A good time to start the year right nutritionally

With January Lows, its a fine time for a hot cereal breakfast

I've always enjoyed breakfast cereal from the days a of Sugar Crisp and Captain Crunch, but now that I am more enlightened I prefer simpler,whole food goodness which I choose to get through hot oatmeal,  I have found nothing that "sticks with me" better whan those whole oats in the morning. Eaten at 5 am, I am never hungry before noon.  That was a suprise to me, for as an old bacon, eggs, and toast "ranch kid" my parents endoctrinated me that "bacon and eggs" was required if you were going to shred pastures or build fence. But they didn't stay with me.  Nothing ever did until I read The China Study in 2006 and moved in to whole food macrobiotic eating.

I always thought that cooking hot cereal in the morning would take too long.  It doesn;t.  Old fashioned Quaker rolled oasts takes avout 5 minutes for me to fix a nonstick pot of them using 1/2 cup of oats to 1 cup boiling water.  That yields a weight-loss size portion both for me and my wife.  Thin folks could double that if desired.  We top ours with a medley of fresh strawberries and blueberries, of which the cost is variable.  Frozen berry mixes--we like Wal-Mart's "berry medley" as a substitute for fresh.

Quick cooking oats don't taste as good to me and are only about 2 minutes faster to prepare.  Steel cut oats, currently popular in food magazines, take much longer (30 min) to prepare and have a soft gruel-like texture that I enjoy but am too impatient to wait for.

If you use a nonstick pot (I use a 1 quart lidded Calfalon from Belk, $26) and it cleans pretty easily fresh from the stove,  Don't use steel utensils.  Plain stainless pots probably should soak a bit.

Most of our local stores have a good supply of fresh or frozen breakfast fruits which you can mis and match depending on the seasonality and cost--the summer fruits are a bit high right now!

More words on healthy breakfasts later this week.  Give old Jersy and Porky and your henny-pennies a rest for a while.

Enjoy....and send your comments please.

   

Start the New Year with Healthy Nutritional Eating

January Lows cry out for hot cereal.

Always a lover of breakfast cereal, interspersed with eggs, bacon, and toast, it was only after my enlightenment in 2006 when I read The China Study by Colin Campbell and became knowledgeable about the value of a whole grain, macrobiotic approach to nutrition.  At breakfast a bowl of hot old fashioned oatmeal topped with fresh berries fills the bill and keeps me satisfied for yours oh end.  No milk and sugar, either, thank you.  Just the oats and fruit.

For a long time I was discouraged by longer prep times--but it isn't that long.  Quaker Old Fashioned Oats--put half a cup of boiling water and in 4 to 5 minutes you've got it.  Quick oats, to me, don't taste as good and are only slightly faster.  Steel cut oats, currently popular in food and health magazines are a delightful but very different product that requires at least 30 minutes to prepare.

I top mine with fresh berries--usually fresh blueberries and strawberries;  In winter you have to shop around for what is available, and prepare the costs.  Sometimes frozen berry mixes are available that offer a tasty and economical option.

Give it a try, I think you will like the result in every way.  Oatmeal contains "soluble fiber" which helps digestion andlowers cholesterol and other fats.  Blueberries are an important immune booster.

Enjoy.