« Potluck Salads | Main | Meredith Averill and Paul McGlothin Host Workshop in August »
May 23, 2007
Breakfast
WARNING TO LONG TIME READERS: What you are about to read may shock you.
I have been changing what I eat for breakfast.
Yes, after years of nothing but eggwhite omlettes, sometimes with salsa or hot sauce or brewers yeast, always with flax oil, sometimes with veggies, often with nonfat cheese, but always that 1 cup scrambled get your 29 g protein in the tummy before leaving for the day etc. I am switching it up.
It started about the time when one of my nurses got fired and I was having trouble eating at all due to stress. I just couldn't face eggwhites. Sad, but true.
So I messed around with different ideas: first MR made me "eggwhite drop" soup, and I started adding brewers yeast to it to add protein and nutrition. Then I got tired of that and thought of eating my salads for breakfast. Some days I just ate South Beach Diet breakfast wraps, but needless to say, I didn't want to make that an everyday habit (and MR wouldn't let me even if I did.)
So... I puzzled and puzzled. After all these eggwhite years, I just wasn't feeling it.
Then the strangest thing happened. I decided to try a whey protein and skim milk shake again.
Those of you who have been with me from the beginning may recall my failed whey protein shake experiments. I really hated the brand of whey protein I had purchased, yet I forced myself to consume it because a) it has calcium b) it has protein c) I read that MR had whey protein shakes and wanted to seduce him. You might find it a somewhat odd seduction strategy to find out what a man eats and eat that, but in my case, it pretty much worked. Three years later we own a house together and are blissfully happy. So there.
The weirdest thing happened. MR made me up a chocolate whey protein and skim milk shake, and I loved it! I really did! It was great!
The next day, we were out of plain chocolate, but MR had chocolate banana. Even better! I love banana flavored things, so much so that recently MR has found and made me banana tea! I just freaked out over the chocolate banana whey shake. It is so good! And we checked the chocolate ingredients and found that it has no cocoa powder, which is the ingredient we worry about consuming too much of (I can't recall why at the moment but it will come back to me) but rather has a trace of cocoa butter and besides that is just harmless flavoring. Yippie!
Now if I can just get myself to stir in my am teaspoon of flax oil, I'll be set. New breakfast, high protein, lots of calcium, and takes seconds to drink.
It just goes to show... when it comes to creating a CR breakfast that you love, where there's a will, there's a whey.
Posted by april at May 23, 2007 5:56 AM
Comments
Hi April,
Not sure if you remember me, but a while ago I asked about why you and Michael weren't concerned about all the methionine you were getting through the egg whites. In any case, I like the whey approach better, since it's relatively low methionine.
If you want to make it even more nutritious, try adding some greens to your current shake and throw the whole thing in a blender or Vitamix. I use half a pound of spinach in my morning smoothie and love it. I'm a bit of a protein-phobe, though, so I do w/o the protein supplement :(
Just another idea if you're open to making the shake even more nutritious.
Kevin
Posted by: Kevin Ash at May 23, 2007 12:55 PM
I know it adds a few extra calories (around 35, as I recall), but I ADORE adding about 1/2 cup (70 grams, I think) of frozen blueberries to my vanilla whey protein smoothie - YUMMY. That's my standby. I'll sometimes toss in another fruit too, because I actually make an effort to consume some fruit daily, but you can't go wrong with good old blueberries (hello phytochemicals!)
Amy
Posted by: Amy Wright at May 23, 2007 1:10 PM
I struggle with eggs in the morning as well and usually prefer fruit with non-fat yogurt or cottage cheese - something sweet goes down much better for me, otherwise I end up generally eating nothing at all, which may seem good for CR but maybe not so good for other aspects of health. I do agree with your philosophy about the importance of AM protein.
I love the smoothie idea though. For those of us with sensitive digestive systems this can go down much easier and you are still getting your protein boost.
If you get a chance I would be interested to hear why you avoid cocoa. I recently discovered it is a relatively good source of iron (especially mixed with molasses!) and as long as it is pure without added sugar the antioxidants are very high.
Posted by: Mizzi at May 28, 2007 3:09 AM