What to Eat for Breakfast?

We’ve all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So let’s take a quick look at our choices: cold cereal loaded with sugar, toast with chocolate spread or peanut butter (or both!), some fruit, maybe a glass of milk, pancakes or waffles with syrup on the weekend, occasionally an omelet. Obviously, this isn’t an exhaustive list, but you get the idea, right?

What’s wrong with this picture? Simple: we are often surrounded by foods with very low nutritional value, especially at breakfast time. Choices include an excessive amount of sugar in the form of starch (cereal, toast, etc.) and simple sugars (sugar in cereal, chocolate spread, maple syrup). The risk of having this type of meal is pumping your body with sugar, making your pancreas work extra hard, and then having your energy levels crash fairly quickly, which will make you crave more sugar afterwards. Here is a graph that shows how your blood sugar varies with different types of carbs. 

A Perfect Breakfast

Breakfast should include protein and nutritionally-significant starch (complex carbohydrates). Choosing high-fibre starches such as brown bread, high fiber cereal or oatmeal will bring more satiety, which will help you reduce constant cravings and snacking. Furthermore, we have a bad habit of eating very little protein in the morning and eating a lot of it later in the day. However, your body needs protein at fairly equal amounts throughout the day. Also, even if you load up with protein at night, it will not store the excess protein; it will simply get rid of it. Hence, you need to provide your body with a steady supply of protein. The general recommendation is to have 20-30g of protein per meal, but I suggest consulting a dietitian for individual recommendations based on your body’s needs.

In practice, this can mean switching to brown bread and peanut butter instead of white bread and a chocolate spread, making plain oatmeal with a small amount of syrup, honey or fruit added instead of the sugar-filled flavored instant oatmeal, choosing high fiber cereal with milk instead of sweet cereal, or making a delicious omelet with cheese and even veggies! It is also recommended to have a dairy product as a source of calcium to help maintain your bone health by having a glass of milk or some yogurt, and a fruit for extra energy, vitamins and minerals. Another option would be to have leftovers for breakfast! Who says we need to have breakfast food for breakfast? Healthy homemade pizza also sounds delicious in the morning!

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

My personal favorite breakfast is a strawberry-banana smoothie I make. I love it because it takes me under 5 minutes to prepare and I can drink it calmly while sitting in traffic on my way to work if I run out of time in the morning. This smoothie gives me my protein (16g from protein powder + 9g from yogurt = 25g), calcium and fruit. I can also add some granola for high-fiber starch or have a slice of brown toast on the side. Here’s my recipe:

*I am not sponsored by Natural Factors. I’m just an honest person sharing my personal recipe.

Here is a link to a list of breakfast recipes in French, for those that want more ideas. They even have a recipe very similar to my smoothie, with a couple more ingredients to add in healthy fats! The list was created by ChiroHamel, my favorite Chiropractic clinic:
https://chirohamel.com/2015/01/31/reccettes-pour-dejeuner-concentration-ecole/

Breakfast, the Most Important Meal of the Day?

And while we’re at it, let’s demystify the whole idea of breakfast being the most important meal of the day. Ever wondered why? Breakfast happens in the morning, yet we’re out and about using our fight or flight system, so why not wait until the end of the day when we’re in rest and digest mode, so that our body can truly focus on what we ate? Since we’re human, we get hungry. And when we’re hungry, we are not completely rational. The risk of skipping breakfast is that you’ll overeat later on, but more in forms of constant snacking, which is not a great idea. Therefore, it is recommended to have a balanced breakfast in the morning to be able to pace ourselves throughout the day and make better nutritional decisions at meal times. However, if you can assure me that skipping breakfast does not make you snack later in the day, even after supper when winding down by the TV, then don’t fret. Everybody is unique and works differently. The ultimate goal is to be in tune with our body and listen to its signals. You might even feel like having breakfast one day but not the next. Your body might not want to follow your daily routine, so just listen to what it is saying.

Sources:

http://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/eating-nutrition/healthy-eating-saine-alimentation/tips-conseils/interactive-tools-outils-interactifs/eat-well-bien-manger-eng.php

http://notrickszone.com/2017/08/25/if-you-want-to-live-then-run-like-hell-from-sugar/#sthash.0VackMJZ.dpbs

The Balanced Plate: Your First Step to a Balanced Life

You come home, it’s supper time. You’re not too sure what to eat because who had time to meal prep on Sunday, honestly? Well, here is a nice tool to help you construct a hearty, healthy meal: the balanced plate

There are three main parts to a balanced plate, with three extras added on. Each part of the plate plays an important role, which will be discussed below. This tool is an easy guide that covers all the essential parts of a complete diet. Following the balanced plate at every lunch and supper is a HUGE step towards leading a healthier life, despite how simplistic it might seem.

