What's for breakfast?

26th January 2016

Start somewhere...

Bad habits are like comfortable beds, easy to get into but so hard to get out of!  Yes the mind has a memory, a really smart one that subconsciously recognises patterns and once those patterns become habits they really are difficult to stop.  If you've had those habits for years and years, then they are going to take longer to  stop.  I also believe we don't change habits, one for another, we need to create new habits, in the hope that they become more powerful than the existing ones.

For example if I repeatedly drink a pint of water every morning, as I do now, my intake of mugs of tea becomes less automatically because I can't drink the both at the same time and I don't have my first mug till after I've drunk the water.

So my latest habit I'm trying to acquire is fitting in a day time walk, the more I do it, the more likely it is to become a habit, I know it will be a good while before it becomes automatic which is why I have to put in that extra effort to make myself do it.

Fake it till you make it, that's another great way to create new habits, if you get up and feel miserable, SMILE, you don't have to mean it, but a fake smile is better than no smile at all, say BUBBLES, you just can't say bubbles without smiling, you still might feel miserable underneath but by not focusing on it, it's more likely to go away.

One habit work getting into is eating Breakfast, it's National Breakfast Week this week, I do love my breakfast, yesterday I had avocado and egg on toast with tomatoes.  Egg's have to be up there on my fav list of foods and they just complete breakfast off perfectly for me.    

Why is breakfast important?  Well as the word states it breakfast the fast - it provides the body and brain with fuel after an overnight fast.  Without breakfast you are effectively running on empty, you wouldn't drive a car with no petrol!

The experts say breakfast should be eaten within two hours of waking and a healthy breakfast should provide calories in the range of 20-35% of your guideline daily allowance.  So for me that would be 6-11 Smart Points, I do tend to spend at least 6 as I love to eat at breakfast time. 

The National Health Service says "Eating breakfast has long term health benefits. It can reduce obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes."  Worth doing really then isn't it.

Right I'm actually hungry now I've been thinking about brekkie, so I'm off to get creative, will post my breakfast on my Facebook page in a little while using the hashtag #MyWWJourney, I hope you do the same and tag me too :)

Have a great day BeYOUtiful, remember to stop and enjoy the little things in your day like the sunrise, it was incredible yesterday and the full moon last night was glorious.  When I walked with mom yesterday we took please in seeing the odd crocus popping up, there are snowdrops and a few other things flowering at the moment, spring isn't that far away.

Today's Smart Point recipe;

Oven baked chicken fajitas, serves 4, 9 sp

Pre-heat oven to 220c/200c fan/gas 7.  Put 1tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/4 tsp ground coriander, 2 chopped garlic cloves and 1 tbsp olive oil in a large bowl and add 450g sliced chicken breast, 1 sliced red onion and 2 sliced peppers.  Turn well to coat and tip into a large roasting dish.  Cook in the oven until the chicken is cooked through.  Heat 4 wholewheat tortillas according to the packet instructions.  Divide 4tbsp fresh tomato salsa, salad, the chicken and peppers, 4 tbsp low-fat natural yogurt between each tortilla.  Scatter over some coriander and a squeeze of lime juice.  Fold up and serve.

Ultimate tomato salsa

• 4-6 medium tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/4 - 1/2 medium red onion, very finely chopped
• 1 small garlic clove, crushed
• Small splash of white wine vinegar
• Squeeze of lime juice
• Handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

It is as simple as this combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, stirr it in. Then refrigerate until needed to serve.

If you don't know how to peel tomatoes, look here; Make slits all over the skin of the tomatoes and place in a bowl of boiled water.  Leave them in there for 2-3 minutes. Then when you take them out they are extremely easy to peel!