Skating Uphill

Living a Healthy LIfestyle

"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." ~Christopher Robin

Hello all of you uphill skaters out there and a cheery good morning to you even if you are not reading this in the morning. We are going to pretend it is morning and talk about breakfast today- so get ready for some surprising news!

Everybody knows that survey after survey has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that people who eat breakfast are able to lose weight at a much faster rate than those who skip this meal. That is old news, but still, studies done with control groups in universities and research facilities confirm over and over, this is the case. I have read it often enough that I believe it and so should you.

What these studies frequently do not say is that although you really should eat healthy stuff for breakfast, in all honesty you can eat most anything and still get the same result. The important thing is that you eat SOMETHING.

In one of those very carefully monitored experiments that are always popping up, groups were told not only to eat breakfast, but also to report what they ate. One of the participants who was regularly losing at a good pace neglected to list what she was eating for breakfast but faithfully checked that she had eaten. When questioned, she came clean with her list.

Monday two leftover hotdogs from a Sunday cookout.
Tuesday a peanut butter sandwich she made and ate while packing her son's lunch.
Wednesday Moose Tracks frozen yogurt. (She said she was going to have real yogurt but had run out.)
Thursday a cold baked potato. (Don't ask!)
Friday a smoothie made with a can of peaches and five ice cubes. (That was all that was left in her pantry and she was going to grocery shop on Saturday.)
Saturday nothing in the fridge so she ate an apple when she got to the store but swore that she had saved the core and offered to pay at checkout.

This woman is a gal after my own heart and maybe yours too. Anyway she probably could not have done much worse than she did, but in actual fact what she ate turned out to all be okay-go figure?

So, all that having been said, this is my favorite breakfast, and I hope you will give it a try. It is a bowl of healthy goodness and I keep the ingredients on my grocery list all the time. It is one of those non-recipes that you can do any way you like-my favorite kind in case you have not noticed.

I start with Ω cup of a high fiber cereal. I add a bunch of stuff. To be more specific, but not limit myself or you, I usually put in whatever fruit I have. I keep strawberries, blueberries and sometimes raspberries, depending on prices. I also almost always add a half banana. Next, I add nuts. I like walnuts, but I also sometimes go for the more exotic. Recently, I have been using sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. I finish with a half cup of skim milk or soymilk. I like crunch and this is very crunchy to say the least.

So, I hope you are eating something for breakfast, and I hope it is not microwaved  leftover sausage pizza, but if it is, rest assured that you are not alone there standing over the kitchen sink wiping cheese off of your chin! 


Judith's Recipes
Once upon a time there was a boy named Jack whose mother finally got a clue about her cow (meat) being useless because she no longer gave milk and was eating them out of house and home. She read in a vegetarian magazine that a cow actually was the lowest producing source of nutrition per pound of food consumed of any food source in the universe. Armed with this updated info, she told her son, Jack, to take the cow (meat) to market and see what he could get for her. On the way, Jack met a man who traded the cow (meat) for some beans (vegetables!), which he came home and planted outside his window. Actually, his mother threw them out there, but beans, like many other vegetables are very easy to grow. To make a long story short, Jack made quite a good deal. He parlayed his beans (vegetables) into a "giant" amount of food, the status of a local hero, a hen that laid golden eggs, a beautiful harp, and many other nameless and somewhat intangible benefits that we do not have room to discuss here. I think the moral is obvious, so I will wrap this up with my special recipe.

Jack's Magic Baked Beans
You can use any kind of canned beans you like for this recipe. I like pinto beans, red beans or kidney beans.

-2 cans Beans (drain one and add one with all liquid)
-º cup Brown sugar, packed
-2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
-Ω cup White onion, chopped (a little bit of Canola oil to sautÈ the onion)
-1 tsp Dry mustard
-º cup Ketchup (this is my secret ingredient)
-1 package of Morning Star Farms Hickory BBQ Riblets
-You may not have had these riblets before, so give them a try. Open the pack and remove the riblets (sauce and all) and shred both packs with your hands. It should look like pulled pork.
-Put a little Canola oil in a 2-quart saucepan and sautÈ the onion over medium heat until transparent. Add the riblets and sauce. Stir for two or three minutes until heated through. 
-Add all of the other ingredients and reduce heat to low. Simmer a while, stirring frequently. This gets better the longer it simmers, but you can also remove it from the heat and store it in the fridge and reheat when you are ready to serve. Mmmm-now that is really good!


P.S. If you would like a list of 20 good healthy things to have for breakfast, please send me an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Also, remember that "breakfast" is good any time of the day.

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