Paul & Kitty's Breakfast Meals

Note: This page contains the information regarding breakfast when Kitty and Paul Antonik Wakfer were consuming 2 meals, and before that 3 meals, daily. Kitty has gradually begun making changes in various places to bring the information up to date in the sense of present and past. However, for more on the current meal practice of 1 meal daily on 2 out of 3 sequential days, please see our summary Diet Regimen page.

Our single long meal (daily from late January 2007 to early July 2008 and since then on 2 days out of 3) starts with the smoothie course. The cereal course follows the "main meal" course. Both the smoothie and the cereal are described below for now and when they comprised the stand alone breakfast meal.

We actually transitioned into a single daily meal in the Fall of 2006. We began occasionaly foregoing breakfast entirely, typically when we had eaten out the evening before and did not feel hungry when we awoke. When this occured we skipped the premeal and meal supplements. After a few weeks of this and not finding those occasions terribly discomforting, we decided to do this partial day fast every 4th day, after Paul's 3 days of smoothies had been consumed. (His smoothies have grown in size again from the purposely reduced version for a 2 day quantity.) At most we had some fruit if we were very hungry - unassuaged by green-rooibos tea - about 4 or 5 hours later. In addition to these planned partial fast days, when we saw by the scales that we were at a high level (> 141 for Paul and > 112 for Kitty), we reduced our breakfast size by sharing only one of our breakfasts, either Paul's smoothie or Kitty's cereal, along with some additional fruit, typically citrus.

update 8/24/08 Paul: While in January 2006 I started making smoothies in 2-day batches after finding that a fresh batch always tasted better than the 3rd and 4th days of a 4-day version, the total volume has crept up again. This however still works well for our current practice of a single meal on each of 2 days in every 3, with the first course consisting of the smoothie. With the inclusion of cocoa, the flavor remains consistently good over the one smoothie mixing that lasts the 2 of us 4 days. (See fruit smoothie .) Kitty and I began (January 2005) sharing our breakfasts - mainly so that she can benefit from the items in my smoothies that are not a part of her daily food intake. Currently with the single meal daily, I generally have about 1.5 cups of her hot cereal (which is always a delicious tasting "work of art") after our "main course". The first course of smoothie (continuing to use the recipe amounts previously intended for 4 days but now eaten in 3) is 3/5 for me, 2/5 for Kitty, of the apportioned daily smoothie total - along with some cocoa'd yogurt and/or kefir. Metabolic Modulator is added to the each of our servings, as stated on our Supplement Regimens. We use the cold cereal breakfasts in the same way, when the weather or our mood, determines that to be more appropriate. Previously when actually eating a breakfast, on the rare occasions when I ran out of smoothie and didn't have time to make a new batch, Kitty made two servings of whatever she was eating for breakfast that day - and I gratefully ate it. And then there were those special mornings when (started in Spring 2005) we enjoyed Super Nutritious Blueberry Pancakes! We still do occasionally include these pancakes or the muffin version instead of the cereal course in our daily single meal.

Just as I did when we ate a breakfast, I always follow my meal with a cup of tea accompanied by about 15 grams of bitter-sweet chocolate (See NonDecadent Chocolate). (For my tea drinking practices, see Beverages in the Snack section).

Update 8/26/08 Kitty: As of this date, the cereal course of our one meal daily is usually hot cereal (or porridge as Paul likes to call it) which was modified in early 2008 to include cocoa and in August 2008 to include allspice, cloves and nutmeg. Except for a bit of banana, the fruit that previously had been added to the cereal is generally all eaten as a separate course. (In the summers in Ontario when we have large amounts of fresh berries available for foraging, we add some of these to the cereal too.) On the few hot late afternoons that occur at our cottage in rural Ontario when we are there from late April to late October, I modify the trail mix into a mostly a mighty museli - or we sometimes just eat the trailmix as it is. This last is what we do also when I just don't feel like making the cereal or we are eating out.

Back in early April 2004, I noticed that I was groggy after breakfast, rather than invigorated. In discussing this with Paul, it was evident that I had begun to include too many simple carbohydrates in that meal; so some modifications were begun at that time. In January 2005 Paul and I began sharing our breakfasts - approximately 1/2 cup of each other's. At various times since late January 2000, I've sampled Paul's smoothies - some tasted better than others since they vary somewhat depending on the kind and amount of "refuse". (He actually changed the recipe for the better when I joined him in August 2000 :>) It's possible that I've just acquired a taste for the combinations, but now I find most of his smoothies are actually very good. (Those with a lot of grapefruit peel are a bit bitter and I think of them as more "medicinal" than enjoyable.) And the fact that it contains nutrients (mainly from the citrus peelings/seeds and other various vegetable seeds) not present in my hot or cold cereals, there was added incentive for this modification of my breakfast. When we were actually eating a breakfast, I would end the meal with my own (especially the hot cereal when it's cold weather) and consumed about 1/2 C of smoothie in the middle of the meal. Currently with our single meal on 2 of 3 days, typically this first course for me consists of approximately 2/5 of Paul's smoothie; approximately 2/5 of what would be generally considered a full serving of my cereal item is eaten after the dinner-like course.

