What’s For Breakfast?
Leftover baked potatoes, grated the next morning and mixed with minced green onions, red pepper, egg, salt, pepper, and perhaps a little cheese. Then pan-fried to a nice golden brown.
Go, go, go. America is a society of rushing from one thing to the next.
In the process, many rush through meals, especially breakfast. Sometimes breakfast is a sugary treat that sends our blood sugar into a crazed tap dance or it’s entirely skipped. In this post, I want to talk about why breakfast is still the most important meal of the day.
Why breakfast is important?
Break fast. The word itself means the first food that you take after your night’s sleep. You’ve been slumbering peacefully through the night (hopefully) and now you are asking your body to get up and work through the day. You now have a choice to make – you have the opportunity to help or hinder yourself - and those around you. Depriving your body of regular meals may put it into deprivation mode and you run the risk of blood sugar issues, liver enzyme regulation problems, fat retention, mood swings, inability to focus, weight issue, hormone imbalances, muscle weakness and fatigue – and the list goes on. That’s not to say that the well timed and thought out fast or cleanse isn’t appropriate, but that’s a different blog.
Muscle weakness —
I know some of you spotted that right away. There is a huge trend in diets and workouts to build, build, build muscles. In Asian/Chinese medicine, the firmness and strength of the muscles and the core are a direct reflection of the health and stability of the Earth element – specifically the Spleen. The Spleen rules over digestion and transformation and transportation, it holds the organs in place (think prolapse) and keeps the muscles firm and toned – when it’s happy. The Spleen is harmed by erratic diets, irregular eating habits, excess sugary, and fatty foods. The Earth element’s peak time of day is 7-11 am, that’s when it can most utilize the food stuff it’s been given to create energy, heal and build muscles.
The Nutrient cycle is a flow of Qi in the body that moves from one channel to the next in a two hour rhythm. Qi enters the Spleen from 7-9 am and then moves to the Stomach from 9-11 am. This is when Qi is at its peak in these organs, meaning you have the most energy available to process and absorb the vital essences from the food at this time of day. This corresponds to western thought in that to keep the metabolism strong or to increase the metabolism you need to eat in the morning. Your system is running on empty starting in the morning – give it some good nourishment.
Building Yang
Yang starts to rise in the body in the morning, just as the sun starts high in the sky. By mid-day it has reached maximum Yang and starts to descend sliding towards evening’s Yin hours and midnight. The early part of the day is an ideal time to make sure to eat foods that support Spleen Yang and aid your body by creating Qi to use through the day. This is essential for those who have slow metabolisms, are cold, tired and worn out from depletion of Yang. A little easy to digest and warming food at this time of day can make a significant impact of Yang recovery.
When it comes to breakfast at our house, we have a few guidelines
Menu Planning and Prepping – You will be hungry today, so why wait until it slips up on you? A little menu planning can save time, ward off frustration and improve your health and vitality. This step is especially important if you are someone who skips breakfast or stands at the counter to eat breakfast while your children sit to eat. Take 20 minutes, browse through the kitchen and layout a menu for 3 or 4 days at a time. I have a classic chalkboard in the kitchen to help us along. When Clara was home and in school, it listed breakfasts and dinners. You were on your own to figure out lunch - which was often leftovers from dinner the night before.. Sometimes it says, “use the left overs or clean out the freezer” so food doesn’t go off or to make space if I’m harvesting or processing foods. The point is, it’s a tool, to help create ease and reduce waste for you and your family.
What if you vary from your menu? No worries, it’s not a test. It’s a habit that can help keep you on track–even if you just start with a breakfast menu. Simply pick up where you left off or revise your plan. Try and think even a little further ahead. Bake extra potatoes or root vegetables with dinner and use the leftovers the next morning. Make extra stir fry or soup.
Breakfast is a hot meal — We eat most meals hot, unless it’s the dead heat of summer. We also sit down together at the table. Why always hot? The digestive system is a cauldron – it has to heat everything up to transform food into energy. Warm foods are easier to digest and absorb. Family time together gives us an opportunity to bond as well. Sure the occasional yogurt and granola pops up - even the smoothie, but they are few and far between. More on Chilly Spleens and raw foods.
Protein is served with each breakfast— This might be eggs, lentils, nuts and seeds, broth and a little meat. Baked goods (French toast or muffins) may appear, but not without a little fat and protein to anchor them.
Protein shakes are out — I know – they are popular, they are easy, and occasionally they can be fine. However, I don’t even have them in our house and here’s a simplified list of why.
They are cold and require the body to work harder to heat them up to digest. If you are weak you are asking your body to generate more heat than it has available to transform - they can put your digestive fire out. Again, check out Chilly Spleens.
You do not chew them — missing the most important step of digestion we gulp them in a rush. Find out more about chewing.
They might not be a whole foods. Products are made up of foods that are fragmented and combined with other foods in a plant somewhere then shipped to you. They might be a whole food if you’ve made them yourself, but again, you will likely skip the step of chewing. You may over consume. I remember a client mentioning that her smoothie had 2 heads of kale, 2 apples, oat milk and few other things. My mind did a mental check list of the shear amount of nutrients she consuming at once - it was a lot. Even if the calorie count is low, too many nutrients all at once burdens the body and can lead to high Liver and pancreatic enzyme counts and pre-diabetic conditions.
They often contribute to a rushed and hurried diet — which is one of the biggest factors in GERD, acid reflux, constipation, bloating and diarrhea.
