Breakfast of Champions
I’m not afraid to tell you that my “naughty food”** is Crunchy Nut Cornflakes (CNC). But NOT for breakfast - that would be weird. I prefer CNC at 8pm, probably premenstrually. Probably two bowlfuls.
I don’t rate CNC as a breakfast food or REALLY as any food at all. It’s a sometimes food that I literally only buy when I find myself at the supermarket late. It’s after work; I’m disorganised for dinner and hunting down my craving, when I find myself pausing at the cereal aisle, looking longingly. I walk cautiously, knowing what’s about to happen.
I get to the CNC nestled among the Nutri Grain and Coco Pops and look up and down the aisle to see if anyone is watching me gaze at the golden box. I slowly raise my hand to grasp the small box and slip it under my arm - not in the basket - that way it feels more ephemeral. Will I buy the box of cereal under my arm, or am I just thinking about it? No one knows. I choose the small box, because that way it’s gone quickly - I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t eaten a whole box in one sitting - probably in front of Interstellar or Notting Hill.
**Just needed to add here that I think the concept of a “naughty food” is bullshit and reeks of diet culture. “Sometimes food” yes.
Why the drama?
I don’t eat cereal - a lot of people have cottoned onto the fact that any cereal is pretty bullshit as far as a nutrition is concerned. Even muesli. Even bircher. Yes, there are BETTER cereals, but in my humble opinion, none are doing you or your dependants any favours.
I can understand why cereal is tempting for children (or you). It’s quick, simple, yummy, requires little forethought and can be cost effective (unless you buy muesli from Piedimonte’s). But oh my FRIEND, you can do SO much better!
Check the side of the box for ingredients - I dare you. It’s not food! Unless you get Weet-Bix or Vita Brits - whichever of the two has no sugar - I can’t remember - check the box when you’re there next ;)
Getting yourself or your kids on the cereals on the regs is a sure-fire way to find yourself in a sugar addiction. There will be a sugar crash. Nothing else will taste yummy. And you’re ultimately wasting an opportunity to get some of the good stuff (veg, meat etc) into your body. You may as well eat a mars bar for breakfast (sort of).
What to eat for brekkie
This is what you’re here for. You’ve scrolled past all the junk I wrote up there to get to the good stuff. I know you, because I am you. People talk (write) too much and my attention is waning (here, read Stolen Focus by Johann Hari).
What SHOULD you eat for breakfast?
*leans forward and whispers* “Whatever the fuck you like.”
Soup! Dinner leftovers! Congee! Stir fry! Eggs! OOOOH don’t get me started on eggs. Steak and roast veg!
In the West we have decided that breakfast foods are BEIGE - cereal, toast, eggs, pancakes, porridge. But I ask you - where is the colour? Most of these foods are ultimately packaged foods (toast, oats, flour) and offer little nutritional value (except eggs).
When I went to Vietnam I was surprised to learn that Pho is somewhat of a breakfast food! In China I ate meaty Xiao Long Bao at the joint around the corner that was open from 6-10am. And in France, I ate croissants… (sue me, I’m human).
I invite you to invite in curiosity for what OTHER foods could make for a good, nutritious, yummy, quick breakfast. Some may require more prep, but others can be done souper (see what I did there?) quickly. I pride myself on my “fancy” egg and veg brekkies cooked in under 10 minutes and I’ve never seen a leftover that couldn’t be moulded into a scrummy brekkie.
PLAY AROUND - GET WEIRD, EXPERIMENT
Soups
Noodle soups
Borscht
Chicken soup
MINESTRONE
Veggie soup
PUMPKIN soup
Potato and leek
Broc & stilton
Eggs
Sub out the bread and have with veg - this takes practice, but is worth it
Omelette / scramble with whatever you have on hand
I like tomato and broccoli
Frittata
A plain omelette with avo on the side
Tabasco or other hot sauces really jazz up an egg
Poached eggs on steamed sweet potato w whatever else you feel (the sweet potato fills it up a bit)
Scrambled eggs, beans, veg all cooked separately and assembled into corn tortillas as brekkie tacos!!!
Dinner for breakfast
Steak and veg
Roast veg fresh out of the oven with cannellini beans or whatever bean you like
Fish and veg
Stir fry
Asian brekkie
Noodle soup
Congee!
Poached pears (with congee or as a sweet dessert)
Not to get all up in arms about what you’re eating (you do you), but after listening to patients tell me what they eat for some time now, I’m shocked at the abundance of “toast for breakfast, a wrap or a salad for lunch and pasta or meat and veg for dinner”.
It’s… a bit boring and can honestly be a little low on diversity of veg and fresh food. It can be tough to diversify if you aren’t much of a cook or kinda HATE cooking. If you are one of those people, I would highly recommend buying a cook book or two. Get a nice one. One that you flip through and that makes you make yummy noises. We have to bloody cook SO many meals in our lifetime, and the sooner we find SOME joy in the process, the better.
And if you don’t eat breakfast, please let’s try to change that.
Intermittent fasting is good for some people, sometimes, but I think it reeks of diet culture and body image wars.
And if you are trying to lose weight, there are better ways than punishing yourself.
AND if you’re just not hungry in the morning until 2pm and exist off nothing but coffee, I would question whether that’s the healthiest choice you could make, even if you are eating a fabulous dinner.
Chuck a comment below with your fave non-beige breakfast food to get others inspired :)
Love Caz
Caz Butler is an AHPRA registered acupuncturist and Chinese herbal medicine practitioner in Melbourne. She LOVES talking to people about fertility, periods, mental health and sleep among other things and will never bore of patients coming in and saying they “just don’t feel right.” Let’s get to the bottom of it.