Breakfast Habits

Inflammation can be a tricky issue. On the one hand, it is a necessary process that our bodies need to heal from injury, which is known as acute inflammation. On the other, it can lead to serious health issues and illness if it turns chronic, which is the type we will be referring to in this article.

Chronic inflammation can be caused by things like autoimmune disorders, exposure to toxins, obesity, and an inactive lifestyle, and according to Harvard Health, it "plays a central role" in diseases like diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, and Alzheimer's.

Because of inflammation's connection to weight, diet, and exercise, there are certain foods that we can eat and avoid to help lower our chances of developing chronic inflammation in the long run.

Continue reading to learn about some of the worst breakfast foods and breakfast habits for inflammation, and for more tips on inflammation, make sure to check out Popular Foods For Reducing Inflammation After 50.

Eating refined carbohydratesShutterstock

When it comes to inflammation, added sugar and refined carbohydrates are some of the leading culprits.

"One of the worst breakfast habits for inflammation is eating refined carbohydrates and foods high in added sugar like packaged pastries, donuts, and baked goods," says Amy Goodson, MS, RD, CSSD, LD author of The Sports Nutrition Playbook.

Lauren Manaker, MS, RDN, registered dietitian on our medical expert board and author of The First Time Mom's Pregnancy Cookbook and Fueling Male Fertility agrees, saying that "sugary and refined pastries like donuts and muffins can be loaded with ingredients that can contribute to inflammation, so it's best to stick to whole grain options without questionable ingredients instead."  READ MORE...

Fall Morning Breakfast

Most people, I am assuming, if they eat breakfast at all, it is either at home before they leave for work or they drop by a fast food restaurant and get something on the go or they stop at a sit down restaurant and order a working man's breakfast of eggs, grits, sausage or bacon, and pancakes...  of course, this hearty breakfast is likely to last them throughout the day until they return home, typically after dark for a cold or heated in the microwave dinner.

Unlike most of these people, I am retired and my breakfast is late in the morning usually more brunch than breakfast and only after I have been awake for 2-3 hours do I feel like eating anything more than just drinking coffee.

Usually, I will get a package of grits and add water, toss it in the microwave along with a vege sausage while I am scrambling up an egg that I will mix all together with some grated cheese.  If I am tired of scrambled eggs, I will toast an English Muffin and fry an egg along with a vege sausage and a slice of American Cheese.

Once my breakfast is cooked, I will sit on the back screened in porch and watch the bluebirds fly in and out of the house I built for them using old decking.

My breakfast is usually only 300 calories but sometimes I add a little something extra and my intake grows to 500 or so.  My plan is to eat no more than 500 calories at each meal along with snack(s) that do not exceed 500 calories so that my total daily intake is less than 2,000 calories each day.  I would like to reduce that intake to 1,500 making sure that protein, dairy, grain, veges, and fruit is most of the time included.

I like Fall Morning Breakfasts because I can sit outside and watch nature while I eat...  this usually consists of a variety of birds, rabbits, butterflies, and squirrels...  but, if I decide to sit on my front porch, I am just about guaranteed to see a family of deer in the field across the street.

It is a simple but rewarding life.

Sundays in the Valley

Being retired, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between days of the week and days of the weekend but since so much of my life revolves around doctor's appointments, treatment appointments, other appointments, and THINGS TO DO...  I find it absolutely imperative that I keep an open calendar with me pretty much all the time nowadays...

So, today is Sunday and for me it is a day without exercising as I need to give my body and it old muscles and tendons a chance to rest a little...  because, the exercising starts again tomorrow and goes through the entire week including Saturday which is down downstairs on our own stationary bike and treadmill.

But Sundays are also SPIRITUAL DAYS for me as I reflect upon all the spiritual gifts that I have been given, including my diseases as well as my ability to think and formulate opinions many of which are based upon my interpretations of what I perceive to be true or at least reasonably true in my limited way of thinking.

For instance, I am a BORN AGAIN LIBERAL actually I was never unborn from that philosophy and oftentimes my family and friends have referred to me as an irritating REBEL...  in the sense that I really do not like to obey the rules, especially when the rules do not apply to all situations as we try to force them to apply.

However, I am also a conservative in that I believe in being debt free and having no debt at all in addition to believing that it is business not the worker that create growth opportunities for the economy.  Workers, as I have come to realize throughout my 45 year career are an EXPENDABLE COMMODITY like electricity, heating and air, and paper for the Xerox machine...  even though labor perceives itself as being a tad more critical than that.

Even management and all its levels are expendable when it comes to generating a profit, earnings, and a dividend for shareholders or stockholders who have infused the business enterprise with capital.   

BUT MORE IMPORTANT is our Government.

