I think it’s time to question the notion of the “healthy breakfast” and if the now-healthy range of “adult” cereals are really that healthy. I’m not going to hate on grains although there is a good argument for this, but I recently encountered something strange with my religious consumption of granola for breakfast which has made me wonder if I’ve been fooled.

“Are you one of those conspiracy nuts?”

Now I know what some of you are thinking. To reassure you, this is no shock post. I have not lost my marbles. I am not following a new wave fad diet. Sometimes it’s just best to listen to what your body is saying.

“Maybe you’re eating rubbish?”

You may wonder what my cereal choice exactly is – I’m a fan of Jordan’s, in particular the Super Granola range while occasionally dabbling in the Country Crisp and some of the Rude Health selection. Consumed with good ol’ Hemp Milk, and the occasional sprinkle of a cold milled selection of nuts/seeds/berries/cocoa, it sure tastes scrumptious. This is washed down with a cup of green tea or PG tips minus the sugar and milk.

It’s pretty normal for me to get a lot more hungry just as the temperature drops from the warm English summer to the cold autumn/winter, which only happens for a day or two. But this time round it was happening for well over a week. “What’s wrong?” I ask myself. Could it possibly be the fact that this granola is causing a form of food craving? After all it’s going to cause a huge sugar spike once it goes into my body (remember that certain foods are essentially converted into glucose by your body) – it has a moderate Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load for a regular sized portion. Is this huge sugar spike even a good thing? Every morning, my body is going to need to produce insulin to regulate this – all in the name of eating “healthy” in the morning. The obvious red flag in spiking blood sugar levels regularly is the rude D word: Diabetes. So the now obvious “aha” point hits me and granola is probably not the best choice of breakfast which I was lead to believe by the industry marketing campaigns.

My Breakfast History

Breakfast 1.0: Kids cereals like Coco Pops.

Breakfast 2.0: Adult cereals like granola and general mixed grain/seed cereals which are marketed as being “healthy”.

May I now present to you…

Breakfast 3.0

Enter breakfast 3.0. Bacon fried in good fatty butter/coconut oil, boiled eggs, nuts, fruit and veg. For most, this sounds like a recipe for a heart attack with some attempt to neutralise the bad stuff with fruit and veg. So lets break down my wonderful happy looking plate which is pictured above.

• Bacon fried in butter/coconut oil – the idea of having red meat fried in a fatty oil is considered a death wish by some. Not to reiterate things but it should be known that saturated fats like butter are stable at high temperatures thus do not turn bad (known as turning rancid). Yes, this does mean some of these so called healthy oils people consume are infact bad for you for reasons that are different to it being low fat, and apparently the world must consume low fat products to prevent them from getting fat (ridiculous).
• Eggs – high in cholesterol some say. Is there actually a link that shows consumption of dietary cholesterol actually increases cholesterol? With the even bigger picture, asking if cholesterol is actually as evil as we were once told? None the less, Sainsburys does organic eggs for a reasonable price
• Nuts – the nerds may start asking if I’ve soaked them over night to reduce the phytic acid. The answer is no.
• Fruit – I’ve chosen an avocado. The benefits are well documented, but regardless of all that stuff, I love avocado!
• Cucumber – The reason this is even on my plate is because it tastes refreshing. That’s right folks, I sometimes eat things because they taste nice

Obviously eating the same thing every morning becomes boring so to mix it up I also swap things out with:

• Other vegetables such as tender stem broccoli
• Cold milled seeds mixed in a base of organic yoghurt
• A spoonful of organic, cold pressed, raw coconut oil

The Verdict

This isn’t a scientific study by any means but the good news is that i’m now getting the hunger feeling a lot later now.

	Breakfast Time	Hunger Time
Breakfast 2.0	6.30am	10.30am
Breakfast 3.0	6.30am	12.10pm

 

So the results are quite clear in terms of how I feel after upgrading my breakfast. Obviously there is no one fit size food plan that can fit everyone as everyone is different. More importantly, it’s a breakfast that TASTES great! The same idea can be applied to your lunch (if you’re a roll or sandwich fiend). Either way, if this inspires you to change your breakfast habits, question food industry marketing gimmicks or rethink what exactly a “healthy” breakfast is, please do leave a comment below.