Breakfast of champions

How to break the fast that supports best health, mind, and energy

standard breakfast: coffee to wake up and a quick and easy carb

The standard American breakfast is an example of what NOT to eat.

It’s often coffee on an empty stomach, and maybe some food that’s heavy (bacon, eggs, hashed brown, and toast), sugar-laden (cereal, pastries), cold and sweet (yogurt, juice, smoothie), and quick (to-go bars, toast). Rushing also seems to be a part of how breakfast is normally done.

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”

• …doesn’t mean whatever, just put something in your stomach.

• It means it’s important how you break the fast.

Eat Light

Breakfast time is between 6 and 10 am. Our digestion is slow during this time. Like you, it’s still waking up. So it’s good to choose something that’s light, easily digestible, and warm. Think: what would you want to wake up to?

• Cold foods are considered heavy and weaken the digestion.

• Coffee, especially on an empty stomach, aggravates dryness (& itchy skin), anxiety (& lack of focus), and acid reflux. I understand that coffee’s a hard habit to break. If you must have it, add a pinch of cardamom to balance the acidity, and add some fat to it as well (coconut oil, ghee, butter) to balance out the jitters and drying effects on the body. And if possible, have it at least a half hour after putting food into your stomach.

• Chew your food well before swallowing so it doesn’t sit heavy in your stomach… so you can move and think after you eat.

Eating light and right gives you sustained energy to move through your day, and the mental and emotional nourishment to trust yourself, stay grounded, feel fulfilled and relaxed.

Eat Sweet

Sweet is a good flavor profile to lean into for breakfast… as well as the first flavor to have in any meal… which, I understand, contradicts the rule of salad first, dessert last that we’ve been indoctrinated into since childhood. Our digestion actually works better with sweet first, bitter last.

Sweet foods nourish, soothe, ground, strengthen, and satisfy. That’s right. Each flavor profile corresponds to different emotions! Without sweet, we are more vulnerable to succumbing to our fears, cravings, and attachments during the day. Sweets also stimulate our digestive system (which is why sweet first) and promote tissue growth.

But by sweets, I don’t mean donuts!

Sweet should come from natural sources and have a low glycemic index, meaning foods that cause a slower and smaller rise in blood sugar levels.

These include sweet fruits, grains, dairy, and root vegetables.

Here are some healthy and nourishing breakfast ideas, and what I fed my family for two decades.

Note to parents: If you have children, starting their days off this way will help them maintain focus and a clearer sense of self. I challenge you to stop putting cereal or granola in front of them as you rush them off to school, setting a tone that feels unhinged and behind. If they’re resistant, don’t push. Simply set the example. Make the ideal breakfast available and enjoy them yourself. Because first and foremost, this is for you, and what’s for you is for them.

• Stewed fruit (apples, pears) is the ideal way to have fruit for breakfast because it’s pre-digested and warm. There are several ways to pre-digest food to help your digestion: heat, slow-cook, cook with spices, chew (the saliva breaks down your food as well as signals your stomach that food is coming; it will produce the enzymes to digest, meaning you won’t need to take enzyme supplements - just chew your food and eat with a calm state of mind).
  Place into a small pot: 2-3 peeled and sliced fruit, 1 tablespoon of water, fresh chopped ginger, cardamom and cinnamon powder, and a little ghee (optional). Cover, and simmer until the fruit is easily mashable with a fork. Enjoy!
  Certain body constitutions (Pitta) can handle raw fruits and smoothies, and during certain seasons (Spring, Summer). If you want to have fruit raw and cold, pay attention to your energy and clarity of mind afterwards to see if they work for you. Making the connection between the foods you eat and how they make you feel helps to make the right decisions.

• Oatmeal: add banana slices or berries in with your oatmeal as you cook it rather than topping your oatmeal off with them. Cooking the fruit softens, sweetens and spreads the fruit throughout the oatmeal and makes it more digestible. Cover and simmer rather than rushing it on medium high.
  Top with a little honey or maple syrup, and even some ghee, butter, or nut butter to richen it up. The fat in ghee and butter (always in moderation) is beneficial to the body, keeps you full longer, and it’s calming and lubricating.

• Miso soup: is warm, easily digestible, light, and rich in probiotics. Slice up some fresh ginger root and boil it in water for 10 minutes (amount of water is the amount of soup desired). Ginger is a good anti-inflammatory, good for sore throats, congestion, immunity, digestion, and pain relief.
  After 10 minutes, turn the water off, ladle some hot water into a small bowl, dissolve the miso paste with a spoon, and add the concentrate back to your pot of water. Check instructions on your miso package for a starting point, but the amount of paste you add is according to taste. Dissolve more if necessary. Make this process a meditation.
  Adding tofu is optional and depends on your constitution. Less is more. Notice how you feel afterwards to know if tofu works for you.
  I enjoy adding a little bit of watercress, baby arugula, or slightly sautéed, well-chopped red bell pepper to my miso.

• Sourdough bread with ghee or butter: optional to add scrambled eggs on top for some protein. Sourdough is more digestible than whole grain. And, in my opinion, more delicious. It also has a glycemic index of 54 versus whole grain at 71 (out of 100). For blood sugar management, having that number closer to zero is better.

• Eggs, depending on your constitution (good for Vata), they can be a nice protein add for breakfast. Have it scrambled, boiled, poached, sunny-side-up, or over-easy. Stick with butter or ghee. Stay away from the vegetable oils. I love cooking sliced plantains in ghee and serving them with egg over-easy. My kids and I would dip the plantain into the yolk and eat it, it’s super good!
  Make sure you’re getting the cleanest eggs you can afford.

