The word "Breakfast" literally means to break-the- fast. This is the time of day when your body is ready to receive nourishment after a night of fasting. Your metabolism reaches its peak right around noon. So planning your daily meals around your natural bio- rhythms means you keep your metabolism high and your weight down. Research shows that when people skip breakfast they have dips in blood sugar later in the morning and later in the afternoon. This means that they tend to overeat at lunch and dinner. Researchers found that people who skipped breakfast also ate their largest meal later in the evening. This can cause unwanted weight gain because your metabolism slows down significantly at this time, meaning you tend to store your meals as fat instead of burn them for energy.

Researchers found that people who started eating a nutritious breakfast every morning, without changing anything else, had significant weight loss.

This month resolve to start eating breakfast every morning and see what health changes unfold.

Good Reads:

Ultra Metabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss, Mark Hyman, MD

The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss, Marc David

BREAKFAST BURNING:
Alex, a young athlete, came to see Tom wishing to lose weight. After talking with him about his daily eating habits, Tom saw a pattern that wasn't serving Alex's metabolism. Alex was drinking coffee every morning and skipping breakfast. Tom suggested some simple changes that fit into Alex's lifestyle. These included reducing his coffee intake and eating breakfast every morning, a breakfast of his choice. With those small changes Alex saw a weight loss of nearly 25 pounds in one month!

THE BIGGEST LOSER:
We also wanted to share another inspirational story with you about a group of friends who have gotten together and formed their own weight loss group.

The Weight Loss Champs, as they call themselves, are a group of nine middle-aged men and women. They formed this group to support each other in losing weight. The journey started in early November when Whole Life Nutrition did a private in-home cooking instruction party to get everyone familiar with foods that assist with weight loss and how to prepare them.

The group has weekly weigh-ins and in the first week the members of the group lost from 4 to 10 pounds each. After their initial big loss the weight is now coming off slower. Slower weight loss is healthier and also creates an environment to keep it off for the long-term. After about 2 months, each member has lost between 10 and 20 pounds.

They are doing this as a competition to see who is the "Biggest Loser" after 20 weeks. The support they give each other seems to make all the difference to help achieve their health and weight loss goals. Keep up the great work guys! You are an inspiration to all those people out there wishing to start their own groups!

The following breakfast recipes are all beneficial in boosting your metabolism, which will help you shed unwanted pounds. All of them are from our new cookbook The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook: Whole Foods Recipes for Personal and Planetary Health.

In addition to the following recipes, try drinking a cup of high-quality organic green tea with your breakfast. Research has found that green tea contains compounds called catechins, which are chemicals that increase thermogenesis, or calorie burning.


Tom's Fruity Medicine Chest Smoothie

Tom makes a version of this smoothie nearly every morning. The fruit and greens change according to the seasons. This smoothie has been paramount in the lives of many people as changes in health are often seen after drinking this smoothie for a few days.

• 2 apples, cored and cut into chunks
• 2 ripe pears, cored and cut into chunks
• 1 to 2 cups purified water
• the juice of 2 lemons
• 1 to 2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
• 5 black kale leaves, rinsed and torn into pieces
• 5 romaine lettuce leaves
• 1 cup coarsely chopped green cabbage

Tofu Scramble
(pictured above)

Tofu is a good source of protein. In fact, recent research shows that regular intake of soy protein can help to lower total cholesterol levels, lower triglyceride levels, and reduce the tendency of platelets to form blood clots. Serve this dish with a slice of sourdough rye bread spread with raw almond butter (or rice bread if you are gluten-sensitive), and a simple salad for an energizing and balanced breakfast.

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 5 green onions, sliced into rounds
• 1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms
• 1 small red bell pepper, diced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder, or 2 cloves, crushed
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt or Herbamare
• 1 pound firm tofu, crumbled

Sweet Rice Cereal

This delightful cereal, reminiscent of Cream of Wheat, is best topped with a little maple syrup and a spoonful of virgin coconut oil. The rice can be ground ahead of time and stored in a glass jar in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Brown rice is an excellent source of manganese and a good source of selenium and magnesium.

• 1 cup sweet brown rice, ground
• 3 cups water
• pinch sea salt

On January 18th we will begin another Whole Foods cooking series starting with a fun, delicious, and informative class on Whole Grains.

Next, on January 25th, we will walk you through the process of cooking beans from scratch and show you the many ways to incorporate beans into your daily meals.

Lastly, on February 1st, we will have a delicious class on Fruits and Vegetables.

Each class will feature recipes from our new Cookbook as well as some exciting new recipes not in the book. All recipes are gluten, dairy, and egg-free.