Healthy Breakfast Menu

Healthy breakfast menu is a long page; may I suggest you first quickly scan it before getting into the details. Take your time since it is one of the most important essays at this site.

Breakfast like a king but dine like a pauper; there is strong scientific backing.

In our youth we ate virtually anything for breakfast, whether it was nutritious or not. From there we graduated to better whole grain muesli but as we got older we found them indigestible, and a feeling that there was a large rock settling at the base of the stomach.

From there we took to cooking our whole grains, which we still do, but have added to that an egg poached on a variety of greens. Our breakfast menu is the most important of the day, but you will see a complete absence of refined grains.

This page was last updated by Bernard Preston on 18th June, 2023.

For me it just is not negotiable, but it does not have to be a large meal. Boring perhaps, but I have so many patients in their eighties, with all their marbles intact and having a ball that I too want to reach a happy and healthy eighty plus vintage. Do you agree? Yes, the best laid plans of mice and men do go awry, but a good start to the day swings the percentages in your favour.

But does it also have to be boring? Absolutely not. Every breakfast for me is a feast of delicious flavours and tempting tidbits.

For starters your needs on a working day, are quite different to a sedentary weekend. Plus, others may disagree, I think there needs to be a meal now and then when we let our hair down, and indulge ourselves just a little.

Do it every day, and you will turn into a belly-up beached whale. Sunday is probably when you might take a break from your healthy breakfast recipes. Have an egg or two perhaps, a mushroom, and even a waffle, but with healthy flour and raw honey, not syrup.

What is the first thing you do in the morning? Hopefully not light a cigarette, but almost certainly a sweet pee. That fluid needs to be replaced so that your tissues remain well hydrated.

Do you know what silver tea is? I learned about it from my grandmother, and she certainly lived to a very happy and healthy eighty; a cup of warm water, perhaps with a slither of lemon to start the day. Whatever, it needs to be long and wet.

For me it is two very large mugs of very weak black tea with a slice of any preferably tart fruit that we have in the house; lemon, plum and granadilla but any of your favourites will do.

Now, what about the fruit in your muesli?

There is so much research now confirming that raw foods are full of compounds called phytosterols; they are antioxidants. They really are true functional foods that help prevent disease and promote well-being, and that is not negotiable in our book. Plus it fits beautifully in with working person's need for quick breakfast ideas. What can be more delicious than half a dozen bright red strawberries, a quarter of cantaloupe, a bunch of grapes, or whatever is in season. An absolute must, and the brighter the colours the better the research is be confirming.

These Quaker oats recipes are a great option too.

Maize-meal porridge is a traditional and highly recommended breakfast in South Africa, but made with refined flour it is pure junk and devoid of good nutrition. It's no better than cornflakes, just a good deal cheaper.

Remembering that our goal is for at least eight coloured foods every day, because that reduces the death rate from all causes by a massive 33%, there needs to be some fruit in the healthy breakfast menu.

• INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT STRAWBERRIES
• What are phytosterols?

And, again, with that starch there must be some fat, or it is deposited by insulin in all the wrong places.

Is a puffed wheat cereal a whole grain is a question often asked.

Find the links to those topics highlighted in bold by copying and pasting into Site Search in the main menu above.

Subsequent meal effect

Fascinating research shows that inclusion of whole grains and legumes at breakfast, not only lowers your blood glucose after that meal, but for the whole day; it's known as the "subsequent meal effect" if you want to research it.  This means that if you cheat and have a sugar-laden cola, or bar of chocolate later, it will have a lessened deleterious effect on your metabolism. 

Thus any healthy breakfast menu should include a small portion of whole grain porridge, or toast made from 100% meal, and could easily include a few fava beans, or chickpeas tossed in with your Eggs Florentine. Provided you don't go overboard it will mean you have your cake, and eat it; generally most of us have far too much refined starch.

We call it Eggs Hilton.

Probiotics

These days we are exposed to so many antibiotics, either in medication or in our food; drugs that kill friend and foe alike, so we recommend a probiotic to restock the colon with friendly bacteria and yeasts. You can either pay quite a lot of money for a supplement, but we recommend you consider kefir benefits; instead you will spend about five minutes every morning straining off the bacteria-rich whey from the milk curds.

We love to make this kefir breakfast smoothie.

Diseases of the immune system are intimately tied up with the presence or otherwise of a happy tum.

Week days

Berries are rich in phenols which are very powerful antioxidants; and interesting research shows that those who ate them regularly had less of a weight problem. "Changes in Intake of Fruits and Vegetables and Weight Change in United States Men and Women Followed for Up to 24 Years."

Along with some whole freshly cracked nuts and a whole grain like rolled oats and you have the perfect breakfast.

