For those of us on the weight loss bandwagon, it’s hard to select food that is healthy and which doesn’t trigger the gag reflex between the fork and the digestive tract. I remember an old episode of “Garfield and Friends” in which the titular cat suggested a diet that includes any food you can comfortably sit upon: lettuce made the cut.
What can one eat for breakfast? I’ve gone over some possibilities, and none of them seem right. First, eggs are not on the list: they are high in cholesterol whole, and I don’t want to waste either the white or the yolk just for the sake of having the half of the egg I spent good money for.
Bread is not good for you, either. Anything made with refined flour is bad, but the purer stuff is high in calories.
Cereal is out as well because it contains refined sugars or the above refined grains. Hot cereal isn’t good, particularly oatmeal unless it is steel cut. What’s with that, anyway? Do they put individual oats on a chopping block, absolve them of their sins and then decapitate them? And that brings up the subject of how they “cut” the other oatmeals out there. Maybe it’s a kosher thing and the oats were killed humanely under the watchful eye of tradition adherent rabbis.
Have you ever stood in the oatmeal section of the market? It’s a confusing array of flavors, textures and boxes in sizes that don’t fit in your cupboard.
Those of us who take medication can’t even settle for grapefruit for breakfast, because the juices in those little yellow globes contain ingredients that affect the absorption of many medicines. I’m also told that the standard daily glass of orange juice is not good for dieters because the juice is mixed with high fructose corn syrup.
I won’t even go into the issues associated with sausage, bacon or other so-called breakfast meats. Cheese is out because it’s high in fat. Coffee is bad for you, and in terms of milk I’ve already downsized from whole to 2%, which fortunately looks better in a glass than skim milk, which resembles chalky water in a carton.
So I’m back to square one: what can a dieter have for breakfast that doesn’t guarantee a trip to the poorhouse, doesn’t affect the heart or liver, and won’t add high fructose corn syrup to the gut?
No wonder most people skip breakfast altogether.
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