10tv Commit To Be Fit Breakfast Recipes...As Seen on TV!

Welcome 10tv Commit To Be Fit 2010 Weight Loss Challenge participants!

Congratulations, you’ve taken the first two crucial steps on your path to a lighter and healthier you;

1) You’ve admitted there’s a problem and...

2) You’ve committed yourself to doing something about it!

Way to go!!  That’s a great start, but now what?

You're in exactly the right place, I can help you with that!

I lost between 70 and 80 pounds and I’ve kept it off for almost 7 years now.  I spent 6 of those years back to school in order to become a Registered Dietitian so that I could help people just like you do what I did; but you know what?  I don’t have to rely on any of that information to tell you how to get started.

When I was working as a food and beverage consultant helping resort properties and restaurant owners out with labor, food cost, or other issues I used to do some research at the location in order to assess the problems and see how I might get started dealing with them.  Where do you think I went for that information; the manager’s office?  The department heads, the supervisors?  No; I went to the grounds keepers, the maintenance people, the dishwashers, the security folks, and the housekeepers; the people actually doing the work.  You see, what I learned after fixing problems for a while is that you can ask the people at the top and maybe eventually get around to the things that are causing their problems, but you almost always waste a lot of time and if you go directly to the people that are doing the work – not just talking about doing it – you get right to the heart of the problems in short order and most likely there’s a solution or two waiting right there for you as well!

So on June 23, 2003, when I came home from the emergency room on the very first day of my lifestyle modification, just after reaching on top of the stove to remove the coffee can filled with bacon grease I learned to keep there from my grandmother in Chattanooga; I did the same very same thing I used to do as a food and beverage consultant.  I went right to the people doing what I wanted to know about, not the people just talking about it!

Click on the About Steve page to read the short version of my story and see my before and after picts, come to a Healthy Cooking Live event to get a longer version, and read all the details in the Book on CD!

One of the first locations I found was the National Weight Control Registry.  This is a large, now 16 year old study of people that have lost 30 pounds or more and kept it off for at least one year.  What they do is ask what are the most successful weight losers in the United Sates what they did to loose the weight and how they keep it off.  They then compile all of that information and make it available to all of us.  Cool right?  All we have to do is look at that info!  Here’s what they found and more importantly what I found on the first day of my lifestyle modification and what helped me decide what to do to get started on the second day of my lifestyle modification.

• A full 45% of them lost weight on their own.
• 98% of Registry participants report that they modified their food intake in some way to lose weight.
• 94% increased their physical activity, with the most frequently reported form of activity being walking.
• 78% eat breakfast every day.
• 75% weigh themselves at least once a week.
• 62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
• 90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day.

First of all it looks pretty basic right?  I was happy to see that!  Change the way you eat, get my fat butt up off the couch and move around some, and you don’t need a fancy program or gym; 45% did it on their own with most of 94% reporting just walking as the most frequent form of exercise!  I had absolutely no excuse not to start right away.  The next day I got up early, had a good breakfast, turned off the TV, and started walking.  Those are literally the very first steps I took that led to my weight loss; and although it was one of the hardest days of my lifestyle modification journey, it was just that simple and it can be that way for you as well!

So what to eat for breakfast?

At the start don’t let what you eat for breakfast be an issue.  Eat something that you think is healthy right now and get out there and walk; just do it!  Remember that this is a process not an event; you’re going to learn as you go and change your habits little by little.

I always include a whole grain oatmeal in my cooking demonstrations because that’s what I consider to be a rather perfect start to the day.  I use the actual whole grain oat which hasn’t been processed at all to remove what we call the bran and germ where all the vitamins, fiber, and all that good stuff is located.  Quick oats are processed to remove those parts of the whole oat berry and consequently oatmeal made from quick oats – although easy – is little more than wall paper paste and besides just the calories and what ever the manufacturer decides to put back in it to “fortify” or “enrich” the product, I’m hard pressed to call it food at all.  But if that’s all you have on day one eat it and get out there walking!

You’ll need a pressure cooker, but that’s not a big deal, I can show you how to use one.  You’ll also need some kitchen skills, but that’s also not a big deal, I can help you with that as well!  One thing you’ll hear me say continually at my cooking demonstrations is that there’s absolutely no right way to do anything, just a right way for a specific circumstance or a context.  I actually have some folks that come to my cooking demonstrations that prefer using a slow cooker rather than a pressure cooker for their whole grain oatmeal.  If that’s the case with you then use a slow cooker!  But there are other reasons to have a pressure cooker.  The point here is that these folks didn’t allow not owning a pressure cooker to keep them from making this whole grain oatmeal; they used what they had and did it!  Enough with excuses use what you have, do the best you can and get on with it! 

Click the image or go to the bottom of the page for the recipe.  Good luck with it, email if you have questions and come see me do it LIVE this Sunday!

Another great start to the day is quinoa.  Quinoa is a seed to a leafy green plant that grows in high altitudes.  Originally from the Andes Mountains of South America it’s been a staple of cultures like the Incas for thousands of years and has recently been reintroduced into North America.  It’s widely available even in conventional grocery stores, though you might have to look in the “health food” section.  Besides the whole seed there are pastas and flour available to use in other ways.  Quinoa is a nutrient powerhouse!  It is a wonderful source of protein with all the essential amino acids making it almost a must-eat for anyone cutting down on animal sources of protein.  Quinoa is also a huge source of fiber – the red variety more so than the white – and as a nice side benefit it’s also gluten free.  Quinoa cooks just like brown rice – two parts water to one part seed – and it has many of the nutritional attributes we associate with a grain so most often we just toss it in that category, but it is most definitely a seed. I recently started making a quinoa porridge.  Click the image or go to the bottom of the page for that recipe as well!  You can email questions and see this one Sunday afternoon LIVE from start to finish as well! 

As I continued eating a large breakfast every day and watching less and less television I discovered my tastes and habits changing dramatically.  I used to have certain breakfast foods that I didn’t eat any other time of day and wouldn’t ever consider eating any other items at breakfast.  I think most Americans feel that way about their breakfasts; if we eat breakfast at all that is!  I started to eat soups, grain salads, and rice and beans at breakfast and that’s what I saw other cultures doing as I worked in previous decades in the West Indies and the Middle East where people are generally far more healthy than us here in the States.  One of my favorite breakfasts is still rice and beans!

I also indulge in my quinoa salad at breakfast when it’s in the fridge.  It has a slightly sweet-fruity thing going on that’s appealing in the morning and like the oatmeal gets me out the door with a huge head start on the day’s fiber intake!

Click the image or go below for that recipe too!  And just like the oatmeal and the quinoa porridge you can see me do it right in front of you from start to finish this Sunday afternoon!

The recipes here are in PDF format.  That’s the very same format that I’m writing a cookbook on CD in right now...each one with a full color image of the finished product!  If this format appeals to you and you’re interested in supporting my efforts by pre-ordering the cookbook (I’d certainly appreciate that!) click on the link Right Here and read some details and reserve a copy for yourself right now!  There’s a special offer only for pre-orders of version 1.0!

All of these recipes are featured in my very next cooking demonstration entitled Spring Edition Version 1.0 this Saturday evening from 5-8pm.  A dinner buffet is included and there will even be leftovers to take home!  Click on the link to read a description of the event and reserve a seat!  Give mom the perfect Mother’s Day gift by either reserving her a seat or telling her that you’re own lifestyle modification journey has started and reserve one for yourself!

Good luck with the Weight Loss Challenge!!