McDonald’s breakfast menu items is something many of us grew up with as it was fast and filling on-the-go. And decades later, it’s still a part of my Happy Meal youth memories.
With whatever opinion you have of McDonald’s, the golden arches is popular because it’s fast, inexpensive, and fills you up quick! The McDonald’s breakfast menu hasn’t changed much over the years and the 760-calorie Big Breakfast hasn’t changed much over the decades.
Everyone in America grew up seeing the golden arches. It’s also an American icon around the world and a convenient and consistent option if you’re on the road.
I haven’t had a need to drive-thru one in ages…
But, the fast-food franchise provides food value to millions each year. You wonder how they would cover the cost of ingredients with a McDonald’s breakfast dollar menu if they didn’t serve millions each year.
At home, you’re smart to make your healthy breakfast every morning, and they do have some great ones modeled after McDonald’s popular breakfast menu… yes, healthy options!
If you want to have a low-sugar breakfast, you pretty much have to come up with your own prepared menu meals where convenience is your fridge and pantry cupboards.
…And here’s how you can create your healthy-inspired McDonald’s breakfast without much effort. You can choose from the following high-fiber options…
Egg McMuffin – Sautee potatoes and scramble eggs and serve on sprouted Ezekiel bread (optional: add cheese). I think this version is so much more delish as it’s homemade and sprouted bread is wholeness… more nutrish than an English Muffin. And if you want to give a ‘Lil French gourmet taste, add a sprinkle of tarragon — that’s the secret ingredient that upscale restaurants use.
Hot Cake and Sausage – Make whole wheat or buckwheat-based pancakes and then add a drizzle of honey. Add bananas, blueberries, or dark chocolate chips with 70% or more cocoa. Skip the heavy sausage patty and make a high fiber black bean cake that can be so tasty and make you feel lighter (and keeping your morning routine bathroom life regular).
Sausage Burrito – Black beans and rice burrito is the same concept, and instead of a high-calorie corn tortilla filler, use a piece of whole wheat pita bread you can easily bake at home when you’re tired (or sprouted wheat) sprouted wheat toast to gain energy and fiber.
Strawberry Banana Smoothie – This is a newer item on the McDonald’s breakfast menu as smoothies didn’t become popular until after the 21st century began. It was all about the high calorie milk shake.
To a smoothie, add a frozen or fresh strawberries depending if they’re in season Add a banana that has fiber, and almond milk or oat milk. Or substitute the vanilla, strawberry, chocolate shakes with your favorite protein powder. In any of these options, the experience is like night and day to your body and the taste is not that different from a sugary smoothie.
Orange juice – OJ skip, O-K! The added concentrated sugar you and I grew up with doesn’t help your day. Combined sugar and acidity are hard on the stomach. Opt for a gentler to your gut option. Make your own fruit juices using a whole orange with water that only takes a few minutes. You can also make your own lemonade or limeade with whole fruit.
The best part is you probably won’t even like sugary fruit juices after you make the switch. You re-train your tastes and that helps your health and your daily moods as you don’t have additional sugar sitting in your system.
If you’re debating whether to eat something for breakfast, and planning to have a beverage other than water or milk, it’s a good idea to cushion your stomach lining with food first.
A typical American drink breakfast with coffee and OJ together with a meal is bad news for your stomach.
Regular coffee has high acidity and espresso is a no-no for sensitive stomachs. Cold brew coffee is better because of the process leaving less acidic grinds. Your stomach also hasn’t had a meal in 8 or so hours, so a snack is usually in order.
If you’re in the habit to feeding sugar cravings for your breakfast morning, make yourself a quick smoothie or prepare no-added refined sugar granola to munch on so you get your sugary fix without all the sugars loaded in pastries.
And if you’re a Vata 🙋🏻♀️, then you’re likely to want to switch up your foods from time to time and daily. If you’re not sure if that’s you, you can better know by this preference alone as Kapha and Pittas don’t need to constantly change up preferences. It’s not an ADD disorder in case that’s a worry.
The Vata breed simply prefers to have variety. So you can have a few options available to feed your Vata preferences and don’t get in a rut.
To Dairy or Not?
You can find shelf-stable almond, oat, and coconut milk is a good staple to have in your pantry. I found that having non-shelf stable milk around (besides being an evolving dairy no-no) was stressful with an expiration date where he milk can go to waste.
Making a parfait with a Greek yogurt with probiotics (good bacteria) is also a good start.
Toasting the morning with yogurt parfaits.
It’s all a balance. And that’s with sugar too…
Low Sugar Breakfast Foods:
Create a yogurt parfait with lower sugar and granola– Chobani Complete or Fage are around 7 grams of sugar per cup compared to double that amount or more. Then add dry oatmeal. Or if you take a few extra minutes, you can toast Quaker Oats Old Fashioned in your oven with honey as the binder.
