Crisitunity: loving the limp

Crisitunity: A portmanteau created by Homer when Lisa tells him that the Chinese have the same word for "crisis" and "opportunity". The actual Chinese words for those terms are different but share a common character (危機 for "crisis", 機會 for "opportunity").

I was right smack bang in the middle of a massive plateau when my Achilles tendon gave way. This time last year I was smack bang in the middle of a 3-4 month stint on crutches, which is what got me into my weight gain spiral of ice cream and chocolate and cheese and sadness in the first place. Le sigh. I had been consistently training away and not seeing any really big results, and frankly, getting a bit bored by my workouts which were becoming a chore, not a challenge. But when last week my ankle gave way, suddenly the idea that I might not be able to train terrified me. I came home after the physio told me I'd be on crutches for 6 weeks, and I bawled. Not just from the pain, which was excruciating (if you want to know what its like, imagine your ankle feels like its made of very think glass, and if you step on your heel, it feels like you have no skin - raw, exposed, and horribly painful). But from the fear. This is the injury is what got me to where I was back in January when I started this blog: fat and depressed. What if I put on weight again? What if I couldnt work out? What if I get depressed and dont want to leave the house again, and end up making guyere and chocolate sandwiches with icecream and wine sauce? 

So I joined a gym. Its a gym I used to be a member of, until we really couldnt afford it anymore and I was working such crazy hours I couldnt get to go often enough to justify it. But it is absolutely amazing. I loved it so much and was really sad to leave it in the first place but I had fallen out of the habit of going and at the time, my work schedule really didnt allow for any extra curricular activity. I joined on 27th July, the day after I came back from the physio. I have been to the gym at least once a day every day bar one since then. My 'rest' days have been swimming and some light cardio. I can use the stationary bike and I can cycle which is great - even if I can't walk at least I can still get around. And the best thing is I feel this will actually bring me to the next level in terms of my training, something I had felt I was stagnating with.

Ive also lost an inch from everywhere in the past week, which is a happy side effect. In total, Ive lost 10 inches off my stomach since January. YAY! So - how to bust through a weight loss plateau? Completely change your routine and significantly up the ante. I almost doubled some of the weights I'm lifting in the gym because I was sticking to the shitty small selection I had at home.

Maybe this injury was exactly what I needed - I had always felt a weakness in my achilles, and now I'm religiously sticking to the exercises my physio gave me, so I'm hoping I'll build it to become much stronger than before. I have to forego some socialising and fun times and walks with the dogs, but if I come out of it stronger it will be worth it. Crisitunity!

PS I've started logging all my food on instagram, so if you want some recipes/ideas follow me @lucyrhinehart xx

Embarrassingly easy and amazing chickpea salad

Ive been living for salads recently, because its so absolutely hot at the moment. every night is a struggle to get to sleep with in my hot, sticky, muggy room and huge duvet. We're really not equipped to deal with this heat in this country - no air con, no fans... Also working out is a nightmare in this heat! Sweating buckets always makes me feel lethargic and I just want to pan out like a lizard on a rock, and not jump around swinging kettlebells. I also feel like I've put on a bit of weight over the last two weekends of excess and partying and some slight wagon-falling in terms of booze and food... so salads are really light and even when they aren't, they feel very virtuous. Here's a picture of the salad I've given the recipe for, with some leftover chilli from last night. The lime juice gives it a lovely Mexican flavour and it goes really well with it.





Warm, sweet, herby chickpea salad
ingredients:
2 cans chickpeas
4 green onions, thinly sliced
2 ears corn, cut from the cob, or 1 can of corn, grilled (I grill with a little coconut oil in a pan until golden)
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 packet chopped fresh basil
1 packet snipped fresh chives
1/4 tsp salt and lots of pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey/golden sugar/maple syrup/agave
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 limes, juiced and zested

directions:
In a large bowl, combine the chickpeas, onions, corn, tomatoes, basil and chives. Toss with lots salt and pepper. In a small saucepan, add the oil, vinegar, honey or sweetener, garlic, lime juice and zest. Heat over low heat and whisk until the mixture is warm and garlic cloves are sizzling a bit.


Pour the liquid over the chickpeas and and toss well to coat.Its actually lovely warm but you can refrigerate it and eat it cold if you prefer.

