What does losing weight, eating more… and having a more fulfilling start to your day have in common?

Answer: Breakfast!!!

Learn some surprising facts about breakfast and how fulfilling it can be; and not just to your appetite!

• by eating a proper breakfast; one that is a balanced and fulfilling meal, we can lose weight in conjunction with regular exercise and good sleeping habits

• by eating a varied breakfast we can start the day with a sharpened intellect and a more positive attitude to the day

• by eating a social breakfast with our families and loved ones, we start the day with a positive base that sets us up for the challenges of the day, minimising stress and cementing our relationships

This website provides you with all the inspiration you will need to fulfill all of the above; recipe ideas for the meal itself, varied ideas to meet all your dietary requirements and hopefully fun ideas to stimulate the social side… I’ll also review equipment and tools to best set you up for preparing this ‘runway to the day’…

If you need to know why Harpo Marx would inspire you with a sausage then please click away… I’m not sure we’ll see eye to eye… but if you can appreciate Slowhand Eric Clapton’s wonderous talents being compared to baked beans (!) … and are a little intrigued then please wander through the following pages…..

Modern Life and Breakfast…

Most people skip breakfast – by that I don’t mean they have nothing at all, but its a rushed and solitary affair – something snatched on the way to doing something else… some estimates of 93% suggest it has become the norm – pressures of getting to work, school or college lead us to focus on getting out of the house and to where we need to be. Often people report feeling irritated, fuzzyheaded and tense… sound familiar?

My guess is that as more and more of us skip the routine of meals generally, and therefore the numbers of people sitting down to eat together also drops away dramatically – we are all moving more and more towards ‘personalised grazing’ as opposed to regular meals. This trend might reflect how busy we all are; but is it really how we want to live?

Sleeping patterns affect our appetites in the mornings too – more and more people report feeling that they have not had a decent nights sleep; and correspondingly do not feel like eating in the morning. Late night stimulation through electric light, TV, computers and mobile phones give us 24/7 lifestyles that do not make for peaceful living. Unfortunately, this leads to a lack of energy and general grumpiness; compensation snacking on sugar-laden ‘short-term’ snacks does not help our well-being or our waist line. Obesity levels are climbing and levels of ‘purposive’ exercise are declining (studies show that, on any given day, less than 20% of adults take part in exercise – UK Office of National Statistics). Missing breakfast leads to poor quality nutrition and eating patterns. We need saviours people!

the mongoose alarm clock still didn't work...

More and more of us go out to work, and hence no longer eat lunch at home in the week. The patterns in the graph below show the interesting changes both to eating lunch at home and how the eating of breakfast has fallen away to just 7% in 2001 – probably even lower now. This decline is certainly a reflection of modern life; but it is not beneficial.

In the last 50 years, we have seen huge social change, and yet our bodies are still much the same, with the same basic needs, physiologically speaking. Is it wise to follow these trends or should we look to the advantages of a proper breakfast?

What is Breakfast for?…

In a word, PREPARATION – breakfast is for ensuring that your body has recovered from the sleep state and is ready to face the day. A balanced, easy to digest meal should be the start of a sound and productive beginning. Refreshed, alert and feeling ready should be the start to the day that is available to all.

Can we instigate this state of bliss?

We can do our bit; we can become Champions of a decent breakfast. It may not be possible everyday. But we can all find a time when it is… a Sunday morning, or a holiday for example? Who knows you may even build it into a routine. By becoming a Champion for breakfast you can do those you love a service and help inspire them to return the favour…

Champions of a cause need their strength and inspiration; and hopefully here is where you will gain it – gaze upon the pages and be uplifted by tales from the stars, all champions in their own right, but who have also discovered the wisdom of a good start to the day. Every superstar you can think of could have their special breakfast, so why not drop me a line and see if I can’t create a dish for that special shining champion in your life?

We all have heroes, but my contention is that we can ALL become Champions to the ones we love (even if it’s just ourselves) by modelling ourselves upon the champions in our psyches…

So, ‘Slowhand’ Eric Clapton can inspire you with beans, Harpo Marx can illuminate a dark morn with his sausage, Brigitte Bardot can delight with a baguette, Steve Martin can thrill with his bagel wielding Amigos, the list is potentially endless… join me in this quest to replace the tired cornflake and dry toast with the searing wit that is…

The BREAKFASTS of CHAMPIONS!

all together now...

(Cue Freddie…big finish, full moustache and lycra)

WEEEEEEEEE are the Champions, my frie-einds

dnn dnnnnn

and weeeeee’ll be together ………to the end,

dn dn dn dnnnn dnnnnnnnn

WEEEEE are the Champions, WEEEEEEEE ARE THE CHAAMMPIONS,

NO TIME FOR JUST TOAST NOW, cos’ weeeeeeee are the Chaaaaaaaaaaampions

dun nun naaahhhh!

OF The PROPER BREAKFAST!

(might have got that last bit abit wrong?)

ahhh, Freddie Mercury, bless his massive heart and even more expansive lycra…. I wonder what breakfast he might inspire….. any suggestions?

What does a guy called Dograck and a woman called VanillaSliceAce have in common??

How a website came to be born…

I have someone on my list of contacts called Paul Dograck – unusual name you might think, but I seem to acquire them, … then there’s Jody VanillaSliceAce on my facebook list of friends, again, unusual name but there is a connection…

These are people who turn out to be surprising Champions, they have helped me enormously, but they were strangers to me when they did…

They are people who popped into my life, usually because we have a shared interest; they helped me out or inspired me … and then added something valuable to my life and to the ones I love – in  short they share my quirky sense of humour and have half an eye out to help other people; if you are similar, then we’re going to get on like a house on fire…

PS: in case you’re still wondering about Dogracks and VanillaSliceAce – I met a guy in a supermarket carpark who offered to give me a Dog Rack for my family SUV; his name is Paul and hence I put him in my ‘phone as ‘Paul Dograck’ – he was also a thoroughly decent fella’ – saw that I had the same car that he had had and offered me something because he saw he could give it to someone – he’s a Champion in my eyes! A decent act out of the blue, also…. Jody VanillaSliceAce is someone from Australia with an equally large heart – gave me the perfect recipe for my fave confectionary, the noble Vanilla Slice – again given freely and with a sense of humour – another Champ of huge proportions, (‘tho I’m sure she’s physically very slight!)

I hope I’ve benefitted from their example and I’ve set this up to encourage more people to do something for others, be a bit creative in short… Become Champions to those you know and love, and also to those you don’t know…. who knows we might change the world…

WEEEEEEEE ARE the etc, etc, etc…..