To make granola cereal clusters, simply bake one layer on a baking sheet in your low-heated oven and mix with your favorite dried fruits like raisins a few spoonfuls of honey, and a drizzle of vegetable or canola oil (less is more). This becomes healthy-ish compared to high sugar cereals.
Believe me, for a sweet tooth like me (…is that you too?), I could eat a baked good and feel sweet happiness, but then as the effect wore off I’d be feeling bad because of all the leftover empty calories and indulgent skin-crawling sensation. This awareness seems to happen more as you age.
Many of us experience this as part of sugar’s dire consequences, and we don’t always immediately associate it with the sugar in our lives. Eating sugar unaware, if we’re not careful, can become an unhealthy habit. The more we indulge, the more we want.
A small sugary taste can be all you need to satiate your sweet tooth, but skipping sugar is the better option.
Or you could bake orange scones with no-added sugar.
You can also remember to do a weekly healthy drink, like a green tea smoothie so you can add more plant-based and yes, veggies to breakfast. That’s one you won’t find on a McDonald’s breakfast menu.
Green tea has caffeine and polyphenols that are good for heart health. You can add a dash of lime juice and a handful of wild blueberries for a spritzer. Or enjoy a simple green smoothie with banana or yogurt to thicken in a few minutes. And that can prep you for your veggie start like this Easy Veggie Breakfast Frittata.
…where both your mind and body start the day happy (with your new breakfast happy meal)! 😊
Healthy mindful snacking can be a game changer especially if you combine with mindful eating and healthy eating habits. Learn from my snacking display ideas and tips deployed in a decade of party planning including weddings and other special occasion events that ended up as thousands of clients (…oh my, where does the time go?)
If you didn’t grow up with a healthy mindful snacking habit, this idea may seem initially odd to you, your mind, and body (mind-body). And why I don’t question others who don’t snack between meals!
You’re better off paying attention to your hunger cues, fullness cues, and changes in your body than focusing on emotional cues especially if weight gain is a struggle.
I know how food can be comforting and carrots aren’t stress calming foods.
But if you do regularly snack or are open to the idea, you may find that snacking time is a nice mindfully healthy break to reset, start a new project and give your body some needed energy.
That’s why I take a 5-minute mindful snack break at least 2-3 times a day. Maybe this is a new approach for you.
And if so, it could be what you need to add to your day to reset your emotions, thoughts, and moods (while keeping your body in your comfortable tip-top happy shape).
It’s more effective than saying no that rarely works when the kitchen is open (and you’re not fasting if that’s something you do).
I also find that snacking helps me to maintain a consistent dress size that I’m comfortable in. This is what most of us want.
There are many added factors as to why this will work better for some people and not as well for others, including the beliefs you have behind this truth.
You’re the eating expert for your body. And you’re the only one who knows your body better than anyone when it comes to how it looks and your preferences.
Busting The Myth That Eating More Healthy Mindful Snacking Will Automatically Make You Gain Weight
I like to use the analogy of your brain. One of your brain’s primal concerns is to keep you alive. Your thoughts alert you and your body of potential dangers through fear and anxiety.
Your body has similar concerns and is sending signals like hunger pains to protect you from starvation.
If you feed your body often, then you’re teaching your body that there’s no need to go into food conservation red alert mode. If instead you feed your body say one meal a day, then that’s a trigger to your body to store fat more easily, as fat energy would keep you alive longer.
Your body pays attention to what is happening first. While your mind is on its frequency and tied together with the body through the gut. The mind-body communication is delayed like an audio lag so that’s why it’s better to slow down and chew.
How else does healthy mindful snacking regularly benefit you?
Besides body efficiency, time efficiency is another reason snacking can help…
If you get hungry or are in low-energy unproductive moods, opening the fridge door can help you get over your temporary lull faster than if you mull around without changing your situation.
As a mindful action, you can snap out of a funk when you look in the fridge as a visual cue for your mind-body to kick into gear.
The trick is to have healthy snacks and food choices so you can be snacking mindfully and healthy.
You can pull these snacks out earlier in the day so you’re prepared and not triggered during the day to find something not as healthy.
When you look at snacking from the mindful planning perspective, the 5 minutes of snack-prep time is nothing. Compare that to getting in and out of the grocery store which can take at least 4 times the amount of loss efficiency time, plus the travel time it takes.
If you’re one of the people who check out of the “under 15 items” grocery line with just 2-3 items, think how much time you’d save if you changed your regular shopping habits to include pantry and fresh item perimeter shopping.
Still on the fence?
Besides efficiency and uplifting-mood changing reasons, there are physical health benefits today to add as we have healthier snacks and food trends available to us and on our side.
