When I was in my early 30s I found out I had borderline high cholesterol. It was a wake up call to get more deliberate about my health, and I paid attention. I lost about 35 pounds and changed my eating habits. One habit stuck with me for about 16 years…almost every day I ate the same cereal breakfast.
I like routines, especially routines that make mornings easier. So when I started the Whole Life Challenge and saw that cereal was non-compliant, I freaked a little. I’ll be honest. I sort of depend on eating that same breakfast every day. It frees me to think about other things when I’m freshly awake.
A friend suggested I replace it with compliant oatmeal, which I scoffed at, having always found myself hungry not long after eating oatmeal. But then I caved. I bought a tin of steel cut oats.
And I was hooked. Reader, I married him have a new breakfast! Here’s how I make it– and it’s nearly as easy as pouring a bowl of cereal! The key thing: I make it in the crock pot–4.5 cups of water to 1 cup of steel cut oats. I put it on high for two hours (at about 9 p.m.), and then turn it down to warm for the rest of the night. This makes four servings, so I only have to do it twice a week.
To make it seem like a real treat, I chop up an apple and sauté in a little coconut oil (good fat, yo) with a generous sprinkle of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves over it. I add a tablespoon of pumpkin seeds (zinc, yo) to my bowl, pour on the oatmeal, top it with warm apple, drizzle on a little cashew milk.
And that is my new breakfast routine. Okay, your turn: what’s your go-to healthy breakfast?
P.S. I now refill the lovely McCann tin with steel cut oats bought at less than half the price at my health food store!
