Like many people, I personally love to eat the same or fairly similar food every day for breakfast.
My go to is oatmeal.
And at the same time, as a nutritionist, I’m often preaching diversity of meals and foods on the daily.
Counter-intuitive? It seems.
Though I’ll caveat that my morning oatmeal is not the same everyday. I have a general formula and then standard variations and seasonal/weekly/daily changes which I do that end up leading to a fair amount of diversity. I’ll share more about that soon because oatmeal, or whole-grain porridge in general, really is an underrated super meal.
But today isn’t all about oatmeal because…
I went and had a baby who is now a toddler. With opinions!
And he got tired of oatmeal every day.
I was also trying to start him off with a diverse diet. So early on, his morning meal was in some ways more diverse than mine. Because while I might be firmly on the porridge train, I’m probably never going to eat amaranth or quinoa-based porridge on a regular basis. Oats are by far the preferred breakfast grain.
After Bee began having opinions about his too-similar breakfasts – and me completely forgetting how to make him anything other than oatmeal or simple scrambled eggs – I came up with a simple framework to keep breakfast changing up throughout the days and weeks.
I share this because too often, I hear you too get tired of the same old thing! But it’s so easy to default to the usual without some inspiration, a little guidance, and a plan. So I’ll share ours with you.
Our Weekly Breakfast Routine
- Bee always has a fresh fruit offering, which he gets to snack on while we are preparing breakfast and getting morning chores done. Then,
- Monday is Toast Day: Usually avocado and “toast” with some nut butter and possibly yogurt on the side.
When I say toast, I mean not-toast currently. We do soft “steamed” whole grain sourdough instead of dry, crunchy bread.
And I choose Monday for toast day because Bee favors bread when it’s freshly baked. I’m most likely to bake on the weekend and/or we pick up bread from a bakery then. - Tuesday is Oatmeal/Porridge Day: Babies and young toddlers need more fat than adults, so Bee’s oatmeal is cooked in a high calorie milk with dates and the same spices I choose that day. We currently have to do non-dairy milk for him, but it’s nutritionally similar to cooking his oats in whole milk. Then he has my omega-3 seed and nut butter rotation of the day stirred in. I usually don’t add other fruit (which I’ll stew into my oatmeal) because he is already eating fresh fruit beforehand. But it will usually be the same fruit for both of us.
- Wednesday is Muffin Day: There will be some sort of baby/young toddler appropriate mini muffins (no sugar added/whole grain), yogurt, and maybe something else. Avocado on the side or perhaps leftover oatmeal so he has a choice if muffins aren’t favored that day.
- Thursday is Egg Day: Usually scrambled and they will have at least one other thing to pair with them. Avocado, toast again, or perhaps yogurt so there are options. Some days I sprinkle in some moringa powder so he has a tiny punch of super nutritious greens. Some days he could eat eggs and only eggs – and lots of them. Some days, he won’t touch the eggs beyond an initial bite that he spits out.
Other weeks I might instead do a quick tofu scramble instead. - Friday is Pancake Day: I tend to rotate between a few different pancake recipes, some savory, some very very simple. But my internal rule/reminder is to do something different than the week before.
If I’m all out of ideas, I do a simple three-ingredient baby weaning pancake which includes one egg, a banana, and a ¼ cup of quick oats (or oat flour). My pancake recipe tends to be frequently in the rotation, as are any of the many pancakes from Green Kitchen Stories‘ books. - Saturday and Sunday are “free for alls:” Meaning, usually Bee’s father is also having breakfast with him and eggs are likely offered again. Sometimes French toast will feature. Usually there’s another batch of oatmeal made. Leftover pancakes are also likely to happen.
Are there repeat foods and ingredients with this plan?
Absolutely. It’s not perfect.
Why Diversity is Important
Without dealing with an individual case, the number one thing I’d recommend for achieving or maintaining balanced health through diet is eating diversely with primarily plant-foods. Doing so feeds beneficial gut microbes through the plant fibers, and those microbes then make short chain fatty acids — which are key to balanced health — both in the gut and digestive system and beyond!
Ideally, eating diversely starts early and continues throughout life, but there’s absolutely no wrong time to start rotating in different types of foods and ingredients. And, even if you like “the same” type of food every day, there’s still room to opt for diversity. Stay tuned for my routine spin on changing up oatmeal soon.
Until next time ~ Rebecca
p.s. It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted a blog here, but I’m still balancing that baby/toddler with work in the nutrition clinic with clients. Reach out to me if individual sessions are of interest. And if you’d like to sign up for my periodic newsletter, you can do so here.
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