This week, I recommend that you choose a healthy breakfast to eat every day for the rest of the week — and possibly the entire month, if you’re game for that.
Last week, I recommended that you eat a hearty salad every day for lunch. If you’re not doing that yet, I highly recommend starting there first, before moving on to this second phase. But here’s the thing: stick to the salad for lunch for the rest of the month.
So now it’s time to continue our gradual change of our eating this month … and try to find a healthy breakfast choice. I believe that this slow change, one meal or snack at a time, is the best way to change your diet to something healthier, and to stick with that change.
I’m going to share a video and recipe where I make my favorite healthy breakfast right now — hearty steel-cut oats with nuts and berries — but you can choose whatever works for you.
The key idea is to get as much nutrient-packed foods as possible into all your meals … especially:
- Vegetables of all kinds, but especially greens
- Beans
- Fruits of all kinds
- Nuts and seeds
- Whole grains — the more whole the grains are, the better
While avoiding nutrient-poor foods:
- Fried foods
- Sugary foods
- White starchy foods like pastries
- Overly fatty foods
But of course, you should figure out what “healthy” means for you and your body. I’m not going to prescribe what’s healthy for you.
Some options to consider (among many possibilities):
- Oats with nuts and berries (see below)
- Scrambled tofu (for vegans) or eggs, with greens, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions/garlic, other veggies and good stuff
- Ezekiel cereal with nuts, berries, soymilk/almond milk/whole milk
- Whole wheat toast with almond butter and fruit
- Any kind of protein and veggies — black beans and mushrooms, greens, garlic and tomatoes, for example, with spices
- Nutrient-rich berry muffins
- Some other good options
So make a choice, and try to eat it every day for a week. If that works well for you, you might consider just eating the same breakfast for the rest of the month, as that simplifies your meal planning. But if you want to switch every week, and try something new, that’s cool too.
Why eat the same thing every day for a week (or more)? Because you’re changing your old patterns. Creating slow change. And you’re removing one more decision from your diet and all the things you have to think about for the day. Try it, see how it works for you!
Pick something and go to the grocery store today, and start eating this new healthy breakfast tomorrow.
Now on to my current favorite healthy breakfast, which I heartily recommend.
Leo’s Hearty Steel-Cut Oats with Berries, Nuts & Seeds
I go through phases of having a favorite breakfast that I eat every day for a long time (often months) — I’ve done scrambled tofu with veggies (greens, mushrooms, tomatoes), Ezekiel cereal with nuts and berries, and more. But I very often come back to a version of these oats.
I make a batch of these oats (just the oats and ground flaxseed) and then put the leftovers in the fridge, heating up some each morning and adding the mix-ins.
Here’s the recipe:
Cook 1 cup of steel-cut oats (or Irish or Scottish oats) with 3 cups of boiling water, turning it down to simmer and cooking for 15 minutes or so (until the oats are cooked to the tenderness you like — I like it al dente). After it’s cooked, I put in a few tablespoons of ground flaxseeds.
Then take a fourth of the cooked oats and mix in the following:
- Half a banana, chopped
- Raisins (1-2 Tbsp)
- Almonds (or walnuts)
- Pumpkin seeds (or sunflower seeds)
- Lots of cinnamon (yum!!)
- Lots of berries (I like blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and/or strawberries)
- Soymilk or almond milk if you like it creamier
I absolutely love this meal.
Watch the video above (I apologize for the less-than-stellar quality).