The breakfast and snack ideas listed below are merely suggestions that will help guide you in your meal planning. The options available are endless. The idea is to base your family’s diet on whole, natural foods free of artificial additives, bad fats, sugar and refined ingredients.

SNACKS
Some of these snacks can double up as light lunches and while some are more appropriate for at-home snacks, many are suitable for packing into lunch boxes.

Brown rice cakes, rye crackers, wholegrain bread or toast or Nairns oatcakes with toppings such as:

• Cottage cheese, tomato & cucumber
• Avocado with cucumber, tomato and spring onion
• Tuna, egg or chicken mayonnaise (add finely shredded lettuce and diced cucumber to the mix if you can)
• Tahini and a thin layer of raw honey
• Hummus with tomato & cucumber
• Nut butter eg. cashew, macadamia, peanut, sunflower seed
• Tuna or fish pate
• Roast vegetables with pesto and ricotta (for adventurous children!)

Note that rice cakes are suitable for those who are gluten intolerant. Oats contain a little gluten so may not be suitable for those with severe intolerance. Get the Vital or Woolworths brown rice cakes. Get the Nairns oatcake range at the Health Connection stores.

Fruit, fruit kebabs or fruit salad:

• Plain fruit either whole or sliced
• Fruit pieces threaded onto a skewer as a fruit kebab
• Fruit salad consisting of 3 – 4 different fruits
• Fruit pieces, especially strawberries dunked into raw chocolate or carob
• Fruit with chopped nuts and yoghurt

Natural yoghurt:

• Add some fruit puree to plain yoghurt for flavor; pear is delicious.
• Add chopped or ground up nuts and seeds
• Adding freshly ground flaxseeds is also a fabulous option
• Sliced banana also works well

Crudités (vegetable sticks - carrot, cucumber, baby marrows, celery, mange tout, baby corn):

• Serve with a dipping sauce of hummus, guacamole, fresh snoek pate or cottage cheese.
• Pack in some cherry tomatoes and olives too.

Healthy snack bars that contain natural foods with no additives or regular sugar. A small amount of raw organic cane sugar is sometimes used in these bars, and although not ideal, the low GI of the seed bar slows the release of sugars into the bloodstream:

• Try Heartland Oatsli organic snack bars (usually 6 in a pack @ about R 20.99 - at time of writing - per pack from Pick ‘n Pay).
• McNabs raw snack bars – R 9.95 from Health Connection
• Date balls are quick and easy to make. They make a superb sweet snack.

Dried fruits, nuts and seeds as trail mixes:

• Make up your own combinations that include from 2 to 5 different ingredients.
• Choose from raw, unsalted macadamia nuts, cashews and pecans; dried fruits such as cranberries, apple rings, pear, mango, pineapple, goji berries, banana and raisins; seeds such as pumpkin seed and sunflower seed.
• Raw real chocolate chips (called nibs) can also be added for interest and sweetness and are actually healthy!

Other ideas:

• Fresh fruit & raw nuts are a good combination. Kids particularly like cashews and pecans. Try pecans or cashews with apple slices. Almonds are the most of healthful of all the nuts, but not as well liked by kids.
• Dried fruits such as dates, non-oiled raisins, mango strips, peaches and pears. Be sure to buy those that are not preserved with sulphur dioxide.
• Carrot or banana muffins with a spread of butter. Preferably home-baked.
• Popcorn (instead of chips)
• Homemade soup with fresh, chunky wholegrain bread free of additives.

BREAKFAST
Smoothies are a fantastic way to pack loads of nutrients into one meal! They can be as simple or complicated as you want. Simply blend ingredients together in a blender. Here are some very basic ideas:

• Fruit & nut or seed shake: 1 – 2 oranges and / or ½ pineapple peeled and cubed; sunflower seeds or blanched almonds that have been soaked overnight; ½ tsp raw honey; purified water.
• Berry smoothie: ½ pineapple peeled & diced; half a cup of soaked sunflower seeds or almonds; 1 cup frozen berries, purified water
• Berry whip: As above but add 1 scoop of whey protein powder
• Whey protein smoothie: 1 – 2 scoops whey protein powder (non-commercial); raw egg yolk; banana; ground flaxseed; 1 tbsp. coconut oil; 1/2tsp honey; purified water. You could replace the banana with ½ - 1 cup frozen berries for a beautiful pink berry whip.
• Yoghurt smoothie: 100 – 150ml’s yoghurt; banana, egg yolk; 1tsp coconut oil; water
• Banana & coconut smoothie: 1 banana; ½ can coconut milk; ½ tsp raw honey; water

You can get very creative with smoothies. Make a delicious chocolate smoothie using raw chocolate and gorgeous creamy blends of tropical fruits. You could make smoothies containing superfood powders such as Maca, Hemp, Lacuma, Baobab powder and Camu Camu Berry. Have fun experimenting! Dates are also a great addition to smoothies. Soak the dates overnight to soften them up for easy blending. You can also freeze very ripe bananas to use in smoothies for a frozen, milkshake type smoothie.

Note: when adding water to smoothies, start with a little and blend, then add more after the first blend if you require a thinner consistency.

Other breakfast ideas:

• Oats porridge:Use rolled oats – soak overnight with a teaspoon of natural yogurt. Cook for breakfast. Add a small teaspoon of honey and a dollop of butter. Grind a seed mix or a single seed such as flaxseed in a coffee grinder and add to the porridge to provide additional protein, minerals and essential fatty acids. You can also use millet or quinoa flakes or polenta for porridge breakfasts.
• Fruit & nuts - add natural yoghurt if intolerance is not an issue
• Fruits: whole or sliced fruits or fruit salad

From morning till noon the body’s cycle is in elimination mode and therefore it is beneficial to work with this cycle and have foods that are easy to digest. This frees up energy for cleansing and detoxification. Apples have a low GI and are very cleansing so one morning on the weekend just give apples as breakfast and for snacking. Kids generally need protein at breakfast to help ensure balanced blood sugar levels and a feeling of satiety so the morning of fruit is best done on a weekend morning when apples can be given frequently.

Next week: Desiree shares some lunch and dinner ideas.

About Desiree Du Plooy Desiree is a health researcher, activist and student of clinical nutrition with a burning desire to educate people on the subject of health and nutrition.

Desiree is also the owner of Healthwize, which offers bulk buys, great value combo packs and special offers on a range of healthy products, with the aim to make living affordable while cutting down on excess packaging.

She is based in Fish Hoek in the South Peninsula of the Western Cape.

Visit the website for more information or contact Desiree at:
desiree@healthwize.co.za 021 785 4694