Healthy Breakfast Menu 

For me the healthy breakfast isn't negotiable, but it doesn't have to be a large meal. Boring perhaps, but I have so many patients in their eighties, with all their marbles intact and having a ball that I too want to reach a happy and healthy eighty something vintage. Don't you? Yes, the best laid plans of mice and men do go awry, but healthy breakfast foods swing the percentages in your favour.

But does it also have to be boring? Absolutely not. Every breakfast for me is a feast of delicious flavours and tempting tidbits.

For starters your needs on a working day, for most of us, during the week, are quite different to a sedentary weekend. Plus, others may disagree, I think there needs to be a day now and then when we let our hair down, and indulge ourselves just a little. Do it every day, and you'll turn into a belly up beached whale. Sunday is probably the day to take a break from your healthy breakfast recipes. Have an egg perhaps, a mushroom, and even a waffle, but with healthy flour and raw honey, not syrup.

What's the first thing you do in the morning? Hopefully not light a cigarette, but almost certainly a sweet pee. That fluid needs to be replaced so that your tissues remain well hydrated.

Do you know what silver tea is? I learnt about it from my grandmother, and she certainly lived to a very happy and healthy eighty; a cup of warm water, perhaps with a slither of lemon to start the day. Whatever, it needs to be long and wet. For me it's two very large mugs of very weak black tea with a slice of any preferably tart fruit that we have in the house; lemon, plum, grapefruit and any your favourite will do.

Now, what about the fruit in your muesli?

There's so much research now confirming that raw foods are full of compounds called phytosterols; they are antioxidants.  They really are anti cancer foods, and it's a non negotiable. Plus it fits beautifully in with working person's need for quick breakfast ideas. What can be more delicious and quick than half a dozen bright red strawberries, a quarter of cantaloupe, a bunch of grapes, or whatever's in season. An absolute must, and the brighter the colours the better the research seems to be confirming.

Orange juice facts

Bought OJ in a carton is definitely not on the healthy breakfast menu, but if you have the time and energy to squeeze your own, that's great. What's the difference?

It takes less than three minutes to squeeze two oranges using any orange juice press including washing out the press.

CARB

You get enough carbohydrate really in your fruit, but I think 3-4 spoons of an oats based muesli is a good option. Oats is one of the super foods rated most highly for lowering cholesterol. Add a handful of raisins to sweeten it, your omega 3 from two or three walnuts and some crushed linseed, also known as flaxseeds, and perhaps some pumpkin seeds. Good for the prostate. Crushed sunflower seeds are great too.

I buy a cheap zero sugar muesli, and every weekend spend ten minutes making up a large container with various healthy tasty goodies. Then it's quick and ready for Monday morning. Soak with boiling water, and leave to stand. Perhaps nuke it for one minute. Then it's much more digestible.

Most likely you are looking for low carb breakfast recipes and a muesli is quick and easy and fits perfectly into our healthy breakfast menu. Absolutely avoid the high sugar all brans, cocoa pops and the like. They instantly put pounds on all the wrong places. And don't get your kids started on them either. The soluble fibre in our apple diet is far more effective against constipation than bran. Plus bran adsorbes calcium, not good for a woman's bones. A is for horses, bran too. If you don't know the cockney alphabet, google it; it's great fun. 

An aside

I wonder how long it's going to be before the first American sues his parents for having allowed him to become an obese nine year old? The sooner a test case comes before the courts the better, as far as I'm concerned. By nine years of age the size of your fat cells has been determined. Allow your child to become fat by the age of 9 and you have condemned him/her to a life long struggle with obesity.

Pure negligence on the part of parents, with a not dissimilar effect on your child's longevity as to encourage or allow him to become a smoker at age 9.

What about the protein?

Another non negotiable is a littleprotein. Meat is a definite no no, only once a day unless you want to be in the high cancer risk group, but there are many good options. Protein is what stops you from being starving at 11 o'clock, and starting to snack; that's a quick route to the extra pounds that none of us need especially if you earn enough to own a computer and internet connectivity.

I'll admit to being odd. My first choice is hummus, homemade without the garlic. It's really delicious, you can in only four minutes, literally, make a batch of this authentic hummus recipe that will last half a week in the fridge, and keep you going for a whole morning. It does for me, and I can promise you that at the chiropractic coalface one needs it.

Other good protein options for your healthy breakfast menu are yoghurt, stick with the low fat, dairy is high in the cholesterol that clogs your arteries, a piece of fish left over from last night, an egg twice a week max, or a cheese sandwich.

PS. I've been up for nearly three hours now, finished my two large mugs of tea and have just ground the beans for the first indulgence of this bright sunny summer morning. A cup of coffee, ah!