HAPPY FRIDAY!
My muscles have been feeling a bit tight this week! It is no doubt due to being back to work baking + hunching at my desk! I tell you, I didn’t have one twinge of muscle pain while on vacation, even with all the running I did! I think Florida is good for the body… ;)
I decided to start my morning off with 20 minutes of Yoga Sculpt #1 over at yogadownload. I definitely worked up a sweat by the end. I capped it off with 10 minutes of Yoga for Runner’s. I felt so good, if someone would have offered me a free massage I would have passed them by! hehe…not really, but I did feel really good!
This morning I had one thing on my mind after yoga…KEEN-WAAAH.
PB, J, & B Breakfast Quinoa
Ingredients:
Into the pot goes…
- 1/3 cup quinoa
- 2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons almond milk
- 1 mashed, ripe banana
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch of cinnamon (optional)
- pinch of sea salt (optional)
Directions: Stir together above ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce to low and stir frequently for about 8-10 minutes being careful not to burn. If it dries out, add a bit more milk. Pour into a bowl and add toppings!
My toppings:
- Crave Glo Bar (Peanut butter, cacao nibs, and cherry)
- Strawberry jam
- 1 tablespoon roasted peanut butter
I used half a Crave Glo Bar on top.
I forgot about the jam in the back of the fridge! I love jam!
On the spoon: Organic strawberry jam, peanut butter, Crave Glo Bar + quinoa mix!
A great start to Friday!
I like to spread the goodness all around!
I should be good for a solid 4 hours on this.
While I enjoyed this bowl a lot, I still prefer the Vegan overnight oats– and I admit I was kind of wishing I had those instead of this! Total…BREAKFAST ENVY! :mrgreen:
My breakfast story:
My breakfasts used to be a sad sight. When I was struggling with disordered eating, I would have the same tiny breakfast day in and day out. I remember being just 12 years old (that is when my struggle with food really took hold) and only allowing myself half of a packet of instant oatmeal. Sadly, my approach to breakfast didn’t improve throughout my teenage years when I would often have just 1 apple for breakfast. I was hungry all morning and never had any energy. I never thought that I deserved a balanced and hearty breakfast like other people did.
Then I started reading food blogs a few years ago. I saw other people eating delicious breakfasts each morning and something inside me started to change. I started to think that I was worthy of a filling and energizing breakfast too. I started experimenting with green monsters, oatmeal, pancakes, cereals, and I fell in love with healthy breakfasts and how they make me feel…energized and full of energy for the day’s tasks. I also realized that I didn’t gain weight by eating a big breakfast which was something I always feared previously.
Some of my favourite breakfast foods now include: Healthy Spelt Pancakes For One, Peanut Butter Banana Bomb Muffins, green monsters, Creamy PB + J Oatmeal Parfait, Energize Me Creamy Fruit Dip, Glowing Sunshine Juice, and Healthy Peanut Butter Coconut Swirl Pancakes.
Breakfast is FUN for me now…it took a long time to get here, but it was worth the fight!
Today’s question- Do you approach breakfast differently than you used to? How so? What did you used to eat for breakfast 5-10 years ago and what do you have now? Are you inspired by blogs to change up your breakfasts?
I use to be a sugared cereal expert! To be totally honest it is still a guily pleasure. I then decided to switch to more “healthy” cereal options. However I never really enjoye them. I started to read a lot of blogs about this one about 1 month ago and wow has it changed my breakfasts for the good. I eat a oats almost every morning now and wow does it make a huge difference. It keeps me satisfied until I have my mid morning meal or until lunch.
My parents don’t think twice about eating terrible overprocessed foods day in and day out. I grew up eating Sweet Sixteen chocolate covered donuts dipped in chocolate milk for breakfast :-o It was delicious and I can’t say I don’t crave it now and then, but back then I was in the gym practicing or playing volleyball for 3-4 hours a days. Not sure that I can afford those wasted calories these days :)
When I discovered the “wonderful” world of calorie counting a couple years ago, I began eating 1 reduced fat granola bar (90cals) + a diet coke for breakfast.
Only in the last six months, after reading your blog and several others, have I seen the light…….My breakfasts now are at least 300 calories and full of REAL FOOD, not a bunch of chemicals in a box/can! Now I actually have enough energy to enjoy running! :) And I look forward to getting up for my big breakfast!
sounds like our disordered eating issues started at the same time (and i think we’re the same age too). when i was 12 i would let myself eat half of a bagel for breakfast, and as the years progressed and i moved out for college i would try to see how long i could go without eating anything at all. today i LOVE breakfast and always look forward to making it! quite the change from 14 years ago, right?
i love the quinoa breakfast idea…i think i might just try it tomorrow!
I had the same experience with breakfast until I started reading food blogs…I used to try to keep each morning meal under 200 calories which I know now is a big mistake. A processed granola bar or single piece of fruit shouldn’t even be called breakfast.
Now I eat a filling breakfast every morning. The most exciting thing I have learned from food blogs is that it’s ok to eat nut butters! I had crossed them off my list as a “bad” food, full of fat and calories. But I have learned that in the right portions, nut butters are an awesome way to keep me full and I have some every day, whether it’s in oatmeal, a smoothie or on top of whole grain bread. :)
Thankfully I have always eaten breakfast but it was never filling enough, as kids we ate lots of cereal, toast and occasionally oatmeal. Now I am eating much heartier options and staying full for so much longer!
When I was younger, breakfast was always a bowl of super sugary cereal and milk. Into high school and college, “breakfast,” if I ate it at all, became a granola bar and a juice box (yes, like a little kid. It was convenient to bring to class!). I honestly just never thought about breakfast as important at all.