Whether my contribution to the "breakfast" course is hot or cold, the item is prepared in the previous 4-day quantity including the breakfast course powders given below, which are done by volume but were weighed on June 14 2007 to verify accuracy of actual amount. However, since starting the eating pattern of 2 meals in 3 days, the total cereal made is consumed over 3 eating days. A previous "daily" weight listing is provided under "Breakfast Course Powders" in my Regimen which was representative of my breakfast course intake that was 2/5 of 1 day's worth of Paul's smoothie plus 2/5 of 1 day's worth of my breakfast course item, usually porridge, but sometimes muesli. (Current consumption beginning July 2 2008 is 2/3 of the totals provided.) [**Adjust Supplement page**]

Breakfast Course Powders - 3 Meal Quantity (Eaten on Schedule of 2 Meals Every 3 Days) [Adjust Supplement pg Version]

It occurred to us back in 2006 that putting the nutraflora into the cereal as it was cooking likely degraded it, so since then the practice is to sprinkle it onto and then mix the amount with each of our servings before eating.

update 8/26/08 Most days before we changed to one meal daily in January 2007, my breakfast was muesli, which I began to make myself in March 2006. I started by doing it daily but soon found that preparing several days of the dry ingredients was more efficient. I advanced to making a 14 serving supply of what I still call Mighty Muesli and stored it in a closed container; about 1/2C (~80grams) was one serving for me. My breakfast powders were placed in a container and about 2/3C of milk is slowly blended followed by 1T of barley malt, a dollop of blackstrap molasses, and a teaspoon or 2 (I estimated) each of guava and jamaica fruit pulp (no sugar added) by Diaz-F. (We purchased these - and also mango and strawberry - in the Food City in Casa Grande, but it is likely available wherever large amounts of Mexican food brands are sold.) Fresh fruit and approximately 5grams of low sugar chocolate were sprinkled on top of the muesli and then the milk-powders-juice. (A newer source of the chocolate for my muesli is raw chocolate nibs. Mixed all together, the blend of flavors and textures are a delight that I rarely got tired of eating. Now with our single meal, the cereal course is almost always porridge, but when I want us to take a break from it, most often I modify our trail mix into the Mighty Muesli. If the temperature is cool (not uncommon in Ontario even into early June and again in late August), I warm up our servings.

Prior to making my own, I used one of the purchased mueslis that included little if any wheat flakes. We were purchasing prepared varieties in bulk at one of the health food stores in Bancroft, Whole Foods or Sunflower Market in Tempe AZ, Sprouts in Chandler AZ or Bob's Red Mill packaged in Fry's in Casa Grande AZ. If these mueslis I purchased did not contain rye flakes, I bought that separately and added them to the bulk muesli. In AZ I only found rye flakes packaged as "Cream of Rye" by Roman Meal but in Fall 2007 I couldn't even find them anymore and will be ordering bulk online or bringing a large amount from Ontario each Fall. I also added chopped nuts and hemp seed extrusions (broken into small pieces) similarly to what is included in the Mighty Muesli recipe. I rarely use granolas because they are well toasted at high temperatures which carries health risks.

