Breakfast of Champions

There are a few rituals that I try to maintain to keep myself fairly healthy. I say "fairly" because while no alarms were raised during my last physical exam, the doctor did advise me to watch my diet and maintain a regular exercise regimen. However, when you work during the evenings your food choices are usually limited to oily selections at fastfoods or instant noodles. By the time the sun comes up, you are usually too pooped to even lift a finger, much less hop on a treadmill.

So the next best thing is to actually bombard myself with food that will keep me away from trouble (most of the time). I still enjoy more than the occassional serving of fried and fatty foods (as some of you already know or will find out, I cannot resist sisig), but these nutrient-packed selections helps me lessen a lot of my guilt.

Presenting, my morning arsenal to keep me at my sedentary best. I take any combination of these daily, with some substitutes like what you will find below. I take psyllium husk to give me my daily dose of fibre, while the 'greens' are actually an orgy of spirulina, wheatgrass, barley grass, oat grass, flaxseed, assorted berries and vegetables. All of these I mix with a cup of skim milk.

Every once in a while, I fool around with different fruit juices available at home. My dad drinks juice like a little boy, so our pantry is stocked with boxes of them all the time. But while 'juice' gives you all the liquid goodness of the fruit, it is also loaded with sugar that goes straight to your waistline. So try to drink juice in moderation. Recently, I find the ones with l-carnitine of particular help specially since I am trying to maintain my weight.

We try to keep at least one type of fruit in the house, with the most frequent one being the ever humble banana. On some mornings I eat anywhere from one to three of them with a spoonful of peanut butter to tide away my hunger pangs. Bananas are rich in vitamin C, B6, and potassium which help prevent hypertension and the risk of stroke.

This is how psyllium husk looks. From afar it appears like fine oatmeal powder, but upon closer inspection it actually takes more the form of bleached sawdust. Contrary to popular belief, the husk cannot be digested. Once taken, it helps create bulk in your system which helps you 'cleanse' yourself more easily. That extra push is sometimes what it takes to leave you light as a feather, as nobody enjoys being dragged down by the burdens of yesterday. Haha. How poetic, no? It also helps bring down cholesterol and control diabetes.

The 'greens' powder is not green at all but more brownish in color. However, despite the fact that it seems like I am ingesting compost for breakfast this unassuming heap is a heavyweight in nutritional benefits. The powder is a mix of organic apple powder, organic strawberry powder, organic blueberry powder, organic raspberry power (the last three berries are the 'Supremes' of the fruit community because they are a rich source of vitamin C), organic cherry powder, organic beet powder, organic kale powder, organic carrot powder, organic spinach powder, organic tomato powder.

And I am not done. It also contains organic spirulina, organic wheatgrass powder, organic barley grass powder, organic oat grass powder, and organic flaxseed which is rich in omega-3.

I usually take 3 spoonfuls of psyllium husk and 1 spoonful of the 'greens'. Here is how it looks when mixed with milk. Be sure to stir well and drink immediately as the husks bind to water very quickly and will turn your drink to slush! The drink is harmless and tastes better than it looks. If for anything, the health benefits you are getting is well-worth the trade-off you are making for appearance.

Happy and healthy eating!