What’s for Breakfast?

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1. Just make almond milk or oat milk at home. I do at times and by doing so you eliminate all the crap in store bought. Just soak two cups of almonds for about 8 hours or more. Place the soaked almonds (without the soaking water) in a blender with about 4-5 cups of fresh water spring, tap or whatever). Blend for at least three minutes. Strain as much as you want through a sieve and/or cheese cloth. Add salt , vanilla or what ever you want. Drink and then refrigerate. Same process for oat milk, just don’t use whole oat groats and no need to soak as long. The 5 minute oats don’t need to be soaked at all. For calcium, I would take a tablet and/or eat lots of green leafy vegs.

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2. The trade off is you are getting a lower quality food than you’d get by eating almonds, and the major nutrition comes from added vitamins, no doubt entirely synthetic, which can cause problems for the reasons I describe in Deep Nutrition.

   Hard cheese has almost no lactose. It’s a sugar that gets fermented out. I discuss this in more detail in all my books.

   As an aside, I’ve found the diagnosis of ‘lactose intolerance’ is often made by folks with an anti-dairy agenda and limited knowledge of the biology of dairy.

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3. I recently saw your interview in the Bill Maher show and would like your opinion on sunflower lecithin which is the sixth ingredient in the almond milk I drink regularly-three servings daily. The label shows total fat Per serving is 2.5g, (polyunsaturated fat 0.5g, and monounsaturated fat is 1.5g.) The ingredients in order are almond milk, calcium carbonate, natural flavors, sea salt, potassium citrate, sunflower lecithin, gellan gum, vitamin A palmitate, vitaminD2, D-Alpha-Tocopherol Natural VitaminE..
   I began drinking the almond milk two years ago after diagnosis of lactose intolerance. As I have osteoporosis finding an alternative for the necessary calcium in my diet was challenging. My main source was 2% percent organic milk and plain Greek yogurt. The elimination of these two foods brought about a weight loss of twenty pounds so I happily drink the almond milk but wonder what the trade off is.

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4. […] Find some outside the box breakfast options on this page. […]

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5. […] Find some outside the box breakfast options on this page. […]

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6. Dr. Cate, can you talk a little more about Ezekiel bread, please. Do you feel the way Ezekiel bread is made get past the gluten issue?
   Thanks!

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   1. Gluten is the protein in wheat that makes dough glue-y. It’s added to Ezekiel bread because truly sprouted grain breads would be very crumbly without it. If you have a gluten allergy, Ezekiel is not a good choice. Otherwise, it’s fine!

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7. I usually drink a powdered, organic green drink in the morning with my breakfast. It contains sea vegetables in it. Are these drinks a good addition to the diet being that I don’t normally eat sea veggies or are they a waste and I should just stick to eating regular raw and cooked veggies (which I already do anyway)..

   thanks!

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8. Forgot to mention: flax seeds are really dense food….a 2-3″ square of this bread is quite enough. Nobody said you have to maintain the normal ratio of cream cheese – lox to bagel in this deconstruction, though!

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9. Hello dr. Cate I’m currently reading your book deep nutrition, and I was wondering what you thought about when microwaving foods to eat it up; it any chemical properties are disturbed. What are your thoughts on “juicing” of vegetables? Also, how can one get the required protein intake if they workout or exercise at a moderately high level? Are the effects of eating non- organic whole chicken, and beef that much worse than the alternatives? Also, what about basting chicken or turkey is that an appropriate method of cooking? Sorry for all the questions, but I do have a lot of them because in rather unfamiliar with cooking, in general, especially in a nutrient-rich capacity. Love the book so far, by the way!!

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   1. Microwaves are good for melting cheese and reheating previously cooked foods. The rest of your questions, and many more questions you will want answered as you read through Deep Nutrition, are covered in Food Rules.

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10. As we write in Deep Nutrition, plants did not evolve with the idea they should be good to eat and so, if you try hard enough, you probably can run in to problems from eating way to much of any one. What to do? Eat from the entire edible landscape whenever possible. Those health professionals advising people who already have developed stones to avoid oxalate-rich foods should explain that there is no clinical research to back up their advice. Drinking lots of water is a far better way to prevent stones, in my view.

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11. The other day I read a post that talked about the negative affects of oxalates in raw leafy green vegetables (http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/how-green-smoothies-can-devastate-your-health/). As salad and kale chips have become a staple in my new lower-carb lifestyle this is frustrating news! Do you think it’s a good idea to avoid raw leafy greens for this reason? Are the concerns about oxalates overstated in this article?

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    1. As we write in Deep Nutrition, plants did not evolve with the idea they should be good to eat and so, if you try hard enough, you probably can run in to problems from eating way to much of any one. What to do? Eat from the entire edible landscape whenever possible. Those health professionals advising people who already have developed stones to avoid oxalate-rich foods should explain that there is no clinical research to back up their advice. Drinking lots of water is a far better way to prevent stones, in my view.

