This is following on from a recent Instragram post I put up of the breakfast I was eating last week. It will be the first of a series of posts where I trial what breakfast works best for me and things you should be paying attention to for determining whether your breakfast (or meals in general) is working for you.
First I'll start with the recipe because it is delicious! Of course you can use any nuts and seeds you wish and top it with anything but I'll just tell you what I did!
PALEO GRANOLA
1 Coconut
1 Cup Almonds
1 Cup Walnuts
1/2 Cup Macadamias
1/2 Cup Sunflower Seeds
1/2 Cup Pumpkin Seeds
1/2 Cup Coconut Oil
1 Tbsp Honey
Makes about 6 servings
1. Turn on oven to 200 C
2. Open coconut and remove fruit from shell, place in blender with nuts and chop roughly.
3. Place nut mixture and seeds on a tray, spread evenly and cover with coconut oil and honey.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, remove from the oven and turn the mix over to bake the other side.
5. Bake for further 20 minutes or until toasted to desired level.
6. Serve with anything you like! I topped with cacao, cream and blueberries, delicious!
Now for the part you've all been waiting for, I know!
I'm writing this a few days after I finished this experiment so I may not remember every little thing but I think you'll get the idea. The first thing I need to mention is that generally I fast in the morning up to around 11 or 12 and have my 3 meals from that point, but I have noticed of late that I'm starting to eat more later in the day hence the breakfast trial to curb that.
The first thing I did notice was that it is very filling, a lot of good fats and protein! I do think it helped to slow the excessive evening eating somewhat but I'm pretty active so I do still need a fair amount of food! Also I probably should have measured this but it seemed as though it had a positive effect on my body composition and my motivation and energy were slightly improved. I didn't notice any effect on sleep or with training sessions.
Now for the negative... I personally think I may have some sort of intolerance to nuts, especially when I eat a lot of them. The two biggest negatives were my recovery from training was quite poor and I woke up sore and stiff every morning and second, my hayfever started playing up more than usual so if I looked tired last week it was probably from rubbing my eyes the whole drive to the gym!
Of course all of this is my personal experience and the only way you'll know how anything effects you is if you try it for yourself. Pay attention to mood, energy, sleep, pain, stress and function to decide whether what you're eating is working for you!
Stay tuned next week for a week on a fruit salad breakfast....
