Sunday, December 18, 2011

Breakfast of the Peanut Butter Lovin' Champions (PCOS friendly!)

Do you often get hungry in between breakfast and lunch? I do ALL THE TIME. I find myself staring at the clock at work from about 10:30 on when the hunger starts. Around 11:15 I feel dramatic and want to roll on the floor wailing "I'm huuuuuungry!" and by 11:45 I generally give in and eat lunch even though I have a self made rule not to eat lunch until noon.

I eat breakfast at about 7:30 or 7:45, and that can't really change. I've changed up what I eat a lot and still am really hungry around the same time. Sometimes the process may start at 11 instead but then is really bad by about 11:30... still too early for my liking as I'd prefer just get those slight hunger pains for 15-20 minutes before lunch so I don't spend my morning watching the minutes tick by instead of filling/typing/calling or the other million things I could be doing. I have mostly given up cereal, because that one is the worst for me. If I do have cereal, I try to choose one that has more substance to it like the TJ's version of raisin bran. It definitely does better than the 'fun cereals' where my blood sugar crashes at 9:30 and I feel hungry again. I was doing cottage cheese and fruit for a while, but I'm supposed to stay away from dairy for the most part and Steven won't eat cottage cheese so it goes bad before I can finish it. Eggs do the job but I'm a little weird with eggs and can only have them every so often.

Anyways, I have found the answer to my (our) woes. Chocolate chip, peanut butter waffles! The peanut butter gets all melty on the warm waffles and I feel like I'm having something really naughty, like dessert for breakfast! Doesn't sound healthy, though, right?
It depends on the amount you use and what you use. Even though they are definitely a little pricey, I've been using Kashi's all natural 7 grain waffles (I think it has 24g of whole grains) because I haven't found anything cheaper that is as healthy. Suggestions welcome! The nutri-grain ones don't make the cut and TJ's waffles don't either, surprisingly. Anyway, I only eat two. This may be a normal concept for most people, but not for me. All my life I would have had 3 or 4. That not only puts on the pounds but makes the box use up really fast! I would know... Anyway, next up is natural peanut butter. You can see the brand I use below, but I'd actually like to get more natural than that some day. We are weaning ourselves slowly from the regular stuff, to this, and one day to something with only one ingredient. It's a work in progress. Again, you can't slather it on there. 2 tbsp is already fairly high calorie/high fat. I spread it on and make sure I can still see the square ridges underneath and a couple empty/almost empty squares as well. A thin layer is actually more than enough since it gets melty. The good knews for PCOS people is that nuts are one of the best things we can eat (though we still need to be mindful of the portion) because protein is so important for us, and it has healthy fat. We should be eating one serving of nuts per day. When you have regular peanut butter, the sugar content sort of cancels out the benefit, so try something more natural. Last up, dark chocolate chip morsels. I use mini because you can use the same amount but it spreads farther and sometimes I have to play mind tricks on myself! If I had regular sized morsels, I'd be tempted to use just as many pieces, so I go mini. Dark chocolate in very small amounts is also good for you.


Add a piece of fruit and you are good to go. So there you have it. My favorite breakfast that actually does the job and keeps me satisfied until lunch! PCOS friendly and filling is the best of both worlds!

4 comments:

  1. That sounds AMAZING. Are Kashi waffles less processed? I am adamant about making waffles and pancakes from scratch so I know what's in them, but knowing you, I'm assuming Kashi is pretty similar to homemade.

    At our grocery store (Fairway) we can grind our own peanut butter...so there is truly one ingredient!! (unless you do a flavored one, like honey roasted or chocolate peanut butter...but still, you see the whole natural ingredients in the mixer before it's ground)

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  2. Good question. No, it's not as good as homemade as far as there are things in there that you wouldn't ever put into homemade ones and they have more sodium than I care for, but I refuse to buy anything that can go on the registry lol, so it's freezer waffles until then :). Pancakes we do make, and I want to start making big batches and freezing them which I do with everything else but have never done with them for some reason.

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  3. First, cottage cheese is basically nutritionless...you have to eat a whole entire huge container just to get one serving of dairy. (so save your calories for something more filling and more "nutriet dense" = bang for your calorie buck) I sprinkle cinnamon on alot of my breakfast foods...it's delish and cinnamon helps maintain blood sugar (so you won't feel that crash)--- I LOVE pb on my waffles with sliced banana...but how freakin delish to add chocolate chips...I'm totally trying it! :)

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  4. Jessica, I looooove bananas but my body doesn't and I can't find another fruit to go on top that goes with peanut butter. I always just have the fruit on the side, but I think I do need to mix it up sometimes so I don't get tired of my super delicious chocolate peanut butter combo ;).

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