A Quality Breakfast Produces Focus, Energy, & Calm!

There are a lot of breakfast foods, ‘ready-made, just heat’, located in the grocery stores.  Problem I see with many of them is the quality. 

  If I don't eat quality food,  I suffer with foggy thinking, very little energy and a overall anxious feeling. 

And so I wanted to  touch base  on my definitions of quality and provide you with a quick recipe for a great tasting breakfast or snack.

My definition of quality for breakfast foods would be-a food that contains no preservatives, no artificial coloring, contains fiber, contains whole foods, contains high quality fat, has little or no refined sugar or sweetener, has little salt added, and preferably has sea salt for the added minerals.

My definition of high-quality fat is- a natural fat that has little or no processing that helps to support the body.  I feel using unprocessed Olive oil (I enjoy the USA Olive oils), organic butter (a limited amount; organic limits ingestion of hormones and antibiotics), and unprocessed Coconut oil are good quality fats.  Coconut oil is high in saturated fat but tends to be used in the body in a healthy way compared to animal fat.

Low quality fats include:  Artificially created Trans fats (partially- hydrogenated and fully hydrogenated), chemically processed vegetable oils (which many can cause an   imbalance of omega 6 fats in the body.), and a large amount of saturated fats.  

 Artificial Trans-fats are also said to be a leading cause of disease in the body.

The one place I look for high quality food is my own home-cooked meals.  Eating a high-quality meal creates a calm energy in you.  No need to rely on caffeine to obtain that energy. Children will be able to sit calmer and more focused in school.  Adults will be able to stay calmer and more focused on their work and/or projects.

It doesn’t have to take much time or effort to make a good, high quality meal. 

 

The recipe I share here is for homemade granola.  There are many recipes out in the internet for granola.  Some containing refined sugar-brown sugar, corn syrup, and/or white sugar.  This recipe, I have replaced refined sugar with Maple syrup or raw honey.   Refined sugar is said to be one of the leading causes of disease in the body. 

If you desire a slightly sweeter granola, please go a head and add a little more of the sweetener.

High quality fats are energy to the body.  I’ve used raw nuts (unsalted or processed) and Olive oil. 

Fiber is found in the nuts, dried fruits and whole rolled oats.

Make this recipe  over the weekend or in the evening.  This recipe will give you about 5 cups of great tasting, healthy granola.

Feel free to change the kind of raw nuts with your favorite raw nuts.  Don’t like Maple syrup?  Try using raw honey.  You don’t like coconut?  Omit it.  You want a different dried fruit?  Change it to what you like or omit it.  Try adding vanilla, almond flavoring, or orange flavoring to the batch before baking. 

Want chocolate/peanut granola?  Add maybe 1-2 tablespoons of cocoa, 2 tablespoons more sweetener, and use peanuts. 

Eat granola with your own flavored yogurt for less sugar in your diet.  Buy unflavored yogurt or make your own and add a little fruit syrup or jam to flavor and sweeten it.

Eat granola from your hand or place in a bowl with milk.

Bon Appetit! 

Granola

Mix:

3 c. of rolled oats (I like organic, because I do not want pesticides or GMO)

2 c. of roughly, chopped raw nuts. (one type or mixture of:  almonds, walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, Macadamia nuts, etc.)

¾ c. of coconut(unsweetened)

6 -8 tablespoons of pure Maple syrup or raw honey.

¼ c. of oil.  (I like Extra virgin olive oil from the USA or unprocessed coconut oil)

If desired, add dried fruit the last 15 minutes of baking.  (the amount of fruit is up to you.  Try dried blueberries, apricots, dates, raisins, currants, or dried cherries.)

Place on a cookie sheet (no greasing) and spread out.  Bake for 1.25 hrs. mixing every 15-30 minutes.  Oven is 250 F degrees.  When done, cool before placing in a jar.  Enjoy.

Written by Cynthia Bergsbaken/The Perceptive Blogger

***All original content is copyrighted by Cynthia Bergsbaken, Perceptive Blogger & Reiki in the Prairie LLC.
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April 11, 2020
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Reiki in the Prairie LLC, April 11, 2020