They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. 'They' (whoever they are… scientists, parents, dieticians, teachers, computers and not to forget, etcetera!) are correct.
Food is the fuel and energy for our bodies. Without food we spend the day stumbling around and fighting off headaches and grumpy attitudes. Breakfast is literally breaking the fast that your body is in from the night before.
Breakfast does all kinds of marvellous things such as boosting your energy, increasing your attention span and heightening your sense of well being (mood).
Breakfast lifts your blood sugar level from their daily low (when you wake up), consequently feeding your brain with the food it likes most, glucose.
We love breakfast!
Alleykat's favourite time of the day is, no doubt, breakfast time! This is our time to wake up slowly, warm up, fuel our bodies and allow caffeine to enter our system. I am not lying when I say that we often talk about how good breakfast is going to be – at 5pm the night before!
We never rush our breakfast. We always make sure we are up early enough to digest our food properly.
We sometimes nail breakfast, talking about how good it was all day!Other breakfasty stuff
A big healthy breakfast gets you ready for the day. It feeds your brain the important nutrients to start the day off right. It revs up your metabolism for the day, using the food consumed more efficiently and burning more fat.
NEVER SKIP BREAKFAST.
The most ideal way to eat is with breakfast and lunch as your biggest meals (this is when you are most active). It is not as healthy to have a late, heavy dinner which forces your stomach to digest food at night. Stomachs need rest too!
A breakfast with a low glycemic index and load (such as porridge, nuts and apples) will allow you to burn your food slower and more efficiently on the bike. It allows you to get a good ride in before lunch, as you won't have to stop and eat as regularly.
'They' recommend high fibre, whole grain breakfasts. High-fibre foods include fruits, vegetables and whole grains. 'They' also recommend protein rich breakfasts. The protein can come from eggs, low-fat dairy products, or nuts.
Cut back on sugary breakfast cereals (over 5.0 grams per serving), high-calorie pastries, and meats like bacon and sausage that are high in saturated fat and sodium.
Cooking our cyclist breakfast before a long day pushing pedals up and down hills! Porridge power
We have always been avid porridge eaters – we can't have enough of the stuff. It was only recently that we started to mix things into our porridge other than simply milk. The Alleykat science experiment then took off from there!
We have currently been using a mixture of the following ingredients:
Whole oats, raw oats, quick oats, corn flakes, rice, milk biscuits
Milk and hot water
Seeds: Flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, lin seeds, poppy seeds
Nuts: Walnuts, pistachios, peanuts, hazelnuts, almonds
Sweeteners: Honey/honeycomb, apple sauce, halva, chocolate, cocoa powder, and sugar (vanilla, regular or raw).
Flavour changers: Cinnamon, coconut, various jams (currently fig)
Fruit: Apple, pear, banana, dried cranberries
An Albanian dog hoping for a taste of our famous porridge… not likely!Cooking rice porridge
We cook with rice when oats are not able to be sourced. It isn't our preferred breakfast for two reasons: we don't find it as tasty, and; it takes longer. To make a rice porridge, we cook the rice using the absorption method. Once the rice has cooked through, we over-cook it for roughly 10 mins, adding extra hot water and milk to the mix. Once it is a porridge consistency, add whatever extras you like to suit your preferred flavour. You can pre-cook the rice the night before if you're short on time.
Our favourite mix currently:
A mix of oat varieties, cinnamon, flax/sunflower seeds, banana, chocolate, halva and walnuts.
Breakfast at the Blue Eye Spring in Albania – perfect! An always changing recipe
The best thing is that the regions we ride through often dictate the flavour of our porridge, as not all ingredients are found everywhere.
Our word of wisdom to you: eat a full breakfast, take your time, consume low gi products and get creative with porridge!
Have you got any other porridge tips for us? Or any secret ingredients we should try mixing together?