Orange juice facts

Bought OJ in a carton is definitely not on the healthy breakfast menu; if you're unconvinced then just read these ORANGE JUICE FACTS.

If you have the time and energy to squeeze your own, that's great. What is the difference you are probably thinking?

You'll love the mandarin orange tree.

It takes less than three minutes to squeeze two fruit using any orange juice press including washing out the appliance. Actually I rarely use the strainer; most of the goodies are in the pulp.

Carbohydrate

You get enough carbohydrate really in your fruit, but I think 3 - 4 spoons of a muesli based on unrefined oats is a good option for the healthy breakfast menu. It is one of the super foods rated most highly for lowering cholesterol. Add a handful of raisins to sweeten it, your omega 3 from two or three walnuts and some freshly crushed flax. And perhaps grind some pumpkin seeds; they are good for the prostate gland.

Freshly-ground sunflower seeds are great too in any healthy breakfast menu; they help provide the fat that must go with a starch or your blood glucose will soar.

I buy a cheap oats muesli with zero sugar; and every weekend spend ten minutes making up a large container with various nutritious tasty goodies. Then it's quick and ready for Monday morning. Soak with boiling water and leave the bowl to stand. Perhaps nuke it for one minute; then it is much more digestible.

Most likely you are looking for low carb recipes and a muesli is quick and easy and fits perfectly into our healthy breakfast menu. Absolutely avoid the high sugar All-bran, cocoa pops and corn flakes. They instantly put pounds on all the wrong places. And don't get your kids started on them either.

The soluble fibre in our apple diet is far more effective against constipation than added bran. Plus it adsorbes calcium, not good for a woman's bones obviously.

A is for horses and refined bran too. If you don't know the cockney alphabet, google it; it is great fun.

Understand the meaning of starch and you will permanently be able to put behind you the fear and fake information out there about carbs. They aren't all equal; and there are ways of preparing them so they do not give a blood sugar surge. Find out about terms like retrogradation and resistant starch. Nothing whatsoever wrong with apples, grapes and oats; and if you can find it, 100% wholemeal bread on the healthy breakfast menu.

But do keep portions sizes down, especially the grapes.

Wholewheat is impossible to get unless you have your own mill but this fried bulgur with turmeric is a good and simple option; nutritionally there is no advantage in drying the grain and then grinding it.

French fries alas are for beach days only; they have a very high glycemic index, akin to sugar; always take a short walk after any starchy meal or you liver will be forced to soak up an awful lot of glucose.

Did you know there is space in all your blood for only one teaspoon of sugar?

Stone ground grits or maizemeal as it is called in South Africa is a great favourite; unless it's been highly refined by the millers.

An aside.
I wonder how long it's going to be before the first American sues his parents for having allowed him to become an obese nine year-old? The sooner a test case comes before the courts the better, as far as I am concerned. By a very young age the size of your fat cells has been determined.

Allow your child to become fat by the age of 9 and you have condemned him or her to a life-long struggle with their weight.

It's pure negligence on the part of parents not to insist on a healthy breakfast menu; with a not dissimilar effect on your child's longevity as to encourage or allow him to become a smoker at the age of nine.

What about the protein?

Another non-negotiable is some protein. Meat is a definitely not on the healthy breakfast menu; a maximum of once a day assuming you have no desire to be numbered in the group prone to tumours but there are a good many options.

Protein is what stops you from being starving at 11 o'clock and starting to snack; that is a quick route to the extra pounds that none of us need.

Interestingly the Cancer Association recommends a whole grain and a legume for every meal; difficult for most of us. But could you make sure of it once a day? The Eggs Parkinson's Disease above on half a slice of unrefined toast is standard fare at our home. I have a tremor; the L-dopa in the broad beans helps to control it.

I'll admit to being odd. My first choice is a chickpea dish, homemade but without the garlic. It's really delicious and you can literally in only four minutes make a batch of this authentic hummus recipe that will last half a week in the fridge; and keep you going for a whole morning. It does for me, and I can promise you that at the chiropractic coalface one needs it.

Other good protein options for your healthy breakfast menu are yogurt but stick with the zero sugar; a piece of fish left over from last night, Eggs Florentine several times a week or a cheese sandwich made from 100 percent wholemeal flour.

I've been up for nearly three hours now, finished my two large mugs of tea and have just ground the beans for the first indulgence of this bright sunny summer morning. A cup of coffee, ah. Incidentally, when you find half the scientists are saying that a particular food or beverage, like coffee for example, is good and the other half are calling it bad, it means they just do not know.

So enjoy your coffee within reason. I don't like the instant or decaff varieties because of the processing; and they do not taste half as good anyway.

