Care

Reshaping Your Menu – Intro to Series

MNU-ICONS-HEALTH

Welcome to the first part of our Reshaping Your Menu Series, BREAKFAST! This is the first in a series of posts, which will include suggestions for specific meal times, tips and tricks and snacks.   

 

breakfast

  

After a serious illness (and often during), we find ourselves having to approach eating with an entirely new set of rules.  This cannot only be daunting, it can be so tricky to maneuver through it all that you often feel like giving up.  Well, don’t!  These things you just do with baby steps, a little bit at a time.  Just master one mealtime menu, get comfortable with it and make it a habit, and then you can tackle the next.  Otherwise, it will just seem impossible and you might throw in the towel and go back to your old ways.  Also, we don’t like the word diet, because it seems temporary.  Like it or not, things have changed and you have to make the best of it.  But it doesn’t have to be a pain in the neck and the food does not have to be distasteful.  You CAN have both yummy food and effortless change.

We’ll start with a few easy things for each mealtime, and why they are good for you.  Then we can go about making them work in your everyday life.  I am a big believer in prepping things in advance, because if it is all ready to go, then I make better choices about what I put in my body.  So count on a bit of prep that will end up saving you not only time but likely also calories.  

Remember, baby steps until it seamlessly fits into your new, healthy lifestyle.  You can do it!

I learned to master this meal first, because if I don’t have breakfast, it throws off my entire day of eating.  Also, if you are like me and have to take meds in the morning, it is good to have something in your stomach first.  There are several studies that show that not only is breakfast the most important meal of the day, it can actually be detrimental to skip it.  According to a recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, missing even one breakfast each week increases your risk of type 2 diabetes by 20 percent! (source: Women’s Health).   Read more here >  

Eating breakfast every day has a multitude of health benefits, from helping you stay on track with a regular eating program to staving off obesity.  It also boosts your metabolism, which needs a jump start after slowing down during sleeping and it fuels your brain (yes!). 

I like this quote – “Breakfast is a time of day, not a type of food.” (Sheah Rarback, R.D.).  Don’t limit yourself to what may be considered breakfast food.  If you have a great soup in the fridge, or leftovers from the night before that are packed with protein and vegetables full of vitamins and minerals, then heat it up and off you go.  When I am craving carbs, I will eat them in the morning so I have the rest of the day to burn them off.  My friend Kris, who is in brilliant shape, eats a piece of chocolate cake for breakfast every day.  She eats healthy (no sugar) for the remainder of her meals.  Dessert for breakfast?? Why not!

I had some help learning how to do this.  Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I started going to Rachel Beller, R.D. at the Beller Nutritional Institute in Beverly Hills (we’ll feature her in an upcoming blog). You might know her from “The Biggest Loser.” One of her specialties is working with those who have cancer or who are high-risk, as she likes to fight cancer with food.  She set me on the right path, and her instruction keeps me focused on staying healthy after my diagnosis.  She recently published her best-selling “Eat to Lose, Eat to Win,”  which is available on Amazon $16.98.

 

BREAKFAST 

Fiber is the key (for your health AND for weight loss!), and throw in some extras to get all of those good vitamins. You should shoot for 30 to 35 grams of fiber a day. Things I always keep on hand: 

irish20oatmeal

 

Steel Cut Oats – I will make a cup of this on a Sunday, and it lasts me a whole week.  It takes 30 minutes, one pot and no effort whatsoever.  The fiber in oats is like a scrubber for your insides. It gets all of those toxins and things that can hurt us over time out and frees up room for the good stuff.  This is filling and keeps you full until it is time for a late morning snack or even lunchtime.  We love these Irish oats from McCann’s which originate in Naas, Ireland (beautiful horse country in County Kildare).  You can buy them at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods or Amazon if you cannot find them in your neighborhood market.