Travel broadens the mind...and palette...and the beauty of being alone

Yesterday, my OH and I were vegging on the couch watching Catfish, the MTV show where people are baited online by some randomer pretending to be someone completely different. (Its incredibly brilliant bad TV, and a surefire hangover cure). Anyway, the guy on the show was talking about the girl he fell in love with, and was describing nothing about her, but only what she did for him. "I love her because she makes me happy, she tells me she loves me, she's there for me, I dont feel lonely anymore, I have someone to care about, blah blah". We started a conversation about how when youre in love with someone, you really should be in love with them because of their unique qualities and not because you are lonely and want to fill the existential void in your life that sitting alone with only your own company late at night brings.

Being alone is something that always terrified me since I was a kid. I woke up in the middle of the night when I was about 5 or 6, and my mum and dad were not in the house. They had popped out to get a bottle of wine or something and both of them went for the spin. They were gone for about 5 minutes and when they came back, my face was pressed against the tear-stained glass and I was beside myself. I needed constant company as a baby, as a child, and right through to growing up. I never minded sharing a room. I liked the comfort of the sound of another human being breathing and being there at night.

When I was 21, I made a decision to travel on a round the world ticket by myself. More so than anything else, I felt it was time for me to learn to be by myself. I was going to have to live with myself for a very long time, and I may as well like my own company in the process. The day I left I was in a massive panic on the plane. What have I done? Where am I going? What the hell am I doing? But gradually, over time, I liked it. I was actually rarely alone on this journey, but I had the freedom to choose to be alone any time I liked. I could leave town at any moment and move on to the next adventure. I was in full control of every decision and I actually enjoyed not having to compromise, and the freedom that came with it. I spent a month in New Zealand where I barely spoke to a soul. I hiked endlessly, wrote diaries into the night, and did a lot of soul searching and a little bit of crying. But you know what? It cured me of the loneliness. I knew I never had to feel that way again. Because I was ok with my own company. Even if, at the end of my life, it was just me and a notebook and someplace to go walking in the woods, I'd be ok. And when you do fall in love after realising that youre ok with just being by yourself, it changes how you love someone. You welcome them into your life as a wonderful addition, rather than a plug for a hole you feel inside.

When I was travelling I learned to love lots of different new and different types of foods, spices, flavours and textures. Travel does wonderful things to broaden the palette. Fijian food was my favourite - with taro and cassava and kumala piled high on the plate, with coconut milk before and kava before and after, with its muddy, sedative drunkenness soothing you to sleep. Recently, I've been trying to experiment with different cuisines from around the world that I have never tried. My favourite over the last while has been Ethiopian food.

Ethiopian food is a smokey, thick, arid and densely flavoured cuisine (from what Ive tried). You gotta love your big, balls out flavours to love this. The curry I'll share with you now was my favourite - you can use chicken or meat, I used quorn chicken but equally you could use chickpeas or beans. I made these with injera (an adapted version of the Ethiopian injera: a sour pancake). I also made some ayib on the side, which was a simple mix of equal parts cottage cheese (curds dried), greek yoghurt and lemon juice. You definitely need yoghurt to cool it down. Dont scrimp on the spice - its seems like loads, and it is. Just follow the recipe.

Dont be scared of all the ingredients. Buy them from any asian store, and you WILL use them again and again. This recipe is absolutely gorgeous and so easy.

Doro Wat with InjeraIngredients:
3 lbs. 1 inch cubes of quorn chicken
2 large onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced (I used a pre-minced garlic from the asian store)
50g butter (I used this for a once-off, in future I'll be swapping this with coconut oil or something healthier! and less of it...)
1 cup red wine
2 cups water
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cardamom
2 Tb. garam masala
1/3 cup hot smoked paprika - this seems LOADS. Use it all.
1 Tb. crushed red pepper
2 tsp. fenugreek seeds
1 Tb. dried thyme
3 Tb. tomato paste
1 Tb. sugar (I used brown)
1 lime, juiced

For the Injera Recipe:

4 cups gram flour (you can use spelt or any other flour substitute)
2 Tb. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
4 cups club soda
1 cup white or rice vinegar
Oil for pan

Directions:

For the Doro Wat: Place all the ingredients, minus the lime juice, in a slow cooker or just a big crock pot/ceramic dish with lid and cover - I didnt have a lid so I used tinfoil. Cook for 2-3 hours. Then mash the quorn chicken to shreds with a potato masher (or the bottom of a ladle.) Stir in the lime juice and keep warm.

