Dish of the Day: Healthy Breakfast

This one goes out to my mom friend Kim who commented how difficult it is to have a breakfast that is free of processed or refined foods. This is very true when we think of the traditional breakfast of cereal with milk, which so many of us opt for each morning. However, there are lots of other, better choices. WARNING: I'm going to veer off into serious holistic nutrition territory now, but I promise to return to reality.

Cold cereal as a typical breakfast choice is a modern invention thanks to the last century's focus on the mass production of foodstuffs. Before this, people would make breakfast from whatever raw materials they had at home. And in many parts of the world, this is still the case. In Asia, people often eat rice, fish and eggs for breakfast. But in North America we tend to eat processed cereal, like Cheerios, Rice Krispies, Special K, and so many more. These flakey cereals are made by taking refined flour and mixing it with sugar, salt and then vitamins and minerals are added. This paste is then heated up and shot through an extruder that squishes the batter into puffy, crunchy bits that are then dried and placed in a box and shipped off to grocery stores. Knowing this, it's easy to see that this might not be the most nutritious way to start off your day.

What it is, is a quick and easy way to eat before rushing of to work. Convenience and efficiency have defined our eating habits in the recent past, much to the detriment of our health. Since the the second World War when many women joined the workforce, industry found a highly profitable new market in selling fast foods to busy homemakers who still wanted to serve home-cooked meals to their families, but who had less time on their hands. This spawned the era of cakes in a box, TV dinners and canned, processed foods. Flash forward 60 years and now we don't even question buying foods in a box or a can. We rarely look at the long list of ingredients that help preserve this food in its container, nor do we think about the many things that were done to this food before it arrived on the grocery store's shelf.

We were designed to eat fresh food, not dead, dried foods, and I strongly believe in trying to eat foods that closely resemble the way they came off the plant or animal that produced them. Doing so can often stand in opposition to a fast-paced lifestyle but there are still many ways to eat fresh food and not spend hours in the kitchen.

In the morning, a better option than boxed cereal would be to eat whole grains or even non-grain foods for breakfast. Porridge made from grains such as millet, rice, oats, wheat can take a bit more time to make but will naturally have more nutrients. One way to speed up the process of making porridge is to soak it overnight and this can even include a bit of fermentation that occurs when leaving grains out and in contact with water and a bit of salt, vinegar or yogurt. The fermentation process will start to break down the food, making it faster to cook, but also unlocking more of the proteins, vitamins and minerals.

Most granolas are made from whole oats and dried fruits and eaten with yogurt and fresh or frozen fruit, this becomes a balanced start to the day. Those who like to bake can make nutritious muffins in advance which are convenient to eat in the morning but you'd need to have a glass of milk and a fruit to balance this out. I've blogged before about taking last night's starch and turning it into a yummy porridge which is a quick easy meal.

Of course, you could always cook up an egg, some wholemeal toast, have some meat on the side, if you like your animal proteins. This choice of meal - low in carbohydrates - will keep you from feeling hungry for many hours since it avoids a huge insulin rush to store away these sugars, and the subsequent blood sugar drop which revs up your hunger once again.

It turns out there are a number of options for a non-processed breakfast meal that may require a bit more work and a new way of thinking. But it's your health we're talking about. Aren't you worth it?