• Pancakes can make for a healthy breakfast if the ingredients are right. Always read ingredients on packaging. Opt for healthier grains (pancakes made from buckwheat, for instance) and natural sweeteners like maple syrup or honey. Honey mixed with ghee, cinnamon, and vanilla extract is amazing; add some chopped nuts or seeds, and even some gently cooked bananas. Just don’t cook the honey; you’ll turn the best medicine into a toxin by doing that.

• Lassi: is a yogurt drink. Yogurt diluted in water is a lot healthier and offers more benefits than having it straight. On a side note, don’t choose yogurt with fruit already added to it; there are too many added sugars in them; it’s healthier to add your own fruit with your own natural sweeteners.
  The ratio of yogurt to water is 1:3 or 1:4.
  If you’re cold, you can add to it warming spices like cinnamon or ginger. I make mine with a dash of rosewater, cardamom, and honey. You’ll want to aerate it with a whisk or shake it until it foams on top (I make mine in a mason jar, covering it to shake vigorously until foamy).
  While Lassi is a good breakfast option, I wouldn’t recommend it as a drink before or after a hearty breakfast. It’s too heavy in that context, and can dilute your digestive enzymes, making it difficult for you to digest your meal. If you want to have it anyway, wait 30 minutes to an hour after your meal and enjoy.

• Golden milk (milk with turmeric and honey): is an excellent anti-inflammatory and incredibly soothing to the soul. You can use alternative milk options (I use almond). The ratio per serving is 1 cup milk, 1/2 tsp turmeric. Optional adds: cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, vanilla extract, black pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, let it cool enough for your finger to be able to take the heat without burning it, and then add honey to taste (honey should not be cooked). You can also froth it to have it as a latte. Do it after you add the honey, and then add a sprinkle of cinnamon or cardamom powder on top! Cinnamon is warming. Cardamom is cooling.

• Kitcheri: is 1:1 or 1:2 basmati rice and split yellow mung beans with spices (fennel, coriander and cumin seeds, and fresh ginger) cooked in a LOT of water as the base (about 1:6, but adjustable depending on how dry or soupy you want it). Veggies are optional depending on the purpose of this meal; for a complete detox, have just the rice, beans, ginger, and spices, and make it more soupy. It should cook for about 45 min. Do not cook with salt; it will take longer to cook. Add the sea salt later to taste. This is a good one to make a full day’s worth to mono-diet and detox for the day. Whether you use brown or white basmati depends on your ability to digest. If you struggle with digestion, choose white - remember that if you can’t digest something, you can’t get the nutrients from it. Top with a little ghee, liquid aminos, and cilantro. Cayenne is a nice add if you want a little heat.

• A small handful of nuts (almonds, walnuts) and a date or fig (the actual fruit, not the Fig Newtons).

• Sip on hot water throughout the morning. Optional, and beneficial: add lemon.

• Stay away from: cold cereals, granola, white bread, breakfast bars, and donuts.

Time

You’d be right if you’re thinking that these options aren’t as fast as downing cereal with milk, chomping down on a piece of toast, or grabbing a breakfast bar to go. All of which negatively impacts digestion and healthy tissue growth.

What I can tell you is that breakfast is a part of how you start your day. And how you start your day sets the tone. Slowing down and taking 10-15 minutes (or more) to make or slowly heat up a nourishing breakfast, and then sitting down to enjoy it without turning on the news, scrolling your phone, or running around to gather all your things for the day is a meditation in itself. It feeds your psyche. It gives your body the proper fuel, reparations, and growth that it needs. And, this act of self-love will help you step into your day powerfully and in your own body.

If you don’t need breakfast - as in, you can skip breakfast without feeling light-headed, airy, jittery, hangry, unglued, or anxious, then lunch is your “break the fast.”

Remember that drinking only black coffee in the morning counts as breaking the fast. No, not in terms of keto, caloric, or blood-sugar levels, but in that anything you consume - even water - impacts your body’s energy, nervous system, and cellular intelligence… and that’s what we’re talking about here.

The difference between actual breakfast time and lunchtime is the amount of food your stomach can handle:

• Digestion is slow between 6 to 10 am (breakfast window), so the meal should be light.

• Digestion is the strongest between 10 am and 2 pm (lunch window). Which means it’s wise to make lunch the biggest meal of the day. If you’re thinking, Savitree, doing that makes me sleepy…
  Remember, there’s a difference between making lunch your biggest meal of the day and overeating. I suspect this is one of the reasons why many people make dinner their biggest meal - they don’t have to worry about being productive afterwards… which is NOT ideal for good sleep. Over the long term, a heavy dinner weakens your digestion and metabolism, produces more toxins in your body, creates a restless sleep, and causes your body to become out of balance.
  Meals shouldn’t make you sleepy. It should make you feel relaxed-energized. Check in with yourself after each meal, and you’ll figure out how much is the right amount for you. Chewing your food well, btw, helps with all of it.

I hope this helps.

DO mix up the menu every morning with the foods listed above! You will be well served by its variety. And remember to always check in with yourself to see what works for you and what doesn’t. If it doesn’t feel like it’s working, check in on these 4 factors:

• the food you ate

• the quantity you consumed

• what you were doing while eating

• how you were feeling while eating

Here’s to starting your day off well fed!

With love, Savitree