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12. Whats your take on steel-cut oatmeal (1/4 cup dry) soaked overnite with a spoon of whey from yogurt, reheated the next morning with some egg-white added in? I’ll add toppings such as nuts, ground-up flaxseed, coconut oil and throw in a small bit of mashed banana for flavor. I am trying to cut down on carbs but love oatmeal and cannot give it up so thought I would have less oatmeal but add in eggs and the mentioned other things to make it interesting.

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    1. Though relatively empty calories just as most starchy foods are, steel cut oats are delicious when enhanced as you are doing with more nutrient dense, flavorful foods. You are also boosting their nutritional value by the process of fermentation, which reduces the carb counts a tiny bit and adds nutrients. These are good ideas and more than just a few steps in the right direction!

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       1. Great! And quite tasty too 🙂

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13. Sometimes i mess up and don’t get enough good fat in a day. The next day i am lethargic and unfocussed – i have a fatigue disorder that needs lots of good fat to control. Solution: 1 big mug raw milk with 1 tbsp. unsweetened pure cocoa powder…. and about an ounce of butter melted into it. Yummy, and I feel better in about 20 min.
    I’d rather use raw cream but haven’t found a source so far. I figure butter is probably better than pasteurized cream. Many cultures make butter tea drinks.

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    1. There’s also pasture butter, made by Organic Valley, sold in many stores including Whole Foods and Trader Joes. This butter has more CLA and omega-3 fatty acids than ordinary organic butter.

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       1. That sounds great… thing is, i’m in Mexico…
          I buy my raw milk straight from small farmers whose cows i also occasionally see passing by on the way to the fields in the morning. There is absolutely no quality control and everything is very low tech. But so far, no problems. I try to keep up with my kefir water and fermented veggie intake, to help with possible bacteria…

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14. I think the main reason they soak the beans is so that they can be ground more easily. The soaking period is not long enough to allow fermentation. I guess this means none of the Japanese tofu products are OK, which is a shame as they were a good tummy filler!

    Elisabeth

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    1. Elizabeth
       They are OK, just not especially healthy as it is hyped. I’d say it’s a little like the vegetarian version of deli-meat turkey, which is not as good for us as a whole, roast bird with bone-broth gravy.

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       1. Thank you for your amazingly quick replies!
          I am trying to talk about your books and the lifestyle changes that we need to make to revert to traditional eating to several Japanese friends, my Japanese personal trainer, and also to my Japanese speaking sons. If you are aware of any Japanese physicians or nutrition experts with interest in your research, please let me know!

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          1. Thanks for spreading the word, and will do!

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15. (continued). I haven’t heard of fermented tofu in Japan. In China they have a very smelly fermented one, like very strong cheese.
    Thanks, Elisabeth

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16. Dear Dr. Cate, I bought both your books last week, one after the other. They made absolute sense to me, and I raced through them. I need to go back and take them more slowly.

    One thing I noticed you say was that tofu was not good, as these days it is not fermented. I was wondering what you mean by fermented in this case. I live in Japan, where tofu is part of DAILY life, and I have used it often to ‘bulk out’ a low carb diet. By fermentation, do you mean soaking the beans for some hours?

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    1. Soaking is part of traditional tofu making, probably partly because it facilitates fermentation. I mean fermentation in the culinary sense, which includes the processes of microbial culturing responsible for converting milk into yoghurt or cheese, grapes into wine, cabbage into kimchee, and so on.

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17. Meghan
    Grains are high carb and boxed cereals are highly processed–two reasons Kashi is not something I recommend.

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18. Hi Dr. Cate!

    I’m an MPH student in Austin, Texas and I’m currently reading your book “Deep Nutrition”. I was wondering what you thought about Kashi brand cereals; are all cereals out?

    Thank you!

    Meghan

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19. Cate, I never checked back on this after posting, but there’s little artistry involved. I just take a plate (or travel container) and plop some slices of salmon down, a honk of cream cheese, a scatter of berries, and a complete anarchy of tomatoes, and shake dill over everything. Next time I make this I’ll take a pic, but I’m no food stylist.

    Will also send gravlax pics if I rustle up a batch, which, come to think of it, I may just have to do.

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20. JIm
    Mmmm. I love smoked salmon. Please send in a photo via admin [at} drcate [dot] com to post on this page, I’d like to see where the dill and berries fit in and how this deconstructed bagel is constructed!

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    1. My favorite way to deconstruct a lox bagel (or any other kind, for that matter) is to start with a square of flax bread baked from ground flax, egg, oil, water, salt, and a pinch of stevia, with or without poppy seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, chopped onion….you get the idea. Spread this with cream cheese or butter or whatever, add lox, sprinkle chopped fresh green onion…so delicious, you may never miss the bagel.

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21. One of my favorite breakfasts is a deconstructed lox bagel. I take some smoked salmon or gravlax, sliced tomatoes, a few dollops of cream cheese, a spoonful of caper berries, and a dash of dill. Gravlax is very easy to make, BTW. Get those good omega-3s and a healthy dose of fat and protein and you definitely feel no hunger pangs, and good mental alertness!

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