My family just returned from visiting my brother Lincoln and his wife Caren in Vancouver Island, Canada. It turns out that the island has a wonderful food culture with lots of gardening, farmer’s markets and interesting restaurants. The combination of its geographic isolation and great weather means that V.I. is a hotbed for locally grown food. My brother and sister-in-law shop at the farmer’s market weekly and cook fabulous and healthy meals.
Lincoln and Caren had a twinkle in their eye when they asked us if we wanted them to make us their ultra-healthy breakfast cereal, so we were a little wary. Never ones to cower from a food challenge, we took them up on their offer on the condition that we could watch them make it so we would know what we were going to eat. We were stunned by the concoction…let alone that they call it “breakfast”! It was only a very distant relation of our usual morning meal of whole wheat bagels and coffee .
At about 10 at night, they proceeded to prepare the next morning’s cereal (they make it the night before so the flavors have time to meld).
Here’s what went into each of our bowls: rolled oats, gluten free cereal, freshly ground flax seed, hemp seed, hemp protein powder, goji berries, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, raisins, dried apricots, a prune, cocoa nibs, tumeric, ginger and cinnamon (out of mercy, they spared us the hot chili powder they sometimes add). They topped it all off with some hemp milk (we didn’t even know that hemps had udders!) and water.
In the morning, they put each bowl in the microwave to get the cereal hot, then topped it off with a big handful of frozen blueberries and some walnuts and almonds. They stuff didn’t look or smell very appealing–it had a sickly green tinge from the hemp powder, smelled alarmingly similar to the grains we feed Celia’s mice, and had the consistency of grade A glop. But, after we added a little maple syrup for sweetness and overcame our healthy dose of skepticism we had to admit that it wasn’t bad. Not necessarily something we’d like to eat every morning, but it sure felt like a healthy — and filling — way to begin the day.
Ironically, after we finished our breakfast we walked to the farmer’s market where we savored some fresh and hot mini donuts. (Now those really hit the spot!).
Caren sent me an e-mail about your blog this morning- I laughed to see my breakfast made it to the blog-world!! They have ramped up the original (I don’t add chili powder or cocoa nibs) but I do add bee pollen. I can eat this breakfast at 8 and still be going strong at 2 - which is often when I get a break for lunch. This is the only breakfast that keeps me stable for so long - everything else has my blood sugar lurching far earlier. If anyone is interested I can give the original recipe and then you can customize away, adding almonds, blueberries, whatever is seasonal and delicious. Just ask for “Green Oats and Hemp” with apologies to Dr. Seuss!
It is beneficial to check out MRP plans. I try to maintain the options, nevertheless I’ve found that exercising like fast walking after having a dining event or sometimes even exercises that increase the body movement assists to bring down the glucose level.