 

Green Tea & Lemon – My nutritionist Rachel got me started on Matcha green tea.  The nutritional value of ONE cup of Matcha is the equivalent of TEN cups of brewed tea!! That is because it is a powder, so you are ingesting the whole leaf, matchateapowder2not just the brewed water.  I do it the Japanese way, with some powder, a stirrer and a bowl.  Then I add the juice of half of a lemon, which keeps the powerful antioxidants from being destroyed before you can use them.  Matcha is sugar-free, which is great for diabetics and those of us trying to cut back on sugar.  It is rich in fiber, nutrients and antioxidants, and a powerful anti-inflammatory.  It is also both a stimulant (caffeine) and relaxant (Matcha’s amino acids offer a “sustained calm alertness” over time when combined with the caffeine).  I started with Muzi tea to get the bowl set and now just get the powder from my local Japanese market or Whole Foods.  We also like Matcha Source in Los Angeles. View here> 

    greekyogurt

Greek Yogurt – This is great to add to smoothies, or just put in a bowl with some fresh berries and cinnamon.  It is really high in protein (18 grams per 6 ounces) and a fabulous creamy replacement for milk, mayo or sour cream.  I use it in everything, from dips and sauces to desserts and baked goods. Throw a fiber muffin in here with some cinnamon and blueberries in the morning and you are on your way!

Mixed-Fresh-Berries-300x200


Fresh Fruit
 – Berries, berries, berries.  Full of antioxidants and vitamins, you just cannot go wrong with berries.  The mack daddy of these is the blueberry. Throw them in oats, yogurt or smoothies to start,or have a handful as a snack.  

 CeylonCinnamon

Cinnamon – I use this in my oats, on my Greek yogurt, in shakes and even in sauces. Cinnamon is great as an anti-inflammatory, can help control blood sugar and cholesterol, and has iron, calcium, dietary fiber and manganese. Bet you didn’t know that it is a fat burner, too. All of this in just a few shakes of this powerhouse spice.  Try the “Rachel recommended” Ceylon cinnamon which you can order from Amazon.  

protein powder 

Protein Powder – I like the protein powder from Trader Joe’s, and I throw it in my oatmeal and in shakes. I used to use the Soy Protein, but now I have to be very careful of what soy products I eat, based on my condition. It is important to get protein in where you can, particularly if you are like me and limit animal protein consumption.  The latest version at TJ’s is this hemp protein powder, which has 8 grams of protein, 500 mgs of Omega 3’s, 10 essential amino acids and 9 grams of fiber.  It’s completely vegan and organic, and comes in vanilla or chocolate flavor.  

 chia

Chia Seeds – Huge in fiber, just a pinch of these will do you.  I throw these in my oats and my smoothies as well, or in other beverages like iced tea.

 

tomatoes

Tomatoes – Did you now that 2 to 4 servings of tomato sauce a week can cut your prostate cancer risk by 34%?  They are also my favorite vegetable, and I eat them like candy.  Grape, cherry, heirloom, roma, beefsteak, you name it, I will eat it.  They are so versatile and easy to pop in to so many dishes.  They are high in lycopene, which is a big cancer fighter, and also an inflammatory.  They even help with cognitive dysfunction, osteoporosis and skin damage.  Add to eggs for breakfast with some spinach or kale and get your antioxidants on! 

Make perfect boiled eggs

 

Eggs – If you don’t have an issue with animal products, eggs are a protein giant.  They are also incredibly versatile, so you can make them many different ways so you won’t get sick of them.  Try to buy the organic eggs.  Although pricier, they have the least amount of injected hormones.  Eggs are packed with nutrients like choline, which studies have shown reduces the chance of breast cancer, and other antioxidants like lutein and zeazanthin, which help prevent macular degeneration.

 

naturelpath

Fiber Cereal – As a person who has had cancer, fiber is a big freakin’ deal in my diet.  Fiber scrubs out toxins and it also soaks up the bad things to transport them out of your body. I eat high fiber cereals (like Nature’s Path) to add more fiber to my diet.  I like to get a good chunk of my daily fiber intake out of the way in the morning.  It just seems easier for me to do that with breakfast.  Fiber also makes you feel more full, and can help lower the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

almond-milk- 

Almond Milk – This is a great alternative to milk, if you are trying to cut back on dairy.  I like the unsweetened vanilla flavor. Low in cholesterol and sugar, almond milk is a good source for calcium, iron (about 4% of the recommended daily dose) and Vitamins A, B, and E.

  

 

wholegrains

 

Whole Grains –Whole grains are a great source of protein, antioxidants and phytochemicals, which fight disease and vitamins like E, the B’s and trace minerals like iron and magnesium.  Try buckwheat pancakes, quinoa made like oats, or whole rye toast.

 

Check with your doctor or a registered dietician to review what is best for you.  Just take it one meal at a time, and pretty soon, you will have completely changed the way you eat.  Now you will not only be eating to live, but eating for life! 

-AK

 

**Stay tuned for our next feature in the Reshaping Your Menu series, LUNCH**