My Breakfast Evolution: Bran flakes to Brazil Nuts

Everyone has heard the saying “Breakfast like a King” but as a teenager I loathed breakfast and every morning without fail my mum would force two slices of toast into my hand as I legged it out the door which I would promptly sling over the garden hedge on route to school. By 11am a feeling of faintness would kick in but a Cadbury’s Biscuit Boost would soon sort that out.

Things changed when I became interested in fitness and I soon caught onto the “healthy” wholegrain cereal fad and Bran Flakes, Muesli or Special K became a fixture in my diet for years. The more I educated myself about nutrition and training the more I refined my cereal choices, swapping semi skimmed milk for skimmed, then onto soya milk, rice milk, almond milk, oat milk, goats milk.....you get the picture! As I learnt more about added salt and sugar I opted for millet rice flakes, quinoa pops or spelt flakes and in doing so joined the wheat free, taste free revolution.

Nuts, seeds and fruit were soon added for protein, omega oils and antioxidants and I pretty much thought I was reaching optimum nutrition as far as breakfast was concerned.
I was training hard by now, anywhere between 6-12 hours a week working towards a half marathon and pushing my body to fittest levels beyond my expectations (we all know how that turned out but that’s another blog entirely).
Soon my one bowl of cereal was becoming two and the size of a fruit bowl at that! Struggling to control portion size as my hunger was through the roof I switched to oatcakes for a wheat free, low fat, low GI and portion controlled (if you leave the box at home) breakfast. Toppings included organic peanut butter, raw honey or agave nectar.The next change came with a new career as I entered the fitness industry and with it a need for breakfast “on the go” in the form of cereal bars. I researched the best and opted for Nakd, Trek or Nine Bars; natural, raw and full of omega oils, fruit and nuts, great! Protein, carbohydrate, convenient and blooming lovely! I was pretty happy at this breakfast stage in my life, Nine bars are almost as good as a Cadbury’s Boost (so you know it’s too good to be true!)
The more I developed professionally the more I learned of new concepts in nutrition and the next step in my breakfast evolution brought about the biggest difference in my physique, fitness and energy levels. What was it....?

You’ll have to tune in next week :)