“I solemnly swear I will not skip breakfast anymore.” If you truly want to get on the road to Wellville, all you breakfast-skippers out there (you know who you are – I used to be one, too!), you have to take this solemn oath to stop skipping breakfast. In fact, even before breakfast happens, you should get thee to your kitchen, heat some water in a cup and squeeze half-a-lemon’s worth of juice into it and chug it down. The lemon will help get your liver function in gear for the day, and that, my friends, helps you lose weight and keep the pounds from piling on. But okay, you’ve had your lemon water – now what? Now breakfast! And it doesn’t have to be complicated (it could even be one of those delicious green smoothies I’ve posted, hint hint), but you have to eat breakfast. And it has to be good for you. No zooming through the McD’s drive-thru for a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, no grabbing a Special K lord-only-knows-what’s-in-it “breakfast bar” (just because it has “breakfast” in the name doesn’t mean it’s a good breakfast). What’s a girl or a guy on a time crunch to do?
Well, first, it’s good to have a few guidelines to work with in your head. Generally, your body does its best metabolizing at the start of your day versus the end. So it’s better to plan your larger meals earlier in the day rather than later. At the same time, you want to try to fit in at least 10 grams of protein before 10 a.m., and not load up on carbs (even whole-grain carbs) alone. This will help to ensure you don’t break your overnight fast (get it? that’s where “breakfast” comes from) with a carbed-up sugar rush. Okay, so easy, right? Glass of lemon water when you first wake up, check. 10 grams of protein before 10 a.m., check. No cheap processed junk to start my day, check.
I’m going to be posting a series of recipes to this category, but for now, let’s start with one of my favorites:
Spicy Egg Scramble
This super-easy scramble takes about 10 minutes from prep to finish, and between the satisfying-but-not-overbearing fat content and the cayenne pepper (a natural appetite suppressant, among other things), your stomach will be easily satisfied and happy until morning snack time – yes, you need to have a morning snack, too.
Ingredients:
2 eggs (preferably farm fresh and local, but if that’s not available, at least organic)
a handful of baby spinach leaves
1 slice of red onion cut into large chunks
1 tbsp butter
dash cayenne pepper and kosher salt to taste
1 large pinch shredded parmesan cheese
In a non-stick pan, melt the butter over medium heat and add onion. Let onion cook until it is slightly translucent, about 5 minutes, being careful to keep the butter from burning. In a bowl, lightly scramble your eggs with a fork, just enough to break the yolks. Once the onions are ready, add the eggs to the pan, gently turning them until they are almost cooked. Add spinach and toss with eggs until spinach is wilted. Plate and finish with the parmesan, sprinkle with salt and cayenne (a little goes a long way!), and enjoy your 10 grams of protein before 10 a.m.!
Yield: 1 serving
the road to wellville 
Are you doing “The 17-Day Diet”? It sounds very similar to what I’m doing, with the lemon water in the morning and everything!
I have done it, but funny enough, the guys at my local health store had told me about it a month before I bought the book. It seems liver-health is the cause du jour in health. Incidentally, I love that book, and though I know longer follow it to the letter, it’s my go-to “get back on track” program.
Haha – too cool! That’s what we do here at our house, too. We use it as a guide, but are a little lax with some of the rules. I knew it was too much of a coincidence with the shared love of probiotics and the morning lemon water! *grins*
LOL Yes, he definitely reminded me about the need for probiotics. And it was so funny – I’d been having the weirdest stomach pains for the last month before I read his book, and the first day I added the probiotics, no more troubles! But I like that he’s reasonable, and mostly recommends things I do anyway, so it’s great for just helping keep myself in line. 🙂
And the other benny is that my recipes should mostly be friendly to what you’re doing with the diet. 🙂
Yum! Posted something similar on my blog. I use egg, spinach, and pico de gallo. Very easy and lots of flavor!
That sounds fabulous, too! Thanks for sharing! 🙂