Cockadoodle Corn Flakes

No point denying it, we have all done it......woken up, and with eyes still closed, reached for that familiar, easy to work meal. Pour, add milk, eat......and repeat if it's really tasty and you're still hungry (which is almost always). Aaaand there follows the upswing in blood glucose after a night of fasting...Instant sugar fix....instant gratification.....your brain thanks you for eating something so delicious and nutritious (so they tell us).
And as you move on towards the 10am mid morning feeding frenzy, I'm sure your body is just soaking up all that 'added fibre, Vit D, folic acid, wholegrain' and whatever other magical ingredient that caught your eye and made you buy this cereal in the first place. Correct? Hmmmmmm?
What's really in your breakfast cereal? Should we make a list or is that way too much mambo jumbo for a lighthearted food blog?
Let me tell you a small story about an incident that marked the turning point in my attitude to food. I had taken up marathon running (as one does) and whilst attempting to provide my body with slower burning, longer lasting, energy dense food, I switched cereals from the sugary, delicious, 'should only be used as a treat at the cinema kind', to a 'high fibre, healthy, full of bran and whatnot' kind. Of course, this would make me run faster, longer, feel better, and all the other things it boasted on the side of the packet. After about 3 weeks on this wonderful cereal, I noticed my teeth had started to darken. By the time I got to the dentist (because I procrastinate, this was about 2 weeks later), I had dark staining around the edges of my teeth, almost like a smoker. My dentist did a wonderful job polishing me back up then told me to stop eating whatever I was eating that was brown and out of a packet. You see, most of these brown cereals need to have dye added to make them a more wonderful chocolatey shade of brown. The alternative shades don't bare thinking about! So, strong food dyes were discolouring my teeth! And I have never had breakfast cereal since!

That's enough about the why....now about the what!
For those of you carb lovers who just need that hit in the mornings, there are lots of breads that can be made with extra ingredients to improve nutritional value. Needless to say the slice of white bread toasted just doesn't cut it when it comes to nourishing your body, activation your digestion and setting you up for the long day ahead.

As you can see, I do love my scrambled eggs. Some would argue that these are just broken omelettes as scrambled egg should be gooey and wet....I just prefer my eggs well done.
Eggs and mushrooms cooked with a bit of butter & thyme, egg and red peppers cooked with balsamic vinegar and grilled tomatoes, fried mushroom and eggs - these were my midweek breakfasts. I had a lie in at the weekend and had a shake when I woke up (a protein, probiotic thingy....we can come back to those at another time) and by mid morning, I was STARVED. Hence the beautiful spinach and red onion omelette with fried cherry tomato and spinach salad.
Now try to build your argument that a bowl of cereal is more nutritious!

I don't want to come across as preaching. Sure, on occasion, have your cereal....but in reality you are setting your body up for metabolic catastrophe. After all these years eating 'that cereal' have you really dropped a dress size and worn a red bathing suit? No, I didn't think so!
Next post - breakfast bread for those die hard carb grubbers.
With love,
Grass Roots xxx