morning hassle

I always feel so uninspired in the mornings, I am definitely not a morning person. I'm rude, grumpy and very monotone when woken up before 9am (which is pretty much every day of the week). In fact, I don't talk until I've had a decent amount of breakfast and am thinking about heading to the gym. Yes, my family love living with me and I bet my boyfriend can't wait!

Something I find works a treat for those dreaded early rises is a little concoction called "Overnight Oats" Having eaten porridge every morning for the majority of my life this is a quirky alternative.

What you will need:

Empty jam jar
Handful of oats
Splash of almond milk
Handful of Chia seeds
Dollop of 0% fat Greek yogurt
Scoop of granola (ensure it has no added sugar)
Handful of any fruit you please
A pinch of cinnamon

Simply layer the above into a jam jar, leave it over night in the fridge ready to consume in the morning. Unbelievably delicious and keeps me going for hours. There are also scientific benefits to soaking oats overnight. From what I understand (which isn't a huge amount) oats contain an acid called Phytic Acid. Typically this is difficult to break down within our bodies, so by soaking the oats overnight it allows for the acid to be broken down by Phytase, also present in the grain. The time lag ensures that the acid is broken down to it's rawest form, allowing us to digest the oats to our best ability. Phytic Acid has been found to decrease our efficiency of absorbing minerals and vitamins such as iron, calcium and magnesium, therefore it's important we can break
it down before consuming it.

Don't freak out! Having said all of the above I can hear the alarm bells ringing. Oats are still an absolute must in the mornings, soaked over night or not. They are a brilliant source of fibre, decreasing the chances of constipation and IBS, as well as keeping your blood cholesterol levels low. The reason we feel so full after eating a bowl of oats is due to the fact they release sugars into the bloodstream at a slower rate than other foods, allowing us to feel full of energy for longer, particularly in comparison to other cereal.  Like I mentioned previously, oats have a high amount of minerals in them which are essential to every day tasks. To name a few; Calcium which is crucial for the immune system, iron which transports oxygen and carbon dioxide to and from cells, and finally, magnesium which is needed for hundreds of different biochemical reactions in the body. And last but not least, oats have a very low sugar content (unless you add sugar to it obviously) and we all know that sugar is definitely not our friend anymore.

So there we are. That's what I eat before work, the gym and uni, the ultimate "go to" breakfast.