Healthy Life Part 1 - Breakfast Smoothie

I have been unhappy with my weight and my fitness level for a while, and I came to the realisation that I need some help to achieve my fitness goals.

In the last month I have been seeing a new personal trainer, Natalie, who is fantastic. Besides getting my behind kicked in the training sessions, I'm slowly changing my eating habits with her help.

The weight loss/body transformation part of the plan are still work in progress. However, I can happily report that my fitness has already improved, and my energy level is a lot higher.

I thought I'll share the things I learnt from Natalie with CCM readers, and hope you'll all get something out of it.

First cab off the rank is breakfast. My breakfast used to be a skim cap with either toast with jam or peanut butter, or a muffin. Hardly a healthy start to the day!

Natalie recommended a energy packed smoothie with 250ml skim milk, 2 tbsp low-fat yoghurt, a handful of frozen berries (or a banana) and a raw egg for breakfast.

As you can imagine it is super easy to make - just put everything into a beaker and whisk with a hand-held blender for about 15 seconds and it's good to go.

To make the preparation even easier in the morning I put everything except the egg in a beaker the night before, so I only need to crack the egg and whisk the mixutre in the morning. I like that the frozen berries get a chance to defrost in the fridge overnight, otherwise the smoothie becomes too cold for my liking.

When I tell people about the smoothie, the usual question was "you eat a raw egg"? That was my initial reaction too. I thought the smoothie would taste slimy but it wasn't. The whisked egg white made the smoothie frothy, but otherwise I couldn't taste the egg.

I still get a skim cap when I get into the office - I can't function without some caffeine in the morning!

I've been having a smoothie about 4-5 days a week. When I feel like something different, I have:

• 2 microwave eggs (crack eggs in 2 mugs, pierce yolk with fork and add a teaspoon of water to each egg, cook in microwave for 90 seconds with 70% power), a few slices of smoked salmon or a piece of fruit, or
• 1/2 cup of rolled spelt porridge cooked in water, with a dash of milk and a teaspoon of honey, and 1 microwave egg

I've been enjoying my new breakfast menu. Wanna give it a go?

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