As part of my work, I help develop nutrition content for our programs, most recently the Eat Smart, Move More, Prevent Diabetes program. Whenever I am developing sample menus for breakfast, I naturally include breakfast items that include the three components that are covered in the Start Smart lesson of this program: whole grain, fruit, and protein. And what food contains all three of these? OATMEAL with fruit and nuts! Over and over again, I have included OATMEAL with various types of berries and nuts as a healthy breakfast option, but have I actually ever eaten this for breakfast? Embarrassingly, the answer is no. Why, might you ask? It takes too much time, it is too bland, don’t like the texture, reminds me of Goldilocks’ porridge and look what happened to her…the list went on and on. In an attempt to ‘walk the talk’, I prepared oatmeal for my entire family, using this recipe:
- 1 cup cooked Bob’s Red Mill rolled oats
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar – added while cooking
- Dash of salt– added while cooking
- ¼ cup walnut meats (unsalted)
- ½ cup blackberries
- ½ medium banana
- Cinnamon sprinkled on top
What was the verdict? WE LOVED IT! How did this oatmeal differ from my previous experiences? Let’s go back to my original list of reasons for NOT eating oatmeal:
- It takes too much time – While the oatmeal does take about 20-25 minutes to cook and prepare with the toppings, I am able to make a large batch on Sunday and keep the leftovers in the fridge to reheat small batches throughout the week. A little tip: add ¼ cup of milk to each 1-cup batch of cold oatmeal before putting it in the microwave to add back some moisture. Heat for 1 ½ minutes. Stir before eating.
- It is too bland – The brown sugar, dash of salt, sweetness of the berries and banana, and especially the cinnamon really give it a lot of flavor.
- Don’t like the texture – The thicker cut of the Bob’s Rolled Oats makes it chunkier and less creamy than steel-cut oats, which I prefer.
- Reminds me too much of Goldilocks’ porridge and look what happened to her – That was just a fairytale, after all.
So a happy ending for oatmeal and me…I have discovered a healthy, satisfying breakfast option for only 465 calories and 12 grams of fiber! I can officially ‘walk the breakfast talk’ about oatmeal!
to compare ourselves to these people who seem to have these so-called perfect lives.
of overweight kids I was not a fan of exercise and the opportunities it presented to put my shortcomings on display (I’m looking at you, gym class). As an adult, however, I have come to love it. I particularly love the alone time granted by a long bike ride or an afternoon hiking. I can even find that solitude in a morning jog or a quick stop at the gym. I love the way it burns off my anxious energy, and how I can count on it to help me sleep better. I must admit, though, that I struggled with whether or not to use the past-tense (loved) in those last few sentences. My daughter (our first) was born last spring. She is the most wonderful person I know, but caring for her takes up an astonishing amount of time and energy, which has led to a significant decrease in the amount of time I spend exercising. She does not directly prevent me from taking long bike rides or going on afternoon hikes, but it’s way harder to fit them in. I actually jogged this morning, but it was the first time this week. It was half as long as the ones I was taking a year ago, yet it made my lungs burn significantly more. I could have gone further, but I wanted to get home to eat breakfast with my daughter and her mom before we all headed to work.
Are more choices a good thing? A regular grocery store has over 25,000 items. This is a huge increase from several decades ago when the average was around 15,000 items. The increase in choices has not coincided with better diets for most Americans. Sometimes too many choices is a bad thing. When faced with a buffet, we tend to eat more based on the number of choices. How can we limit choices in at least some of our eating occasions to help us eat healthy?
but it is because I want those five more minutes in my warm bed, especially during the winter. I could tell you that by setting three alarms everything works out great, but I would be lying. By setting two or three alarms I am creating my own “morning drag”. The morning drag just does not make it hard to get out of bed, but I feel as if time is inching along, as if I am not prepared to handle any task. My morning drag makes me feel as if I needed to be hooked up to a caffeine drip! My bad habit of not getting up on the first alarm leads to not mentally preparing myself for my day, let alone using my time wisely.