So I eat the same breakfast everyday.
Porridge.
It’s warm, it’s low-calorie, and it keeps me full till lunchtime.
So, unless I’m traveling (and often even then) my breakfast is quinoa and lentil porridge with vegetables.
The other day as I was gobbling it down trying to get ready for a call, it struck me that I’ve completely lost any appreciation of my breakfast, except for the functional one. I eat it, it fills me up, and that’s about it.
Breakfast in my universe is reduced to its rudimentary basics.
I wonder if this is an outcome of of ageing–do I now eat more carefully and stick to one breakfast because my metabolism can’t handle what it could in my twenties? Or is it because I’m now surfeited with variety and crave the mundane in my daily life?
So my question to all of you really is: do you eat the same thing for breakfast every single day? Why or why not? Does age or geography or upbringing play into it? I await your breakfast wisdom, and if you care to share, maybe some recipes I still need to try.
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Dear D,
It’s been a while I stopped by. I thought you were busy writing books and had stopped blogging. My bad. 🙂
This is such a wholesome post. Your porridge though mundane, sounds sumptuous.
The array of local fare at Singapore is finger licking delicious. I miss that bustle from the Semie MRT foodcourt, closer to home.
Now I’m dreaming of the Laksa, Hainanese chicken and rice. And I can’t forget the Kaya toast from Toast box, that I know shut down many years ago.
Okay, I’ll stop now, else I’ll start missing Singapore sorely, lah!
Be well. Love and cheer!
Interesting read Damyanti! Till I discovered my gluten intolerance 5 years ago, it was always Paratha subzi in breakfast. Typical north indian breakfast fare. But now it varies between chila, cornflakes, fruits and vegetables, depending on what I am feeling like on that day!
Lol, fun post Damyanti. Yup, I eat the same breakfast everyday for the last 25 years, lol. Gluten-free waffle in my little waffle maker, sometimes altered by making it as a pancake. Wherever I travel, I take the mix with me and have it everywhere. 🙂
Thanks, Debby! I really enjoyed writing it and looking back on my many, many breakfasts of the past 🤣. Your breakfast sounds fabulous — I love waffles and the pancake / waffle station at hotel breakfast buffets is one of my favorites. I love that the waffles are your constant companion, too!
Won’t be without them. Add a little almond butter for protein. 🙂
Hey Debby, do you make the gluten free waffle mix from scratch or get it readymade? I have been looking for a recipe!
Hi Shweta. I have tried many, and don’t mix my own. But I’ve found the ultimate – Waffle/Pancake mix by Go Go Quinoa – available on Amazon if you don’t wish to go to health food store. 🙂
Fruit and a cup of tea is the morning staple. Though there is a variation of fruit as it depends on what’s in season, and the tea depends on what’s on sale.
That sounds lovely! Fruits are such a nice addition to the day and tea has always been such a source of comfort to me. It’s nice that you have variety throughout the year, depending on the season’s offerings!
Most days, yes. I split breakfast – cereal & oat milk first, then a bit later, COFFEE (;¬]) and toast (or crumpet, or, at the weekend, as a treat, croissant). I believe Tolkien’s Hobbits have a second breakfast – perhaps I’m part Hobbit. Well done for having such a healthy breakfast Damayanti; you’ve made me feel guilty!
No, please don’t feel guilty! Like the common phrase says, to each their own! I feel that eating and food choices are so personal to each individual, and we each have our own things which work best for us. I sometimes see other people’s luxurious breakfasts and constant variety and feel guilty like you do, but there’s no reason to! And your breakfast sounds absolutely delicious!
I do tend to eat the same thing for breakfast every day and enjoy it every day! It’s well balanced and gives me the energy I need!
Absolutely! My breakfast does the same, and I’m so grateful to have found something which helps get me through the day. I’m glad you have, too!
Thank you for sharing!!.. I eat a variety at breakfast but will eat healthy knowing it will be one of two important meals of the day, the other being lunch/dinner and I eat healthy but a light meat in the evening… 🙂
Hope all is well in your part of the universe, life is all that you wish for it to be, your path is paved with happiness and love and until we meet again..
May flowers always line your path
and sunshine light your way,
May songbirds serenade your
every step along the way,
May a rainbow run beside you
in a sky that’s always blue,
And may happiness fill your heart
each day your whole life through.
