Healthy Living looks at breakfast on the go

If you’re a person who’s committed to having breakfast every morning then the following story may not be for you. If you are one of the many who finds that preparing and sitting and having breakfast requires too much time and energy in an already hectic morning schedule; then, listen up. It’s widely known that breakfast is the most important meal of the day; skipping this first meal can lead to continuous snacking and an insatiable hunger long before midday. In tonight’s edition of healthy living we seek the advice of a vegan detox specialist on how to prepare a quick and easy breakfast for those who are always on the go.

Marleni Cuellar, Reporting

If you’re tired of cereal and the notoriously calorie-laden Belizean fast food breakfast options; then you may be inclined to consider blending your breakfast and sipping on the go. Chef India Camiel is a raw food chef and detox specialist. Her area of expertise is in preparing delicious live food; but, she also offers a wide selection of smoothies. Blended concoctions of fresh fruits and vegetables that promise to satisfy the most intense of hunger pangs.

India Camiel, Raw Vegan Nutritionist & Chef

“A lot of the benefits is that you can get more in a smoothie or a blended drink than you can eat in a meal. So you really get your intake of fruits and vegetables and sometimes in one cup.”

So, like every other healthy meal, balanced proportions are crucial. As India points out the combination of ingredients impact the digestion, the tastiness and even the nutritional benefit of the drink.

India Camiel

“A lot of times they combine wrong. A lot of times and when they combine they say I have to get my fruits and my vegetables and everything in; this is the morning and they put everything in the blender. And sometimes that’s good but if we are talking about a break-fast then we want mostly fruits and you have to know not to mix certain fruits with certain vegetables cause it digest differently and it could cause gas. When we think about blended drinks a lot of time people add yogurt, they add syrup or they add chocolate or some peanut butter and that’s fine in mixing oats and grains, you want to have water balance. So the excessive calories could be there depending on what you are blending up. Or the most part you want to leave citrus by itself. It’s not necessarily good to add banana with it, but you can do pineapple and banana. Those combine well.  Leave a lot of your vegetables for juice.”

India Camiel

The recommended daily intake of fruit is between one to two cups a day. India’s recommendation is choose fruits that are rich in nutrients. She outlines some of our own local super foods.

India Camiel

“Coconut it …they don’t soak their nuts…they don’t soak their almonds…so that go well with strawberries unless you make a milk from it. Coconut water because it mixes with anything; It’s not like citrus. Banana is always, a secret is you want it ripe but not too ripe.  Some super foods, right here in Belize we grow our super foods. Belize grows morenga morenga tree and this is a super food that suppresses the appetite…have the blended drink in the first place.”

It doesn’t have to be an acquired taste. Combinations can be created to suit the palate of the pickiest eater.  Of course, one of the greatest benefits is that it takes seconds to whip up this meal.

India Camiel

“It’s very simple the only thing is that it takes preparation. At the beginning of the week you want to freeze your fruits at the beginning of the week, you go to the market and get fruits that are cheap and ripe that the market is trying to get rid off and you take all of that home, you cut it up you do all the stuff you have to do and put it in the freezer and you’re ready for the week.  I would say the first thing is try it. Have an open mind and try it. You will never know if you don’t try it.”

Marleni Cuellar

“So, if you want to fit in at least one healthy meal in your day that is easy to prepare and relatively cheap; switching to a blended breakfast may be the way to go for those of us always “on the go.”