When you prepare and eat small, bite size healthy snacks regularly (like a bird does pecking at crumbs) and in between meals throughout the day, your body can re-fuel energy to keep going.
You can replace the need to afternoon power nap or have an espresso with a 5-minute mind-body benefitting snack.
If you snack on hard boiled eggs or popcorn with nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor, you can feel some energy boost from the B-vitamins.
Healthy Mindful Snacking Ideas:
Healthy mindful snacking is at the core of intuitive eating where you only eat when you’re hungry. Or you have a bite versus a whole big restaurant portion.
Like this cheese and fruit bigger-than-eyes display that was at one of my Mediterranean cuisine restaurant parties.
The white cubes that look like tofu are Shanklish, that’s a popular Lebanese, high quality sheep’s milk cheese that pairs well with falafel (chickpea and gluten-free) for a “charcuterie” board with a twist.
But toning it down a notch as many of us can’t easily re-create a board like those at professional catered parties, you can make a simple at-home charcuterie board or snack board inspired by bright wedding food colors that are full of polyphenols.
One theme you can use is orange veggies loaded with beta-carotene.
Growing up for me, snacking with bright orange salty snacks wasn’t the healthy kind. And the sweets weren’t either.
These days, processed and high sugar snacks are still easily available and causes toward child obesity on the rise. And if I had to do over, learning healthy snacking habits earlier would have been better and easier.
The healthy switch especially isn’t easy for a Vata with a sweet tooth and salty fix as an adult.
And once a Vata always a Vata.
But if I can do it, you can too if you can get into the mindful space one step at a time.
How about this mid-day bright orange sweet potato board with balsamic buffalo mozzarella cheese and healthy Za’atar crackers?
Za’atar or savory crackers, balsamic buffalo mozzarella, and sweet potato dip are a great way to express healthy snack creativity in minutes. 🍠
Listening to food trends with one ear is also a better idea than going all in as the trend can change.
Low-fat eating dominated trends when I was a young adult and that has changed.
Back then, a no-fat cookie could questionably appear to be healthier than a handful of higher fat almonds for healthy mindful snacking. We know that’s not today’s truth.
And an apple is still an apple, but now we have many varieties including organic types to choose from.
In a metro-city area, finding healthy snack options is easier and at our fingertips.
This was a hummus bar setup at The Wedding Wire HQ.
Here are eight 5-minute healthy mindful snacking break ideas that never grow old…
1.Homemade hummus.
You can make this in 5 minutes with a blender. I use a Magic Bullet that doesn’t need to brought out each time. That’s why it’s magic.🪄
For homemade hummus, you can take a can of garbanzo beans or chickpeas, then add sea salt, and olive oil. Reserve some of the juice for the recipe which is why I opt for organic cans (also lower in sodium).
If you want, add healthy flavors such as garlic, roasted red peppers, or spicy cayenne pepper.
Voila! You have successfully made homemade hummus, and probably less expensively than a store-bought version.
You could dip carrots, celery, or pita chips in your hummus. You can bake your own corn tortilla.
If you want more creaminess like in store bought hummus or want authentic hummus flavors, you could add tahini or sesame oil and peanut butter as a substitution.
2. Guacamole dip or spread.
You can make a simple guacamole dip with smashed ripe avocados and a few drizzles of olive oil and/or a dash of lemon juice. This can also made as a hummus with garbanzo beans.
There are specific breads that taste better with certain spreads. Sprouted bread pairs well with guacamole where others may fail to give you the same taste and healthy experience level.
3. Kale chips.
You can bake dry, pre-washed kale on low heat for crispy kale chips. Simply add sea salt. This is a great nutritional snack alternative to potato chips.
These days the kale bags come pre-washed so you can skip the the washing and drying that saves time.
4. Popcorn with a drizzle of truffle oil.
If you want more fiber in your diet, popcorn is a whole grain with the bran fiber layer intact.
Try to resist the urge to get the movie butter and butter flavors, and instead add a few drops of truffle oil or extra virgin olive oil to give a little healthy fat and flavor.
You can also add a dash of umami mushroom seasoning.
If you want a savory, umami taste without iodized or table salt, you can try plain popcorn and add white pepper. I like to use a white pepper grinder mill that adds an amazing umami taste. For health, don’t add too much white pepper. You can balance the blend with non-iodized sea salt.
Another popcorn favorite is EVOO (olive oil) with a dusting of turmeric for a smoky good health flavor! And another healthy orange snack to add to the board I mentioned! 🧡
5. Granny Smith apple with all-natural peanut or almond butter.
If you have a sweet tooth, you could take a Granny Smith apple, cut up and dip in all-natural peanut butter that you stir up. I prefer organic and keep the skin on for additional nutrients.
Apples keep the doctor away and help to keep your teeth clean. You can also make “candy” apples.
