Hot Seed Breakfast Cereal

I used to be a huge fan of breakfast cereal. My favorite cereals were Peanut Butter Captain Crunch, Honey Nut Cherrios, Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal packets, Quaker Oat Squares...huge fan of cold cereal. As I went gluten and dairy free my breakfast cereal choices were extremely limited. I found other options and I started drinking rice milk and that was okay. I would eat hot rice cereal with maple syrup and ghee or gluten-free oatmeal. Then the real shocker came when I found out that I had to limit my intake of sugar and eat higher amounts of protein because I had low blood sugar and hypoglycemia. Boo, what was I to do? Breakfast cereals weren't on my list.

I started eating eggs for breakfast with sauteed greens, which I love. I would blend up protein shakes and sometimes I'd just have lunch or dinner stuff for breakfast. Now I don't really believe that breakfast has to be cereal centric.

But, recently I was trying to come up something quick and easy and totally approved for blood sugar issues. This cereal can be hot or cold, but since it turned cool I decided to add warm water instead and I like it even better. This certainly fits my allergen-free lifestyle and its easy to prep. This is really versatile so once you have your flax and chia base you can really add whatever you like. Make your own concoction and share with us.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsps Flax Seeds (mix dark brown and golden for a visually appealing cereal)
• 1 tbsp Chia Seeds

Tasty Mixins - Add a few and mix it up day to day

• 1 tbsp Hempseeds
• 1 tsp. Sesame Seeds
• 1 tsp. Pumpkin Seeds
• 1 Scoop of your favorite protein powder (right now I have been adding chocolate flavor so my cereal tastes a little like brownie batter)
• 1 tsp. Golden Berries
• 1 tsp. Goji Berries
• 1 tsp. Raw Cacao Nibs
• 5-10 drops of Liquid Stevia (or to taste)

Hot Seed Breakfast Cereal - MaryLangfield.com

 Directions:

1. Grab a glass bowl (larger than you think you need the first few times). Put the flax and chia in the bowl and add any dried fruits like the goji and golden berries.
2. Add warm/hot water. I usually add about a cup of water, but it depends on what you want the consistency to be. These two really thicken up when wet so if you want the cereal more runny and not oatmeal then add more water. (I boil my water in advance and let the water temp cool a bit to warm because I don't want to overheat the nutrients in the flax and chia, but boiling water will work too).
3. Stir, stir, stir
4. Add your yummy mixins
5. Stir, stir, stir
6. Add water if its too thick.

Add other tasty options like:

• Superfoods like Maca, Bee Pollen, Aloe Vera, Coconut (1 tsp. of oil, 1 ounce milk or shredded flakes)
• Nuts (Almonds, Walnuts, Cashews, Brazil, Pine....)
• Fresh Berries (Blueberries, Cherries, Raspberries, Strawberries...)
• Sunflower seeds 

Tired of Feeling like Crap?

Maybe you are doing to it yourself? I know I was for years and years. I unknowingly spent hours in the gym, avoided eating out and drinking during my 20's. I ate minimal calories, tried different diet pills, took drugs to clear up my skin and all of that "hard work" never paid off. I was still overweight, had terrible skin, I was foggy, exhausted and depressed. Food allergies can keep you from feeling 100% and looking your best.

Check out this Article from Dr. Mark Hyman "Are Food Allergies Making you Fat."

Also, if you are interested in getting help in this area consider joining my upcoming Boot Camp/Detox combo. View the details here.

My Individual List of "poison" foods

Over the last 6 - 7 years as I have been working toward healing my various ailments (depression, bad skin, digestive discomfort, weight gain, insomnia, etc) I started doing a lot of research. My goal was to try and determine what I could do holistically to turn these problem areas around naturally and without prescriptions.

The two main tools I found have been through diet and lifestyle.

Each person is an individual and although there are many foods that are not beneficial, junk foods, excess sweets & alcohol, bad fat. Sometimes there are seemingly good foods that although are not "bad" can actually be seen as a poison to your own individual body. I know that using the word "poison" must seem like overkill, but as I have watched myself and my clients' health transform I think the word poison is actually very fitting.

Here are my individual foods that do not agree with my body:

• Bananas
• Soy (including Tofu, Tempeh, Edamame) 
• Catfish
• Cow's Milk
• Coffee
• Cornmeal
• Fructose
• Gluten containing foods (this is a major issue for many people and it is very hard to avoid if you use convenience pre-packaged foods)
• Halibut (sent me to the emergency room twice, though the doctors said it couldn't be the fish)
• Lamb
• Liver
• Mushrooms (again with the mold issue)
• Oat (typically cross contaminated with gluten)
• Peanuts (they can contain a lot of mold and I am very sensitive to mold)
• Pork
• White Potatoes (though I believe my clients on the whole do better leaving these out of their diet as it is such a high glycemic food)
• I still enjoy potatoes though rarely and I select Yukon Gold/Fingerling, Purple, Blue or Sweet Potatoes
• Shellfish (clams, crabs, oysters, scallops, shrimp, lobster)
• Strawberries
• Sucrose
• Black & Green Tea

It took me a while to tune into this knowledge. Even when I intuitively knew that dairy had something to do with being bloated. Or that gluten might have something to do with my lack of concentration, or that bananas (the perfect food for SO many reasons) would cause constipation - I still didn't want to believe it. I mean it seemed like an awful lot of work to remove these foods from my diet. Right!?!

Most of my clients know there are foods that do not work for them, but they continue to eat these foods because they are so common and they don't know any different. They also don't trust themselves and rather buy into whatever diet plan seems the most alluring at the time. And, I don't blame them - its what I did since I was 8 years old. My recommendation to you is to try tuning into that knowledge and seeing how much better you feel when you do.

How do you do that? Grab a notebook and start charting how you feel after you eat. You will start pin pointing what sets you off whether its migraines, gas and bloating, zits cropping up, your energy might be zapped, maybe your allergies are worse. Once you chart how you feel take the time to trust that knowledge. Pay attention to what you have been consuming - food and beverages (and don't forget about your body care!). Not only will you be much closer to your optimal health goals you'll realize that it is a lot less work to eat the right foods than the wrong. 

If you are interested in learning how to do an elimination diet and getting support then sign up for my newsletter on my website www.MaryLangfield.com and look out for one of my upcoming group programs (you'll get recipes & other health tips too).