« Eating is a need, knowing how to eat is an art. »
François Rabelais.
Hello, young Padawan
On this Valentine’s Day, maybe you have planned to prepare breakfast in bed for your sweetheart; but if she is not hungry that morning, should she force herself to eat something or tell you? Would this be the beginning of a drama?
Let’s move on to the serious topic of today: What to eat for breakfast when the fashion changes every two weeks, and above all, do we force ourselves if we are not hungry?
IT’S NOT AN OBLIGATION
If you have an internet connection to read this article, we will assume that you live in a country where there is no shortage of food. Let’s take the suspense away because there is no time to play a Hollywood thriller: Eating in the morning is not an obligation, because we do not all have the same metabolism. Period. (There was three, lol).
We are no longer in Neanderthal times, where if we did not eat what we had on hand immediately, we exposed ourselves to a risk of famine. At that time anyway, another animal will have eaten these berries if we didn’t, they will no longer be there tomorrow. Nowadays, even if your sweetheart has eaten the last remaining rice, you go to the local grocery store. You have rice. You can even buy 30 pounds of rice if you like.
Your mom thought she did well by feeding you all your childhood like a good chubby Buddha at breakfast, but the real heresy is to eat when you’re not hungry. You risk not digesting well what you have eaten with no hunger, or even being nauseous and in the fog a good part of the morning, it is counterproductive.
So if you are not hungry one day or always in the morning: take an apple and some walnuts “just in case” in your bag and to go to work on an empty stomach.
IF WE are hungry, WHAT DO WE DO?
Well, we starve. Nah, I’m kidding.
If you are hungry, you could start with a cute seasonal vegetable juice from a juice extractor, for example, with a fruit of your choice (for the taste, like an apple, otherwise you will hate me, ed), turmeric and/or ginger, this is a good idea to start the day off right, to fill up on vitamins and minerals. If you are looking for inspiration, you will find some juice recipes in the “Juices and snacks” section of this blog. Then wait 10-15 min before eating for your body to absorb the nutrients (so you have time to take a shower, my dear Padawan, do not start to moan that you do not have time to wait, ed).
Then, it’s as you want, but the main thing is to try to keep the blood sugar as low as possible, so as not to be sleepy between 10 and 12 am, because snoring in a meeting, this is not very comfortable.
As an example of low GI food, there is what I call “German bread”, this fairly dense brown bread that you find in organic stores, Wholefoods markets, like “Van Dijk’s”, and so on. You can spread it with oilseed mash of your choice (peanut, hazelnut, cashew, almond …), low GI, and delicious.
If you prefer a banana or other fruit, add a handful of oilseeds for micronutrients, and help keep your GI low.
And if you are a foodie you can spread your slice of German bread with oilseed mash, cover it with banana slices, and sprinkle with cinnamon. We’re on a culinary masterpiece, lol.
About drinks, you do well what you want. I am on a tea-like “yogi tea” (I drink real tea exclusively between meals, because the tea prevents the absorption of iron, let’s put it there just in case …, ed). Better avoiding sweetening your drink, to stay energized – GI low.
For breakfast or for a snack, it’s delicious.
WE DO AS WE WANT, AND ESPECIALLY AS WE FEEL
No pressure on your diet. For men, and women, even more, there are days when we are not too hungry, and others where we would be ready to put our dog in the oven on an empty fridge day (this is a joke, don’t do not roast Fido !!!!). Listen to yourself, you are your best indicator.
If you are lost with your own hunger, just take a healthy diet for a week and then wait for it to come back again, leaving more distance between two meals, it will come back and guide you on what is good for you. If you have a little trouble understanding the difference between hunger and food drives, I refer you to this article, and take a look at the “diet and health” section, there are others. In these difficult hours when everyone has a say in what you have on your plate: listen to yourself. We don’t all have the same metabolism.
Here I hope that I could help you a minimum about breakfast, knowing that you do well what you want, you will have understood, it is your business between you and your body.
XO 🍎
