The most important meal of the day?
The first day of school is quickly approaching. This year will be like years past - first period I will face a room full of tired teens who would rather be snoozing in their soft, cushy beds rather than trying not to snooze in rigid, unyielding classroom chairs. During our first unit, students will assess how often they engage in an array of healthy behaviors, including eating breakfast. Many of my students will admit they don’t eat anything in the morning because they simply aren’t hungry, but by the time lunch rolls around, they are famished. So, I will, of course, make a pitch for breakfast.
A simplified history of this thing we call breakfast
Breakfast.
Break.
Fast.
Break the fast.
Historians believe our modern pattern of eating three meals a day originated in the middle ages as the Monks fasted after their evening meal until morning mass concluded. Denise Winterman from the BBC News Magazine writes, “It's thought the word breakfast entered the English language during this time and literally meant "break the night's fast". This pattern spread to most social classes during the 17th and 18th Centuries. Breakfast became a necessity to fuel workers during the 19th century and by the 1930s the government was promoting breakfast as the most important meal of the day. During the “...1950s, things like American toasters, sliced bread, instant coffee and pre-sugared cereals invaded the home. Breakfast as we now know it” writes Winterman.
Is breakfast the most important meal of the day?
The American 2015 Dietary Guidelines assert breakfast remains important in terms of healthy eating patterns. During the overnight fast, our metabolic rate (the way we process calories and combine them with oxygen to release energy into our system) slows down due to the lack of energy we expend while sleeping. Metabolism is boosted when we consume calories after waking which provides us with the energy we need to start the day. The 2015 Dietary Guidelines also note that adolescents and young adults are the age group most likely to skip this metabolism-boosting meal, thus keeping their bodies from burning calories as the fuel needed for energy, activity, and attention.
Is it the most important meal of the day? I believe a nutrient-rich breakfast to be an important meal in healthy eating patterns. The 2015 Dietary Guidelines state, “Breakfast eating is associated with more favorable nutrient intakes compared to nutrient intakes from other meals or snacks.” However, typical breakfast fare is not always healthy.
In search of a healthy breakfast
You may be visualizing the cereal aisle and wondering how these brightly colored, character covered cereal boxes and their later 20th and 21st Century spin-offs of toaster pastries and breakfast bars qualify as having “more favorable nutrient intakes” than other snacks. Keep in mind, the keywords are more and than. Much of what fills the shelves in the grocery is deceiving. Yes, it may be “whole grain”, but it may also be full of sugar and have a long list of ingredients the average person hasn’t heard of, can’t pronounce and therefore, chooses not to read.
Well, I have spent the summer doing just that, reading ingredient labels. Recently diagnosed with a gazillion food allergies and sensitivities, and most recently diagnosed with candida and SIBO - it’s a challenge to avoid the 96 foods/ingredients causing havoc in my system, which makes grabbing a quick breakfast even more challenging.
Until recently, I really lost the knack of, and the love of, cooking and actually rolled my eyes at my Aunt when she talked about cooking as being cathartic thinking about the popular meme, “ain’t nobody got time for that.” So, I searched the grocery store shelves for just one breakfast bar which satisfied my dietary restrictions. No luck. Convinced I could find something to eat that I wouldn’t have to cook, I took my search online. My Amazon search showed 4,365 hits for breakfast bars. Well, “ain’t nobody got time for that” either. So, I have also spent the summer cooking.
I tried cooking oatmeal. I am a total oatmeal-wanna-be girl. I would love to fill up my Mason jar with oatmeal, take it to work, add hot water and enjoy. But, gag. Tried it, still can’t do it.
So, turn those oats into breakfast cookies!
I scrolled through many gluten-free, dairy-free and other “-free” recipes online and flipped through the pages of my new cookbooks - I did not (and still have not) found a vAllergy-free breakfast cookie, scone or breakfast bar recipe. I decided to just try creating my own recipe by making substitutions thinking, What is the worst thing that can happen? Toss them in the trash, feed them to the dog, or actually invent something new and edible? Someone has to invent everything.
Did you know Corn Flakes were actually invented by accident? According to Kelloggs.com, “1898 - In a fortunately failed attempt at making granola, our company’s founder, W.K. Kellogg, and his brother, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, changed breakfast forever when they accidentally flaked wheat berry. W.K. kept experimenting until he flaked corn and created the delicious recipe for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes.” (Of course, Kellogg.com didn’t include the other juicy details of Kellogg’s quest to create a vegetarian based cereal that would reduce sexual desires… read more about The Strange History of Corn Flakes!)
I am not claiming to have invented a revolutionary breakfast cookie, but I have created something new and edible that fits within my dietary restrictions. With school beginning, time for cooking will be more difficult to manage - but for now, there are 7 ½ dozen cookies packed two-to-a-snack-baggie in the freezer for easy grab and go access.
In the coming weeks, I’m sure my students will wonder, “Why are you eating cookies for breakfast? Isn’t this health class?” and I may just have to answer, “Cookies for breakfast?
Yes, of course, a nutrient-rich breakfast is an important meal every day.”
Substitute away, but these are two recipes worth sharing as a starting point for anyone with similar food allergies:
Coconut Sunflower Butter Cookies
1 c. unsweetened coconut flakes
*¼ c. coconut flour
¼ c. hazelnut flour
1 c. gluten free oats
½ c. organic sunflower butter (no sugar added)
¼ c. agave
½ unsweetened, organic applesauce
6 brazil nuts, chopped
Mix sunflower butter, agave, and applesauce together. Add dry ingredients. Knead into ¾ inch balls, place on a cookie sheet greased with coconut oil. Press the balls to flatten. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Makes 1 ½ dozen.
*SIBO friendly version: omit coconut or reduce to 1/2 c., ¼ c. tapioca flour, ¼ c. hazelnut flour, 1 c. gluten free oats, ½ c. organic sunflower butter, ¼ c. xylitol, ½ cooked, mashed potato, 6 brazil nuts, chopped.
Quinoa Squash Cookies
1 ½ c. cooked or organic, canned squash
½ c. agave
2 T canola oil
1 ½ c. quinoa
½ c. amaranth
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 ½ c. white rice flour
Mix squash, agave, and canola oil together. Add dry ingredients. Knead into ¾ inch balls, place on a cookie sheet greased with coconut oil. Press the balls to flatten. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Makes 3 dozen.
*SIBO friendly version: use xylitol instead of agave.
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