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...and what about muffins? Other breakfast ideas?

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:10 pm
by florafloraflora
I'm trying to think of more breakfast ideas, now that I really have to eat a full, proper breakfast. I'm wondering: are muffins off-limits? Is it OK to have a small, oat bran-apple muffin but not a big cakey blueberry muffin? Are muffins worth eating if they're not sweet enough to count as sweets?

What do you eat for breakfast?

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:35 pm
by joasia
Muffins are usually loaded with sugar. And the store bought kind have all kinds of ingredients that are bad for you, like trans fats. For breakfast I eat:
-a slice of really good bread (you know the kind they bake everyday and goes hard the next day, ingredients include flour, salt, yeast, and that is IT) then i put something on top:
cheese,
-egg (hard boiled or scrambled),
-butter and radishes (it is a french thing, very good),
-butter and tomatoes,
-almond butter or peanut butter and honey,
-ham,
-smoked salmon,
-avocado and tomato,
-cucumber, cream cheese, and sprouts, the possibilities are endless.

-If you use really good quality bread, it will give you those carbs you want without the sugar. When I lived in Europe, they always ate savory breakfasts without sugar. I also have oatmeal, fruit, and coffee. I have even had a bowl of soup, bread and fruit for breakfast!

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:42 pm
by navin
I think muffins are generally fine, unless they have a ton of added sugar or are more like desserts (e.g., double chocolate chip mufins). Bonus points if you make the muffins yourself... then you KNOW how much sugar is going in them.

AS for other breakfast ideas, I will eat muffins sometimes (but my problem is eating too many of them!) Most times I eat cereal... I avoid the kiddie stuff and make sure I get one where "sugar" is at least not the *first* ingredient. Raisin bran is good, and I typically add dried cranberries, dates, or more raisins.

Bagels with some topping, such as hummus or cream cheese, are pretty good too. Sometimes I'll make a pineapple smoothie... just the fruit, plus some milk and ice... the pineapple itself is sweet enough to avoid having to put in any sugar, and then have a muffin or bagel or something with it.

And of course, like back in college days, some days I just have to have leftover pizza for breakfast. :)

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:47 pm
by florafloraflora
Bread with something on it, that could work. I wouldn't be buying the muffins, I'd be baking them and keeping them in the freezer, so I could tweak the ingredients to make them healthier. But it might be easier to have bread (I bake my own bread too, the yeast-flour-salt-water kind milczar mentioned) and adjust the toppings for the right balance of flavor and nutrition.

Sometimes I eat cereal too, although I am too cheap for anything but the plain puffed-grain kind, or else oatmeal, and I don't need much sugar with it. Like Navin, I can definitely eat breakfast for dinner and vice-versa, so I'm sure some pizza will sneak its way in at some point :)

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:04 pm
by Bee
Hi Flora

I'm not a big breakfast person either, but since starting No-S, my go-to breakfast is a fruit and yogurt smoothie. I liquify in the blender a handful of frozen berries, a blob of plain lowfat yogurt, and a banana. It is tasty, healthy, not too sweet, fast, and it really keeps me going until lunchtime better than most other breakfasts I've tried. And somehow, drinking something is more appealing to me than solid food so early in the day.

I think if you really like muffins, then have one. But you have a good point... if it tastes like cake, then it probably IS cake, just shaped like a muffin! And so maybe should be saved for S-days. You might be interested to know that co-worker of mine recently informed me that a Dunkin Donuts blueberry muffin has something like 500 calories (you can look it up on their website). And the reduced fat version doesn't do much better. You don't have to be counting calories to want to stay away from most store-bought muffins after hearing that... I can think of a lot of things that have 500 calories that I would rather eat instead of a muffin! Ha ha!

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 8:17 pm
by Jammin' Jan
Coming to your rescue:

I developed these Quick Bread Recipes for the McDougall Program. Fat-free and reduced sugar.

http://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=111

In my opinion, it is better to make these in an 8 x 8 cake pan, and cut into 6 pieces (or whatever size you want) than to make them as muffins.

Enjoy! (Save the Iced Cinnamon-Raisin bread for an S-Day :wink:)

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:42 pm
by florafloraflora
Thanks, Jan! There are some tasty-looking recipes in there.

I realize that nitpicking on grams of sugar and forbidden foods is contrary to the whole spirit of No-S, but I'm trying to figure things out and I want to get a good start.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:20 am
by mschalock
Thanks for the recipes Jan. I checked out the link and copied almost all of them. I did McDougall for years and still have lots of their cookbooks. I've backed off from such a strict regimen, but still use lots of the recipes because they're good.

Re: ...and what about muffins? Other breakfast ideas?

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 2:49 am
by NoelFigart
florafloraflora wrote:I'm trying to think of more breakfast ideas, now that I really have to eat a full, proper breakfast. I'm wondering: are muffins off-limits? Is it OK to have a small, oat bran-apple muffin but not a big cakey blueberry muffin? Are muffins worth eating if they're not sweet enough to count as sweets?

What do you eat for breakfast?
I eat a veggie omelette for breakfast often. (Usually mushrooms, onions, bell peppers in various colors, sauted and added to the omelette with melted cheese and/or salsa).

Yes, I'm one of those freaks who is a morning person and eats a real meal first thing in the morning. If I don't, I'm useless until lunch.

