The F Word

The F word.....

Hey, get your mind out of the gutter now, I'm talking about the F word 'Fat'.

When I was younger I really did not understand what calories truly were. In my mind they were just something to eat less of so that I wouldn't gain weight. I never really thought of them as what they truly are - energy.

Much like a car, our body needs fuel to run. Also like a car, it we put inferior or poor qualify fuel into it we will see an impact in they way it runs. Our body works very similar, we can put good fuel into our bodies and have energy and feel great or we can put inferior fuel into it and feel sluggish and cruddy.

The energy our bodies use comes from the energy in calories from our food. I used to think that the low calorie things had to be healthy because they were low calorie. I was so wrong. There are things that are low calorie and healthy - i.e. fresh fruits and vegetables, but in general the manufactured processed low calorie items are so terribly bad for us. They are usually full of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors and colors and a whole host of fake ingredients to trick our taste buds into thinking it tastes good, but offer no real nutritional value or energy for our body.

This isn't a post on why I eat the way I eat or why I believe in whole, real foods and stay away from the processed junk, even if it seems that way ;) Just a little background on the upcoming "recipes" (yes I just used air quotes - you will see why in a minute).

I have been working on meal planning lately and it has helped with my grocery shopping and making sure I am using what I have and not wasting food. My problem is that I often forget to meal plan for breakfast for myself.

If I don't eat breakfast, I am a mess the rest of the day. I feel constantly hungry, and always eating, finding food that is less than ideal, filling up on sugar, etc... I need that meal in the morning to set my day on a good path, I need to fill up on quality fuel so that I can get where I need to get. I need FAT! I need fat to feel full while eating only what I need to meet my needs. If I have good, healthy, natural fat (not the processed junk fat), I feel satisfied, full, and focused so I have the energy to get through my always full days.

Now to the FOOD!! lol - "Recipes" follow - air quotes because there is little to no cooking involved!

Full Fat Greek Yogurt
mixed with chia seeds, raw almonds, bananas and a tiny drizzle of 100% pure organic maple syrup

Homemade Oatmeal

1/2 cup of raw oats simmered with 1/2 cup almond milk plus 1/4 cup water, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp 100% pure maple syrup, 2 teaspoons apple, 2 teaspoons chopped raw almonds, 1 teaspoon coconut oil and 2 teaspoons chia seeds. This takes about 10 minutes to become creamy and cook the oats.

I topped mine with just a little chopped banana, apple, raw almonds and a drizzle of pure almond butter. So creamy, filling, tasty, healthy, simple and yes full of fat :) The good kind!! The kind that our body needs to run effectively (we NEED fat! Our bodies NEED fat to function - choose the good, healthy, natural kinds!).

Other Ideas

1 banana topped with almond butter, chia seeds and raw nuts
1 apple topped with natural peanut butter, raw honey, chia seeds
1 egg and 1 egg white scrambled with veggies, spices/herbs, and just a pinch of full fat cheese
1 slice 100% whole wheat bread (with NO sugar added) topped with 1/2 avocado, mashed, a pinch of salt and lemon juice, sliced tomato and a small side of fruit
Sweet Potato Crusted Mini Quiche with a side of fruit (cook the quiche the night before for a fast breakfast the next day or make it on the weekend if you have more time
Morning Power Smoothie
Other Smoothies - just make sure it's not all fruit - that's just way too much sugar (even the natural healthy kind can be too much when it's all we eat - we need full fat to help offset the sugars)

There are a million different combinations you could eat and feel full, energized, satisfied and you will know that you have started your day in an amazing way!

Happy Eating :)