For the Injera Recipe: In a large bowl, mix flour, salt and baking soda together. Whisk in the club soda until smooth. Then add the vinegar and whisk.

Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Pour oil on a paper towel and wipe the skillet with the oiled paper towel.

Using a scoop, pour batter into the skillet creating a 6 inch circle. Carefully swirl the pan around to thin out the batter until it measures 8-9 inches across.

Cook for 1 minute, then using a large spatula, flip the Injera over and cook another minute. Remove from the skillet and stack on a plate.

Repeat with remaining batter. The Injera will seem slightly crisp in the pan, but will soften immediately when placed on the plate.

Once finished cooking the Injera. Cut the circles in half with a pizza cutter, roll into tubes and stack. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Serve the Doro Wat and Injera together, tearing piece of Injera and using it to pick up the Doro Wat.

YOM YOM YOM DORO WAT. 

Lunch, raw food, and Natasha's Living Foods

Back in 2007 I went to San Francisco with my OH, and it was right around the time I was getting a bit obsessed about raw foods. I was already a vegan and had been for years, and the raw food movement was really taking hold in the US. Raw vegans recognise that the heat in cooking food destroys a lot of the enzymes and nutrients in food. When you eat brocoli raw, for example, youre likely to get a much denser nutritional profile than if you boil it for an hour.

I read countless blogs and testimonials about raw food online and although I could never commit to being 100% raw (nor do I now believe it to be something that is healthy), it was something I SO would have done had I had a little more cash and access to more ingredients. When we went to SF, I was so excited that there were actual RAW FOOD RESTAURANTS. My poor better half was incredibly supportive and tagged his cheese-loving ass along with me on endless visits to Cafe Gratitude. I bought their un-cook-book and took it home, and some of the simple juices and salads are to DIE for, but the more involved stuff took endless hours of dehydrating, chopping, juicing, mincing and messing so I never got past the few simple recipes at the front, except for an aborted raw burger episode which cost us at least €60 in ingredients and was inedible. We had another raw restaurant which we visited and my OH reached the end of his tether when he found a caterpillar in his salad. We headed to Wendy's after that for a boca burger.

I came home from SF completely psyched about raw food, convinced I'd be making my own nut milk and dehydrating flax crackers. Aint nobody got time fo dat. I gradually drifted away from trying to eat all raw, which was probably a VERY GOOD THING because I can be super-faddy about food. I tend to get a wee bit obsessive, and back in college I was very disordered about how I eat and my weight, size etc. That's a whole other story, but I have to keep a close eye on my patterns and faddishness with food to make sure I dont slip into any bad habits again.

I was absolutely delighted to see Natasha's Living Foods which set up shop in 2009 in Ireland. I've been a huge fan of her produce ever since then. Her range is all raw, and really gorgeous. She worries about all the sprouting and dehydrating and juicing and messing, and you get the delicious end result with zero effort.

Today's lunch was Natasha's Onion and Kelp crackers with Basil and black pepper sprouted chickpea hummus, avocado, red onion, and smoked almonds.

The onion and kelp crackers are made with sprouted flax seeds, sunflower seeds, onion and kelp (the sea vegetable). They're really lovely and have a rich, almost cheese and onion crisp flavour (the cheesiness comes from nutritional yeast flakes, a gorgeous if unappetising sounding cheese substitute for vegans or people who want to reduce their dairy intake). The sprouted hummus doesn't taste anything like traditional hummus. There is a spicy tartness and a strong umami flavour to it that would not be to everyone's taste, but I adore.

I topped these crackers with avocado and red onion. If you are one of the people who thinks they do not like avocado, I have news for you. Add salt. Avocado LOVES salt, and a pinch of slat brings it to life (same goes for chilli, and a dash of EVOO). If you had something gorgeous like Himalayan smoked salt or Maldron salt then all the better. But a pinch of salt brings avocado to the next level in the way strawberries dance with a little sugar and cream.

Now I want strawberries and cream. WAH. Strawberries and 0% Greek yoghurt would make a pretty epic substitute though....

