Lorette C. Luzajic
The Breakfast Club: Beyond Bagels
By Lorette C. Luzajic
The first thing that goes out the window when you give up gluten isn’t gluten- it’s the concept of ‘grabbing’ a meal or snack. There’s not much you can grab on the way to work for breakfast, or on the way home for dinner. While initially this is frustrating, soon you become a pro at having snacks on hand or handy lunch ideas. After some initial whining and complaining, you soon notice an advantage- if you can’t grab just anything, you aren’t putting just anything into your body. No more crappy, chemical-laden, fatty, salty, heavily processed unfoods get past your mouth. Even health conscious people grab way more crap than they think, because there’s always the possibility of an excuse, a ‘just this once’ or a convenience justification. And eating fast food even once a week really isn’t doing you any favours.
So you become an expert in bringing Tupperware wherever you go, so you can order the contents of a sandwich and eat them on the go, or you fill the dish at home with fruit and nuts on your way to work.
Still, you end up with a new nasty habit- skipping breakfast. And there’s just no excuse for this, though I’m guilty, guilty, guilty. What’s the problem? I passed on my funky pink polka-dotted toaster and just don’t feel like pork tenderloin with caramelized onions for breakfast, thank you very much.
But then what? Skipping breakfast is hazardous to your health. It means you screw your blood sugar up- true story. Ever notice that breakfast is the only time that fat people aren’t hungry? That would be me. But our blood sugar and insulin drama will make havoc later and we’ll be ravenous, irritable, and irrational. We may even risk exhaustion tomorrow by putting gluten into our mouths out of desperation. So don’t even think about skipping breakfast.
Get cracking on that morning munch- we’ll start with the obvious, eggs. Forget counting your eggs. Erase all that junk science that says eggs are a terrifying source of cholesterol problems. Don’t take my word for it: take a few million years of the human diet, for which eggs have been a staple. They were easy for hunter-gatherer groups to locate. They contain nearly every nutrient you need (Vitamin C is the only major nutrient missing!). They pack a lot of protein and power into a few calories. If you’re still afraid that you should stick with two a week, rest assured that it’s not just the entire history of all cultures through all time living on planet earth, or an offbeat bohemian foodnik, to say you’re a-okay. You may have missed the tiny articles in the news last year- they didn’t want to make too big a deal of the fact that they were hopelessly, horribly wrong about eggs these past decades. But the scientists reluctantly released the news that after a brief 30 years out of several million, eggs were back on board as nature’s perfect food. Though the American Heart Association is still waffling on what they think the safe level of cholesterol is in food, this is only because it’s embarrassing to state outright that they’ve been way off base and cholesterol in food is actually a vital nutrient. And regardless of the ‘radical’ belief that cholesterol is good for you- it’s now unanimous- eggs have been un-demonized.
Don’t even think about the ridiculous low fat malarkey that told you to toss the yolks and make flavourless egg-white omelettes. Not only are you tossing the flavour, but you are tossing the lutein, selenium, vitamins A, Bs, and D, choline, need I go on. If you’re a vegetarian, I hope you still eat eggs: the lutein in vegetables is difficult to absorb, and super-easy for our bodies to use from eggs- supporting our vision is just one wonderful way eggs nourish us. And it’s easy to find free-range, hormone free eggs for an affordable price almost everywhere.
Of course, one can get tired of eggs, regardless how wonderful they are. That’s why I picked up a copy of The Good Egg by Marie Simmons (Houghton Mifflin, 2006.) You’ll have to skip the recipes with toast or dessert tarts, but that still leaves 170 scrumptious variations on the humble egg. Italian Tuna Stuffed Eggs, Poached Eggs on Hash (as in hash brown potatoes, sorry!), and omelettes of every ilk- including caviar- make eggs a joy again and again. Don’t limit your imagination to Simmons’ hundreds of suggestions, though- the omelette is a vast terrain of specialty cheese options, of spice combos, of vegetable delights. I’ve tried it Mexican-style with jalapeños and chili powder, but I’ve also gone for Thai-style with some green curry and it wasn’t half bad.
Eggs will take care of a good many breakfasts, and they are quick and filling. But even if eggs are your favourite food in the whole wide world, it’s likely you’ll need other options. What then?
You can try all those overpriced gluten-free cereals and breads and bagels available, but I have no recommendations to give. Research gluten-free web sites for consumer reviews of the available choices. I don’t like most of what I have tried- but I’m very much of the mind to make my own food, not to eat it out of a box. If you love oatmeal, you can find special oatmeal for gluten-free diets. Oats don’t have gluten in them- but they are processed in flour plants and you’ll need to find companies that only process oats.
How about crepes or pancakes and fruit? There’s nothing better than pancakes for breakfast. Yes, you can eat pancakes. Make them yourself with tapioca flour. They are wonderfully fluffy. You may need an extra egg for the sticky factor- experiment a bit. You can freeze pancakes and then pop two into the toaster in the morning for a quick breakfast on the go, just like the good old days. Just don’t share your toaster with anyone who eats wheat.
Forget sugar-flavoured yogurt, and opt for fruit. Dust off your blender and toss together a bunch of berries, a banana, pineapple, peach, whatever, with some milk, plain yogurt, ice, or coconut milk. My absolute favourite breakfast on the run is a bowl of plain yogurt drizzled with real maple syrup and a few nuts. This is instant gourmet.
You can also make up a giant pot of chili and freeze breakfast-sized portions in Ziploc bags. Chili is a gluten-free gourmand’s best friend. It freezes awesome, goes well with cornbread which we can still have, has endless variations- try turkey and white bean, or ground pork and lima beans- is filling, delicious, and easily feeds a big crowd. If you don’t think chili goes down nicely for breakfast, you may be pleasantly surprised. It’s probably for the best that you don’t try for the first time chili with fourteen kinds of peppers first thing in the morning. Otherwise, go nuts.
Yes, go nuts. Remember to always have a small container of mixed nuts on hand. If you’re away longer than you expect, or forget to eat breakfast, or find nothing after all at a friend’s buffet- a few nuts will tide you over to safety.
It’s okay to cry over spilt milk or bashed bagels any time: loss is loss, and facing life without bagels is definitely a kind of grief. Just don’t cry for the rest of your brand spanking new healthy happy life, dwelling in the past instead of taking your energy-bursting new body out into that world that is waiting. Once upon a time not that long ago I was sick and tired and running out of hope. If I’d known 30 years ago that giving up toast would save me decades of disease, infections, and dental bills, I would have thrown that toaster out the window a lot sooner. I don’t mind warming up last night’s leftovers first thing in the morning, not one bit. Now that your brain’s not as foggy as it was when it was shredded wheat, you can use your mind and your imagination. There’s breakfast beyond bagels.
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