Once you decide to eat real, unprocessed foods, breakfast can be a roadblock. Most people are pressed for time in the morning but still want a quick and easy, yet satisfying breakfast. In light of this, people routinely turn to milk and cereal as a quick option. Keep reading for some better ideas.
What’s wrong with cereal and milk?
There are 2 big reasons to avoid the standard milk and cereal breakfast.
- Cereal is not a "real food". Read the ingredient label on any cereal box, even the whole grain and organic varieties. The list usually includes some form of added sugar, along with 20-30 ingredients, many of which you cannot pronounce.
- Cereal is primarily carbohydrates, which your body converts to glucose (sugar). This is a quick burning source of fuel that gives you a surge of energy, but it only lasts for a couple of hours and then you are starving and tired again. You might find yourself heading to the break room for more coffee and a pastry. To avoid that crash, breakfast should include long-burning fuel sources provided by proteins and fats. This will keep you satisfied until lunch.
What About Oatmeal?
Steel cut or old-fashioned oatmeal passes the "real food" test, but it is a "filler" like rice or potatoes, that contains mostly carbohydrates (56 grams in a cup), and not many other nutrients. Although oatmeal is better than processed cereal, you may find that it does not have the fat and protein to keep you satisfied all morning. Read more about the pros and cons of oats.
The flavored oatmeal that comes pre-packaged in single servings is NOT real food. It contains many artificial ingredients, and added sugars just like other pre-processed cereals.
What About Eggs?
Traditionally, the recommendation has been to avoid eggs to keep your cholesterol down. Eggs have gotten a bad rap, but that is being reversed by current research. See Dr. Thomure's explanation of why you do not need to fear eggs.
Top 10 real food breakfast ideas:
10) Leftovers from the night before. While unconventional having soup or leftover meat & vegetables for breakfast is a good way to start the day.
9) Two-ingredient Banana and Egg Pancakes. (A quicker method that makes a custard-like concoction is to microwave the same ingredients. Mix the 2 eggs and 1 banana in a microwave-safe bowl. Cook for 1 minute on high power. Stir, mixing the cooked edges into the mixture. Cook for 2 additional minutes on power 5. Serve with butter and top with blueberries or strawberries. Yum!)
8) Ham and Egg Breakfast Cups - a super simple and delicious breakfast idea.
7) Breakfast Smoothie
6) Breakfast Skillet topped with an egg. (My favorite combo is sweet potato, spinach, onions, and a granny smith apple.) When the skillet is almost cooked, break one or more eggs on top and cover as it finishes cooking.
5) Full fat, PLAIN yogurt topped with fruit and nuts. You can even make easily make your own yogurt!
4) Avocado Egg Cups - a great way to incorporate healthy fats to keep you going all morning
3) My favorite Banana Bread or Muffins. Top with butter or nut butter to make it more filling.
2) Homemade Energy Bars - Make ahead for a grab-and-go breakfast.
1) Egg Casserole. This is our standard breakfast. I make it at the beginning of the week. I love it because it’s quick to reheat and an easy way to get eggs and veggies in the morning!
What are your favorite real food breakfasts?
Joelle Kurczodyna, NTP
Our newest little Illini Fans!After a much needed break and two babies later – we are back! If you’ve followed the DuPage Family Wellness blog, you know that we are passionate about eating real food. However, over the last several weeks of welcoming newborns into our homes, we have seen firsthand how difficult it can be to actually shop and prepare real food for your family. We’ve found that planning ahead and being organized are crucial to getting a real food meal on the table and not succumbing to the ease of convenience, processed, and fast foods.
