Lucia’s Breakfast Story

Lucia got in touch after making changes to her breakfast habits so today, for an added sprinkling of inspiration during breakfast week, I’d like to share her story with you.

For Lucia, breakfast was not breakfast unless it featured a cardboard box bearing a cartoon jungle animal (yes, really), or something white and baked, ideally smothered in butter and topped with something sweet or cured. Lucia freely admits that these weren’t the most sensible of choices, but she just didn’t feel inspired to change. She says, “the usual alternatives felt 'diet-y', and therefore didn't compute in a brain that derives so much pleasure from food and eating.”

After reading my breakfast booklet, Lucia was surprised at how easy it was to replace sugary cereals, bread and pastries with jars of dried and freeze-dried fruits, seeds, powders, oats and their crunchy alter egos, nuts, puffed grains, and honeys. “In spite of my life-long love affair with sugar,” she told me, “the natural sweetness of fruit pushed processed sugar out completely.” She even stopped taking sugar in her coffee, and was won over by the “deeper, more interesting flavour” of honey, adding “don't get me started on the wonder that is halva...”!

I always stress the importance of doing what feels right for you; we’re all unique and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach that would work for everyone in the same way. Lucia’s breakfast choices embrace this flexibility. After trying a range of different options she’s settled on greek yogurt in place of coconut milk on most days. In her words, she has “always erred on the side of bit-too-boney”, so this is a sensible choice that aligns with advice from health professionals that she should stick to fuller-fat dairy products.

The good-enough-to-eat photos at the top of this message were taken by Lucia to document her adventures in breakfast, and I for one am seriously impressed! I’ll let her have the last word:

“It goes without saying that for this jolt, for the generous inspiration and, in turn, for helping me feel so much better in my body throughout the morning, I thank you many, many times over.”

I hope you are feeling inspired to ditch any cardboard jungle animals that may still be lurking in your kitchen cupboards! Replacing them with more nutritious, delicious alternatives is easier than you might think so get adventurous and give it a go!

I'd love to see how you get on, so please do share your own breakfast stories with me over on Twitter (@i2change).

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