I looooooove muesli. It’s delicious and easy and is a full meal in a bowl. And it’s a breakfast food, my favorite kind of food! I want to share with you my current favorite muesli recipe, which I am making every night before I go to bed so I can take it with me to work as I rush out the door to catch the shuttle to the metro (yay public transportation?). At least I get to read on my commute, instead of getting angry at the car in front of me. I am not sure I will ever get used to living in such a big city, or at least, ever want to actually stay here long-term. Lots of new things to experience still, including how to figure out this thing called the “real world.”
With a new/first job comes a new schedule. For me, the majority of finding a new schedule that works for me is figuring out how much food I should pack and when I should eat it. This may not sound terribly complex, but it is for me. Do I make mountains out mole hills? -Maybe… But to me, figuring out what meals to pack and when is an integral piece to eating intuitively. For me, eating intuitively implies that I am going off of hunger cues and fullness signals, appreciating each bite, not feeling guilt, and being in a peaceful enough state with myself that I can feel what kind of food my bodies needs for nourishment at that time, as well as know what the rest of my day holds in order to avoid being in a place where I cannot fulfill my body’s needs.
So, since I am a morning person and I find that I consumer about half my of food intake before noon, I have been eating a banana before working at 5am, drinking homemade chocolate milk (milk, honey, cocoa powder) around 6:40am after working out, and then eating homemade muesli (that I prepped the night before) at my desk at work around 8:15am while I read the morning’s news. Not long after, maybe 10am, I have a small snack (today was an apple and almond butter), then at noon I typically have a sandwich, a veggie, a piece of fruit, some cheese, and maybe some hummus. By then, I am pretty satisfied, and will have a piece of dark chocolate or a dried date to finish my meal. Typically, I am fairly full until I get home around 6pm, and eat whatever leftovers happened to by in my fridge from the weekend.
Believe me, it took a long time for me to feel comfortable eating all of that before noon. I was so afraid I was overeating. But I found that I get hungry early in the AM, and if I just let myself eat then, I am not nearly as hungry in the evening and I end up eating the same amount in total for the day no matter if I eat most of it in the AM or try to spread it out during the day. Ultimately, I like not experiencing great hunger and, in a way, distress, when I try to evenly distribute my snacks in my schedule. It’s much more pleasant to allow myself to eat when I am hungry and trust that my body wants to be healthy and work properly just as much as I do.
My Current Favorite Muesli Recipe
1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I use Seven Stars organic yogurt)
1/4 cup orange juice
2/3 diced fruit, fresh or frozen (blueberries, pineapple, strawberries, mango, whatever)
2 tablespoons slivered almonds or any other nut
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 tablespoon flax seeds
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until well combined and let sit in fridge overnight. Enjoy chilled.
*You can add honey or other sweetener, or use sweetened yogurt, if you prefer
Sweet Spatulas 