Making a Better Breakfast

My journey to better health through good food choices has been a slow progression when I think about it. Yes I have been getting back to basics for as long as I've had this blog (2012?) but it's only really intensified since the start of this year after my realisation that for 9 1/2 months of 2014, my family were continuously sick. Only mild colds, viruses etc but it was constant, one after the other.

Determined not to have another year of that, I've been reflecting on what may have caused our constant sniffles and came to the conclusion that our immune systems need a good boost. What better way to build a good immune system than through healthy eating?

To start, I wrote a food diary for a week and through that, realised that we pretty much ate non nutritious meals. Breakfast was wheat dense (not very nutritious), lunch much the same and dinner, wait for it....wheat again. Sure there was a piece of fruit in there and a handful of veggies, but not the quantity needed to fuel us and keep our insides happy. No wonder those bugs kept coming back.

My boys like a cereal breakfast, it would be unwise to start serving anything different if I want to keep the peace so I had to come up with better quality options. This one is simple but it's much higher in nutrition than the usual weet-bix. It's organic rolled oats, chia seeds and stewed rhubarb cooked on the stove. Takes a matter of minutes, is super delicious and I can serve it guilt free.

If we have a breakfast like this, I make sure we have lots of veggies, protein and not too many carbs for the rest of the day. I've also been introduced to the "art" of fermentation (I even went to a course), all of which I'll start raving about in the coming weeks. I've become very passionate about it and Roge is probably very sick of my chatting endlessly about it! I can't help it though, it was like someone "showed me the light"! Ha! I can't wait to see what our health is like during the winter months this year, I have a feeling that it will be much healthier than last...

Recipe:

1 Cup Rolled Oats
1/4 Cup Chia Seeds (any colour)
3 - 4 Stalks of Rhubarb chopped
A dash of maple syrup (optional)

1 - Throw rhubarb into a pot with a dash of water. Get boiling and allow it to soften which should only take a few minutes. Then add the oats and chia along with 2 cups of filtered water.
2 - Heat the lot to boiling point then reduce to a simmer. Stir continuously so there are no clumps of chia seeds (cos they will resemble frog spawn in taste and texture if you do let them clump!)  Overall it should be cooked in 5 - 10 minutes. Add a dash of maple syrup if desired.
4 - Serve with a little milk, yoghurt or some goji berries. Then enjoy!