• AUTHENTIC HUMMUS RECIPE
  

SUNDAY

While I am totally committed to the healthy breakfast menu, I am not suggesting the steppes of Siberia; Sunday is the day to indulge in something different. Food is part of the fun of life, and a little indulgence is in order and the gentle family breakfast, with the TV turned off, is one good way to do it.

How much indulgence? Well, if your Body Mass Index is over 30 then you've already grossly over indulged, and it's strictly Siberia for you until you get it under thirty! Calculate your BMI if you dare. Over 35 and there is a massive stroke on the way.

Two thirds of the Western world is either overweight or obese; no wonder there is so much pain, disability and early demise.

If you too do not like pain, take the BMI test; knowing where you stand is the first step to a better lifestyle.

Smoothies and slushies

Do you have a stick blender in your kitchen? Then you can make a smoothie but be careful of the bought ones; many are very high in calories. In any case you want it made from fresh or perhaps frozen fruit if it is to fit with a healthy breakfast menu.

These nutritious berry smoothies are variations on the theme.

It's all about many different coloured foods; that is where much of the protection against malignant tumours is to be found.

This nutritious green smoothie is made with avocado. The good fats give our foods satiety so we are not famished at 11 o'clock; and reaching for a cola and cookie. You can whistle it up in less than five minutes.

There are so many to choose from; personalise your own super smoothies.

This milky oats slushie is another of our favourites; keeping it simple.

After the coffee grinder, it is the most used electric kitchen utensil. Easy to use, quick to wash, and cheap. Do not buy one with less than 200W. I particular like them because the drain on our Solar Powered Generator is low. Aside: any idea how satisfying it is to live by the power of the sun? Right now I am typing by solar energy stored in our batteries.

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Newsletter

Our newsletter is entitled "create a cyan zone" at your home, preserving both yourself and Mother Earth for future generations; and the family too, of course. We promise not to spam you with daily emails promoting various products. You may get an occasional nudge to buy one of my books.

Here are the back issues.

Sorry, that was a distraction from the order of the day! Come back to it when you have some spare time. It is not a decision to take lightly.

Strawberries

Cynical early Dutch thinking was that strawberries are simply expensive coloured water; the facts prove exactly the opposite. Whilst there is often merit in old wives' tales, it's not always so. Berries in general provide a very important part of the healthy breakfast menu.

If only for the benefit of certain phenols that prevent macular degeneration we should be eating strawberries regularly when they are in season; prevention as always is better than a cure.

Read more about it at strawberries nutrition facts.

If you can't get walnuts, the best nut for omega-3, then try shelling pecan nuts. I can do three in less than a minute... if you have a cardiovascular condition like high blood pressure, then add a tablespoon of freshly ground flaxseeds too. So easy with your stick blender.

• A breakfast rich in vitamin E protects the brain against stroke and dementia.
  

Notice the full cream yoghurt; it keeps your blood glucose from soaring; better still would be a slither of avocado.⁽¹⁾

• Grinding flax seed
  
• Citrus fruit list
  

 

Start with a breakfast smoothie and then let your hair down a bit, but do consider our SAUTEED MUSHROOM RECIPE.

Incredible anti-tumour food that should have a permanent place on your low carb breakfast recipes. Done in butter of course, not margarine or corn oil, provided your total cholesterol is below 200 (5.1). Otherwise it's

• EXERCISE AND CHOLESTEROL ... for you! Straight after breakfast. 
• Why so fiendishly against margarine? HYDROGENATED FOODS ...
  Type these terms into Site Search.
  

Scrambled eggs and parsley

Together with ONE scrambled egg, liberally sprinkled with parsley benefits or coriander, on ONE slice of wholewheat toast with a scrape of butter, and perhaps a tomato and onion mix, and you have the perfect Sunday healthy breakfast menu; especially if you can find a source of true free range eggs.

Add a little salt without guilt. New research proves that both too little, and too much salt is detrimental. So you can and should enjoy a little salt with your food. Salt high blood pressure is certainly a subject we all should know something about.

Proper free range eggs are vastly better in both taste and nutrient value, but they are difficult to locate; many farmers cheat. The alternative, the one we have chosen, is to build a chicken tractor designs and keep your own hens. They have added immeasurably to our organic garden, providing high nitrogen manure, keeping the bugs under control and to our surprise providing an early warning siren that the vervet monkeys are in town.

• PARSLEY BENEFITS ... much more than a garnish
• Growing coriander ...
• Low GI bread

Toss in a few leaves of finely chopped nutrition of arugula, also known as rocket.

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"I cannot remember the last time I was not at least kind of tired."

