ENERGIZING BREAKFAST BOWLS

Are you already a fan of breakfast bowls?

if yes: this article will be an inspiration to boost your creativity

if no: I invite you to discover simple and delicious energizing breakfast bowls recipes, a guaranteed boost effect from the morning!

You may already know that break-fast means “breaking the fast of the night”?

So, in this context, it is important to use adapted elements to this crucial moment for the system's restoration of working order. The idea is to bring vitality, mainly by consuming fruit whose sugars are the true fuels of the body that effectively fight against fatigue.

And we know it, eating well is just as important as a good sleep and a physical activity to be in shape!

When you wake up in the morning, you can ask yourself about how you want to open your food day's ball. Breakfast is a bit like a river that takes its source to the top of a mountain. Its starting direction will inevitably impact its overall trajectory, and will determine the slope of the mountain on which it will spill.

I can choose to go on the traditional orange juice, tartines and coffee with milk that will lead me to medium qualitative choices the rest of the day or on the fruity and vitaminy slope that will lead me more easily to healthy desires later in the day.

Once we've started on a slope, it's harder to come back to the other side.

So a good fuel from the start also gives energetical information to the body that predicts a "cleaner" day.

That's why it essential to start well, and especially to start at the right time, that is when hunger is there. The real hunger.

Hunger, assimilated to hypoglycemia related to a diner too rich in carbohydrates, will be "controlled" by reviewing the composition of the diner, little by little.

Let’s get back to the topic that I offer to approach today: the concept of morning breakfast bowls, and with a focus on the smoothies ones, mainly composed of fruit, pure source of vitality.

To begin, the concept is very simple, a bowl is:

a base + toppings.

I give you some basic ideas. You choose one.

Then you choose your toppings:

• a maximum of fresh fruit, have fun with cuts and placement!
• dried fruit in thin slices
• seeds and nuts (ideally soaked for better digestion)
• granola
• nut butter
• plant-based yogurt
• fresh herbs and why not edible flowers for the sexy little touch

BREAKFAST SMOOTHIE BOWLS

So, the base of the smoothie bowl are fruit. And there’s nothing easier: we mix, with the blender, the fruit we have on hand and which make our mouth water. We try to respect color associations, which won't give a less appetizing little brownish "mud";-) We stay as much as possible in pallets of similar shades.

For this, in addition to the fresh seasonal fruit that you can find easily at the market or at the grocery store, I advise you to always have some in your freezer! Whether they are seasonal or not, it doesn't matter. And it is a good way to treat yourself with some exoticism, for example in the middle of winter.

My basics are mangoes, blueberries or wild blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. And I always fill a special bag for bananas that I freeze peeled and in pieces. Because personally, the majority of my bowl bases are made with bananas.

A small note: banana must be well mature so stainted to fully enjoy its benefits (most importantly, never green because at that time it has an acidifying action on your body and it is difficult to digest)... And unlike what you think, no, it will not contribute to weight gain, I suggest you consider it brings you the calories that your body needs to function all day long, so many essential nutrients like potassium for example! In short, it would be a serious shame to do without it and it is, in my opinion, a flagship element for breakfast.

• the more you want a creamy base the more you add bananas, avocados (yes it’s a fruit!) or even a zucchini (which is also a fruit!), which easily hides itself without an embarrassing taste (I promise!). Plant-based milks or yogurts like the coconut ones work very well too.
• More we want a thick texture, more we add frozen fruit or dense/creamy foods. We can also add chia seeds for example, which once rised will thicken the smoothie.
• We can use spices, ginger, lemon, fresh herbs to enhance flavours in general.
• if you want to intensify the sweet flavor you can add dates or other dried fruits, maple syrup or coconut sugar.
• And do not hesitate to add leafy vegetables such as spinach or kale for a maximum of bioavailable proteins, but also iron and many other quality nutrients.
• Idem for superfood, we can add  them without counting (raw cacao, maca, lucuma, goji berries, pollen, barley or wheat grass juice powder, chaga, carob, hemp, moringa, spirulina, etc.)