Did I mention they are cold? So consider cutting them out if you have low body temperature conditions like hypothyroid or adrenal fatigue, chronic low immunity and are easily chilled.
Breakfast doesn’t have to be “traditional” foods— We eat dinner for breakfast often. Soups, stews and stir fry are all regular breakfasts for us. Even the occasion steak salad may appear. Clara is now at college and fortunately, she is still solid on making sure she has breakfast. Often times it’s leftovers curry or stir-fry that she made the night before, or a favorite “Miyazaki style” breakfast – just a egg on toast.
Will it carry us to lunch? — Yep, it is really a consideration and breakfast is often the largest meal for my family because of it. Clara had a zero hour class her sophomore year. That meant she had to be to school by 6:40 and lunch wasn’t until 11:30. That’s way too long to go without food and expect her to or us to have energy or focus. We usually had breakfast by 6, she kept a variety of snacks in her locker and backpack and would nibble around 9-10, then she’d be good until lunch. No crashing in chemistry class or on clients please.
Share the duties — Nourishing the family and kitchen duties are social and life skills and should rarely be one person’s duty, especially if you have children. All too often I hear from clients how frustrated they are about being responsible for all the meals, cooking and cleaning up. It’s a life skill that should be taught sooner rather than later. Cooking and eating when angry, resentful or frustrated are not ideal for healthy digestion. So start getting the family to help out.
Give thanks — However you do it, show gratitude – for the opportunity to eat, for the beautiful food, for the person who prepared it. A little gratitude goes a long way.
Some ideas…
Breakfast foods don’t have to be the common American fare. Maybe you feel like a salad with a steak or fish? Maybe a soup or stew? I often make double dinner recipes with the intention of left overs being breakfast. When Clara was at college in Ireland, she often doubled her stir fry. I know a few cooks that would be horrified to see that I will just slip the pan of stew into the fridge to be put on the stove and reheated the next day. Why take the time to put the food in a different container if I’m just going to pull it out out and reheat it in the morning?
Soups and Stews
It’s what’s for breakfast. Left over from the night before. Just pull them out and reheat them.
Here’s a turkey, mushroom and veg soup made from Thanksgiving leftovers. Easy, warming and filling.
Egg Dishes
Eggs are nutrient dense. They are warming, build Qi and Blood which makes them an excellent start to mornings, especially if you have growing bodies in the house. A little goes a long way, usually one egg is sufficient per person unless you are an athlete or working out hard. Eggs are beautifully versatile. If they are a part of your diet be sure to explore. Baked, boiled, poached, steamed, scrambled, try them in souffles and fritatas. I also use them in soups like miso, ramen, and egg drop soup. Veggie fried rice with egg is another breakfast favorite. A note of caution - eggs are often over eaten in our culture – especially in certain trendy diets. Over consumption can lead to excess patterns. You are literally taking in too much at one time of nutrients and this can show up as elevate enzymes, cholesterol, sugar imbalances. In Asian medicine terms it show up as patterns of dampness, phlegm and aggravate gallbladder and allergy patterns. Though I believe eggs are beautiful I don’t recommend eggs daily unless have a high level of physical activity.
Grains, Breads & Baked Goods
Beautiful grains have gotten such a hard rap lately – which is unfortunate, because they are beautiful! Warming and nourishing, the anchor and ground and create integrity and strength. It is true that some people may need to reset their relationship to grains, how much they eat, which grains they eat, and the quality of the grain. Grains are still very much a part of our diet, mostly in the form of true whole grains – amaranth, teff, millet, quinoa, rice. Serve as porridge like oat meal or cream of barley, and polenta. Occasionally baked goods like cornbread and zucchini breads pop in for breakfast. I also make up large batches of granola to be eaten as is, on yogurt or to top off fruit in crisps. I always serve grains with some form of fat or protein to anchor them. Choose your grains wisely, free of GMO’s and pesticides. Choose gluten free options like oats and millet if you are limiting or avoiding gluten.
Veggies
Vegetables can be easy to get in at breakfast. Add them into soups, stews, fritatas, omelettes, breakfast omelettes, greens and polenta, quiches, wraps, and more. Veggie fried rice for breakfast, with a cup of miso? Delish. Warm up left over roasted roots to serve as is or add an egg and to make a quick hash. Quickly blanch and drain leafy greens (or grab those left overs) and serve them on a side plate. So many ways to get in your veg.
Fruits
buckwheat pancakes
Lovely, gorgeous fruits show up on our breakfast plates as side dishes or maybe as crisp or crumble. Apple and pear sauce are frequently a part of breakfast. We eat fresh fruit mostly in season when they have their best flavor and their energetics help the body adapt to the season. In late fall and winter and spring most of the fruit has either been dried, frozen or home canned, except for apples that store well through winter. Sure we eat out of season every now and then, but coconut and pineapple are too cooling when there’s a foot of snow outside. A warm, spiced fruit compote over hot grains warms the core.
Lentils & Legumes
I’m partial to lentils or legumes for breakfast as they are high in protein and fiber. They give a long lasting sustained energy. Sometimes it’s classic beans on toast, sometimes they are in black bean burritos, sometimes it a veggie soup with white beans. Mushy peas on toast or hummus are favorites too.
Meat and Animal Protein
Meat and animal proteins are mostly a condiment in my family’s diet. A little goes a long way, but it may definitely end up in on the breakfast menu, especially in the form of leftovers from dinner the night before.
Here’s to a great start to your morning!
April
