Raw Food Breakfasts for Healthy Veggie Living!

Eating raw foods is a wonderful way to fill your body with nutrients and enzymes. Yet while many of us snack of raw fruit and enjoy lunch time salads, having a nourishing raw breakfast can be trickier than it sounds.

Many people swear by a mere green juice to get them going in the morning, but breakfast should be one of the biggest meals of the day. The body needs plenty of complex carbohydrates and protein first thing in the morning for you to be full of energy, mental clarity and focus until lunch (or midmorning snack time). This is especially so for the many of us who live hectic and stressful lives. Such mental and physical stresses result in the body needing additional nutrition so the body can continue to thrive.

Here are some of my suggestions for a raw breakfast. Each one is rich in fibre, vitamins, minerals, essential fats and protein.

1.       Sweet Milky Dreams

Handful almonds

Handful shelled hemp seeds

2 medjool dates

1-2 banana

Pinch of cinnamon

Teaspoon lecithin powder

1 glass water

Blend the almonds, hemp seeds and water in the blender until the water turns milky.

Either strain away the nut pulp or (if you’re like me and like a thicker shake and the benefits of the fibre) simply add the dates, banana and cinnamon. Blend until smooth.

Additional extra: Sproutein protein powder or raw oats.

2.       Green Smoothies

Handful spinach and/or kale

1 Mango

Juice of 3 oranges or grapefruits

Handful macadamia nuts

Blend all together until smooth. Add some water or more juice if it gets to thick

Additional extra: Kiki Nature’s Living Superfood powder

3.       Granola

Palm size of soaked Almonds

Palm size of Brazil nuts

1-2 handfuls of soaked goji berries (until soft and sweet)

Dried cherries or cranberries (as much as want)

Grated or chopped apple

Chopped banana

Combine the nuts, dried cherries/cranberries and goji berries. Top with the apple and banana

Additional extra: buckwheaties (dehydrated sprouted buckwheat) or soaked oats

4.       Breakfast pudding 

1 cup yacon root soaked over night

½ cup dried banana soaked over night

1 tablespoon raw Brazil nut butter

1 teaspoon lecithin powder (optional)

1 teaspoon coconut butter

Chopped pear

Pinch mixed spice

Blend the yacon, banana, mixed spice and Brazil nut butter. Place in a bowl and top with the pear.

Additional extra Hemp Protein Powder

5.       Raw flax cracker (either homemade or brought) with nut butter and mashed banana

6.       Oatlicious

1 cup raw oats soaked over night

Pinch sea salt

Pinch cinnamon

Handful raisins and/or chopped medjool dates

2 tablespoons of ground or soaked flax seeds

In a bowl combine the oats, salt, cinnamon, raisins/dates and flax seeds. Can also be prepared the night before.

7.       Scrambles nuts

1 cup sunflower seed

2 pinch turmeric

1 pinch salt

1 pinch pepper

2 chopped tomatoes

½ chopped pepper

1 spring onion

Handful chopped parsley

1 tablespoon flax oil

Handful spinach

In the blender blend the sunflower seeds, turmeric, salt, spring onion, pepper until it is a course spread. Place the mixture in a bowl and add the tomatoes, parsley, peppers and flax oil. Serve on the spinach.

I feel that the trick about eating more raw foods for breakfast is not to restrict oneself to only eating uncooked foods, but to incorporate more raw into the meal. For instance it is still super healthful and beneficial to serve the nutscramble on a slice of rye toast or one some oat cakes (and it is even nice with a real poached egg on top!). Or have the green smoothie as a side dish to a bowl of porridge or to even serve the Sweet Milk Dreams on top of shop-brought muesli instead of milk. And for a really easy raw(er) breakfast, spread raw/seed nut butter on wholemeal or essence bread and top with fruit. My favourite is walnut butter, grated apple and figs on essence bread.

However you enjoy raw nourishment at breakfast, the most important thing is to start your day with a variety of nourishing foods for body, mind and spirit.

Authors Bio:- My name is Marissa-Catherine Carrarini and I own a natural health centre called Snowsfields Wellness (www.snowsfields.co.uk) in London. Snowsfields Wellness is a boutique health shop full of organic (and often raw) healthful goodies, a clinic with a range of natural therapies and an organic smoothie and therapeutic tea bar. At Snowsfields Wellness we also have regular talks and meditation classes.

Many of the products I have mentioned, such as Sproutein powder, are sold in the shop.

I am also a writer and journalist, a wife and a nutritional therapist.