At the turn of the Twentieth Century protein was the king of nutrients, needed for health, strength and good energy. However nutritionists of the day such as John Harvey Kellogg began to criticise protein claiming it was bad for digestion, and later protein was also demonised for being bad for the kidneys, increasing acidity and being detrimental to bone health.
Everyone will be familiar with the name Kellogg, who extolled the virtues of carbohydrates and breakfast cereal with the invention of the humble corn flake. Even just making a corn flake is quite a feat of food processing that leaves a piece of corn far removed from how nature intended it. The corn kernels are cooked to the point of going stale, and then forced through rollers to produce flakes, which are then toasted and ready to eat. Consider that this process renders the corn flakes devoid of nutrition so the manufacturers have to add back to the mix a host of B vitamins and other nutrients. You may read on a food label "fortified with vitamins and minerals" as if this is something to be applauded.
I believe Mr Kellogg would be shocked today if he saw his name associated with the plethora of junk foods that are breakfast cereals today. I'm sure this devout Adventist who promoted the cleanest and healthiest way of living would be horrified seeing sugar coated chocolate grains being the staple of many people's breakfast. Research today shows us that even a 30g bowl of cereal may contain up to 11g of sugar. Consider that most breakfast cereals are also high on the GL scale, which means they will cause a rapid rise in blood sugar levels - surely they cannot be marketed as health foods.
Well they are, see how the manufacturers of Special K brand it as a weight loss food, see how Nestle promote the benefits of whole grain cereals or that Shredded Wheat is good for the heart. This is marketing at its very worse, and what is even more alarming is that people believe it - why wouldn't they when they see a beautiful slim women being associated with Special K, or an ex-sporting legend promoting Shredded Wheat.
However, consider what Jonny Bowden calls a human's "factory specified food", it certainly isn't highly processed grains loaded with sugar and salt. I believe these junk foods are contributing (not the sole cause) to our epidemic of obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance and other chronic disease. What's the answer? What is our "factory specified food"?
Now, as I have assaulted all breakfast cereals as junk food (just read the label - they are full of sugar and salt and sometimes covered in chocolate - how could they not be junk food) I thought I would redeem myself by suggesting there are 2 cereals that I would be comfortable with people eating infrequently (this means once or twice a week).
These are porridge and muesli.
As always there are a couple of caveats to this rule. Both of these cereals contain oats, and oats contain gluten nowadays due to cross pollination, so if you are sensitive to gluten - don't eat oats. Instead you could look for a quinoa or amaranth based muesli that you can find in the health food store or simply make your own porridge from a mix of ground rice, quinoa or flax meal. If you are going to cook porridge add a little butter or coconut oil, flax seeds, slivered almonds and some berries to the mix. If you like it sweet add a teaspoon of xylitol or cinnamon.
Also look for brands of muesli that are low in sugar and high in nuts, seeds and coconut slivers and don't be afraid to add more nuts and seeds to the mix.
Don't use soy milk in either of these foods either. There are mixed opinions on soy, and I believe that traditional fermented soy eaten in moderation is fine, however highly processed soy products such as soy milk, soy cheese and soy yoghurt are also junk foods. If you don't have problems with dairy just use whole or semi skimmed milk, otherwise cook porridge with water and use some quinoa or almond milk on the muesli (I know these milks are processed too, but they are not oestrogenic like soy milk).
And don't put juice on your cereals - that is moronic. Why would you pour sugar loaded juice all over sugar loaded grains?
So if cereals are junk food (except porridge and muesli) you might be wondering what I do think is healthy to eat for breakfast. Here are my thoughts on a couple of conventional breakfast foods.
Eggs are a great breakfast food. Forget what you have heard about eggs being bad for your cholesterol or that the yolk bad for you as it is full of fat - this is complete nonsense! Eggs are a great source of protein, essential fats, B vitamins, vitamin D and vitamin A. Eat them anyway you like except fried. Have scrambled, poached or boiled eggs on wholegrain toast or try an omelette with spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes. Just don't eat eggs every day; 2-3 times a week is fine.
Plain whole Greek style yoghurt (such as Yeo Valley or Rachel's Organic) with mixed berries or sliced apple and ground seeds or toasted nuts is another great breakfast. Again this will provide you with some protein, fats and carbohydrates, the added berries and fruit provide fibre and antioxidants and the nuts or seeds provide more vitamins and minerals. Do not eat low fat or fruit yoghurts, these products are generally full of sugar!!!
I also think there is nothing wrong with having a healthy "grill up" once a week, find some good quality organic sausages and some bacon and eat it with poached eggs, steamed mushrooms and grilled tomatoes - yum!
Now I am going to reveal what I eat for breakfast almost every day. Bar the once a week healthy grill up or berries and yoghurt with some ground flax seeds, cinnamon and xylitol (YUM) I eat Meat and Nuts for breakfast.
This natural unprocessed food is what we are designed to eat (Jonny Bowden's "factory specified food"), not processed grains and a splash of dairy. I can hear you going "yuk" but just think about it. Go back a few thousand years and what do you think people would have eaten for breakfast.
Now we can't be 100% sure as we weren't there and don't really have any records from that time (apart from fossil remains and Palaeolithic bone remains - which by the way Palaeontologists such as Loren Cordain have good data suggesting the types of foods our ancestors ate), but there were certainly no processed grains, and people would probably have eaten what they had hunted and gathered the day before. They may have eaten the remains of hunted rabbit, bore or deer; they may have eaten some foraged berries or nuts or other plants, but not a bowel of Cheerio's!
Now it doesn't really matter what meat you want to eat, and when I say meat I mean to encompass meat, fish, seafood and poultry and simply eat a serving that will satisfy your appetite along with some raw unsalted nuts such as cashews, almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts or even Brazil nuts. You could also eat some berries or other low GL fruit such as apple or pear. This type of breakfast will certainly fill you up as you will get a healthy serving of protein, essential fats, vitamins and minerals and the fruit will give you some added fibre.
I can hear the orthodox medical and nutritional mainstream shouting that this will raise cholesterol etc etc... Well, if you eat just as much seafood and fish as you do meat (which will provide omega 3 fats that are known to help improve cholesterol) and combine this with nuts that are full of beta sitosterols that again raise good HDL: and lower bad LDL cholesterol you should have no problems at all with this. Now there are always exceptions to the rule so just pay attention to your latest blood test results you get from the doctor, but in most cases blood markers for CVD and insulin resistance should improve.
It's important that you don't just eat the same type of meat every day. If you at beef everyday then that might cause you a problem, but if you rotate your foods sensibly you'll be providing a host of different nutrients to your body and your immune system will not build up a reaction to any one food.
Here is an example:
Day 1: Salmon fillet, handful of almonds and blueberries
Day 2: Turkey escallops, handful of cashews
Day 3: Homemade beef patty with pecans and raspberries
Day 4: Chicken strips with walnuts and sliced apple
