My breakfast of champions is a fully loaded bowl of oatmeal. It’s bursting with anti-oxidant
power, anti-inflammatory ingredients, fiber, potassium, and other minerals.
I start with a 3/4 cup of uncooked rolled oats (same as Quaker Old Fashion Oats). Add sliced
banana, then add one and a quarter cup of water.
Set the microwave to cook the oatmeal, water, and banana for 4 mins (this can vary, depending
on the power of your microwave). While cooking, grab already rinsed blueberries, blackberries,
and cranberries from the fridge or freezer. I use about a third cup of each. I either slice up 2-3
dates or use a handful of frozen organic red grapes for sweetening (grapes sliced while frozen,
into halves or quarters).
Next, I ready my seeds and dry ingredients: A tbsp of sunflower seeds and a tbsp of pumpkin
seeds. Add two tbsp of ground flaxseeds, two tsp of chia seeds, and 2 tsp of hemp seeds. I add
two shakes of Ceylon cinnamon and about 1/4 tsp of ground cloves.
Then I add 1/2 tsp Amla (Indian gooseberries-powder), 1/2 tsp of nigella sativa (Organic Black
Seeds), 1/4 tsp of turmeric, and a sprinkle or two of black pepper (to better absorb the
turmeric). I add a tsp of fresh grated or ground ginger. If I don’t use ginger, I add 1/4 tsp of
cacao powder.
Once the oatmeal is cooked, pour in about a half cup of soy milk, stir in the dry ingredients and
add the berries. I mix a little more and sometimes add a little water to loosen the grains. Then I
Zap it (microwave it) for another 2 mins.
Okay, it sounds like a lot of work, but I have this down to a science, and it is my breakfast of
champions. I regard each meal, especially the first one of the day, as an opportunity to improve
my health. Yes, food is medicine. So, though it seems like I’m giving you a recipe for a pie, I’d
instead consider this an example of a super healthy breakfast meal. I usually eat my oatmeal
with a couple of slices of toasted Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread.
After this meal, I’m ready for the day’s challenges, whatever they may be.
Now, If you haven’t trained your bowel for this level of fiber intake, don’t try this at home.
Work up to it by using smaller portions of the oatmeal, chia, hemp, and other seeds.
Alternatively, don’t start with all the ingredients.
Feel free to customize your Oatmeal Breakfast of Champions. After this meal, I often plow right
through lunch break (work right through with no hunger pangs), and my 64-year-old mind
remains as sharp as it was in the first hours of the day. I never get that “Hangry” feeling people
talk about.
In recent years I have found that I more easily injure myself. For example, one morning, I had
just finished a 3-mile run/walk and felt great. I sat down in a chair, leaned over to untie my
shoe, and wrenched my back. I thought, oh no, a week or two of low back pain, like previous
experiences, but the healing took only a couple of days. Before I went whole food plant-based,
it was 3-5 times the recovery time.
Another time I was at work and felt a sneeze coming on, a big one. Do you know how it is when
you try to hold in a sneeze? It was so forceful that I felt a pop in my back, followed by intense
pain. Truthfully I thought I popped out a disk, but after a few days of ibuprofen and healthy
eating, I was back to form. I’m telling you, years ago, it would have been at least two weeks and
much higher doses of ibuprofen.
I hope I’ve inspired you to create your own oatmeal breakfast of champions.
Suppose I don’t have the supercharged oatmeal. In that case, I make a super green smoothie. I
use kale, a stalk or two of broccoli, a sprinkle of ground mustard seed (to extract more of those
sulforaphanes), bananas, quarter or half cup blueberries or blackberries, a 3/4 cup of soy or
almond milk, a couple of pitted dates, tbsp flaxseed, tbsp almond butter or peanut butter,
sprinkle cinnamon and a handful of ice. Add water or more soy milk to reduce thickness. Blend
all that up. What a jumpstart to your day!
Tip for the week:
Make your morning routine seamless by prepping on the weekend. Have your dry ingredients
portioned out into small containers for the five days. Portion out and have pre-rinsed your fruit.
Portion out the oatmeal and have your bananas ready, too, so you can throw it all together in a
few mins and let the stove or microwave do the rest. Remember, frozen berries and frozen
banana slices are just fine for the oatmeal or smoothies. Never waste a banana because it’s
browning too fast. Slice them up and stick them in the freezer for your “nice cream,” future
oatmeal, or smoothie.
You can also pre-prep for your smoothies.
Have your freezer bags, or small containers for freezing, ready with the servings of berries,
bananas, and greens (but flash boil the greens before freezing to preserve nutrients and kill off
some microbes). The added spices or herbs can be pre-portioned into miniature containers, so
all you have to do with your ingredients is dump and blend.
Till the next time!
