Saturday morning breakfast post

I have learned to love oatmeal. It's pretty easy to make and very filling. Plus, starting a cold day with warm food is always nice- even when my apartment is pretty damn hot. Today, I made this Hearty Banana Berry Flax Oatmeal that Robin shared a while back. This is the second time I've made this oatmeal. It's slightly more time consuming than the other ones I usually make (apple cinnamon and cinnamon raisin) , but it's Saturday so I've got time. Last time, I cut the recipe in half, but I decided to make the full thing this morning so I'd have a lot of leftovers. I have a busy week ahead and want to limit the amount of cooking I need to do. Well, it turned out delicious. I didn't have nuts and had to use soy milk instead of almond milk, but it seems to have worked just fine. I also had to use frozen blueberries since I ate all my fresh ones for dessert last night, so I threw them in a little earlier than suggested. All in all it turned out well.

However, I have no idea in what world this serves two people- unless it means it serves two giants or two marathoners or provides two people with all their food for the entire day. This recipe makes a lot of oatmeal. I'm guessing it will provide me at least 4 days of breakfast (including today). So maybe that's four people, not 2, and I exaggerated a bit, but I think it points to important issue of portions, especially in this country. Even though it's a really healthy recipe from what seems to be a blog focused on living well, it still suggests large portions. Maybe I just don't eat a lot- but I'm a 5'8" woman that weighs about 155 lbs. I am pretty active. Pilates two times a week for the last 18 months, do 30 minutes of cardio at least 3 times a week, and I walk way more than the average person. I probably need a little bit more than a lot of people since I have (a little) muscle and move around, but almost all recipe portions (and definitely 95% of restaurant portions) are way too much.

Also, I think there is a problematic mentality that we can only eat at certain times, or that if we don't finish all of this food we will get hungry later. Of course we will get hungry later. That's how our bodies work. But I live in the United States, and though I understand food insecurity (the way our government avoids saying that, yes, there are people in AMERICA! going hungry) is on its way up in this country, for someone like me, who is privileged, who had ground flax seed in my fridge and a big bag of organic oatmeal in my cupboard, I will have food to eat later. So what if I need to eat again in an hour? If that's what my body needs, then I'll do it. But I'm not going to eat more than I need at a sitting. This is one of the many lessons I've learned in the last three years, and one I don't always remember. But as with everything else, I'm working on it.

Speaking of ground flax seed and organic oatmeal (and on a lighter, less soap boxy note), I usually buy Bob's Red Mill products, and thought it was awesome when I heard that Bob is turning the business over to his employees instead of accepting some buy out offer. Very cool.

Now I'm off to climb ice mountains to get to Pilates. Happy Saturday!