Breakfast: Skip the Bacon & Eggs...

Prime your metabolism to burn fat with a low GI breakfast

Breakfast jump-starts your metabolism, helps you concentrate better (no hunger pangs to distract you) and generally gets the day off to a good start. Forget the excuses. It's easy to whip up.


There actually aren’t fixed rules about when to have breakfast. We all have different needs, backgrounds, lifestyles and morning rush hour timetables. Just do it, whether you sit down with the family, grab something as you head out the door, have breakfast in a café, canteen or at your desk, or make your mid-morning break your ‘breakfast’.


Yes, it’s that flexible, it’s just the first eating occasion of the day. However, research shows that eating breakfast first thing in the morning helps stabilise blood glucose levels, which control appetite and energy. The longer you wait, the more insulin resistant you may become. This means that whatever you eat next will require an elevated insulin response, making life harder for your beta cells and probably resulting in an elevated blood glucose reading.


What you eat for breakfast is what really matters. A healthy low GI breakfast can sustain you until lunchtime, prime your metabolism to burn fat and reduce your day-long insulin levels more effectively than any other single dietary change. It’s easy to put together. It just needs some:


* Low GI carbs. Why? They trickle glucose into the blood stream, fill you up, give you energy and can reduce your day-long insulin levels more effectively than any other single dietary change.

* Protein. Why? It’s the feel-fuller-for-longer nutrient, keeping hunger pangs at bay between meals. It also lowers the glycemic load (by replacing some of the carbohydrate).

* Fruit and/or vegetables. Why? A high fruit and veg intake is consistently linked with better health. If you don’t have some for breakfast it will be hard to achieve your daily target (2 serves of fruit and 5 of vegetables is recommended in Australia, for example)


Choose foods from each column and prime your metabolism to burn fat.


View Food Groups http://www.glycemicindex.com/blog/2010/mar2010/fatburners757.jpg


Full Article: http://ginews.blogspot.com/#prime

Renovate your breakfast with grains, cereals and porridges


Dietitian Sue Radd’s The Breakfast Book highlights the vital role breakfast plays in our health and wellbeing, and offers deliciously original porridge and muesli recipes from around the world made with unprocessed or minimally processed grains – Baked brown rice porridge with fruits, Buckwheat porridge (a traditional Slovenian recipe), Cinnamon spiced quinoa with dried fruits, African mielimeel porridge, Fig and almond couscous porridge, Warm barley and cherry pudding, Millet with macadamia and currants and Fragrant wheat with figs, prunes and peaches.


‘Natural unprocessed or minimally processed grains are under-utilised as a breakfast food,’ says Sue, ‘because few people know how to cook them. In fact you can buy most grains – rye, triticale, barley, wheat, rye and amaranth – rolled, just like traditional rolled oats. I simply use a variety of rolled grains to make a base for my toasted muesli and then add nuts and seeds and dried fruit.


Another grain I love to use is polenta. I grew up eating polenta for breakfast, not Weet-Bix or corn flakes. Polenta is very common in certain parts of Europe. The smooth, porridge like consistency makes it suitable for the entire family. The bright yellow colour is due to carotenoids present in corn. I find the easiest way to enjoy polenta is with milk, but of course you can also serve it on a dinner plate with garlic-scented sauerkraut, natural yoghurt and cottage cheese!


I also like to make the most of whole wheat kernels, though you probably have to go to a health food shop to buy them. Your entire kitchen will become fragrant with warm earthy aromas when you cook wheat. My favourite dish is a porridge based on the traditional Croatian recipe for ‘zito’, commonly eaten for breakfast or as a snack during the day. You can use other whole grains such as spelt or triticale for this, too. I like this dish kept simple, but if you prefer, add a dollop of yoghurt to serve. This is real comfort food as well as being highly portable – just pop it into a plastic container with a lid to go. You can also make it the night before – it keeps well in the fridge for up to a week. It is super-rich in dietary fibre. Tip, the wheat only takes about 20 minutes to cook if you use a pressure cooker.’


Sue’s fragrant wheat with figs, prunes and peaches


1 cup whole wheat

1/3 cup pecans, coarsely ground

5 dried figs softened in water for 10 mins, chopped

¼ cup pitted prunes, chopped

½ cup dried peaches, chopped

1 tbsp honey


Place the wheat in a saucepan with 5 cups water and cook, covered for about 1 hour or until tender. Drain the wheat through a sieve and place in a large mixing bowl with the other ingredients. Mix well until combined. Serve while the wheat is still warm or enjoy later when cooled. Makes 5 serves.


Per serving

Energy: 1022 kJ/ 243 cals; Protein 8 g; Fat 7 g; Carbohydrate 46g; Fibre 9g



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