6. Bowl of edamame.
You may have discovered these green looking beans as a sushi restaurant appetizer. They are served in the pod for an experience.
You can also buy them shelled and unshelled edamame in the frozen veggie aisle in some grocery stores like international stores. They are made of soy protein so are more than just veggie snacks. They are also high in calcium and fiber.
Cook or heat up and sprinkle with a pinch of coarse sea salt. You can also find snacks with a wasabi kick that can also help to clear up nasal sinus allergies.
7. Bowl of granola, almonds, or healthy trail mix.
If you have a few additional minutes to wait, you can make granola so easily and whip up a batch for the oven in 5 minutes with oatmeal, honey, light olive oil, and your favorite dried fruits. Spread out to a thin layer on a baking sheet and pop in the oven on low heat.
8. Roasted squash seeds. You can bake in advance your butternut squash and spaghetti squash seeds with EVOO until toasty brown to your liking.
Squash seeds are loaded with Vitamins A, C, some B vitamins, and minerals. You can learn tips on how to prepare spaghetti squash and what’s going on these days on food allergies from a party menu planner perspective.
Some Final Tips to Consider:
1.Energy and physical health. For Vata bodies especially, when you snack regularly, your metabolism increases. It’s counter-intuitive, but you’ve taught your body that you will be feeding your body more often, so it learns not to live in survival mode.
Fat energy is burned more efficiently because your body no longer needs to store this energy, just in case you get stuck on a snow mountain or cave (and need the fat).
Most people don’t know this, and can believe losing weight is all about eating fewer calories.
That’s important but teaching your body to be efficient is also helpful, along with knowing when to eat the biggest meal like earlier in the day.
There are many theories out there. And giving a new way a try to test is worth the healthy effort.
2.Productivity. Taking a snack break clears your head. You can rest from your project or work, and let your mind rest for a few minutes, and recharge. When you focus on an activity like snacking, this can take you away from multi-tasking.
You remind yourself to take time for yourself. Then when you come back to your work, you get more done. You have more energy.
Many studies show that 10-minute breaks are better for you than one large break.
Do this 6 times a day and that can raise your productivity, preferred over an hour lunch break that could slow you down if you eat a heavy meal.
I find that not setting arbitrary times or alerts for breaks is beneficial because when you snack when you want to, you are fulfilling a desire and not a to-do on your list. Having optimum enjoyment is the goal, and not adding another to-do to your busy day.
3.Creativity. You can come up with additional ideas and breakthroughs with your breaks. You may even find a solution to a problem you’ve had with a healthy mindful snacking break.
Getting up and out of your work gives you normalcy and time to recharge and reset.
Do less, produce more. Enjoy your snacks. Mixing up instead of taking an hour break, a few minutes is all you need to refresh.
You can efficiently use these breaks to also take quick restroom breaks. We sometimes get too busy. I get some of my best ideas doing the simplest tasks like walking to the kitchen or cleaning a bowl.
4.Mindfulness. After you pick up your snack with your hands or fork, you can focus on chewing small bites and can draw your attention back to your sense of tasting, smelling, and touching. These little body movements and sensation cues are so undervalued in our busy worlds. They turn us to our Ayurvedic ways that are natural to us in balance when our systems are running in balance.
Drawing yourself back to your present moment also brings an appreciation for what you have — more evidence of happy moments and joy in your life that you can become aware of in the mind-body connection.
5.Emotional health. A simple habit of healthy snacking can help you in moments if you feel anxiety coming on, especially during a stressful season.
Stress serves a purpose. When you look at solidly built trees they have endured stress. Trees form tight rings when they’re under stress that gives them the foundation to help them keep growing and build strength. Getting through stressful times is helpful for your progress and growth.
Snacks can help you stay happy. These small things (and habits) make a big difference to impact your mind-body.
You can take this a step further and add to healthy mindful snacking, another life-enhancing way to handle or process any feelings you have that are not helping you in your day.
You can listen to inspiring music, or reset with a yoga pose and intention like Mountain Pose (standing with your arms wide in the air or heart center) for mindfulness, zen, or meditation.
Your intention can be creativity, getting a project done, or believing what you want to happen is on the way.
These are examples of complementary activities. These small moments will keep your focus on your day’s purpose and what you want to accomplish.
Why are the simple things the ones we often ignore? They can have the most impact on our mind-body health.
Getting a reminder to do simple activities, such as drinking more water, can be what we need. When we start one simple task, that sets our mind to think there may be other simple habits that we can incorporate or bring back to our awareness and daily lives like to snack mindfully.
Pay attention to what you’re feeling if you’re more of a thinker. Women especially have a way to power through and discredit our feelings.
If you feel overall overwhelmed, a complicated life creates anxiety. This can be a sign to step away and get back on track to the simple or main things in your life (to calm your mind-body).