If you are trying to be healthier and interested in removing processed foods from your diet and incorporating more real foods or if you are a seasoned veteran, there are several, simple things that we have found to make eating real food possible in the midst of the busyness of life. In light of that reality, we will be posting “real food weekly challenges” over the next several weeks. These will be basic weekly cooking challenges that you can do to help make your life easier and provide real food for your family for that week. Overtime, by implementing a few of these things every week, you will find that preparing real food meals for your family will be much more doable and hopefully even enjoyable. We may also throw in some movement challenges to help incorporate more movement in your day. Time after time, we have seen how the combination of eating real, unprocessed food and moving the body have allowed people (including ourselves!) to reach their health goals! We are excited for you to do these challenges along with us and see what happens!
Along with posting these regular food challenges, we will also be offering another 5 week long RESTART® class to help you kick those sugar cravings and look and feel your best as we head into spring. The next class will begin on Wednesday April 6th from 7-8:30 the Warrenville Office and continue for 5 weeks on Wednesday nights with the last class being May 4th. Learn more here and email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with questions!
Also, Dr. Thomure is back in the office seeing patients with the following hours:
Monday: 2:00 – 6:00
Wednesday: 2:00 – 6:00
Friday: 10:00 – 1:00
Call our office at 630-448-0255, or email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) to schedule.
Eating out can be very tough! You don't always know how your food is being prepared. It seems like 90% of the options come with some sort of bread/tortilla/French fry, etc. Sauces are almost always thickened with flour or corn starch. One of my favorite ways to keep things in check is to sub out items on the menu for healthier options!! While this isn't always possible, you never know if you don't ask!
Top 5 restaurant substitutions I have managed to get- just by asking!
- Veggies instead of Tortilla Chips at a Mexican restaurant (Changarro in West Chicago did this for me!) I didn't think they'd do this for me, but I asked if there was something else besides chips to dip in the delicious salsa, and they brought me some veggies!
- Veggies instead of fries (occasionally there will be a small up charge, but well worth it!)
- A Stir Fry with extra vegetables instead of rice or noodles
- A lettuce wrap or bed of greens instead of a bun or bread. This could be with a burger, chicken, fish, heck I've even eaten an "italian beef salad"
- Oil and Vinegar instead of other salad dressing. This one I recommend because salad dressings are notorious for having all sorts of weird added ingredients and sugar. My best bet if I'm eating out is always Oil and Vinegar, because at least that way I have a better idea of what I'm eating. Sometimes if there are enough delicious ingredients in the salad, I just leave off the dressing all together.
If you are being very strict or have food allergies, you can ask your waiter about what types of oils they use for cooking and where the meat/produce came from. Depending on the restaurant, they may or may not know the answers to those questions.
If there is an option of cooking oil, my top choice would be coconut oil, or a form of animal fat (butter, lard, duckfat, etc) They have more saturated fats, and can go to high temperatures better. I would stay away from highly processed cooking oils like vegetable oil, canola oil, etc. Here is a guide for which fats to cook with, which to eat raw, and which to avoid all together!
Since I don't go out to eat very often, I typically just try to do the best I can, knowing that it is a treat, and I can't control everything about the way my food is prepared all the time.
Dr. Jamie
Need more motivation to begin eating real food and get healthy? This is what one of the participants from the last class had to say about her experience!
With Restart, I have lost almost 13 pounds. I really don't miss all the sugary foods that I was eating. I can't believe how much I enjoy eating my salads and veggies. I took away from this program, how important it is to forgive yourself if you do eat something, not on the program. Eat it, enjoy it and move on. I am motivated to stick with this way of eating since the program.
Yes, Bacon is allowed on RESTART! Eating Real Food can taste so good and we will give you some great tips and recipes!
This 5 week program to RESTART® your health begins this Monday from 7-8:30.
What is The RESTART® Program?
RESTART® is a 5-week program with a 3-week sugar detox built into it. Part nutritional class, part sugar detox, and part support group, it is a powerful and empowering combination for success!
Are You Ready?
Just like this recent RESTART® participant, you too will experience the side effects of the The RESTART® Program, which include (but are not limited to):
- Weight loss
- Better sleep
- More energy
- Boosted Immunity
- Reduced cravings for sugar and starchy carbs
- Mental clarity, calmness and even temperament
- Reduced PMS and menopausal symptoms
- An appreciation for the taste of REAL FOOD!