May the sun shine all day long
Everything go right, nothing go wrong
May those you love bring love back to you
And may all the wishes you wish come true
(Irish Saying)
should be “light meal” meat… 🙂
should be light meal NOT meat…. ignore my other reply… 🙂
Not to worry, I completely understand what you mean! I agree, it feels good to start off the day with a healthy and satiating meal. It helps me focus better, and my writing benefits from it. Like you, I usually have a light meal for one of the three main meals of the day. And thank you for sharing! I always appreciate your thoughtful comments.
I like variety for my breakfasts. Different kind of fruits and sometimes cereal dry or cooked or toast with a variety of toppings.
When I was younger, coming down to the breakfast table to see a whole spread of delicious food was one of my favorite things. It’s a memory which has stuck with me until now. The lavish hotel breakfast buffets are a feast for the eyes and the stomach, too! I’ve definitely cut down on the variety since then, apart from the occasional instances when I feel like having something out of the ordinary. Toast with a variety of toppings sounds like a treat!
Travel in Bharat which I did for 20 years was great because there is so much variety between the different regions foodwise. Then later transferring to the Asia Pacific with base in Singapore the whole range of Asian foods was completed, and I enjoy them all. However, staying in hotels which I did all the time was a hazard as the spread they put out for you tempts you to overeat which is not good when you are travelling.
I eat the same breakfast… cereal, fruit and coffee, but the cereals vary, as does the fruit. Most often bran flakes and blueberries, but today was crunchy nut cornflakes and pear. Winter is most often porridge and fruit juice.
My brother eats the same breakfast for Monday, a different same breakfast for Tuesday, and so on through the week. Different breakfast every day of the week. He says its the only way he knows which day of the week it is, but it would completely brain freeze me trying to work out what I was supposed to be eating as I couldn’t work out which day it was beforehand!
Those combinations sound like they work so well together! I’ve never thought of trying crunchy nut cornflakes and pears together, but I will now! Like you, I stick to much of the same thing all year round. Your brother’s method is so creative and it sounds like such a fun way of doing things. Thank you for sharing!
I used to eat little to no breakfast when I was a young adult. Food never settled well with me in the morning. Now I eat a variety, although it tends to rotate between five-six items.
It’s so interesting how much our eating preferences and habits have changed over the years. I’m the complete opposite of you — my previously extensive list of breakfast options has been drastically shortened 🤣. I don’t mind the lack of variety that much, but I do sometimes reminisce about all the wonderful dishes and cuisines I used to devour during my morning meals!
Interesting post and something to chew on.
I eat the same thing for breakfast until my body tells me that despite the easy prep time, it no longer wants that particular breakfast.
Sausage biscuits
Sausage, hashbrown and egg burritos
Bean burritos
Bean and beef burritos
Cereal and milk
Oatmeal (plain or flavored)
Waffles and sausage (there’s a pattern there) – all of these come and go.
Coffee, though, remains a constant (or tea if I’m out of coffee).
Creature of habit – whether for comfort or time constraints. Although it shouldn’t be, my breakfasts are usually small, not for health reasons, but because they have always been.
Have you tried eggs and chorizo?
Wow, that’s a lot of yummy variety! Your list sounds like dishes which would be offered on a restaurant menu! Like you, I’m a creature of habit. Recycling recipes is one of my favorite things to do, whether it be for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I try to keep things simple and to stick with the things which work best for my schedule, while taking my husband’s and my preferences into account. I haven’t tried eggs and chorizo, but thank you for the suggestion! It sounds like a breakfast I would enjoy.
Legitimate question.
I wake up/have to get up often because I’m too hungry to go back to sleep, however much I need rest more than sleep.
‘Hungry’ is vague. I’m pretty sure the cause is plummeting blood sugar – often because I’ve slept a few hours. Goes with the ME/CFS body/mind for me. So: I need food, and I need to get to it quickly.
It starts as a dull ache too uncomfortable to let me get back to sleep, and progresses to my body screaming that something DIRE will happen if I don’t eat NOW. VERY hard to ignore by that point.
My solution has been two make two crustless quiches every two weeks or so, so very low carb, with a low-carb green vegetable (broccoli or asparagus), real cream and cheese, ham, and eggs – keep them in the refrigerator, and have a slice hot or cold with a bit of low-carb fruit (ripe cantaloupe or strawberries) as soon as I’m forced to be up. So it’s what I should eat (carbs mess with my mind for writing), and FAST – two minutes or so and the perfect breakfast is ready. And I put it next to me at the computer, and the instant I have no more choice, I eat it.
