Obstacles to Cure...

In homeopathy we do not just give medicine. We also assess your obstacles to cure. These obstacles usually belong to habits or situations that impede your ability to heal fully. The one that really gets me going is what you are eating for breakfast. Yes, breakfast can be a major obstacle to cure.

Let's look at the American breakfast: Orange juice is acidic, has too much fructose, and thus is high glycemic (raising your insulin response too quickly). Cereals often have added high fructose corn syrup, are wheat based, and come covered with hormone laden milk. A bagel or toast or pancakes or waffles or a breakfast bar are also high glycemic because of the added high fructose corn syrup plus the refined wheat.

Too much of the general population is gumming up their cell function with gluten (from wheat, barley, rye), casein (from milk and other dairy products) and fructose (usually from high fructose corn syrup but also from raw fruit). Say hello to diabetes and heart disease and arthritis if this is your breakfast. Say hello to ADD and ADHD if this is your child's breakfast. Throw out the breakfast food!

Eat food you would have for dinner or lunch instead. Stews, vegy soups, a portion of protein, a complex carb, a stewed fruit. Even cold pizza is a better choice if you are not gluten nor casein sensitive.

And NOT eating breakfast. Let's just not go there. You already have a belly that says you are working on Syndrome X cause you chase your blood sugar all day.

No excuses, eat breakfast.

So let's look at my suggestions for breakfast:

1- Eat stews or soups that have simmered in the crock pot all night, waking you up to their aroma and providing you with vegys and protein and whole grains just loaded with nutrients that are easy to assimilate.

2- Eat protein! Protein will give you a longer burn and not have you run out of energy by 11am. Proteins usually come with some fat, and at this time of the day that is a good thing. The fat will make you feel satisfied and also extend your energy burn. I recommend beans beans beans. But please avoid soy. Most protein foods, even plant based protains, have tryptophan. Tryptophan is the stuff that makes you sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner. But a good dose of tryptophan in the morning soon gets converted to serotonin, and that will make you and your family calm and serene. And that is a good thing in traffic, at work and at school.

3- Have some stewed fruit. Like applesauce, pear sauce, peach sauce, apricot sauce, stewed prunes. The cooking of the fruit activates the development of pectin. Pectin is wonderful. Pectin is nature's perfect balance of soluble and insoluble fiber. That fiber protects you against colon cancer, detoxifies your liver, balances your blood sugar and bulks out your stool - whether you tend to constipation or IBS, pectin helps. Wow. And stewed fruit is yummy too.

4- Have a complex carbohydrate like brown rice. Or put the brown rice into something else. Brown rice or quinoa are the safest grains if you have allergies. And who does not have some allergies these days.

Eat a bigger breakfast and you will not be driven to snack later. When your blood sugar is more even, your brain will not scream at you from the back seat. It is hard to say 'no' to junk food when your brain is screaming for it's primary nutrient: glucose.

Eat your old breakfast for supper. Yogurt and fruit. Some salad and toast. Make it light. Let breakfast be the breaking of your fast.

First published 15 September 2008