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Food and Drink

Off to a better start

One night I was listening to a great CBC Radio show about the wonder and glory of bees - and their scarily declining populations. Suddenly, the bee expert being interviewed broke away from the scientific stuff and mentioned that every night before he went to bed he ate a teaspoonful of honey.

"It's rocket fuel!" he said, excitedly describing all the nutritional benefits of honey. "Just a teaspoonful, that's all you need. Makes me sleep like a baby!"

That's weird, I thought. Why would anybody want rocket fuel before going to bed? Then I realized that Mr. Beekeeper's honey was doing something really important as he slept - keeping his body's blood sugar levels steady.

Since then, I've added a teaspoonful of "rocket fuel" to my morning regime of good old porridge and plain yogurt. When I'm really hungry I might add some cheese or ham, yes!, on crunchy toast and smear honey on that, too.

The older I get, the more rocket fuel I need, and coffee has never cut it for me.

So honey, with the above menu as noted, makes a lot of sense. Along with pollen, it's all bee larvae are fed at a certain stage so they can develop into perfect little hard-working bees. It's easy to use and yummy, and makes food I already like even more appealing. It's also got a host of nutritional - even medicinal - benefits, making it something Dr. Lori Broker of Squamish Chiropractic might call a great addition to breakfast.

Lori's thought a lot about these sorts of things running the Elementary School Breakfast Club in Squamish. Funded by the local Rotary Club and run entirely by volunteers, it gets kids off to a good start at five of the six Squamish elementary schools by providing an appealing, healthy breakfast to anyone who wants it.

This time of year everybody is trying to get back into the swing of things - back to work, back to school. You sleep in. You're in a hurry. You might forget or can't be bothered to grab breakfast. More to the point, a lot of people have never had the breakfast habit at all.

Some kids, and just as many adults, think breakfast is a doughnut or a Freezie pop - yep, some kids arrive at the school bus stop with a Freezie pop in hand.

But that just doesn't cut it in today's world where, more than ever, everybody needs to keep up their energy and concentrate - mentally, physically or both - all day long.

"If you put that breakfast in [to your body] with some nutritional value, your ability to concentrate, to think, to function, increases exponentially," says Lori.

She started the school breakfast club when she realized how stressed out the frontline staff at local schools was trying to work with kids who couldn't concentrate - who couldn't even sit still at their desks - because they hadn't eaten anything that would properly fuel their bodies, never mind give them a boost like rocket fuel.

The whole thing is getting the habit in the first place. Having a breakfast that suits your lifestyle and tastes - and is reasonably good for you - is the first step. Then build on that to make your brekkie more nutritional.

Here we can take a tip from Lori, who first started the breakfast program about 10 years ago with mixed results. Back then, they made those really healthy muffins with all kinds of good healthy things in them - you know, the bran, the blueberries, the flax seeds. But most of the muffins got tossed in the garbage because the kids didn't like flax seeds, mainly because they weren't familiar with them.

Now the "club" has resurrected breakfast with more modest aims, and more effective results. They're starting with Cheerios, milk (or a milk substitute) and fresh fruit. Everybody knows - and likes  - Cheerios, then for added nutrition, Lori and her crew of volunteers make hemp seeds available, which the kids can add as they like.

Hemp seeds are a high source of protein, fibre and essential fatty acids. But if I told you to go out and buy some, or buy hemp cereal for brekkie, you'd likely go, what? that costs too much, I don't even know what that is, or - worse - I don't like it.

So if you aren't a member of any breakfast club, meaning you don't eat breakfast at all, just starting with something that's a reasonable source of protein with some fibre in it, that you actually like is a brilliant first step.

Hey, I happen to love porridge, which is a good source of both. You don't think all those rugged, warrior-type Scotsmen won their battles fuelling up on sugar fluff, do you? But you don't like porridge? Fine. Just be honest with yourself and weigh your options.

You like fruit? Eat some nice fresh fruit. It's better than fruit juice because of its fibre content.

Have some Cheerios, preferably with milk or yogurt, or your favourite rice or almond milk to add protein, just don't pick the pre-sweetened milks, or cereals. (Avoid the whites, says Lori, meaning white sugar and white flour.)

And don't feel you have to stick with the traditional Canadian egg/cereal/toast options. They're pretty limiting and don't appeal to a lot of people.

You like sushi? Great. Sushi can be an excellent choice for brekkie. Pick up enough take-out on your way home from work to have leftover sushi for breakfast tomorrow. The fibre in the rice and the seaweed, along the protein and essential fatty acids in the fish make for rocket fuel.

Cold pizza is a better choice than doughnuts, or nothing at all. Cold chicken is even better. Or try a two-stage breakfast, like a hard-boiled egg or slice of ham on bread at home, and then some nuts like almonds or walnuts and an apple once you get to work or school.

"Truthfully, if you can get into the habit of eating breakfast, that's the best place to start, because if you actually put something in, as opposed to a coffee, then you can start to increase the quality," says Lori.

And don't fall for the shortcuts. As for that honey rocket fuel, note that a little goes a long ways - and you need it with real food to really get yourself launched.

The Elementary School Breakfast Club in Squamish is always looking for volunteers, and is happy to share information if you'd like to start a similar program in your neighbourhood. Call Squamish Chiropractic at 604-815-0031 and ask Dr. Lori Broker for details.

 

 

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning freelance writer whose WASP-ish half likes porridge for brekkie, but her Polish side prefers sausage.