So: the same breakfast. The same low-carb meal combination. And available almost instantly. Low-carb keeps me from craving more carbs – I don’t think of food I don’t eat.
And I don’t eat it right away, because about an hour after a meal, my body insists I take another nap, so I will try to work for as long as I can.
Kind of inconvenient, navigating between the Scylla of low blood sugar and the Charybdis of narcolepsy-like overpowering sleep.
Probably more than you wanted to know, but it’s worked for years. And I don’t have to think much in advance.
Thank you so much for sharing. It’s always an honor to be able to read about other people’s experiences, and I’m grateful that you took the time to comment. Food and hunger really is such a complex topic. Our needs and preferences are so individually unique and what works for one person may not work for another. I find that listening to my body is one of the most necessary, yet difficult things — it took a while for me to understand its’ current approach to eating and the things which would fulfil its’ requirements. Even so, I wouldn’t be surprised if my eating patterns change in a couple more years or so. I’m glad to hear that you managed to find out what works for you, and I find it incredibly awe-inspiring, too! Your quiche recipe sounds fantastic! If I ever decide to change up the routine, I’d love to try making it for myself. But yes, the simplicity and convenience of my usual breakfast has kept me hooked for a while.
Breakfast is the most essential meal of the day. That is my understanding. But as a child I hardly ate breakfast. Now though I don’t function without my breakfast which is either oatmeal or avocado toast (mostly just avocados) or egg omelette. I have no energy to prepare the traditional Kerala breakfast items anymore. 😊
I know what you mean. Preparing some of the dishes I used to have when I was younger would be way too much effort for me nowadays, especially when dragging myself out of bed is enough of a chore in itself 🤣. Your breakfast sounds delicious!
I eat the same breakfast everyday. It includes grain (oat), protein, fruit (banana), and a little carbohydrate. Plus oat milk. I love oat milk. One cup of coffee (white) to wake up for work then decaf tea. I love Kukicha or Yerba Mate.
What a wholesome breakfast, it sounds so good! Finding something which makes me look forward to waking up is always a joy, and gets me motivated for the rest of the day. Plus, like you said, preparing me for the work which lies ahead.
For breakfast, I have cold cereal with almond milk every day, along with a cup of green tea. I’ve become very stuck in my ways.
That sounds delicious! And I know what you mean about being stuck in your ways — I am, too!
Good to know I’m not alone in that!
I used to eat milk and cereal for breakfast every day but I learned that is actually not healthy. You don’t want to start out with sugar. Now I just drink a cup of coffee (without sugar) but maybe I should find a medium.
Wow, what a change! I had a period where I only drank coffee, too (and sometimes I still do when I can’t find the time to grab a quick breakfast), but I don’t think I was able to function as well as when I started having a bigger breakfast. However, I do know many friends who consistently have coffee for breakfast, and they thrive on it. To each their own!
A cup of chai.
Yum!
I have a weekday breakfast the same every day. But on weekends, I crave variety!
Weekends do tend to create a sense of freedom from the usual and craving for something special!
Oatmeal-and add protein powder and collagen. I always ate breakfast, shredded wheat with hot milk in high school. Gluten free for years, it’s now oatmeal. Habit and age, 85, factor into it. And most importantly, as a writer, to feed the brain and think clearly. It didn’t matter what country I lived in, it was always the same breakfast. A creature of habit. 🎶📚 Christine
That sounds like a breakfast I wouldn’t mind eating! I’m definitely a creature of habit, too, as you can tell from my unchanging choice of breakfast, but that wasn’t always the case. It’s interesting to think about how much my eating choices have changed over the years and to hear everyone else’s perspectives. And you’re right — feeding the brain and fueling the writing is a priority!
Wisdom over time, Damyanti. Whether the knowledge comes from science or expanding waistlines, I’ve learned to keep it super simple. An orange with toast one day and a half-cup of oatmeal on others. A bit of daily variety.
I agree. Not only is it quick and easy to keep things simple, but I’ve also gotten into such a habit of it that it’s almost impossible to change at this point!
I love porridge–oatmeal and Cream of Wheat. But I don’t eat breakfast so those I save for traveling.
Oatmeal is so convenient, too. Hurray for porridge in any form!