PS
Before I finish, its with a word of warning that I recommend trying out some raw vegan food. Please do not go down the rabbit hole of eating disorders that are raw food blogs and forums online. They are loaded with people with incredibly disordered eating and if, like me, you can get easily sucked into that world, then you are better off steering well clear...

Jillian Michaels and the teeny dress

My name is Ciara, and I'm addicted to Jillian Michael's DVD programme, 'Ripped in 30', and I am SORE. And TIRED. And EVERYTHING IS WEAK. And I HATE her. And I love her. And the best part... I fit into my 'skinny' dress. I'm by no means skinny, by anyone's standards, but we all have a dress that lurks in the back of the warddrobe, usually strategically covered by mounds of winter clothes, that we can never fit into. I call it my skinny dress. Lots of my friends would likely swim in it, but its MY skinny dress. And I love it. And its way too short. And it FITS.

My OH bought it for me as a present after spotting me lusting over it online, but bought a size that was way to small for me. It eventually fit, but many years later I had forgone the dream of the skinny dress and cast it to the dark recesses of my wardrobe with my shame. I've been trying it on in some weird motivation/self-flagellation exercise since January. Back then, it wouldn't go up over my thighs (ho-hum). In March, it wouldn't go up over my bum. In April, it wouldn't even come close to zipping. In May, it zipped up half way. And I tried it on the other day and it zipped up. I don't look GOOD in it yet, I'm still a bit like a potato in a vaccum sealed bag, but I FIT INTO IT AND THIS IS ALL THAT MATTERS. My goal is to wear it on my birthday date night, which is in July. Fingers crossed!

I said at the beginning of this blog that I wouldn't be sharing my weight or measurements etc, but I can tell you that since February, I have lost 8" from my stomach, I'm aiming for at least 10" and I'll be happy out. YAY for progress.

Jillian is really getting me there with her punishing horrible evil disgusting awful workouts. They are based on circuit training - there are three circuits, starting with 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, and one minute of abs. This takes approx 35 mins with warm up and cool down. This sounds very doable. Let me assure you that it is not and I dont care who disagrees with me. I have been training hard since January and I have found these to be the most challenging workouts of my life. Jillian hits multiple muscle groups with each exercise (think single-leg squats with a bicep curl...ow) AND THEN she hits the same muscles in every exercise in the circuit. This means it feels like your arms are SCREAMING by the end of a series... and example would be from circuit 3 last night - here's JUST the strength part of the circuit: 

1. pike push ups (30 seconds)

2. single arm left side push up (30 seconds)3. weighted elevated leg tricep dip (30 seconds)4. pike push ups  (30 seconds)
5. single arm right side push up  (30 seconds)

6. weighted elevated leg tricep dip  (30 seconds)

My triceps were aflame. I honestly have felt like puking on several occasions during these workouts. . It was a pretty big step-up in strength for me, and Ive also recently moved up to 10kg dumbells on each side (I'm probably ready to go up to 15kg at this point). I've been sticking to this pretty religiously, because I'm scared Jillian will find out if I skip a day. I'm definitely seeing results with this, on the first week alone I lost a half inch from everywhere. I havent felt strong enough afterwards to do my yoga cool down so I need to start doing yoga in the mornings now, which I have been very lazy about. Honestly this workout has me pooped, too tired to blog, too....

So overall I totally 100% recommend Jillian's workout, I've done One Week Shred too and this is WAY harder, I think this might be her most advanced workout. She's total f*cking a badass and you mightn't be into her style, she barks orders and screams at you throughout, but you can do it with the sound down and 'Sissy that Walk' blaring, like I do sometimes. Although I secretly think Jillian is totally freaking hot and I do absolutely enjoy a woman screaming orders at me. #learnedsomethingnew

Jillian is a total bitch but she gets you through it, I find her counting down and screaming "come on, two more, you can do it" really helps when I'm about to die in a gloupy mess of flab and tiredness on the floor. And when things get really really bad, there's always a RuPaul megamix.

The Punnet: review

Where I work, in Ballsbridge, there is a serious lack of good places to get healthy food. There is an abundance of 'soup and a sambo' joints (eugh) where white roll after white roll is churned out with chicken tikka and extra mayonnaise. But if you are trying to watch what you eat, or just eat healthily, there's hardly anywhere. I mostly bring in my own lunch, but when I forget, I normally have to cycle to Camden St to go to Listons to get anything remotely salad-like.

