#DineJoziStyle Breakfast Edition

We’re going to be talking about what to eat and where to go and who to know, so buckle up, it might be a bumpy ride.

Something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently is how to create a substantial breakfast. And the reason why this weighs so heavily on my mind, normally, the first thing to enter my mind when I wake up in the morning is not breakfast. I’m happy with a cup of coffee or two, maybe three if I feel like pushing it, tempting fate.

But I’m quite happy to wait until the middle of the morning before I start breakfasting or branching. But since we’ve gone into winter, I find I can barely wait for the kettle to boil and I’m contemplating in which order am I going to be eating breakfast. Not what, but what am I going to be eating first.

Which got me thinking, very often people wake up, have coffee, jump in the car, hit the traffic just to get to work, pick up a muffin, pick up a sweet, a little sweetie, to make it through the day. And I’m horrified. I remember all the times I used to watch colleagues eating like five-year-olds, eating those multi-coloured, multi-flavoured cereal pups.

I don’t want to mention any names. But I remember when I was a child I didn’t mind a very sugary sweet dessert. But you know it wreaks havoc on your body as you get older, notwithstanding the very real threat of malnutrition and type 2, type 2, I can’t even say it, type 2 diabetes.

And there is a train of thought that says skipping breakfast is like starting a road trip on an empty tank. Your body has been fasting overnight and it needs fuel to power your brain, balance your mood and stabilise your blood sugar. But this is where I think a high-protein breakfast is better.

It boosts your metabolism, it keeps you fuller for longer and it prevents mid-morning crashes, or shall we say bad snack decisions. And I speak from experience because I remember in the mornings I’d have a cup of coffee with sugar. I could barely get into the office and I was running to the nearest bakery to buy a muffin that I thought was healthy.

But I found the less sugar I ate, the less sugar I needed. And the less sugar I craved. And even nowadays, I must admit, it’s very hard for me to break the habit.

I love a fruit salad and yoghurt in the mornings. I do find that whatever I have, I have to have eggs. A blessing if I can have bacon. I sound like Nigella Lawson. A blessing if I could have bacon. Or have fish. I love haddock or I love salmon. Any kind of fish for breakfast is a treat. But I’m also trying to cut out processed meats, which includes your smoked meats and your cured meats. But I’m very happy if I can have something substantial. For example, scrambled eggs or even fried eggs. An omelette with cheese. I must actually do some thorough investigation to find healthier proteins that we can have so we don’t feel deprived when we’re not eating bacon and eggs. But we can still have eggs and something. But maybe a pork chop would be nice.

Imagine having pork chops for breakfast. I’m salivating just thinking about it. Having a really hearty, chunky pork chop for breakfast. It doesn’t even have to be smoked or cured. But if you can’t have pork chops, like this is ever going to be a reality in my life. But if you can’t have pork chops for breakfast, here are a couple of ideas you could consider if you wanted a high-protein breakfast.

And these are some of my favourite. Boiled eggs and avo. You can have them on their own. You can have them with seed crackers. They’re really healthy and they pack healthy fats and proteins. I often, when I have breakfast, if we’ve got avo, I’ll pop in half an avo. Or what I really enjoy is a Greek yoghurt. You don’t need the flavoured, coloured, sugared yoghurts. Plain, simple Greek yoghurt is good enough for you and myself.

You can always top it up with a little bit of honey or with some berries or some fruit. I also enjoy making protein smoothies. And that’s as simple as taking, again, some yoghurt, blitzing it up with some banana and some peanut butter. And you’ve got an instant, high-protein breakfast. If you wanted to, you could also add some whey protein. But I tend to avoid anything that is processed. But what I do like about a protein smoothie, you can take it with you in the car. Speaking of taking things in the car, what you could also do is make egg muffins, which are almost like a mini omelette in a cupcake tray. These are wonderful for brunch ideas over the weekend, where literally you are going to crack an egg into a cupcake or a muffin tray and you can bake them. You can do this. I wouldn’t recommend doing it overnight, but you can do it for the whole family so they can eat on the way. Or you can just pop them in the microwave and reheat them when you get to the office.

Something I also enjoy is cottage cheese. And I’m not going to tell you. Well, okay, I will tell you seeing as I’m telling you I’m not. I do sometimes eat cottage cheese out of the container. Just whacking a spoon to take a mouthful. And I’ve got a tummy liner. But I do find, and I’m not going to get excited about cottage cheese, by the way, it’s just the fact that it’s quite filling when you don’t really feel like eating. It’s something I do actually add to my breakfast every now and again. Especially if I’m having a fruity breakfast, I’ll just put a wodge, I don’t know what the correct word is, a serving possibly, a serving of cottage cheese. Then I like to drizzle a bit of honey over it and maybe even sprinkle a couple of nuts. Then you can make it kind of savoury or you could make it kind of sweet. Something I think everybody should remember when it comes to breakfast, the less sugar the better.

In fact, I’m going to challenge all of our listeners. If you want to do a bit of winter rejuvenation, start cutting back on the sugar and the carbs, especially the refined sugar and carbs. I don’t have a problem with honey as a sweetener in moderation. Just add that disclaimer. I don’t mind eating whole fruits because it gives me a bit of a sugar kick. But I do draw the line when I start adding things to my diet that have got added sugar.
And that includes my coffee. I would sooner die, I would sooner die, dear listeners, than add even as much as a spoonful of sugar to help my coffee go down. And it’s one of those things that I find pays dividends.

As I mentioned earlier, the less sugar I eat, the less sugar I crave. And what I find very compelling, somebody showed before and after pictures of the difference sugar makes to a person’s face. You might think it’s just kilojoules and weight gain and fat, but sugar creates inflammation. The pictures that I saw were enough to convince me none of us need that kind of sugar-induced inflammation in our faces. Anyhow, don’t take my word for it. I’m just a blogger.

Try it for yourself. Eat less sugar and see what a difference it makes in your life.