Click HERE to learn more or sign up!
"I never thought I could do this, but with all the information and support, it went by really fast and I feel great! You have changed my life and I thank you for that!"
"Since I did The RESTART® Program I'm off of two medications; one for asthma and the other for acid reflux.
I can't tell you how excited I am about this!"
These are just a few things people are saying about the RESTART® Program.
What is The RESTART® Program?
RESTART® is a 5-week program with a 3-week sugar detox built into it. Part nutritional class, part sugar detox, and part support group, it is a powerful and empowering combination for success!
Are You Ready?
Side effects of the The RESTART® Program may include (but are not limited to):
- Weight loss
- Better sleep
- More energy
- Boosted Immunity
- Reduced cravings for sugar and starchy carbs
- Mental clarity, calmness and even temperament
- Reduced PMS and menopausal symptoms
- An appreciation for the taste of REAL FOOD!
You will also learn:
- How to prepare mentally, physically, and emotionally to make successful changes to your diet.
- How Digestion is supposed to work and simple ways to enhance yours.
- What sugar really does in your body, the stages of dysglycemia (Hypoglycemia, Hyperglycemia, Insulin Resistance, Type 2 Diabetes), and effective ways to reduce your risk of these conditions.
- The truth about FATS and why healthy fats are essential for healthy Blood Sugar Regulation, as well as your general good health. You will learn which fats to eat, which fats to avoid, and why!
- How to move forward from the sugar detox and re-introduce foods in a healthful way back into your daily diet.
The next 5-week class begins Monday, October 26th from 7-8:30! Click HERE to learn more and sign up. Want to take RESTART® but can't do Monday nights? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. today as more class times are pending.
RESTART® Your Health Nutrition Classes AND Nourish Your Family Freezer Cooking Parties!
RESTART® is Back!
Excess weight, tiredness and fatigue, headaches, gas and bloating, brain fog, poor sleep, unbalanced hormones, high blood pressure, heartburn, or lack of energy? Do you suffer from any of these things? Like many Americans, have you accepted them as “normal?”
I hate to break it to you but nothing on the above list is “normal” and none of these things should be experienced day to day.
Thankfully, YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR HEALTH AND YOU CAN TURN THESE THINGS AROUND! Living this way does not need to be normal!
That is what the RESTART® class is for! This 5 week class provides the education, support, and a 3 week REAL FOOD CHALLENGE where we’ll be focusing on using FOOD to HEAL the body, specifically by eliminating all processed food and sugars.
Want to begin living life without those everyday complaints? Go against the normal and sign up for the next RESTART® class that will be held on Monday nights from 7-8:30 beginning OCTOBER 26th!
You can learn more and Sign up for the class here.
Nourish Your Family Freezer Cooking Party
Want to put healthy meals on the table for your family but aren’t sure where to begin? Are you too busy to cook real food from scratch? Need some new fresh ideas for meal time?
If any of these are true of you, then you would LOVE our new Nourish Your Family Freezer Cooking Parties!
We will provide the menu, recipes, pastured meat and eggs from a local farm, and run the cooking party.
You will walk away with several servings of 4 different freshly prepared meals ready for your freezer to enjoy at anytime!
You will need to bring groceries from a very basic grocery list that will be provided and the cost of the party is $75 per person.
The next party will be on Friday, October 23rd from 6-9 pm in Warrenville. Spots are very limited so sign up today by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Can’t make it to this one? That’s OK – we can come to you! Gather 4-5 friends for your very own freezer cooking party. This will be no cost for party hosts.
All of our menus are gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, and paleo with pastured meat and eggs that we will provide from a local farm.
Our Fall Menu:
-Pumpkin Chili
- Italian Stuffed Peppers
- Salmon Cakes
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Veggie Egg Cups