update 6/1/08 When we were eating 2 meals (and before that, 3) and in Arizona, I periodically enjoyed a breakfast using Nancy's plain lofat yogurt - delicious. It was a great recommendation from a friend. When we lived in Toronto, I used PineHedge Farms Kefir for this purpose - different than yogurt and this brand is the best kefir I've ever had anywhere. Unfortunately we've not been able to get either of the two health food stores in Bancroft to carry it, but in June 2007 we located Jo Anne's Place in Peterborough (90 minutes drive to the SE) that does carry it. While kefir can be found in Whole Foods, Sprouts and Sunflower Market (in the Tempe/Chandler AZ area), they run in price between $2.80 and $3.20/qt and do not taste as good as the PineHedge Farms brand Kitty came to enjoy. It was a pleasure in Spring 2007 when we found Trader Joe's marketing their own brand of Kefir for $1.99 a quart and that it tasted quite good, even if not equal to the PineHedge Farms. Unfortunately, the Arizona government protected dairy industry raised the milk prices in Fall 2007 and currently the Trader Joe's kefir is $2.69 with the others even higher.
My breakfast powders and an assortment of ground nuts and hemp extrusions were stirred into 4 days worth of yogurt (always Nancy's in AZ) and/or kefir for 1 person (eating nothing else) - about 2 C - with fresh and/or frozen berries, kiwi and other fruits as available. I sometimes left some yogurt/kefir "unadulterated" since I enjoy the taste of both just as they are.
Partially to retain the pleasure of yogurt and as a medium for When I eat purchased cold cereal (always no-sugar added), my long-time choice of those non-wheat is old fashioned Cheerios; I do though occasionally eat wheat bran types. I put in the fruit as with the yogurt above. To approximately 3/4 C 1% milk in a jar, I add the powders and ground nuts and hemp, shake well, and then pour over the cereal, with fruit already cut up, just before eating. I really like my cold cereal still a bit crunchy. Sometimes I eat prunes and the brazil nuts and walnuts on the side - the prunes we used to buy at Kensington Market were so good they deserved to be relished; now I make do with ones available in Bancroft but thoroughly enjoy the Safeway brand purchased in Arizona. (While Cheerios is an iron fortified cereal - iron fortification is not a wise regular intake choice for post-menopausal women and all men who ingest moderate amounts of red meat, especially beef^{R1 R2 R3} - the fact that it is a whole grain cereal makes this fortification somewhat of questionable value since phytate intake (present in whole grains) is associated with inhibiting nonheme-iron absorption.^{R1 R2 R3} I am limiting my Cheerios intake to only twice weekly at most, but since my iron and ferritin levels are on the low side anyway, the reason is chiefly because I tend to "pig out" once I get started ;>). (See comments on getting enough iron.)

Now and then I have a yen for a fruit smoothie - that doesn't require a spoon. In the blender to all my breakfast powders, approximately 1T each of filberts and almonds, 2T of hemp extrusions, 1/2C each of frozen strawberries and blueberries, and 1T frozen cranberries I use grape and pineapple juices for the main liquid, with water for thinning. I also add some of the purchased F-Diaz guava or strawberry pulp. If I have one ripe, I add some fresh kiwi for extra flavor.

Occasionally we treat ourselves to Super Nutritious Blueberry Pancakes - which we "invented" as a way to use milk that had soured, rather than simply throwing it away. And they definitely are delicious. Recipe.

When we are eating away from home - while traveling, in a restaurant, at a friend's home or during a long dancing event - the cereal course of our single meal is our Terrific Trail Mix.

Paul much prefers my hot cereals (below) so he rarely ate more than the minimum "prescribed" amount of my cold breakfasts - until I started making the Mighty Muesli which he has come to really enjoy. Now I have to make sure that he leaves me some to finish off the meal ;>)

update 8/27/08 On cold mornings in central Arizona in January and February I always really enjoyed a hot breakfast. (And in southeast Ontario cottage country, it is generally cool in the morning well till the middle of June, even on some days in July and August and again beginning in mid-September.) Since January 2007 with the advent of a single daily meal, which begins in the very late afternoon when we're in Arizona (due to weekly late night events) but a few hours earlier when in Ontario, we include a cereal course. For several years I have found it advantageous to make multiple days worth for me and Paul. With eating only 2 days every 3 beginning July 2008, the amount of porridge made is eaten in 3 meals.

The basic recipe for a combination porridge includes the 3 meals worth of breakfast powders listed above (previously consumed in 4 meals) and done in the following manner:

Into our Mr Coffee IDS77 grinder (a real gem!) first goes:
• 2 level tablespoons Buckwheat berries (unhulled buckwheat). If we run out of the berries in Ontario, we use hulled buckwheat and the hulls which are available separately locally in rural Ontario (oddly, used as filling in decorative pillows). More on buckwheat.
• flax and sesame from above
• 1 heaping tablespoon each of almonds, filberts (hazelnuts) and walnuts
• 2 heaping tablespoons of hemp seed extrusions, broken first into smaller pieces

The contents of the grinder is added to the other dry ingredients in a large bowl and then all are mixed well:
• 1C of mixed cereal flakes (oats, rye, barley, oat bran, quinoa flakes, spelt, kamut - always the first 3 and in AZ the next two; spelt and kamut are readily available in nearby Bancroft Ontario, with oat bran and quinoa flakes sold in further off Peterborough). (All are low glycemic, besides tasting great. Kitty mixes a large supply of these cereals ahead of time and then removes 1 C for a 4 day cooking.)
• all the powders from above not already ground
• 1/2C cocoa, unDutched (More on nondecadent chocolate and cocoa.)