I’m sure you’ve often heard that your body is like a car and food is like fuel. One of my personal favorite sayings is that you are what you eat. So if you are a car, what should you be made of?

Half a Plate of Veggies

The first part of your plate is vegetables, which should cover half your plate or represent two large handfuls. This includes carrots, broccoli, peas, green beans, bell pepper, lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumber, eggplant and many more. Vegetables are excessively important, which is why it should cover most of your plate. If vegetables are not the main part of your meal, it isn’t quite balanced. Veggies are renown for being low in calories, but they are also filled with vitamins and minerals as well as antioxidants, which act like a rust treatment for your body. Vegetables also have lots of fiber. Fiber has four roles: it brings satiety (making you feel full for longer), stabilizes your blood sugar, helps reduce cholesterol levels and regulates your bowel movements. Plus, veggies add color to your plate!

A Quarter Plate of Meat and Alt.

Next, a quarter of your plate should have meat or alternatives. This includes poultry, pork, red meat, fish, legumes, tofu, nuts and seeds, cheese and eggs. Your serving of meat should be the size of the palm of your hand. Meats and alternatives are essential for your body as they are your primary source of protein. Protein acts as extra parts for your car, rebuilding your muscles after having used them, and it is also useful for satiety. It’s important to have protein throughout the whole day. We currently have a nasty habit of having very low protein for breakfast and lunch and fill up on protein for supper, but your body will be lacking its building blocks earlier in the day.

A Quarter Plate of Starch

The last quarter of your plate should be starch. This includes bread, pasta, potatoes, sweet potato, corn and legumes (yes, they count as starch AND protein!). This serving should be the size of your fist. They are your main source of energy, turning into glucose (sugar) in your body. In simple terms, it is like fuel for your car. Carbs are important to have daily, but we have a choice to make. We can either choose poorly-nutritious carbs with white sugar quickly absorbed and quickly utilized, which will leave you craving sugar shortly after your meal, or you can feed your body supreme gas: sources of carbs with fibre, once again acting as a satiety enhancer. This can be achieved by opting for whole grains: brown bread, brown rice, keeping the peels on your potatoes, eating lots of legumes, etc.

Fruit, Dairy and Fat

Now for the extras: fruit, dairy and fat.

Your balanced plate should have a whole fruit, a serving the size of a tennis ball. Fruit are a good source of energy (fuel), vitamins and minerals, antioxidants (anti-rust) as well as fiber when eating a whole fruit. Unlike what Canada’s Food Guide suggests, juice does not count. Why? Because juice includes A LOT of sugar and no fiber, even in the “No Sugar Added” kinds. Think of it this way: it might take me four oranges to get enough juice to fill one cup, which I will drink easily. However, I would have a lot of difficulty eating four oranges! I would be stuffed! This is because all the fiber is left behind while making juice, and then you get four oranges worth of sugar in that one cup.

It is recommended to have a dairy product with your meal, which could be milk, yogurt or an alternative. Dairy products are a good source of energy (fuel), protein (extra parts) and calcium, acting as the body of your car. Calcium is used by your bones to rebuild themselves.

Finally, your plate should also include some good sources of fat. Fat is beneficial for your brain development as well as being a compact source of energy (fuel). Refer to my upcoming article on good sources of fat for more detail!

How About My Meal Tonight?

In a nutshell, next time you want to have a whole bowl of spaghetti with tomato sauce, try adding some meat to your sauce, reduce the portion of pasta to a quarter of your plate, add a salad or other vegetable of your choice, and have yogurt and a fruit for dessert!

Now that you know what to have for lunch and supper, what’s for breakfast? Stay tuned for my next article in two weeks, where you’ll learn how to make a delicious, healthy breakfast!

Sources:

http://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/eating-nutrition/healthy-eating-saine-alimentation/tips-conseils/interactive-tools-outils-interactifs/eat-well-bien-manger-eng.php

https://www.diabete.qc.ca/en/living-with-diabetes/diet/tips-and-tricks/the-balanced-plate

Nutrition Month 2018 - Unlock the Potential of Food

March is in full blast and, as you may have noticed, this post was published March 14^th. Coincidence? I think not! In addition to being Pi Day (everybody gets to eat a slice of pie for that one!), March 14^th is also Dietitians’ Day! Woot! Woot!

