Monday, February 11, 2013

What I Eat-Breakfast Edition

Lately I've been getting lots of questions about what I eat.
Now, let's be honest here...I did not get FAT because I did not like to eat. I love food and I enjoy cooking. Over the years, it has been a learning process for me and it still is as I continue to discover more and more NOW as I dig a little deeper into nutrition.

When I lost weight, I did it by eating clean foods. It was a gradual shift and I learned a lot while I was pregnant. I started questioning why certain foods were "not safe" while pregnant but ok to eat when not. I wanted to give my growing baby the best shot at health that I could. I tried my best to eat as healthfully as possible. That's not saying that I did not indulge in Blizzards from Dairy Queen (my weakness!) but I started eating better overall and getting more nutrient dense and clean foods into my diet. It was a matter of the more I knew, the more I wanted to do right and learn more. I was opting for whole, real foods vs. processed foods. 

One HUGE difference was I started eating breakfast. I used to skip breakfast and have several cups of coffee loaded with cream and sugar (pre-pregnancy, of course!!) and maybe mid-morning grab a snack from the break-room at work. I worked in a medical facility and we could usually count on donuts or other pastry products almost daily from the drug reps.

These days, I still have coffee (not as much and certainly not loaded with cream and sugar) and I do not eliminate this from my diet like some athletes. I enjoy coffee waaaay too much. I, do, however try to drink a large glass of water before anything else when I get up and then I am eating something that 30-45 minute window of time.

Some mornings, I am teaching boot camp followed by a spin class and other days I get right to my training for the day so it is really important to get good quality calories in to fuel those workouts.

I am not an RD or a nutritionist. I am only sharing what I eat, how I lost weight and how I try to keep it healthy. Also, the brands mentioned in the blog post are just the brands I like and use. This is not a sponsored post and all opinions are simply my own. That being said, here is a sampling of things I eat for breakfast. I keep things simple and usually eat the same things over and over with the occasional diversion from the norm just to mix things up.

My standby is OATMEAL. I love oatmeal. An easy swap here is ditch the pre-packaged, sugar-laden oatmeal for the real stuff. Old Fashioned oats in that big round tub or opt for steel cut oats. 
I prefer Steel Cut Oats and they are actually pretty easy to make. 

There are crock pot versions. Like this one and this one
I make a huge crock pot full on Sunday and it feeds us for many days.

photo source


I always have Coach's Oats on hand too-they are toasted, cracked steel cut oats that cook up just as quickly as the processed oatmeal. Easy to make on the stop top or in the micro and they are delish!! Just as good as the traditional SCO's but the bonus to these little gems are you can also cook with them as well. Check out their website for all kinds of recipe ideas!


Then there is regular style oatmeal "old fashioned oats" that is baked oatmeal with berries


Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
photo source

Another staple of mine is a breakfast wrap. I love the Josephs Flax and Oat wrap with PB, raisins, apple slices, honey and cinnamon.

Another option is a smashed banana and PB.

Easy and portable for on the go mornings.








Next up: flour free pancakes!

just mash up a ripe banana
add one whole egg
one egg white
a dash of cinnamon
and a scoop of chia seeds

let sit for a few mins and cook in a skillet (I used a tad of coconut oil in the pan).



VOILA! Gluten free pancakes that are super easy to make

No cooking required: Powerbar protein bars. I always have a stash with me. NO EXCUSES I can eat one on the drive to teach 5am boot camp or for an early morning swim and I don't have to worry about having a too full belly. 



I actually prefer savory to sweet and most of the time, I'll be eating eggs of some sort.
_____________________________________

Here is a simple one-one whole egg, two egg whites scrambled with some jalapenos
top with baby spinach and sriarcha
on a flax seed flat

Some days it is as simple as a couple hard boiled eggs and I toss the yolks.
 I'll have this with a piece of fruit like an apple or orange-lately I'm addicted to blood oranges.

So, as you can see, breakfast does not have to be complicated or time consuming. 

Do YOU eat breakfast?
What are some of your favorites?

Want to have YOUR favorite recipe featured on a future blog post? I'm looking for YOUR favorite easy and yummy dishes that are relatively "clean" and healthy! Email me or leave a comment! 

13 comments:

ONEHOURIRONMAN said...

Thanks
I will try some of these and goes right in line with my wanting to drop 10 pounds before CDA..

Unknown said...

Since November and a trip to a naturopath I have found out I have a severe intolerance to eggs. I used to eat eggs everyday when I was in training mode; no wonder I never felt good - anywaaaaay Since November I have had to revamp - well - basically everything I consume. It would be fun to share my food journey so I'll send you an email :)

Unknown said...

I'm going to try the pancakes tomorrow morning. I keep trying and trying to like oatmeal and it's just not sticking. I finally found a protein powder I like. Green Foods True Vitality. A couple scoops of that and a Starbucks Via in water is pretty tasty. Thank goodness you're okay with us drinking coffee! :-)

Unknown said...

Marnee, I cant wait to get your email!!

Angela, yes baby...STARBUCKS. My drug of choice. I like the Vega protein powder, it's delish!!

Jason said...

Breakfast is my drug of choice.

I have an HL24 shake in the morning with water before my workouts and then when I get home IT IS ON!

I have had days when I have made breakfast foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner that is how much I love it.

StaceyL said...

I actually tripped over that exact apple cinnamon steel cut oatmeal recipe yesterday and threw it in the crockpot! Packaged up individual servings and am now good to go for the week! It was pretty yummy!!!

Frickin' Fabulous at 40 said...

I eat breakfast every morning, usually whole wheat toast with peanut butter or oatmeal with peanut butter or a protein bar, along with a yummy vat o'coffee (with flavored creamer). I like to eat, so I figure, start early! LOL

TriMOEngr said...

I'm a former fattie who was never a big breakfast person. One thing I have done is to just eat lunch and dinner food at breakfast. I also like hard boiled eggs. But I'll steal some of these ideas (and look forward to see what other people eat) because I still struggle with what to eat in the morning. Sometimes a smoothie (ff yogurt, skim milk, frozen banana, frozen berries) is ok - never gone to green smoothies. I definitely need to work on eating cleaner - less sugar, less processed, etc. I know it is best.

Big Daddy Diesel said...

I am going to try those flour free pancakes! They sound simple enough to make

Carolina John said...

I stick to oatmeal every morning, but this gives me some great ideas! Very cool, thanks!

Scott said...

I didn't always eat breakfast..but when I did..I preferred Froot loops or Apple Jacks..with white toast and butter and peanut butter. Yum..probably why I can't fit into anything.

I have changed to scrambled eggs and canadian bacon. Or I have added just one wedge of laughing cow cheese to my eggs for taste instead of the two cups of cheddar I used to do. I have even started adding peppers and onions..crazy...

Erin said...

My regular go-to breakfasts are either a PB banana protein smoothie (1 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1 big banana, 1 scoop vanilla or choc. protein powder, 1 Tblsp natural chunky peanut butter, sprinkling of flax & chia seeds), or I'll have a bowl of Organic Flax cereal, or more recently I started making oatmeal with mashed banana & cinnamon added. SO DELICIOUS!!!

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