The above can all be done ahead of time, which I do now and then. When I'm ready to do the actually cooking I add the following to approximately 4.5 C of water (modified from 1/2 1% milk to reduce calories) in the top of a large double boiler directly on the heating element:
• 4 large prunes, cut up ~1/4 C (replacing raisins)
• ~ 1/4C cranberries (fresh or frozen) cut in small pieces - I leave these out if our supply is low so that Paul has enough for his smoothies
• 2 or 3 dried apricots (more if they are small) and 2 dried figs, cut up small

Once the diluted milk with dried fruit has reached the very hot stage (stirring often to prevent sticking), I add:

• ~ 1 T each of black strap molasses and barley malt

The molasses and barley malt provide additional sweetness beyond the prunes, besides having their own nutritional value. (This is a reduction from 2 heaping T to reduce mostly sugar calories.)

I got tired of being extremely careful with the very full double boiler that we purchased, as can be seen in the photo. Not wanting to reduce the cereal to just 3 days worth, I took Paul's suggestion and have begun using a taller pot for the cereal. Once the water, mixed mostly dried fruit, molasses and barley malt have had several minutes head start, I slowly add the combined dry ingredients, mixing so that all is blended well. At this point I place this pot carefully onto the bottom of the double boiler; it's a pretty good seating and steam can still escape from the bottom. (For those making a smaller quantity, the double boiler itself will work just fine.) Cover and let cook about 30 minutes.

It is because this cereal is so thick (approximately equal quantities of dry and liquid ingredients, not counting the fruit) that I modified the cooking procedure so that the dried fruit gets a head start by being added to the water (previously diluted milk) as it warms up and then allowed a few extra minutes before adding the dry ingredients. When finished, the mixture is much like a thick hot pudding. Now I use 1/3 of the pot contents for the first day; Paul likes a lot of milk added to his portion and I take a bit less. We've restarted (since January 2008) putting some banana slices (increased to 1/2 large banana, ~60 grams, shared each meal) into our finished cereal that had been part of our berry/fruit course because the delicious flavor was being lost in that medley. The remainder of the cereal when cooled is put into a storage container (we use former 600g blueberry containers from our Ontario purchases) and refrigerated for the next 2 days usage.

Before we became the proud owners of not one, but 2 double-boilers (one in each location), I improvised for several years. For those who have never used a double-boiler, water is placed in the bottom of pot and brought to a boil while the milk-water gradually rises to near boiling in the top pot. Just keep the heat high enough so that the water in the bottom is gently boiling. For those who don't own a double-boiler, bring the milk-water slowly to near boiling in a sauce pan - my improvisation for many years, as seen in the photo. The dry ingredients are added slowly. After a couple of minutes directly on a moderate heat, the pan is placed in a larger one with sufficient boiling water to create a make-shift double boiler.

If I want more of the oatmeal and barley taste, I leave out the buckwheat and increase those two items to 1/2C each; another variation I've tried is oatmeal and rye flakes without the buckwheat or barley.
Typically when I am using 3 or all 5 of the flakes listed above, I used to combine equal amounts of all flakes with both ground buckwheat berries and hemp extrusions in a saving container. Currently, I mix a large supply of them proportionately (for instance, 1 C as the basic measure unit, will yield a total of 3 C of the total mixture; 2C --> 6 C total of cereal mix):

• 1 oats flakes
• 1 barley flakes
• 1/3 rye flakes
• 1/3 oat bran
• 1/3 quinoa flakes

My plan for Ontario had been to replace the quinoa flakes with either kamut or spelt that are readily available to us there in Bancroft, and to take a supply of oat bran from Arizona. We were pleased to find that Jo Anne's Place in Peterborough (90 minutes away) carries both the quinoa flakes and oat bran; we plan to visit that health food store every 6 weeks (and use the occasion for our big shopping in a larger town with its greater variety).

All the other dry ingredients are added to 1 C of this combination and then I proceed with the cooking as described above. This last variation is the one I've been using the most because of its overall best taste - to me and Paul.