If you run a business, or if you have two jobs as a parent and going to work, find ways to simplify your life. Build systems and do the things you really want to do.
I often use, you only get to do this life once, and this moment once as a mantra. This keeps me from veering off the path or doing things I could regret as much as I can prevent.
And maybe that helps you. Taking in your mind-body moments will be beneficial for your physical and mental health today and in the future that you’re taking a step in creating today.
Heart and soul is a part of our bodies that we can’t see, but we can feel daily. Pizza is heart and soul food (recipe below for making a heart shaped pizza 🧡).
A daily heart and soul-centering check-in can change your life! You could be an old soul or have an old soul like some of us who remember young life before the internet.
…I remember when I first started out working and ambitiously I thought I wanted to climb the corporate ladder. It didn’t take many years before I shifted my priority to wanting better work-life balance.
And with those intentions, I career pivoted that gave me that outcome. But had I not picked my head up to see what my heart and soul was telling me (and now I know my spirit was helping me), I would’ve missed the message about finding time to work on me. Personal growth was something I had to go outside of work to find in volunteering and discovering myself.
It’s never too early to start checking in. Maybe now is a good time to set this priority in your life as you had to rethink parts of your life in 2020, along with everyone else (so you’re in good company!).
There were many external changes made affecting your life, that you had no control over, and may help you later on in ways you may not see how yet at this moment.
So for now, you can just keep going, growing, and focusing on creating the best that your life offers in abundant possibilities that you put intention to until the next step. There’s always a next step when the timing is right.
It’s better to think this optimistic way and joyfully pivot into your forming newer overall life, including work, relationships, passion, and purpose, so you can enjoy the process with greater ease (and not create unnecessary dis-ease or woes-me feelings).
That doesn’t mean you don’t have varying feelings with so many gray areas and small decisions you need to make, but that you’re finding your happier way now in the process (and possibly then seeing through a different lens than the one you may have been previously looking from).
I provide a lasting impactful way to do a heart and soul check-in, further below. ⬇️
Encouragement: Our Society, You, and Your Gained Ideas
In America, convenience is at our fingertips, and many of us started last year to positively lean into our interests, curiosities, and skills development.
You may have learned how to grocery shop differently, cook meals, bake your own bread, and learn new digital skills as a way to communicate with the rest of our virtual world and the local community.
You picked up other life skills that everyone needs so you could stay relevant.
You may have even discovered or rediscovered a few passions and hobbies, and read more books than you sought out originally to do. Those were some of the common gains for many of us.
All was not lost in our home life, and more has been gained (and is being gained) in our overall lives if we choose to focus on the higher lens way of living.
It’s helpful for you to reflect and personally remind yourself of the progress over perfection you’ve made, so you can stay feeling uplifted in your spirit. It’s too easy to get sourly influenced in our culture.
You can be less on guard, open up to your authentic self and reap the benefits in a new era where we’re all finding our way in many ways.
Over the past year especially, you may have changed some lifestyle habits or behaviors that you like, that work better, and that you decide to keep forever.
And you may have gained clarity about what you want in the next chapter of your life. Even though you wouldn’t have done this if you weren’t challenged to do so. But you can use your situation to your good advantage!
You may even have found the better way, and experienced that good changes in your life can show up as a combination of thinking, doing, and feeling what is right for you. You get internal clues and they can help you find your second or next act.
If you took or take your connect-the-dot lessons one step further, you can reflect on how you felt about what you first thought about specific ideas. You can then take another brave leap of action so you can try and replicate best practices and discover even more new ways, as our world is evolving. This creates innovation and gives you a better way of doing things.
For example, you’re inspired to try a new recipe and that seemed to work out and made you happy, so the next time you tweak the recipe and create something new and different that you enjoy. This works the same with a new workout, new route, or a new passion project you’re developing. Variety and innovation keep you making progress!
And that’s how personal growth attitudes and creative progress are fed and can seep into every fiber of your life if you’re open to new ways and ideas.
New ideas can take time to form in the process and as you start dabbling with curiosity, you can become less intimidated to make mistakes. That’s how you grow and learn.
In this forming introspective way of life, you can also dig deeper into yourself to find what gives you more meaning and joy than what you previously found made you happy, as you become more of who you are and will become.
You can also reach higher levels of contentment and then feel fewer emotional ups and downs.
Many positive changes can be happening all at once in this complex life, with yourself and your life.
You may have even re-thought your life’s retirement plans and this year’s optimistic and realistic plans. And you’ve probably learned to be more grounded in reality and to get back to simple basics, focusing on what actually is happening to you and around you.
As a global society, we’re still not able to freely travel and create safe, live events. From these changes, new ways have been born and are birthing, such as the newer apps where you’re entering live global event conversations safely and without travel hassles.
