Eggs for eggs

Ironically, this past year I have finally gotten really good about having a full breakfast every morning, and at the center of that breakfast has been cereal and milk. I grew up absolutely hating milk, so adding it to my cereal has been a big move. Now that I am finally into a routine of getting up even earlier than I used to and having cereal, milk, fruit, orange juice and usually tea/coffee/hot chocolate, I have to adjust again. Cereal doesn't keep with the gluten-free diet I am trying to keep. So, I am learning to love eggs.

When you cut out bread and cereal, that really reduces the number of breakfast foods you can eat. It basically leaves eggs, meat and fruit. So, I am still eating the blueberries I started adding to my cereal, just sans cereal, and I am still drinking my hot chocolate, just with whole milk rather than skim milk, and now I am trying to give myself a few more minutes each morning to scramble up a couple eggs. If we have any bacon in the house, which we sometimes do, depending on our dinner menu for the week, I might make a couple strips of bacon as well.

To keep up the protein kick, I am also eating almonds and walnuts as part of my daily lunch. These aren't my favorites, but they're good for me and they keep me from snacking on something gluten-filled that I really like, such as Cheez-Itz, which ultimately have limited if any nutritional value.

Finally, although my husband and I have become what I would call flexitarians -- we've been known to eliminate meat from about two or three meals a week -- I've moved us back to having meat with every dinner we make. I am even trying to get him to add a little more red meat to our diet, no more than once a week.

It's hard to go against conventional wisdom, it's hard to give up pasta and pizza and alcohol, but my digestive system is thanking me (it's in GREAT shape these days -- sorry for the TMI, but it's worth noting). So, I hope that the more seriously I stick to my new food habits, the more my body will start to change soon.