In the past, I made a microwave single serving hot cereal based on purchased muesli that included little if any wheat flakes. First I placed the muesli and ground flax, sesame and buckwheat and hemp extrusions into my bowl; then add ~dozen dark raisins (or cut 1 or 2 prunes into bits) and sliver a variety of nuts (good sources of protein, monounsaturated fatty acids & various minerals: brazil, filberts, walnuts and almonds - totaling ~20g, more than I had been using previously.) I've also found that adding all or some of the nuts to the small electric mill in which I grind the flax and sesame seeds works well too. It just depends on whether I want a bit more crunch on a particular day.
To this dry mix I put in the cinnamon and ginger from my breakfast powders and enough water to make a moderately thin mixture before popping into the microwave at high for approximately 3 minutes, stirring once midway. (This lets the buckwheat cook more.)
At this point, I would typically add the lecithin, soy and whey powders and then proceed to the "toppings" of fresh fruit. However a somewhat different taste is obtained if these last three powders are added *before* the cooking. It just depended on my desire that day which way I cooked it.

(At this point up until late 2004 I was regularly adding the great PineHedge Farms brand kefir we were buying in Toronto. Then I began reserving the kefir as a snack on some days, or during warm months using it with fruit, as explained a little below. Now in mid-east Ontario, the PineHedge superior kefir is not carried by any of the health food stores, so I am left to make do with yogurt or make my own. When I did have the kefir over the fruit that tops the porridge, it looked like the photo. Yummy! Yogurt would look the same, but not taste as good IMO as the PineHedge Farms brand.)

Whether making porridge single serving in the microwave or multi-serving via a double boiler, this is the point when - before we went to 1 meal daily - I added blueberries, strawberries, kiwi (if available and ripe), ~1/3 medium banana (sliced), and nectarine or peach (if available) and topped with milk. If the fruit and milk cools this porridge too much for my liking, I pop the bowl (back) in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Adding a couple spoonfuls of kefir on top after the rewarming (with minimal milk) gives the porridge a slightly different taste.
This porridge, using ground buckwheat berries and hemp seed extrusions is heavier on nuts and berries than what I had been doing the previous before 2004.

I have also found that Mighty Muesli with the liquid and fruit described above can be warmed in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes sufficiently to take the chill off it - nice on a cool morning - without losing its delightful crunch.

If I want a break from the oats/buckwheat/hemp porridge, I go back to one of my original regular hot cereals - amaranth (a high protein grain). It can be purchased in health food stores, and is especially good when cooked over low heat for 20 to 30 minutes with prune and apricot pieces. (Use water 3:1 with cereal.) After stirring in my dry powders per my regimen, I add blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, sometimes peach or nectarine, and a generous splash of milk (1%) - Paul who shares my breakfast likes the extra amount of milk. I haven't yet experimented with cooking ground buckwheat and hemp with the amaranth, but this could easily be done.

When I was eating a morning breakfast, I definitely noticed that my sense of fullness stayed with me longer when I had eaten porridge than when breakfast had been muesli or another cold cereal. On porridge days, I rarely was aware of any empty sensation before 6 hours after eating. This was an incentive to eat the cooked cereal more often than if there were no satiety difference. The sense of fullness is definitely less noticeable with our current pattern of eating on those occasions when the porridge is not part of our extended meal. However, a bit of hunger sensation is hormetically beneficial and does not harm a healthy person - in fact that and the recycling of proteins is why we changed to 1 meal daily in January 2007 and progressed to 2 meals every 3 days in July 2008. Besides, a cup of hot green-rooibos tea minimizes the sensation.

On the rare occasion after we returned to 24 hour days in Spring 2005, we ate breakfast out and then it was almost always steak and fried eggs with home fries and fruit for Paul; Kitty usually had an omelette though sometimes made it fried eggs and sausage. Rye toast with jam for Paul and a powder biscuit, if available, for Kitty were enjoyed with coffee. When we were still on a 28-hour day schedule, we occasionally wanted to eat breakfast out on a day when "normals" ;>) were having lunch or supper. We then ate a meal which is typical for people eating at that time of a 24 hour day but containing as many non-starchy vegetables as possible. See Dining Out.

Also in the past, one of our friends had periodic Friday evening pizza party with philosophical/political discussion and a movie. We then adjusted our current sleep schedule such that we awakened later and took our morning potion and pre-breakfast supplements before we left to arrive there about 7:00pm. Mary Lou always had either several pre-made pizzas or ready-to-make versions with a generous selection of items to be added. We put together nutritious pizza breakfasts (lots of cheese and ample meat for protein) including side helpings of fruit and raw vegetables together with our breakfast supplements and meal cocktail (which we took premixed); dessert of tea or coffee and cookie were not refused. (This atypical Friday did not interfere with our dancing since we left around 11:00pm and drove directly to the Joker.)

Dinner Meals * Supper Meals * Beverages/Desserts/Snacks/Dining Out
Kitty & Paul's Diet Regimen (overview)

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Page last updated 8/27/2008

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