Think about your classic breakfast commercials…

The ones that make you feel like you could have skinny legs, or boundless energy, or happy children PLUS all the vitamins and minerals you need if you would just eat a certain product.

Gee - they had us fooled!

Not sure about you, but I grew up eating vegemite and margarine on toast and an array of breakfast cereals with little to no true nutritional value. Oh, and an OJ.

And sure, I survived. I did well at school and I was sporty. But opening my eyes to the world of wholefoods has made me question just how much energy I really had to fuel my mornings.

When I first started learning about food I was super resistant to changing my morning toast and coffee routine. I loved it. I still do.

It’s why I’ll still have it at least once a week. But here’s the difference - the bread is better, I don’t use margarine and I top it with something like tomato and avocado.

Simple upgrades. Best.

Here’s how I think about food these days. I ask these questions:

Is this REAL?
Does this serve me?
Is this helping create the best me?

Why these questions? Well, you know that saying, 'you are what you eat'? It’s absolutely true. Our cells are created from the food we eat. There are countless stories of people healing themselves through food. The shifts that Small Steppers have had over the years in their health, just from switching out some of the processed food to more whole options are mind blowing and I’m so passionate about seeing people treat their bodies with the respect they deserve.

Here’s the thing I’m MOST passionate about: there’s no one size fits all. There really isn’t. Our bodies are complex. So are our minds. You might be eating the exact same thing as your friend and weight creeps up and up and your mood gets lower and lower. Yet she’s jumping around feeling vibrant and shedding kilos like it’s an Olympic sport!

Your sleep, your hormones, your stress levels, your gut health - so many things affect how you absorb and digest food. Don’t compare. Don’t look around! Tune into your body and what works for YOU.

As we move through this breakfast program think about what makes YOU feel good in the morning, and throughout the rest of the day. Because here’s what I know….

Someone might love hard-boiled eggs and bacon for breakfast. Another might like a green smoothie. And someone else might like a bowl of warming oats.
And that’s okay. It’s okay to have personal preferences.

I totally get it. I might have all three of these breakfasts over the course of a week and then might go months without porridge because I don’t like hot breakfasts in summer.

I have also been known to eat a bliss ball, a carrot and an apple for breakfast on those ‘running late’ days while I’m getting the kid’s lunches sorted. Whatever works, I say.
The main thread in all this though, is that the food is REAL. It is coming from whole, real ingredients. Ingredients my body recognises as food, ingredients that have been minimally processed and don’t contain a crazy amount of additives and preservatives.

THIS IS OUR AIM!

And just so we’re clear on what “real food” even means, Jude Blereau - my wholefoods hero- uses this definition of wholefoods:

“a food that is eaten as close as possible to its natural state, without unnecessary processing and refining.”

That is what we're going for!

So: wholefood eating is not a diet. As Jude said, it’s the aim of eating food as close as possible to its natural state. Because at the end of the day we are human beings - animals! The unsustainable path we are on with food can totally be turned around for your whole family. I know it to be true.

But start with you (because you deserve it). You can’t change the world until you’ve changed yourself. Eat for pleasure and joy - not restriction. Let your wholefoods journey take as long as it needs. Ditch the idea of perfection. Let’s just start experimenting with breakfast!

Let’s look at some ideas……