Take the Breakfast Challenge
History of Cereal in America
The line “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” was coined in the 19th century with the invention of breakfast cereals. When you think of the breakfast cereal that built America, you may think of Kellogg's Corn Flakes. It was a staple in our home growing up as well as frosted flakes and many other boxes of sugary cereal. What was your favorite? I loved Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Walk down any cereal aisle of the supermarket and you will be bombarded with a crazy amount of sugar and artificial colors and flavors that you may wonder, “Is this even something I should be serving my children first thing in the morning?
Cereal wasn’t always packed with flavor, color, and sugar. The invention of cereal started with a doctor named James Caleb Jackson. He invented a hard biscuit like cake he called granula for his patients at his health spa in upstate New York. The granlula was a mixture of baked graham flour and water. It needed to be soaked in milk before eating. Soon after, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, of Kellogg's cereal, accidently made a mixture comprised of oatmeal, wheat flour and cornmeal. Kellogg was working with his brother Will on a new kind of wheat meal for patients at his health spa when the process that resulted in his version of granula. After Jackson threatened to sue, the name of Kellogg's mixture was changed to granola. Later a patent for "Flaked Cereals and Process of Preparing Same" was filed on May 31, 1895, and issued on April 14, 1896. Unfortunately Kellogs attempt to make a granola that tasted good failed, but Kellogg kept experimenting until he flaked corn, and created the delicious recipe for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and the company officially started in 1906.
What started out as a health food for patients at a health spa has turned into quite an unhealthy breakfast for our children. Take a look at this study done on rats.
"In 1960, researchers at Ann Arbor University performed and interesting experiment on laboratory rats. Eighteen rats were divided into three groups.
One group received CORNFLAKES and water;
a second group was given the cardboard box that the CORNFLAKES came in and water;
and the control group received rat chow and water.
The rats in the control group remained in good health throughout the experiment. The rats receiving the box became lethargic and eventually died of malnutrition. But the rats receiving CORNFLAKES and water died before the rats who were given the box - the last CORNFLAKE rat died on the day the first box rat died.
Before death the CORNFLAKE rats developed schizophrenic behavior, threw fits, bit each other and finally went into convulsions. Autopsy revealed dysfuntion of the pancreas, liver and kidneys and degeneration of the nerves in the spine - all signs of "insulin shock:. The startling conclusion of this study is that there is more nourishment in the box that cold breakfast cereals come in than in the cereals themselves.
Loren Zanier, the designer of the experiment, actually proposed the protocol as a joke. But the results are far from funny. They were never published and similar studies have not been repeated. If consumers new the truth about breakfast cereals, vast fortunes would be jeapordized" ~Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions p. 468-9
Before the invention of cereal, the most common breakfast food items were bread, cheese, meat, and fruit. Breakfast was typically eaten in the morning, before starting the day's work. Over time, breakfast became more elaborate. Hot dishes such as porridge and eggs were added to the menu.
As hard as it may be, weaning off breakfast cereals may be a step in the right direction if you are trying to stabilize blood sugar, lose weight, and have more energy in the afternoon. What you eat in the morning dictates how you will eat the rest of the day. If you fuel your body with sugar and quick carbs, you will be hungry within an hour or two and the body will crave more sugar.
Take a week breakfast challenge with me.
For one week eat protein rich foods as your first meal of the day. If you feel amazing after the first week, keep going for another week. I have a two week inspiration board with recipes for you to download and prepare. I can’t wait to hear how you feel after the first week.
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