Recipe: Fruit Cereal Bowl & Meal Regularity
One of the foundational pieces of the work in binge eating recovery is establishing a regular pattern of eating.
What does it mean to establish a regular pattern of eating?
You are showing up to breakfast, lunch and dinner each day as well as snacks.
You have pre planned the timing for these meals and snacks so as to serve as stepping stones through the day. (Read more about mechanical eating for eating disorder recovery here)
This is important because the reasons that most people binge eat are two pronged.
Reasons for binge eating:
Physiological:
Restricting food and/ or food groups, food rules and a diet mentality, irregular meal times, becoming too hungry and/ or too full through the day.
Emotional:
Triggers (read this blog post to learn more on this!) such as being bored, certain people or conversations, times of day, activities (such as TV, for example), traumas, safety or lack thereof…and SO much more.
Within binge eating disorder recovery, we must tackle both to have a complete recovery, but the order in which they come in is important. It would be very difficult to dive into the deeper emotional reasons of a binge while still feeling phyiologically imbalanced (hungry, blood sugar swings, diets and restrictions, etc). Therefore, we must build the foundation first and begin by regulating meals and meal times. We have to lay the foundation before we build the house.
I find it really helpful to have some quick and easy meals and “build a meal formulas” on hand for this. Most clients I work with initially want plenty of recipes, but one thing I know to be true is that this can quickly become overwhelming, time consuming and lead to what I call a “f'*ck it moment”. Instead, what I love to do is teach how to balance your plate, tune into your satiety and hunger cues, and adjust servings as needed. This is work we dive much more into in the binge eating recovery program within our weekly nutrition sessions. I also created a free build a meal guide to help you out with this that you can download here.
When it comes to breakfast, one of my favourite quick and easy meals to reach for is this fruit cereal bowl. It can be created and adjusted to your taste, and compiled using any ingredients you have on hand each day.
Fruit Cereal Bowl Formula:
Base of fruit:
In a cereal bowl, add any chopped fruit you like. I like to chop my fruit bite size so its easier to eat with a spoon. For example, cubed apples, banana, strawberries, blueberries, mango, etc. I enjoy a mixtured of fruits vs just 1 or 2, but find what you enjoy best! ;)
And remember, we are not engaging in any food rules. Fruit is a wonderful and nutritious food. Look inward and see what and how much your body is asking for instead of following external rules and diet trends around this.
Toppings:
Once you have your fruit base, go ahead and add any (and as many!) toppings you like! You want to get in a good amount of toppings here to keep you full and satisfied.
Some of my favourites include: granola, muesli, chopped dates, goji berries, chopped nuts (almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, etc), seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, flax, chia, hemp, sesame, etc), cacao nibs or mini chocolate chips or carob chips, nut butters (peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, etc). Again, I personally add a combination of many (for example, today I topped my fruit with granola (which included an assortment of nuts and seeds), peanut butter and chopped dates), but go with what sounds best to you!
Liquid:
Once your bowl is built, add milk/liquid of choice and eat as you would cereal.
For example, dairy milk (cow, goat, sheep), almond milk, cashew milk, oat milk, soy milk, ripple protein milk, kefir, etc. Anything goes!
…and most importantly… taste, enjoy and eat mindfullly and with gratitude for your body and all it does for you. Bring positive energy into your body and know that with each meal you are giving your body the energy and nourishment it needs and deserves. You are worthy.
I hope you found this helpful and if you need more support, please don’t hesitate to reach out! I offer free calls and am always happy to connect.