Assignments

1. Start to Practice a More Regular Eating Pattern.
   Aim for eating 5 times/day. About every 3 hours. Breakfast, Mid Morning Snack, Lunch, Afternoon Snack, Dinner. Set a timer if you must as a reminder. (Use the food log below to help.)
2. Complete your Food Log.
   Here’s the form that we will use for now.  FOOD LOG FORM . An email is fine, too, but having this structure will help you see the gaps in your patterns so we can start to look at ways to start filling in the weak spots in your eating habits.
3. Eat a Strong Breakfast Daily.
   Oatmeal is a great one. Recipe is below. A list of other breakfast ideas is also below. The goal is to get a mix of complex carbs, protein and healthy fats. You want to start your day with whole foods. Not processed. And, you want to identify foods that are easy to put on auto-pilot so you can habituate this practice. You want breakfast to be a smooth sailing and predictable as brushing your teeth, so don’t make it complicated, unless you have the time.
4. Drink Lots of Water.
   Keep drinking your water. Aim for 64 ounces of water each day

 

Oatmeal Recipe

• 1/4 c. Organic steel cut oatmeal
• 1 scoop of Hemp Seeds (2 Tablespoons)
• 2 T. Ground flax seed
• 2 T. Chia Seeds
• Handful of raw nuts and/or seeds (walnuts, cashews, almonds, pumpkin seeds)
• Cinnamon (to taste)

Fully cover with very hot (nearly boiling) water – about 3/4 cup.. Let sit for 3-5 minutes. (Or you can also stir & stick in microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. If you do this, I recommend cooking the oatmeal by itself & then stirring in the rest of the ingredients afterward. But it works either way.)

Add some fresh fruit or nut milk if you like:

• Organic fresh or frozen berries (small handful)
• Dried Goji Berries (2 T.)
• Soy milk or nut milk, if you like creamy

Oatmeal is a great base. Change it up with:

• Nut butters
• Other fruits: bananas, mangos, etc.
• Avocado & Salsa

Other Breakfast Ideas

• Any kind of rice/beans/veggie combo, add some avocado for healthy fats. Salsa is great, too. Or a bit of seasoning.

• Stir-fry some black or pinto beans, sweet potatoes, onion & bell peppers. Use a small bit of coconut oil to stir fry. (If you cook the sweet potatoes in advance, this meal cooks in just a couple minutes. Or, just cut the potatoes really small & they will cook along with the onion/bell peppers).

• Want something more portable or more filling? Put all of this and some avocado into an Ezekiel Brand Tortilla & make a healthy breakfast burrito.

• Ezekiel Brand Cereals w/nut milk & fruit

• If you’re big on toast or bagels, try swapping with an Ezekiel brand bread or Ezekiel English muffin.

• If you’re big on eggs, scramble an egg with sweet potato and/or beans & a piece of Ezekiel toast with a little nut butter or avocado on it. (We will chat about eggs next week just to give a little more info on why I don’t typically recommend them.)

• Leftover dinner is great, too (as long as it was a healthy dinner w/complex carbs, proteins & healthy fats)

Why we love Ezekiel Brand Breads/Tortillas
Remember, we want complex carbs that take longer to digest. This brand is sprouted grains & does not have flour (or added sugar) so they do much better in our body than typical breads you find in the grocery store. You can find Ezekiel brand here locally in Trader Joe’s, Jimbo’s, Sprouts & Ralphs (check frozen or refrigerated sections). They tend to go bad quickly, so keep in the freezer, if you aren’t using often.