You could use the saved travel time and energy to work on your life, to double down on a new purposeful trajectory, or seek a new mission in your life.
Just one idea can change your life and if you have an extra few minutes, that could be the difference-maker in your life.
So where would you spend those extra minutes? Here’s what I do and what I suggest.
Prioritize a Daily Heart and Soul Check-in
Especially as we’re all distracted, prioritizing a heart and soul check-in can be the best way to (re)focus on your life.
Creamy orange smoothie is the description of one popsicle I grew up with. And for beverages, it’s one calming drink idea because of the orange factor.
Oranges calm our parasympathetic nerves that directly impact if we feel anxious or not. It’s also one healthy way to celebrate that we have decadent beverage variety choices when we get a ‘lil creative. This can give you a new reason to be happy today. 😊
Decadence can come in a drink. This is definitely a celebrational restaurant moment. And you can make your healthy creative drinks at home.
Your body, balance, and sensitivity to tastes and smells change all the time. What’s good for you in this season may change in the next or even tomorrow.
You can come up with your own creative smoothie ideas like I did below, and stumbled on the creamy orange smoothie. That keeps life interesting!
As a natural Ayurvedic Vata, I was born with a sweet tooth, so if I think a dessert is too sweet, then believe me… it has waaay too much sugar, so that’s why I came up with less sweet, healthier options!
Especially in America, where foods are loaded with sugars, our healthy taste buds and sense can be off track. The average American consumes over 70 grams of sugar a day, when 25 grams of maximum recommended added or processed sugar is agreed on by both the FDA and American Heart Association.
While fruit sugar (fructose) is a better kind of sugar, it’s still sugar at the end of the day.
Going From Morning Frappucino and Coca Cola to Black Coffee, Tea, and A Creative Smoothie
In our American diets, we can go over the recommendation in just our breakfast beverage choices alone! If you like Frappuccinos like many of us do, whether your drink has added whipped cream or not, you’re looking at 50 grams of sugar or more for a 16-ounce drink.
That’s okay once in a celebratory while, but if you order a Starbucks Short size beverage (regular 8-ounce glass size drink), you’ve used up all the recommended sugar for the day… and it may not even be 10 am yet!
And actually, you can see most Americans carrying around the Tall or Grande size beverages (or larger). Our small is often a super size large in other countries.
The healthier order option with no sugar is black coffee or tea. So then, getting back to basics, the only safe beverage out there is water, as pure and healthy… but are they all?…
You can clearly taste the difference between purified waters and artesian waters like Fiji brand water. The water variety is all sold in plastic bottles and available on grocery shelves, but the cost difference gives you an indicator of the quality difference. And you can clearly taste the difference between Evian and purified water.
In America, you can commonly buy a water bottle case (24-16 ounce bottles) of purified water for under $4. They’re usually advertised “on-sale” and you can find them in the front of the store when you first walk in.
Higher-end, luxury water brands you can find in the water aisle selections also, but you can expect to pay closer to a dollar or more a bottle. The good news is most tap water in America is drinkable and many households use a Brita pitcher with a filter or similar.
So as we question drinks such as basic water, we have to wonder about other consumable beverages. Coca-Cola is known for its evolving trends as society changes and as a popular beverage consumed around the world.
There’s even a Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta, GA where you can taste different versions of Coke served all around the world. As you can imagine the American Coke version is loaded with sugar (too scary to even mention how many sugar grams per can, but you can look it up!).
In my late 20’s I used to drink sodas for breakfast when it was trendy and corporate offices stocked their refrigerators full of soda cans for employees and invited visitors to grab.
I quit the unhealthy soda habit after a few years in healthy awareness. I traded caffeinated sodas for healthier morning teas, coffee, and slowly moved drifted over to water and then added back a creamsicle smoothie and other breakfast smoothies as better choices with redeeming health benefits… and hopefully this inspires you if you haven’t done the switch already!
If you want more energy and vitality, getting off sodas and high-sugar drinks is a good move. Often they have 40-70 grams of soda per can!
Water can seem boring to taste, but that’s what our bodies want and will reward you for. You can always mix it up with carbonated water and naturally flavored waters that are enjoyable.
Despite some of our generally unhealthy cultural habits, Americans have made drinking water, chic and cool, as we carry around water bottles to our work and of course to our workouts and yoga.
It’s a comparison observation I made when I was in Rome in 2019 and saw that even though all the public water sources and fountains are deemed clean and drinkable, you won’t easily find reasonably priced water bottles around. …how funny is that?
So, we’ve gotten better at drinking water regularly and not just taking a vitamin supplement or while we work out. We know that drinking proper water amounts prevents kidney stones, keeps our bodies functioning and our skin looking young.