This was why I was over the moon to discover The Punnet had opened literally a stones throw away. Calling itself the home of healthy living, and a 'health and beauty store', I was delighted to see they were serving shots of wheatgrass, fresh juices, smoothies, salads, herbal teas and GIANT TUBS OF ALMOND BUTTER OMG. They seem to have positioned themselves as a super healthy store for gym bunnies, with paleo boxes and protein bars galore.

Yesterday I popped in to have a look and was impressed by some aspects of the store, and was a little disappointed with other aspects. The store was bright and clean, but the selection of products wasnt amazing. They had walls of tea, and shelves of almond butter (I'm not complaining) but it seemed like they might have been filling space with a lot of the same product. It was also more expensive than Nourish and other health food shops for coconut water, tofu, and almond butter (my quest to find the cheapest almond butter in town has led me to Donnybrook fair so far, the quest continues). They have another store in Glasthule which seems to boast way more stock and looks really fantastic, so I'm looking forward to them branching out and stocking more of what they stock there.

I opted to have a salad box where you choose a leaf, 4 veg and meat/smoked tofu for €6.95. I didn't think the tofu would be worth an extra €2 so just opted for the €4.95 salad box with no meat. After I had selected my veg, I was expecting some dressing options - but this was the biggest disappointment, there were none! They did however supply a gorgeous spicy hummus, but in a tiny tub and it was too thick to coat the oodles of salad leaves they give. I would have loved to have seen a healthy option for dressing, even a lemon, apple cider vinegar, avocado or mustard-y dressing with extra virgin olive oil. If you were a meat eater it might have been better as you would have had more flavour with the chicken or ham.

I got an apple, pineapple, spirulina, celery, cucumber and avocado juice too, which was gorgeous, and well worth the €5 as it wasn't watery or full of crap, sugar etc. It could have been a little less sweet though.

Overall, the juice was really nice, and filling. Which was good, because my salad was just a bunch of undressed veg which was pretty disappointing for €5. I think if these guys started to look into creating their own salads, like Listons (with grains like quinoa, buckwheat, some cheeses, gluten free wraps, etc) they could have a really loyal following.

I decided to go back today to give them a second chance today. I got a wheatgrass shot with apple and cucumber which was gorgeous and I could drink one every day, and a tuna, quinoa, avocado and tomato wrap which was OK, but again a little mealy and would have hugely benefited from some dressing or flavour of some kind. The tiny hummus smear on the inside of the wrap really didnt add to the flavour. I'm all for clean eating but you should SO have the option to add a clean, healthy dressing or flavour to your fillings. The large chunk of quinoa in my wrap tasted like nothing at all, which was disappointing, when it could easily have been spiked with lime juice, chilli and pepper and still kept incredibly clean and healthy.

So far, I'm only convinced that its got merit as a juice bar... but I'll be keeping a close eye on it to see if anything changes, especially in terms of their ingredients. I'm delighted to have a shop that stocks juice and health food shop ingredients, and I bought a tub of their clean version of nutella which I'm dying to try. But I wont be back for lunch anytime soon...

http://thepunnethealthstore.com/

The Breakfast Club

Breakfast can be a total pain. When you dont plan ahead, and you leave the house without breakfast as I did three times this week (because I was working at 7am), you have so little in the way of choice of something that will fill you up and still be healthy and low calorie. On Friday I decided to have a cheat and had raspberry scones with jam and clotted cream. It was absolutely amazing. But you cant have that every day, right? So what to do?

I put together a list of breakfast options that are high protein, not hugely packed with calories, and a mix of 'loads of time' breakfasts and simple, easy, day to day options. Ive linked to recipes where needed.

This is as much for myself to get back on track with my breakfast eating habits which have not been great. The other thing to say is that I have a green drink for breakfast at around 7.30am every morning except on the weekends, so I usually will eat something from the below menu at around 10am, because I dont find a green drink keeps me going until lunch.

Option 1: Porridge

Ive had a blog post about my love for porridge before. I have eaten porridge every morning, more or less, since forever. I love it, but sometimes you need a break. I'm on a low-carb kick at the moment, so am looking for high protein options for breakfast.

