This the second blog post in a series. To see my first post about going green please follow the link here.
Over the last two weeks I have actively altered my diet to exclude meat in at least one meal a day. There were some days I fell into old habits but for the most part the first two weeks have been a shining success. For this blog post I am going to concentrate on the most important meal of the day, breakfast.
I have always struggled with breakfast. Most of my life I have dodged it. When I did munch through my breakfast growing up it was a choice of sugary branded cereals or on the weekend a greasy fry up. Since then I have moved away from the sugary cereals and replaced it with fruits, brown bread and or some type of nuts. No matter what I try to eat for breakfast I struggle to enjoy it. As I go to the gym and exercise a lot I try to eat some protein in the morning. I have incorporated chicken and pork into salads for my breakfast but it just doesn’t feel right at 8 in the morning. So, in the last few weeks I have been sampling healthy breakfast options high in protein, which are quick, tasty and full of goodness…. not to mention vegetarian.
There are a whole host of healthy, high protein options for breakfast time whether it be smoothies, seeded dishes, bean dishes, yoghurts, wheats or nuts. The breakfasts I found easiest to stomach were smoothies and multi-seed/nut dishes.
Here are some of my favourite choices;
Smoothies
As I have always struggled to eat breakfast I thought I would give drinking it a shot. A smoothie is a great way of mixing an abundance of healthy protein filled food into a glass, whether it is flax seed, chia, peanut butter, tahini, hempseed, almond milk, or greek yoghurt. Mix these with a choice selection of fruits and vegetables and you will start your day in the best possible way. During the two weeks I drank either a Supergreen or a Berry Booster smoothie.
The Supergreen smoothie: Kale, Spinach, cucumber, hempseed, spirulina, pineapple and almond milk.
The Berry Booster smoothie: mixed berries, banana, orange, Greek yoghurt.
The great thing about smoothies is even if they taste bad you just think of something else and gulp them down quick, luckily that wasn’t the case for me as both of these smoothies were really tasty, refreshing and filling. The main aspects of protein within these smoothies are spinach, hempseed, almond milk, and greek yoghurt.
Some days when I was really hungry I couldn’t stomach a liquid breakfast and wanted something to sink my teeth into. On these occasions I had either a multi seed or nut dish.
Multi seed and nut dishes
I have always been a fan of toast and cereal so these dishes were chosen out of comfort.
The dish below is nut butter toast with almond butter, peanut butter and honey. This is a healthy toast option high in protein (the almond butter and peanut butter). This is a handy little breakfast to make which is quick, wholesome and really tasty. Add a smoothie to this breakfast and you will be stuffed all morning and keep those sugar cravings at bay.
Get up stand up Granola: Granola and mixed berries in greek yoghurt
Sometimes the honey, peanut butter and almond butter was a little too sweet for the morning time so I opted for granola and mixed berries in greek yoghurt. This is a really quick breakfast that is full of oats and fruit. Add a smoothie to create a breakfast fit for a king.
Having eaten like this for 2 weeks I never felt lethargic throughout the day. All of the food was tasty and enjoyable to eat. I continued my normal exercise regime during the 2 weeks and it was not negatively affected, if anything I have felt better and less bloated after breakfast.
Tips of Going Green
I think preparation is the key to sticking to the plan. Taking the time to get the produce on Sunday night for the week really makes a difference and if it runs out, make sure to restock. The majority of products used in these breakfasts can be found in any good supermarket so no excuses.
Last thing I found when changing your diet is to do one thing at a time. Make a small change, stick to it, and in a matter of time it will become habit. Get breakfast right and go from there.
My next blog will be finding veggie protein at lunch time so keep your eyes peeled on YogaHub website and the social media pages for the next installment.
FYI: All of these breakfasts can be found in HappyFood in Camden Place, Dublin 2. Next time you are around town pop in and get some clean, veggie protein into you.
by Andy Dunphy