So on that healthier level, we can make healthier breakfast drinks like a smoothie easily with the Magic Bullet gadget or a blender. You can add protein powders or if you like bananas, they’re a good smoothie staple.
Bananas have a higher glycemic index that can spike inflammation, but they are rich in fiber, potassium, and B vitamins, so they’re still a good natural super food good for filling an empty or upset stomach.
These are 7 creative daily beverage ideas…
1.Citrus-y Banana Creative Smoothie Base
If your tastes favor a banana, you can just blend with vanilla almond milk, and that can be a lovely breakfast starter. You don’t need any other ingredient if you want to keep it vanilla (sorry, I couldn’t resist 😊).
Or… at that point, you can sip your beverage. And if you want a little more sweetness, then you could add a ‘lil pineapple juice (high in Vitamin C and bromelain). And for tartness, a ‘lil lemon or orange to your taste’s desire. You could stop here, or…
Add Dimensional Flavors to Your Breakfast Banana Creative Smoothie
If you want a ‘lil kick, add a dash of spice like cinnamon or cardamom in lieu of espresso (where a little goes a long way!). And if you still want more taste, you could add peanut butter that will change the taste of your beverage and make it creamier.
Staying with the first smoothie idea of a tropical pineapple-citrus theme, you could also do a Key Lime Smoothie:
2.Key Lime Creative Smoothie
Lime juice
Banana
Vanilla almond milk
Use unsweet almond milk and substitute a banana for banana flavor protein powder if you want a smoothie recipe with no to low sugar.
And, if you don’t like bananas (maybe thinking they’re blah) or don’t have any on hand (btw, frozen ones are good for smoothies). But if you run out, no worries, I’ve got you in mind… below are healthy dessert smoothies and tea ideas that don’t need a banana.
3. Pumpkin (Pie) Smoothie
If you love pumpkin pie, you’ll love this creative smoothie. You don’t have to wait until Thanksgiving to get your pumpkin-pie on! And this smoothie is a healthy way to consume pumpkin.
Pumpkin is loaded with Vitamin K and C, protein and fiber if you need more healthy motivation. Canned pumpkin is rich in Vitamin A and iron.
You can use a can of pumpkin and a can of evaporated milk (for dense consistency used in pumpkin pie if you decide not to use a banana) or you can use a milk substitute. You get to be creative.
It’s easiest to mix dry ingredients first. I like to add cinnamon but if you prefer a little more kick then use more cloves or allspice. Here’s my healthier recipe:
1 banana (optional)
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
¼ tsp cloves, allspice, or pumpkin spice
1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz)
1 can evaporated milk (12 oz) – you can substitute for nut milk for a pumpkin-inspired smoothie (but it won’t taste like pumpkin pie)
¾ cup sugar (or substitute applesauce for less sugar – 1/2 cup applesauce or one-4 oz. applesauce plastic cup you commonly see on the grocery store shelves sold in various brands)
For an additional taste dimension, add a spoonful of your favorite peanut butter. Most smoothies taste better with peanut or almond butter.
Variety is the spice of life. You can really live it up in the morning with a decadent but healthy beverage like this before you’ve even started the day or your yoga stretch practice.
A creative smoothie idea is easy to come up with (you can’t mess up!) and can brighten up your morning and afternoon. When I first made this creamsicle creative smoothie, I love the textured beige-cream color beverage (and maybe you do too!):
4. Creamy Orange Smoothie
A creamy orange smoothie like this will help your calming morning.
This is much healthier than concentrated orange juice if you want to do a small step replacement for healthy habits. And a much healthier version than the childhood popsicles that this special Creamy Orange Smoothie comes from.
1 orange (a navel, blood, or California orange will give you a balanced sweetness). If you can, opt for organic or heirloom oranges.
Look for heirloom, organic, or local farmers market produce as in season (free of pesticides, good for us and the environment). This would be good for your drinks, bakes, and even Creamy Orange Smoothie.
1 tsp marmalade (add bold sweetness but you don’t need much)
Vanilla milk
Vanilla Yogurt (to thicken)
Make orange zest from one medium orange, blend with a teaspoon of marmalade, yogurt, and vanilla milk. Marmalade has sugar so that’s why keeping in moderation is a tasty-good idea for this Creamy Orange Smoothie.
This one tastes like the orange creamsicle popsicle but without so much sugar. If you want to add some protein, blend in fine almonds or add powders. And if you want to eliminate sugar, then eliminate the marmalade and cut down on the orange zest.
1orange (a navel or California orange will give you a balanced sweetness)
1tspmarmalade (add bold sweetness but you don’t need much)
Vanilla milk to thickness liking
Vanilla Yogurt (to thicken)
Instructions
Blend. Zhugh glass rim with orange zest. Enjoy!
