Finding new breakfast options never gets old for me. However, I hear people all the time complain about how boring their breakfast is. Let’s put an end to that. I’ll start with these simple raspberry overnight oats.
Why is it boring?
Because we stick to the tried and true and usually don’t plan ahead. Here’s what happens, you have good intentions of making something delicious. However, your alarm goes off in the morning, you hit snooze 500 times leaving juuuuust enough time to roll out of bed, make yourself look presentable and out the door you go.
There go all good intentions, right out the door with you. So, what happens? You either eat nothing only to pound food once the hunger sets in. OR you grab something less ideal (i.e. a bar, snack, bagel, etc.) It happens to the best of us, but it can be prevented in most cases. While I don’t believe you need to eat the second you wake up, I do believe the first thing you eat in the morning should (and does) set a tone for the rest of your day.
Plan Ahead
I know you guys probably get tired of me telling you to plan ahead. I get it, I’m pretty terrible about planning anything besides my food and exercise. What can I say I’m really into food and fitness 😉 . However, like the quote I posted on Instagram this week:
You will prioritize what is important to you. So, if you say food is important to you as is health, you better start prioritizing and planning ahead to show not just others but YOURSELF that you care enough about yourself to take care of your health. Need some help? I’ve got you covered.
To Breakfast or Not?!
Ok, so if you have been living and breathing in the past few months you know that the trend of Intermittent Fasting is a hot topic (again). Why am I bringing this up? Well, some people come to me saying they want to fast and skip breakfast. I am actually not opposed to this if:
You work out in the evening
Your hormones are not out of control
You are not an athlete looking to build muscle and hit performance goals
You find that you feel better and have sustained energy
You don’t eat like an idiot when you “break the fast”
So, I leave breakfast up to the individual. Sure, some argue it’s the most important meal of the day but for some people who are not incredibly active it may be okay to skip it. To be honest, I skip it on days that I’m not super active. I’m just not that hungry when I wake up and feel worse trying to shove food into my body then if I just wait a few hours. (Don’t worry I still drink coffee).
I recently listened to an informative and non-biased podcast about Intermittent Fasting, I’d recommend giving it a listen if you have questions about fasting, check it out here.
Overnight Oats
Okay, so if you decide breakfast is for you, or hey better yet, decide you don’t care what labels are and want overnight oats any time of day, this recipe is for you. I decided to try using freeze-dried berries in this recipe due to a suggestion from a friend. I was complaining that berries always got weird in overnight oats (especially raspberries & strawberries) and I was annoyed by it.
I found freeze-dried berries at both Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods but I’m pretty sure you can find them anywhere these days, including Amazon. They held up well in the oats all week and actually got better as the week went on because they took on the liquid and plumped up a bit. I even topped my oats with fresh berries that I had on hand, because can you really go wrong with too many berries?!
Try out this recipe and let me know what you think!
Pro Tip: if you want this for the whole week or need more for your family just double/triple/quadruple the recipe and portion out into containers (like this) to help you get through the week!