Recently, I was home alone for a month, thus the responsibility to feed myself was also completely bestowed upon me, (though my sisters insisted to bring me lunch on somedays, I kept their offer to the least.) When you stay alone, it’s easier to wake up to an alarm clock, I am a heavy sleeper who usually may sleep through a earthquake, so I am that person in the room who sets 6 sets of alarm at weirdest and loudest rings and never wake up to it. Anyway though, staying alone gave me internal boost to be alerted by alarms, and thus early mornings were regular these days. Early mornings also brought in opportunity to try out various breakfast recipes, which some I did. What stuck around after 15 days was a quick easy fix of a Breakfast bowl.
These Breakfast bowls precisely consists of three major ingredients, Fruits of your choice, Muesli, Plant based seeds and a base ingredient to hold them all together. The recipe was mostly inspired from the numerous Acai or Smoothie bowls my explore page on Instagram is flooded with.
Now let’s cut down to the benefits of each ingredients, thus helping your decision with inducing these bowls in your daily meals.
1. Base Ingredients (Milk or Yogurt)-
My recommendations are filled with Vegan recipes and I do enjoy watching them, but I pick a low- budget substitutes for them as we all know veganism is a costly affair and also something I don’t need to attest myself to. So, I generally sort for normal dairy products instead of cashew or almond milk or coconut yogurt.
2. Muesli-
A mixture of cereals, oats, wheat flakes and dry fruits- muesli constitutes to a filling meal, and saves you from resorting to junk or heavy calorie meals. The benefits lists from it being rich in fibre which makes it an excellent choice to control your eating habits, it’s also rich in carbohydrates keeping you energetic through the day. And lastly it has a combination of A,C,E, & K vitamins to it. I myself am currently using Gaia Crunchy Muesli.
3. Fruits-
Since it was summer, the season of Mangoes, most days my bowl only contained mango when it came to selecting fruits. But, you can forever switch and alternate between combination of fruits, anything that can be converted to milkshake will easily make it into this bowl. I once made a combination of Mango, Pineapple, papaya and muskmelon. The only out of proportion ingredient was the pineapple. This will also bring variety in taste and won’t bore you out of the routine.
4. Plant based Seeds-
I bought myself four kinds of seeds, which are the most popular amongst the bowl recipes. I will list down them below with their benefits.
Pumpkin seeds- These are good for one’s heart and liver as the combination of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids along with antioxidants and fiber helps the two. Pumpkin seeds are also known to lower the cholesterol level in your blood, thus decreasing the risk of heart related diseases.
Sunflower seeds- Seeds in general are so nutrient-dense that you don’t need to consume a heavy amount of it in one meal, Sunflower seeds especially are a source of multiple nutrients, starting from B complex vitamins which guarantee healthy nervous system, to provider of phosphorous, magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, protein and vitamin E. Zinc, manganese and copper can also be traced in sunflower seeds. Watermelon seeds- These provide us with minerals, iron, magnesium along with Folate i.e. Folic acid or vitamin B-9, which is essential for proper brain function and is also necessary for women in their childbearing years, as the deficiency of the same has been associated with neural tubal birth defects.
Chia seeds- Just like other seeds, Chia seeds are also high in protein, fiber and nutrients. Consuming a daily dose of two table spoon of chia seed serving will reduce your need to snack in short periods. As easy they are to incorporate in your daily diet they assure to reduce blood sugar levels, thus saving one from heart related diseases again.
Other common seeds that are high in nutrients and are easy to incorporate in your daily meals will include Flax seeds, Hemp seeds and Sesame seeds.
Many of my followers asked about the recipe for these bowls for the beautiful picture it constituted to, but good news is with pretty picture it abundantly benefits your health and boosts your dietary habits as well.
If you end up making a bowl for yourself, do share and tag me on your pictures!