Notes
Creamsicle Creative Smoothie 1 orange (a navel or California orange will give you a balanced sweetness)1 tsp marmalade (add bold sweetness but you don’t need much)Vanilla milkVanilla Yogurt (to thicken)Make orange zest from one medium orange, blend with a teaspoon of marmalade, yogurt, and vanilla milk.This one tastes like an orange creamsicle popsicle if you know what those are. If you want to add some protein, blend in fine almonds or add powders. And if you want to eliminate sugar, then eliminate the marmalade and cut down on the orange zest.Moving on to dessert tea ideas…
Dessert Teas: Earl Grey with a ‘Lil Twist
In a quest to find a good sugar cookie or biscotti-tasting tea and not finding one with any real taste (to substitute for cookies of course), I invented my own. I find it’s easy to birth creative ideas when you can’t find what you want easily even in a society that is full of conveniences.
That’s actually how business ideas and innovation come to life. So with that in mind, I invented my Earl Grey biscotti. For this drinking tea, I use a Bigelow brand Earl Grey. Those tea bags are in individual packaging so you can take them along with you in your daily travels. I added an orange tea (or orange extract) and almond extract to bring some flavor and life to an otherwise bland-mild-tasting tea.
Chocolate Chai Latte
“Chocolate Chai Latte” under “More” at Starbucks drink kiosk
And finally, one of my all-time favorites I like to think I invented at least at my Sunday cafe is the Chocolate Chai Latte (that needs no recipe as the chocolate, chai, and milk ingredients are in the 3-word title 😉).
Notice I didn’t write “chai tea” that Americans commonly say, as that means “tea tea”in India where chai originated, so that would be repetitive and silly-sounding after you’re made aware.
And, apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks the chocolate chai latte is a tasty idea as the Starbucks (Plaid Cafe) church kiosk I went to, added to their order board after I placed the order and they gave me a blessed smile. Chocolate chai may be the new writer’s warm drink all day as less caffeinated than coffee. And chai has cloves that’s one of the most anti inflammatory food ideas out there.
Chai is tasty in and of itself and a healthier black tea. For an American Vata, adding a sweet drizzle of Hershey’s chocolate sauce will drown out the exotic spice tastes if they’re too strong. You can please your tongue’s sweet spot. Sometimes you just have to balance your daily joy, and give into a teaspoon of sugar love!
We may be behind the 8-ball in American living when it comes to tea consumption, low sugar diets, and having a work-life balance, but we make up for our unhealthier ways with our daily variety, conveniences, and innovation.
And if you’re daring, have a chai and creamsicle smoothie to have a super special day! ✨
Plant-based diet doesn’t mean you have to give up non-plant based foods like meats. It simply means adding more natural plants into your diet (and less processed plants 🏭).
A plate of greens is good for adding more plant-based foods into your system 🌱 that are healthy and sustainable (vs. plant based) 🏭
While a full plant-based diet is not what I do, I have incorporated one plant-based meal per day that matters. I share below a meal plan that I think is a good way to maintain a consistently healthy ideal weight, year after year.
Eating healthy and balanced doesn’t just affect your physical body, it also positively impacts your brain, daily thinking mind, and mental health.
Getting proper vitamins and minerals that come from animal proteins help our brains function properly, that helps us keep our mind-body system balance.
I believe that not including fish, meats, carbs, fruits, and vegetables is missing what God gave us here on this earth. We hurt our bodies when we don’t eat enough from any of these categories, or we eat too much.
In most meals, strict vegetarians don’t receive enough vitamins and micronutrients (minerals), some that are richly found in animal protein. Fish that are also considered animal meat, contains necessary B vitamins and good omega fat sources that healthy vegetarians usually come to realize they’re missing.
If only we could take vitamin supplements as a 1:1 nutrient exchange for food, but that’s not the case and especially with diluted vitamin pills.
Here’s just a quick journey into how I evolved into my way of eating today.
Journey to My Daily Meal Plan
I’ve eaten the same general diet for over two decades now, which includes the same food categories that are on the nutritional food charts. That may sound boring, but it has worked to keep me at the same ideal healthy weight.
Growing up, the four basic food groups turned into the FDA-approved 23 servings per day pyramid food group that’s still used. In America, we don’t necessarily take FDA rules as gospel as there are always changes, but that should tell us a ‘lil something. Whether it’s 4 categories or 23 servings, we need many food vitamin sources to function daily, in a healthy way.
When I was a child, my diet contained mostly fruits, vegetables, breads, cereals, rice, pasta, whole milk, yogurt, animal proteins, and too many processed snacks. Like many American diets back then when there were less healthy options, I ate more orange salty snacks than orange fruits. Definitely as far away from a plant-based diet as one could see.
A daily heart and soul-centering check-in can change your life! You could be an old soul or have an old soul like some of us who remember young life before the internet.