When I struggled with my eating disorder, breakfast went out the window entirely. I used to see how long I could last after waking up without “having” to eat something. I’d often be awake and active (biking, working, in class, etc.) for more than 6 hours before consuming anything. Now that I’m healthy, I genuinely cannot believe I did this. I LOVE BREAKFAST! I seriously look forward to it (even the night before), enjoy experimenting, and feel like I could eat breakfast foods at every meal. Breakfast is fun for me, too!
I used to be the same! A small bowl of cereal or two pieces of toast, day in and out when I was trying to lose weight! It was probably 150 calories (I’d have the teeny diet brand toasts) and I was starving and grumpy by 10am. So glad I’ve switched to hearty, filling bowls of oatmeal.
First of all, YES, I am totally inspired by your breakfast blogs and others as well especially more now that I am working on leading a cleaner eating lifestyle. Just 10 years ago I was weighing 230 lbs., today I’m at 160, a triathlete and a runner. So 10 years ago, breakfast was never important to me like it is now. I love breakfast and I love GREEN MONSTERS! Thank you! I truly believe in order to get your day started right and with energy is to have a good breakfast.
Back in high school, I used to eat nothing more than a Nutri-grain bar for breakfast! Those things are like 150 calories. Now they completely gross me out. I don’t know how I survived on those gross little sugar bombs every morning!
Oh for sure! I get so many great ideas from your blog and a few others too. You better believe that thoughts of having a fantastic healthy breakfast and a green monster smoothie push me through those last miles of long weekend runs. And it looks like you PB, J & B Quiona may be another favorite…it sounds heavenly!
When I was in high school I used to eat pop tarts and a glass of milk every morning for breakfast! Ugh! Now I generally have a green smoothie of some kind and an English muffin with almond or peanut butter. Much better!!!
all your meals look amazing! 9 years ago when i first started college, on my drive in i would have a can of coke and a couple of cigarettes. sometimes i would grab a chocolate bar. i cannot ever believe i ate like that. now i eat oatmeal with lots of toppings, stopped drinking pop, and haven’t had a smoke in 4 years. i feel so so so much better than i did in college!
I used to be a packet of instant oatmeal or a cup of yogurt and granola type of girl. Or cereal and milk. Before that I wasn’t much of a breakfast person – I just didn’t wake up hungry. Now, I wake up and want a breakfast that will last me 4 hours or more and have learned that nothing fills me up like old fashioned oats with nuts or a nut butter.
I have to try the quinoa for breakfast! Sounds so good and loaded with protein.
Breakfast is my favorite meal of all time!
hi, angela. i’m very into astrology and i wanna do a personal research about body image, food and our relation with it based on astrology. i’m very curious to see if there are any conections between us,cause’ i too (still) struggle with eating disorder. well, u have passed over it and u’re a healthy woman now. please leave me your date of birth, location *city,state* and your hour of birth, of course if it doesn’t bother you and you feel comfortable about it.
thanks, elena
When I was younger, my mom wouldn’t let me out of the house without eating breakfast. But I have to admit I used to always have sweet breakfasts like cinnamon toast, a chocolate donut, etc with a piece of fruit. Every once in a while, I’d have an egg “to be healthy,” but that was that.
Then when I left for college and became sick, breakfasts started to decrease. I would eat something but it’d never be more than 100-150 calories (since I only gave myself 400 for the day). During my worse time, the meal was gone all together.
It’s funny how life can completely change you. While I don’t dismiss sweet thing in the morning, I never leave without some sort of smoothie or oatmeal creation. I crave these when I’m away and can’t be at my own stove and that’s when you know it’s a winner. It helps that it’s nutritious too ;)
I always used to eat cereal. Iused to eat the real sugary cereal then I switched to a little better cereal with more fiber but I was always still hungry. Food blogs have totally changed this for me. I now realize nut butters are not the enemy and oatmeal is much better when you don’t eat the instant sugary stuff. Breakfast has always been a must for me but never kept me full. Now I am amazed at how long I am satisfied and remind myself that just because it is a certain time I used to NEED a snack I need to listen to my body if I really need it!
I never ate breakfast (aside from when I was a kid and my mom made me) until I was about 24, and then I ate a little oatmeal for the next couple of years. In high school and college, breakfast was literally a can of coke- no wonder I had *horrible* stomach aches all the time!
Oddly enough, I never felt hungry in the morning.
Now that I’ve started eating big breakfasts I absolutely cannot skip them. I am RAVENOUS if I don’t eat enough. I have to have either greek yogurt or peanut butter oats or maybe eggs and toast, or a green monster with protein powder to feel full (I guess it has to be nice and protein-y to fill me up!)
I love eating a big breakfast, it really gives me tons of energy and starts my day off right! It also helps me make good food choices at lunch because I’m not starving. :)
Hi Angela.
I think you have wonderful breakfast ideas. Caitlin (Tipping Point), Jenna (ELR), KERF…so so many people have nice approaches.
I have been all over the place over the years…in terms of big and small and scared and not scared. Eating stuff and other issues I guess. I admire how open you are about it. I would also like to be like that – more open – but afraid to do it on my blog really.
I think my only “mental block” now is worrying about carbs and protein …and I hate it. I eat REALLY big breakfasts..(I eat a lot actually)…so its not the big numbers…but I see some people say ” need more protein”…or “need to be more vegan”…etc etc…its too mind-numbing. I just want to eat and forget about the “shoulds”. Your perspective is very clear and strong now. You ought to be proud of that.