The theme for this year’s nutrition month is Unlocking the Potential of Food. What does that mean? Well, it means that food is more than just calories to sustain our bodies. Food is an integral and very much needed part of our day. So what is the potential of food? There are many answers to that question, but we will tackle 5 of them together today:

1) The Potential to FUEL

As I am sure you have noticed that foods are made of calories. Calories are the unit of measurement of energy. In simple terms: food gives us energy. That being said, you can get different qualities of energy because food is not all made equally. You only have one body, and you have the power to CHOOSE the best fuel that enters it. So do yourself a favor and opt for more nutritious foods. Where to start? I will write a post on a balanced diet in the future, but for today, I would like to highlight the importance of protein and fiber. Both these things have something in common: they give you satiety. Satiety is when you are satisfied after a meal, like you have eaten enough and your fuel gauge is back up. This also means that you will have the energy necessary to do your daily activities for longer, as opposed to eating a quickly absorbed sugar that makes your energy peak and crash, leaving you feeling tired shortly after your meal.

2) The Potential to DISCOVER 

How many parents let their children cook at a young age? How many parents take the time to teach their children how to enjoy cooking? Too few, that’s the answer. Children are exposed to over 25 million food and drink advertisements per year, 90% of them being of products high in sugar, salt and destructive fat. Without the adequate knowledge obtained while being in the kitchen at a young age, children are more prone to rely on these pre-made products. But we have the power to do differently! There are many resources online with kid-friendly recipes that are mouth-watering! For example, these No-Bake Energy Balls (see link below) are fun to make and can be a nutritious (and delicious) snack. Children will for sure be proud of their creation! And it doesn’t stop with children! Tasting foods from different countries is a great way for everyone to experience different cultures. Not to mention that sharing recipes with family and friends is a great bonding experience!

Find recipe here: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/245429/no-bake-energy-balls/

3) & 4) The Potential to PREVENT and to HEAL

I’ve decided to merge these two topics because they are very closely related. Dietitians are an integral part of the healthcare team in hospitals, clinics, rehab centers, etc. We work with medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists, occupational therapists and many more professionals to heal your body. Our specialty: healing through food! As I am sure you have heard, you are what you eat. Your body will regenerate itself using what you feed it. Dietitians are present to adapt a meal consistency in case of dysphagia, helping heal the gut in case of irritable bowel disease, make lifestyle choices to prevent chronic diseases, and much more. Did you know that lifestyle changes can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes up to 70% and cardiovascular diseases up to 80%? Take a moment to let that sink in. Chronic diseases are, as the name states, chronic. For this reason, they are greatly affected by your lifestyle habits. Opting for healthier habits such as eating balanced meals, exercising and ensuring proper sleep are quite preventative. And the good news is that it’s never too late! Whether it’s reducing medication dosage or completely silencing the disease, positive changes can be found through food.

5) The Potential to BRING US TOGETHER

I will be honest and tell you that this is my favorite topic in this year’s nutrition month. Imagine this: you have a long lost friend that you would like to catch up with. What do you do? Meet up over supper! Easter is around the corner and your family will all gather together over what? Food! You had a long day at work and want to catch up with your spouse and kids, when is the best time to chat together? Suppertime! Unfortunately, a quarter to a third of families say that they never or rarely eat together, mostly due to lack of time. For this nutrition month, I would like to reinforce the importance of eating together around the dinner table. Children who regularly eat meals with their family also tend to do better in school and have reduced chances of developing weight problems and eating disorders. Children and adults alike tend to make healthier food choices when eating together, at the table. For these reasons, I encourage you to take the time to sit at the table and talk those that are sitting with you.

Say it with me: This nutrition month, I will unlock the potential of food!

Source: Dietitians of Canada campaign for Nutrition Month

For more information, visit www.nutritionmonth2018.ca

Welcome to Brain Food!

Welcome to the Brain Food community! As you may have caught on, this blog will be filled with evidence-based information that I thrive to communicate with you in a simple, easily-applicable way in order to feed our brain with the information needed to feed our bodies. You will be able to find information on hot topics in the nutrition domain, tips and tricks on healthy eating, as well as delicious recipes! And please, feel free to let me know what you want me to discuss in any future posts! I'd love to hear from you!

Cheers,

Alexandra