Some ideas in no particular order:

-ba Bananas, mangoes, turmeric, cardamom and coconut milk

-ba Bananas, wild blueberries, maple syrup and cinnamon

-l    Avocaco, spinach, pineapple, lime, mint and dates

rot, Carrot, orange, ginger, maple syrup and oat milk

OVERNIGHT PORRIDGE BOWLS

A bowl based on porridge is a guaranteed comforting effect (in winter for example, or for breastfeeding moms, or people in need of food for the heart and emotions).

You prepare this base the night before in a jar: a plant-based milk that you mix with cereals or seeds of your choice. You add spices, superfoods or other ingredients of your choice, and you let rest all night in the fridge. The next day your base is ready, if you want , you can slightly warm it. And finally, you can add your toppings!

It is also a handy solution to take away for the ones who are in a hurry and don’t have much time in the morning.

My favorite preparation: cashew milk, dried figs, almond powder, gluten-free oatmeal. And its toppings: pistachio, dried rose petals and honey. A beautiful morning getaway to the Middle East!

CREAMY BOWLS

The aim is simple: these are ingredients whose base is not mainly composed of fruit but more often oilseeds or cereals that are mixed with the blender in less than 1 minute chrono. I give you here again some ideas of combinations that I love very much:

     Cashew nuts, banana, Chai spices

      Coconut, hemp seeds, curcuma, ginger

     Tahini,aspberry, cardamom, lemon

      Buckwheat, cocoa, maple syrup, maca

      Avocado, cocoa, coconut cream, dates...

And there is also the famous chia pudding!

Easy, we prepare it the day before or about ten minutes before eating it.

We use 1 ratio of seeds for 4 of liquid. So, it can be coconut milk, a mix of banana, almond butter and cocoa, but also a smoothie base, or coconut water.

My must is: coconut milk, matcha, and maple syrup.

PURE FRUIT BOWLS

It is fresh fruit that we mix together or by adding rehydrated dried fruit for a sweeter side. Mix until you get a compote texture, and here it is!

Caution, as there is no cooking, the fruits oxidize very quickly. So we add a lemon juice fillet, but the ideal is to enjoy it without waiting for too long. I love the apples (organic and with the skin), rehydrated dried mangoes, curcuma and vanilla mix.

PLANT-BASED MILK OR YOGURT BOWLS

For our bowl bases, we can also use plant-based milks or yogurts.

Ideally homemade. My favorites: hazelnut milk, but also the cashew milk, which for me is the similar to cow milk by its smoothness and its fairly neutral taste.

And if you want to thicken them to get closer to a yogurt or cream texture, you can add almond or hazelnut powder for example.

Otherwise, all milks are available in yogurt form by a fermentation stage of course. Quite simple to do yourself too.

And once again we can play with the flavors by adding other ingredients to our milks or yogurts.

What’s great with breakfast bowls is that you can have fun with the visual. And we agree that the first sense with which the process of food begins is the view! It is also thanks to it that the production of digestive enzymes begins to activate.

So play high stakes on the look of your bowl, it will already be a real energy starter. Because a long and complicated digestion monopolizes energy and leave the body tired. So the more we digest efficiently, the less we are tired and the healthier we are!

and last detail, in the morning if you wake up tired, that you feel that you need support to help you face the day, I advise you to avoid the coffee that will give you the impression of being more awake, certainly, but temporarily and at the cost of your energy reserves (the coffee is a stimulant breaking the natural biochemical balance of the body, the more caffeine you consume, the more you feel tired), so try to count on a good breakfast bowl, which will enable you to stock up on nutrients to really and durably feel in a good shape.

Let's go?

You've already chosen the ingredients of your bowl for tomorrow morning.

Find more tips to revitalize your diet with Pimp Your Plate, my online training to eat healthy and gourmet, save time, energy and creativity on a daily basis.