Option 2: Porridge substitute

You can make any of your favourite porridge breakfasts with a number of different porridge substitutes, like millet, buckwheat, or any other grain. One great substitute is quinoa, which is a grain with an incredibly nutritional structure. Its a brilliant high-protein breakfast option, and its a complete protein, meaning it contains all 9 amino acids. Its also high in iron and other minerals and vitamins, and is a bit of a powerhouse of a grain. You can just eat it with maple syrup and a nut butter, which is my favourite thing. You can add nuts too - pecans are amazing with the maple syrup. Add a touch of cream if youre not watching your fat intake :)  This is something you will need to prepare the night before. What you can do is on a Sunday, make a massive batch of quinoa, then pop it in a container in the fridge. You can then portion it out during the week (and use it for savory dishes and as part of your lunch/dinner too).

Option 3: Desert for breakfast - Chia seed pudding

Chia seeds are little nutritional powerhouses too, full of protein, omega 3s, and they absorb 10 times their size in liquid, making a kind of tapioca/semolina pudding consistency. Dont knock it till you try it.

10 tablespoons raw chia seeds
2 cups unsweetened almond milk (You can also use coconut, soy, or regular milk)
(*For a thicker pudding, replace 1 cup of almond milk with 1 cup non-fat Greek yogurt or non-dairy yogurt of your choice)
1¼ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons good quality maple syrup
Pinch of salt

Suggested Toppings:
Orange segments and pistachios
Mixed berries and lemon zest
Sliced Bananas with cinnamon and almond butter
Blueberries, toasted almonds and maple syrup

Place the chia seeds in a medium bowl. Add your almond milk, yogurt, and liquid ingredients. Cover with cling film and pop in the fridge overnight.

During the summer this makes a great cold alternative to warm cereal, and chia seeds are nutritionally amazing.

Option 4: Eggs

I always used to see people talking about having eggs for breakfast, and who the hell has the time for that sh*t? You know who? Everyone. Because they take hardly any time to make. You can have a scrambled egg on toast in 3 minutes, tops. You can have an omelette or a poached egg in 4-5 mins. Preparation is key for anything 'involved', so the night before, you can chop any ingredients you'd like to have in your egg - making a basic breakfast omlette, I'd chop one chilli, 1 clove garlic, 1 small onion, a handful of cherry tomatoes, and mix with 2 eggs, salt, pepper, oregano, and a drop of milk/almond milk. Pop this in a frying pan first thing in the morning and youve got an amazing breakfast. Serve with sliced avocado, a squeeze of lemon juice, roasted tomato and a slice of spelt bread. You can serve regular scrambled eggs the same way, or a perfectly poached egg. On the weekends, I add vegetarian sausages and fried onions.

Option 5: Pancakes

Ive given a recipe for protein pancakes before, but you can make any pancake healthy by substituting white flour for wholemeal, gram flour (chickpea flour), coconut flour, spelt, or any other kind of alternative to white flour which is nutritionally empty and fat-making. Keep your recipe simple, 2 eggs, 100g of any flour, 300ml almond, coconut or other dairy alternative, and add anything else you like - chia seeds, flax seeds, etc. Fry with coconut oil or EVOO, and top with chopped banana, nuts, maple syrup and nut butter. Yum! Using a blender, it takes approx. 10 minutes to make a stack of pancakes.

Option 6: Fruit and yoghurt with a protein shake

If youre pushed for time, a great breakfast is simply a pot of 0% greek style yoghurt, poured over a punnet of blueberries, raspberries and a sliced banana (or any fruit of your choice). You can supplement the calories and protein by including a protein shake with this. I'm in love with chocolate protein at the moment, its like having chocolate milk for breakfast, and its delicious.

Option 7: Cereal

If you absolutely want to have a bowl of cereal, there are a few you can choose from. But all processed cereals are high in sugar, salt and sometimes calories. Dont fool yourself into having special K, you may as well have a bar of chocolate for all the goodness it gives you. You'd be much better off sticking with something as natural as possible - weetabix, all bran or museli. This is my last resort for breakfast as cereals are just pretty crappy when it comes to being healthy and filling a lot of the time. Read the side of the box before you buy and compare sugar and sodium levels!

Hope this is useful to some of you for whom breakfast can be tricky. Happy breakfasting :)