Willpower is important when you are taking on any new thing, whether it is that your deciding to go back to school, joining the million who quit smoking or starting a new dieting. You might feel ambivalent about changing your lifestyle but with positive change comes benefits.
After giving up eating meat, my peers around me have been more concerned about my eating habits than I had been. They were worried because they thought that I would be starving myself and not really eating. Meat is not the only source of protein. You can also eat fish, beans, soy, tofu, peanut butter or nuts to attain the necessary daily value of protein the body needs. But what my peers hadn’t realized was that, just because one does not eat meat does not mean they cannot enjoy good, healthy meals. It is one thing to stop eating fatty foods with hope that it will lower your risk for bad cholesterol or heart disease.
I had kept somewhat of a journal of different things I’d eaten just to note. When my peers asked, I was able to let them know to their satisfaction. Even though they still felt I had been starving myself, I still wanted to show them how good a person who does not eat meat eats. The following is a list of different things that you can eat as a non-meat eater for breakfast.
BREAKFAST
For breakfast, there is nothing wrong with having a good old fashion bowl of cereal or oatmeal. Oatmeal is a great way to start your day. Nothing wrong with standing in front of a stove and making yourself a bowl but for those on the go, instant oatmeal also serves the purpose. Every so often, I put a packet of Quaker Instant Oatmeal Express Golden Brown Sugar into the microwave and in a matter of minutes, my breakfast is ready to be eaten.
Cereal offers another great breakfast. It is better to eat it though with skim or fat free milk than with whole milk if you are eating to live. I can choose to eat bacon, egg and cheese in the AM and every other have Belgium waffles topped with tons of butter with a side of sausage, but it would never offer the satisfaction that a bowl of cereal like Whole Grain Total, Kellogs Raisin Bran or Kashi Golean Crunch will. Plus, cereal has a tendency to keep you feeling full for a longer period than a fatty, high sodium breakfast would. And so do granola bars filled with protein and vitamins.
Yogurt works too. My favorite: YoCrunch yogurt which comes with a little bowl of nuts atop to give me a balanced meal with protein in it. Or how about, a good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich? When the jelly seems a bit too sweet, substitute it with a banana and the taste is divine. They say that if you eat fruit and only fruit for the first half of the day, your colon will one day thank you. An apple a day keeps the doctors away, but so does other fruits like pears and peaches. The more fruit the better. It is better to eat the fruit than to drink the fruit drink. There’s nothing wrong with a nice tall glass of orange juice but the orange fruit is so much more advantageous to your health.
Okay, so you are not a fan of the cold breakfasts. How about a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese, onions and lox? Or a scrambled egg white omelet with broccoli, tomatoes, spinach and swiss cheese? Instead of getting it fried, you could have it boiled with a side of boiled plantains. Or maybe you would rather have a grilled cheese sandwich with a tomato in it. A good old toasted bran muffin with a little bit of jelly always tasted good and truly does satiate the hunger.
Everybody likes a nice hot cup of coffee or tea with their breakfast. But do you like it because of the flavor or because of the sugar. Try drinking it without any flavored creamers, sugar or sweeteners. Coffee and tea actually have a unique flavor you will discover when unmasked that tastes good. In no time, you will get so used to it that you won’t even need any sugar or sweeteners to drink with your coffee or tea.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and should not be a meal that is skipped unless you have no choice or are fasting. Make sure to eat responsibly and to add a glass of water to every meal. These are just a few ideas which I hope you find to be helpful.
© Stephanie Jeannot
