Taking The Breakfast Challenge

When Vega invited me to participate in their Breakfast Challenge, I was intrigued.

I'm a person of cycles and wild variations: a couple months ago, this was my standard breakfast:

Lately, as I mentioned in my turmeric post, this porridge has been my breakfast...

...with some extra fruit on the side (this plate gets shared with Phil, for whom I make an entirely different breakfast).

And not so long ago, my standard breakfast was a very green, herbal smoothie with frozen peas or beans and no fruit whatsoever!

My breakfast changes from one thing to the other depending on what I think is easy/cheap/convenient/healthiest at any given time--from the outside, this probably looks like mere whimsy. And I was intrigued by this opportunity because I haven't ever measured macronutrient ratios in these different breakfasts. In an effort to distance myself from the days when I couldn't put a piece of food in my mouth without having weighed it and counted exact calories, I've tended to avoid paying careful attention to quantities and ratios. My ND encourages me not to count calories, but also encourages me to eat more fat and protein, which I constantly seem to resist. Somehow, having numbers on it may bring some clarity.

So, I've spent some time wrassling with Fitday and also, thanks to Vega, tried out a couple of the delicious breakfast smoothie recipes they offer in this free booklet.

I made their pear-ginger smoothie (I used coconut cream powder instead of nut milk as I didn't have any)...

 And I made their chocolate almond smoothie, using the full two tablespoons of almond butter, despite my current omega-6 phobia--I split this one with Phil so that I wouldn't get too wired from the cacao (and wouldn't get too much omega-6)!

Pear-ginger, chocolate-almond--they speak for themselves, don't they--delicious. Phil (who's skeptical of smoothies) loved the chocolate almond.

Fitday took some work--I'll probably have to get all obsessive about it and use it all the time, just to make it worthwhile!
Here's what it had to say about my porridge, made with amaranth, a tiny amount of flax meal and lecithin, a little pea protein powder, a banana, a small sprinkling of gojis and raisins, and of wild Alaskan blueberries:

308 Calories. 6.5g Fat (18%), 52.7g Carbs (65%), 14.5g Protein (18%)

This seems quite good, although I imagine my ND would say it's not enough fat. With the extra melon and orange slices on the side, the percentage of carbs would go even higher with the other two macros going down.

And here's what it had to say about the pear ginger smoothie:

410 calories. 13.6g Fat (15%), 59.4g Carbs (66%), 16.8g Protein (19%).
They're actually fairly similar on the macronutrient level, although I was surprised that the smoothie came out lower in fat as a percentage, since I used a full serving of coconut milk powder and didn't skimp it like I usually do!

In terms of standard recommendations, both these breakfasts look pretty ideal--and far better balanced than that hunk of watermelon, that's for sure! In terms of what my ND wants me to eat, probably more fat and less carb would be 'ideal.' The Vega protein powders are low in carb in themselves, so the overall carb content will depend on what's added to them. I can imagine some wonderful smoothies based on Vega powders with some berries and some avocado--stay tuned for these.

And what I shouldn't forget to mention is that Vega's protein powders carry fully 50% or more of the RDAs of all the vital macronutrients--it's like taking a supplement as well as the food. Getting a good dose of protein together with all the important micronutrients is a great start to a clear-headed day.

Thank you so much, Vega--now, with a good breakfast under my belt, I should get out and enjoy what might be one of our last warm-sunny days of the year.

What did you have for breakfast?