Time for a decent breakfast? Or, when did you last take at least a straight two week holiday where you slept in only one bed? Of course, most Americans work far too hard. Three weeks plus is the standard vacation in the rest of the world. All work and no play makes Jane a very tired girl and Tom a dull boy.

• Type "tired all the time syndrome" into Site Search in the main menu
  

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Atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries

Toxic chemicals in the blood stream cause inflammation of the inner lining, the intima, of the blood vessels. Top of the list of course is the substances in cigarette smoke, but not far below that is a surprising ratio of otherwise healthy fats in the diet. Too much omega 6 and too little 3 is one of the prime causes of inflammation in the blood vessels, and atherosclerosis.

Another is sugar and all refined carbohydrates.

All meals, including breakfast, we should be looking at ways to make sure the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis is not working against us. A bright-red, inflamed intima means high blood pressure and the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Here is a simple solution.

• Make sure your cereals aren't soaked in seed oils which are high in omega 6; what I do is to add a tablespoon of freshly-ground flaxseed to my cereal. It is the richest vegetable source of omega 3, cheap and virtually tasteless, but it is rapidly oxidised so grind enough for three days perhaps, and keep it in the fridge. 
• Grinding flax seeds is for everyone.
  
• It's immediately obvious that the ground flaxseed vs oil debate is futile; chalk and cheese.

Healthy Breakfast Menu

As I have become older I have started finding that an oats muesli gives me indigestion and an acid stomach. So we have moved away from that to a cooked healthy breakfast menu; eggs Florentine is so easy on the tum, and tasty if you dicky it up with garlic, jalapenos and varied dark-green leafy vegetables.

Cooked unrefined, rolled oats is still regularly on the platter though.

The spinach is the richest vegetable source of iron; a deficiency in 30% of the Western population is fingered as the main cause of TATT syndome; tired all the time.

The health benefits of spinach are sublime; good enough for Popeye, and good enough for me. What's potting in the Spring garden is a fun time for all. 

Eggs Hilton is the latest fashion; it has many merits not least of which you will not be famished at 11 o'clock. One variation is to add some legumes; it gets a qualified nod after considering the glycemic response to fava beans.

Eggs Florentine

A new favourite is eggs florentine; high in folate and vitamin B12 this makes the perfect addition to the healthy breakfast menu; fix your constipation too. Spinach is one of the most rewarding crops in the summer vegetable garden.

Two million Americans are needlessly blind from macular degeneration, and many more are only partially-sighted. Spinach is rich in lutein, one of three phytonutrients vitally involved in a healthy retina and lens; the other two are zeaxanthin and oleocanthal.

The levodopa in fava beans plays a role too.

Read more about zeaxanthin macular degeneration by using the site search function on your left.

Notice there is no margarine on our table; in any case, butter is back.

In order to make sure you have chilli available year round for your eggs Florentine, it's worth considering how to preserve jalapeno peppers; it's dead simple; the capsaicin health benefits are simply vast. 

Something sweet?

Ending a meal with something sweet is not a problem; already the gut is full of fibre, protein and fat, so the GI of the whole meal will be low, even if you finish with sourdough bread and this gooseberry jam recipe.

The healthy breakfast menu is indeed versatile; add your own choice foods. Delaying the meal incidentally, even if you eat exactly the same portions, helps you lose weight; read more about that at the longevity diet. It's called time-restricted fasting.

Better still on your healthy breakfast menu would be toast and lime marmalade of course.

Use only home bake bread flour if you delight in the proper loaf; the supermarket stuff is so tasteless.

If you feel you are going to seed perhaps it is time to start collecting your own and growing your own veggies and fruit; like those gooseberries, except that they are one of the invasive alien species.

Green bean seeds are the easiest; we have them most days for breakfast in the Moroccan tradition; they emphatically give satiety.

Absolutely amazing is how taking a short ten minute walk after starchy food stops my blood glucose soaring into orbit; I am prediabetic. Since I started cutting back hard on all the refined carbs in my meals, the A1c has returned to a happy 5.5%.

• How to test yourself for prediabetes

The German neurological association has just reminded us again on World Brain Day how important it is to keep sugars to less than 10 tsp per day.

• Excessive sugar drives dementia and stroke
  

Tea and toast

Tea and toast particularly if there is added sugar and white bread was used with margarine is the quickest way known to frailty syndrome; the premature loss of strength and vitality.

Whilst both tea and toast have a place in the healthy breakfast menu, they are only the start.

These frailty cheats will help you step up to greater well-being.

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Hilton, KZN

South Africa

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Create a Cyan Zone at your home; one which complements blue areas for longevity with green for protecting Mother Earth.