However, if you don't like to cook first thing in the morning and plenty don't, you can make a smoothie. Plain yogurt, vanilla, about as much sugar as is okay for coffee anyway, and some berries thrown in the blender, and you've got yourself a perfect nutritious breakfast that's good for the person who really doesn't like to eat in the morning.

I'd crack an egg or two into that if it were me, but I concentrate on getting plenty of protein (I found out the rate for salmonella in raw eggs is one in five thousand. I take more of a risk for injury driving to work in the morning, so I consider that an acceptable risk.)

If that doesn't sound good, you can certainly bake yourself all kinds of nutritious breads. If you're fond of oatmeal or really good porridge, you might want to try scotch oats in the crock pot. They cook all night and are perfect the next morning when you get up. Put some apple and cinnamon in there to cook with it and you're good to go with a very healthy breakfast.

I've actually made a bunch of breakfast burritos during the wekeend (scrambled eggs with some bacon and cheese, wrapped in a tortilla), and frozen them two per quart freezer bag. My family loved it when I did that because they could nuke themselves a quick breakfast that tasted pretty good! If you're feeling fancy, you could add some salsa. I happen to love them that way.

And honestly? There's nothing in the world wrong with a sandwich for breakfast. Or cheese toasted on bread. You remember that schoolhouse rock show that encouraged you to eat breakfast? Peanut butter toast is GOOD. Use natural peanut butter and you're good to go.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 8:54 am
by zoolina
I've had nasty blood sugar issues for years, so I've developed a fail-safe breakfast that I eat almost every day and which keeps me satsified for longer than anything else out there:

Oatmeal made with 2% milk and a teaspoonful of almond butter, and a kiwi on the side.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 2:06 pm
by florafloraflora
NoelFigart, I'm actually one of those freakish morning people too. I'm hungriest in the morning and if I don't eat enough before noon I'm more or less worthless. The upside is, no evening snack cravings because I'm usually too tired to think about food.

I like to cook in the morning, but I know from experience that I can't do it every day because it messes my schedule up too much. So I'm trying to keep things on hand for days when I don't have time to cook. Those breakfast burritos sound good--maybe I'll try mixing up something like that and freezing it.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:21 pm
by silverfish
<whisper> sometimes i have a sausage and egg mcmuffin </whisper>

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:54 pm
by Jammin' Jan
<whisper>yum<whisper>

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 11:10 pm
by florafloraflora
silverfish wrote:<whisper> sometimes i have a sausage and egg mcmuffin </whisper>
You could fit three of those on a plate! :D

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 11:31 pm
by Jammin' Jan
http://app.mcdonalds.com/bagamcmeal?pro ... &itemID=78

3 sausage mcmuffins = 1110 calories and 66 grams fat.

All plates-ful are not created equal! :cry:

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 11:41 pm
by florafloraflora
I know, I was kidding. That would be disgusting.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 11:43 pm
by Jammin' Jan
:wink:

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 3:59 am
by JustAnnie
I like oatmeal with a handful of frozen blueberries stirred in. Yum. If I know it's going to be a long time until lunch I stir a scoop of protein powder in. It holds me for hours with no hunger and 90% soy based protein powder & only has 1 gram of sugar.

I also make my own muffins from Rasin Bran cereal. They are healthy and tasty and freeze well.

Do we have a recipe area anywhere?

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 4:11 am
by harpista
Jammin' Jan wrote:Coming to your rescue:

I developed these Quick Bread Recipes for the McDougall Program. Fat-free and reduced sugar.

http://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=111

In my opinion, it is better to make these in an 8 x 8 cake pan, and cut into 6 pieces (or whatever size you want) than to make them as muffins.

Enjoy! (Save the Iced Cinnamon-Raisin bread for an S-Day :wink:)
Jan, wow!!!

Thanks for this. That's a lot of work you did- kudos! :)

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 4:11 am
by thtrchic
I'm very fond of oatmeal for breakfast. I buy the instant kind that I can make quickly and easily at work. I have to wait until I'm there to have breakfast, so I can have lunch close to 2 or I can't make it until dinner which never happens before 7.,

I have a piece of fruit with oatmeal. Also sometimes if I'm feeling very hungry or lunch is especially far off I add a couple tablespoons of sliced almonds for some extra protein.

About once a week I've been treating myself to a bagel with light cream cheese from the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru. This adds several hundred calories to the meal so although it easily fits on a plate I don't like to have it too many N days a week.

Julie

Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 6:39 pm
by FarmerHal
Jan, thanks for the recipes! Mornings are crazy here with the kiddos so it would be handy to have a healthy quick bread waiting> Grab a piece, a yogurt cup and maybe a hard boiled egg or fruit and breakfast is doen in a hurry :)

Thanks!

Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:50 pm
by hollydazzle
I'm new here and trying to get ideas. On the quickbread receipes by Jan, why soy or rice milk? Is skim milk or regular milk bad?

Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:26 pm
by wosnes
I'm new here and trying to get ideas. On the quickbread receipes by Jan, why soy or rice milk? Is skim milk or regular milk bad?
The McDougall Program is a vegan eating/health plan -- so no animal products. Also, no added fats.

Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:26 pm
by Jammin' Jan
Yes, that's correct. It didn't occur to me to mention that, since I am allergic to cow's milk, and use soymilk anyway. Regular milk is fine. Use skim if you want to eliminate the fat.

Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 3:19 am
by hollydazzle
Thanks, I appreciate your reply. I'm just trying to work through some of the questions I have since I am trying this for the first time.