Nip the sweet cravings in the bud ~ before they begin!
Starting the day savory instead of sweet can help to stop the sweet tooth before the cravings begin, and having more protein and less grains or sugars for breakfast starts your day with more energy. Even grain breakfasts you think are healthy, like oatmeal, will start your day on a blood sugar roller coaster. While oats are healthy and a good source of fiber, they do not make a great stand alone breakfast due to their effects on blood sugar.
- If you love your oatmeal and don’t want to give it up; you can make it stabilize your blood sugar better by adding nuts, seeds, fats like coconut oil, or even full fat yogurt to make it not become a blood sugar ride.
What is the SAD Diet? it is the Standard American Diet … a SAD breakfast would look like: cold cereal and dead milk, bagel, toast and jam, oatmeal, pancakes, croissants, muffins, and yes even granola and kashi cereals are high in sugar and/or grains that disrupt blood sugar. A savory breakfast in the morning has more sustenance and helps us set the intent for a day of healthy eating. Once our ‘sugar bugs’ — part of our microbiome — get the taste for sweet they will make it loud and clear they want more sugary foods all day long … and you will begin your day craving sugar and then battling that craving all throughout your day. Here are a few of the many benefits of starting your day with a savory breakfast:
- Increased energy throughout the day
- Greater mental focus and clarity
- Improved mood
It time to reframe what we think of as Breakfast … In Europe breakfasts are commonly cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers or other vegetables and slices of really good (round up is banned in most of Europe 🙂 bread … don’t think of standard American breakfast foods ~ think outside the box! This starts to reframe our attitude on food from the inside out.
Some Ideas for Savory Breakfasts?
Of course the top easy one is eggs … Eggs in all their glory can be eaten in sooooo many different ways. And turns out eggs are not the cholesterol villains we once thought they were. Eggs are a healthy food as long as you don’t have any type of allergy to them.
Soup! Soup makes a great breakfast. Especially left over soups … quick and easy, heat it up relax as you sip it on the morning and then get on your way. Don’t have leftover soup? There are a couple options.
- Night before quick and easy crock pot soup – While you are cleaning up from supper or cooking supper; plug in your crockpot, fill your crock pot half to 3/4s full with some kind of broth (homemade is always best but store bought if you don’t like to cook or don’t have time to cook will be ok too if the source is clean). Throw in some veggies of your liking and let it simmer until you go to bed. When you wake up in the morning turn it on first thing so when you are ready for breakfast you have your breakfast soup ready for you. You can even keep it on the counter for days as long as you let it come to a simmer each day. Viola! 3-4 days of soup for breakfast.
- Any leftovers? They make great breakfasts!
- You can also throw some leftovers in your crock pot soup too.
- You can also make a big pot of traditional soup and freeze it in single serving sized jars.
- Pho also makes a great morning soup (recipe below).
- Miso soup is also a great breakfast and can be made heartier by adding some fish, buckwheat noodles, or wildwood sprouted tofu if you handle soy.
My other go to for a savory breakfast are savory smoothies. You can power pack some veggies and herbs in like celery, cucumber, avocado, spinach, dill, cilantro, basil, etc. I also like to add a fermented liquid such as kombucha or brine from my home ferments and I also put in lots of seeds. A smoothie like this is a powerfully nutritious smoothies. Recipes below.
Pho- a Gut-friendly Vietnamese Soup
Savory Smoothie Breakfasts – Build Your Own!