I’m sure you’ve heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. While all meals are important, and you should take care to eat consistently throughout the day to keep your body energized and stave off cravings and binges, breakfast ensures that you get the day started right. Quite literally, breakfast means “breaking the fast”, that is, the overnight fast your body just went through as you slept.

When you wake, your body expects to be fed. It assumes it can start revving its engines and firing on all cylinders because it believes fuel from outside sources is coming. When you don’t supply it with the fuel it expects and so desperately needs, your body gets worried and confused. It slows everything down to ensure it can survive until the next fuel source is provided. When you do this often enough, your body stops even sending hunger signals when you wake up in the morning because it no longer even expects to be fed. Instead, it continues to stay in a starvation/survival mode, conserving energy and doing everything it can to retain its energy and fat stores so that it doesn’t run out before the next fuel injection.

I get it, sometimes breakfast doesn’t sound appealing. Sometimes you’re not sure what to make, as you want something healthy, but also filling enough to get you through the first part of the day, and delicious enough that it doesn’t feel like a chore to eat it. Enter the yogurt bowl. This has become my new go-to breakfast (and lunch!) concoction. It’s just sweet enough to feel a little indulgent, but packed with protein, healthy fats, and a solid serving of fruit and fiber. Feel free to mix up the type of fruit and nuts to give yourself a variety of options!

Breakfast Power Bowl

Serves 1

½ cup Greek Yogurt, plain (I use grass-fed, full-fat)

1 Tbsp chia seeds

drizzle of maple syrup (about 1 tsp)

1 Tbsp dark chocolate chips, chopped or mini chips

2 Tbsp pistachios, unsalted, chopped

1 blood orange, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces

Stir together the yogurt, chia seeds, and maple syrup (feel free to even do this the night before and then leave in the fridge overnight; be prepared, however, the chia seeds will cause the yogurt to thicken up a bit by morning!). Add the chocolate pieces, pistachios, and orange pieces on top. Enjoy!

350 calories; 15g healthy fats, 10g Fiber, 17g protein

10% of daily B12, over 100% of daily vit. C, 26% of daily Calcium, 10% of daily Folate; 8% of daily Iron, and a great dose of omega-3 fatty acids

*Other combos? How about…

-Strawberries with almonds

-Mango with pistachios and fresh mint

-Banana with peanuts or a tablespoon of peanut butter

-Blueberries with walnuts

For more easy, delicious and nutritious recipe ideas, come on in for an appointment!

Aubrey MS RDN