Last year I lost weight. I used the Noom app which worked well for me. One thing I did that helped me was to eat porridge for breakfast every day. My porridge is just oats, water and fruit, no sugar, honey, milk or cream. I quickly got used to having just oats and fruit and as long as I add enough sweet fruit then I don’t miss the added sweetener. I make myself a big bowlful and then I eat it throughout the morning (yes, I don’t mind eating it when it’s cold!). That way I feel really satisfied and I don’t need any other snacks before lunch. Even at lunchtime I’m often not that hungry so I can have a fairly modest meal then. I think this start to my day has really helped me lose weight.
Lately I’ve been reading about how it’s good to add a really wide range of plant foods to your diet and I’ve been thinking about whether I could add some more different ingredients to my porridge as a way of eating more different plants. I thought I could do a series here documenting my experiments so that other people can learn from any of my successes and failures.
Before I get started on recording my weird and wonderful porridge additions, I think I should record here my basic recipe. I start with half a cup (which I’ve measured to be 47g) of porridge oats in a large porridge bowl and then I add a cup of water. I microwave that on high for 3 minutes. Then I add fresh and/or frozen fruit, which can include any of the following depending what I have in the house:
- pear
- grated apple
- grapes
- blueberries
- raspberries
- blackberries
- strawberries
- cherries (frozen black cherries are great for this)
- peach
- apricot
- plum
I microwave it again for 2 minutes. Then if I want to add banana I add it at this point. You could add the banana with the other fruit if you like your banana more mushy. I prefer to just let it warm through in the hot porridge. And that’s it. A yummy bowl of warmth and comfort to get me into the day.
So look out for my posts about what different ingredients I decide to try adding. I’m starting with flax seeds (linseeds) and then moving on to fresh basil. Wish me luck!