Our Government should be SMALL and it should NOT TELL US what to do with our lives or with our bodies, especially females.  If females want to have an abortion and for whatever reason(s) they should be allowed to have that abortion...  BUT THE GOVENMENT SHOULD NOT PAY FOR IT...  that is a cost that should be the responsibility of the female, even if she was raped...  unless she can force the rapist to pay for it...  and then, our government should get involved to provide a free legal defense for the female.

My breakfasts are usually taken leisurely since I have been retired but on Sundays, sometimes Saturdays, I like to reward myself with an Omelet, breakfast potatoes, and pancakes from our local PERKINS restaurant who does an EXCELLENT job in preparing these three items.  I usually wash it all down with a POT OF COFFEE.

However today was not a Perkins day and I prepared myself a small cup of grits with vege sausage, and a 1/4 cup of shredded mixed cheese and an English Muffin and washed it all down with a pod or two or three of McCafe Coffee with two spoons of Sugar Free Cappuccino Mix...  and only two spoons as when there is more added, the balance of taste is off a tad.

I eat this quickly prepared breakfast was watch the AQUARIUM SCREEN SAVER that is provided by my ROKU box free of charge...  actually, most everything is free of charge once you purchase the box and works incredibly well if you have an internet provider.  In our case, it is Charter which is now Spectrum and is the one responsible for those stupid commercials which are easily remembered which is kinda the point I suppose.

I will remain in this vegetative state for most of the day, writing and posting thoughts on my blogs, until I realize that the sun has disappeared and it is now time for me to relax in the hot tub...

Out For Breakfast This Morning

My wife and I decided to go out to breakfast this morning again because we felt pretty safe at the restaurant we went to last week...    so, we went there again...  mostly whites patronize this restaurant and every once in a while we see a black individual or family but not often.  This morning, while we were waiting for a table, a black man cam in by himself and we eventually sat beside him outside on the patio which did not bother either one of us one iota...  but, this was my impression of him:

• late 30's, early 40's
• large link gold chain around his neck
• about 6 feet tall, 200 lbs, athletic build
• wearing a basketball jersey and his arms were full of tattoos
• his tennis shoes looked bigger than his feet and were half way laced up
• close but hair and clean shaven, wearing a baseball cap turned around backwards
• he was wearing a pair of baggy nylon gym pants with the waist pulled down to the middle of his ass

I never heard him speak and by all accounts he behavior seemed normal and he also appeared to be very polite with everyone with whom he made contact while I was observing him.

My first impression was:  this is not someone I want to get to know...

First of all...

• I dislike tattoos and believe that people who support tattoos have low self esteem issues
• I also think that tattoos make the individual look dirty and unclean
• I think someone who wears a baseball cap backwards looks like a fool
• I think someone who wears his pants down below his waist looks like an idiot
• I immediately have no respect for this person

LET ME POINT OUT HERE...   if this individual that my wife and I saw this morning was WHITE, I would have formed the same opinion...

MY CONCERN:  If our Federal Government tries to get me to stop thinking like this because it is contributing to racial inequality, then I am going to tell our Federal Government to take a hike.  I have every right to believe like I believe and to express my beliefs in a reasonable professional manner.

BREAKFAST

Outside of going to a BRUNCH, breakfast is my favorite meal...  and, what I typically order for breakfast is an omelette and/or pancakes...  my omelette usually comes with pancakes and hash browns but I substitute the hash browns for pancakes giving me a total of 5 pancakes.  My omelette,typically the Everything Omelette although it has different names in different States or regional locations.

I eat half my omelette there and take the other half home for the next day.  I eat no pancakes there and take them all home to each for future breakfasts with either vege sausages or sugar free jelly, usually Strawberry.  Eating 1 pancake a day, I have breakfast for another 6 days.  Cost is around $12-$15 for 7 meals or right around $2 for each meal.  Drinks obviously are extra...

My favorite restaurant for this is PERKINS...  However, not all PERKINS are alike as they are franchised and it depends on how the franchised owner conducts his operation.  The Perkins franchise 7 miles from our house has been owned by a German man named Otto for over 40 years.  In a conversation with Otto several years ago, he told me that he started with Perkins cleaning tables, then became a waiter, then cook, then assistant manager, then manager, then OWNER...

There is two other PERKINS RESTAURANTS near us, one north about 60 miles and one south about 20 miles and neither one has the quality of food or service as the one hear our home.

My wife and I usually go to Perkins for breakfast every other Sunday and we always order the same meal.  I get the Everything Omelette and she gets the Magnificent Seven.

As a matter of fact, my wife just left a few minutes ago to pick up breakfast from Perkins since they only have "take out" because of the COVID-19 Pandemic and our State's stay at home order.  We usually ask for our senior citizen discount when we go, but decided not to ask for that discount this time...  since they need all the financial help they can get to stay open.  It may not be much but everything helps.