using honey or adding fruit instead of sugar – we just discovered that fruit purees intended for baby someones can make very tasty oatmeal sweeteners.  Jamba Juice or other chain smoothie sugar bombs?  Try some fruit frickin salad, with some greek yogurt or something on it.  Or make a smoothie at home!

Nutritional Rockstar: I mean, do what you do.  If you want to get fancy, try adding some ground flax to your breakfast somewhere (more on the benefits of flax later – they aren’t kidding about that stuff).  Sneak in another healthy fat somewhere maybe (avocado?  salmon?  hmmmm.)  Try limiting the dairy and meat in your first meal – explore milk alternatives (almond!) or grilled veggies instead of sausage or bacon.  Not that I have anything against bacon.

There you have it, friends.  Eat breakfast.  For the children.  And the flamingos.

love.