Morning Routines

People always seem to say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And I would have to agree. If I skip breakfast or eat something too sweet or not sustaining enough, I find that my day usually remains somewhat off-kilter. For me, it’s essential to eat something well-balanced, substantial and healthy in the morning—something that will fill me up but not make me feel lethargic through the morning. My morning routine is fairly predictable. It’s the same most mornings and I like it that way. The time I wake up varies, depending on external factors. But usually I get up at 6:30 or 7am, come downstairs, let Maizy out and open up the chicken coop door so they can roam the yard for the day (these days they’ve been starting to bawk early—at around 5:30 or 6, so sometimes I get up and let them out and then go back to bed). This is all after I’ve been woken up 5 or 6 times, usually starting at 3am by one of the two feline residents in our house. Eden likes to scratch the bed frame right by my head to wake me up. And Abigail likes to walk all over me and sit on me while I’m sleeping, swishing her tail in my face…

Maizy hogs my side of the bed, and I usually have to curl up in a tiny ball, or throw my legs off the side of the bed…

Anyway, after letting Maizy and the chickens out, I put the kettle on and feed Abigail and Eden. They get breakfast first because Eden is beside himself by this time and starts getting  so ‘hangry’ (i.e., that special kind of angry that comes from being hungry) he punches me when I walk by if I don’t look like I’m going straight for the food. Then I feed Maizy (mixing up already cooked quinoa or brown rice; yams or butternut squash; broccoli; tofu, beans or eggs from the chickens; flax oil; nutritional yeast; and VegeDog supplemental powder). The animals eat their breakfast and I make tea and lemon water for the humans in the house while Eric gets ready for work. The lemon water is a new addition to the morning routine. Apparently it balances your metabolism, sets your body’s pH for the day, helps you crave less caffeine, assists with weight loss, and has all kinds of other great health benefits for your body. I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit…

Directions for Lemon Water: Squeeze 1/4- 1/2 of a lemon into a glass. Add warm water (not hot or cold) and sip this first thing in the morning.

I make black tea for both of us (we have separate loose-leaf preferences) and put a pot of water on to boil for oatmeal. I eat oatmeal every morning (unless I make cornmeal waffles on the weekend). The type of oatmeal varies. These days I’m eating the quick-cooking steel cut oats from Bob’s Red Mill. They cook in 5-7 minutes and are delicious.

Directions for Awesome Morning Oatmeal: Cook the oats according to the directions on the package. Halfway through the cooking time, toss in a handful of raisins or other dried fruit. Sprinkle a little cinnamon and vanilla extract if you like. When the oatmeal is finished cooking, serve in bowls. Top with fresh seasonal fruit (or just use the dried fruit in winter) and nuts (walnuts, pecans and almonds are all good choices) or pumpkin seeds (pepitas). I usually don’t add any sweetener beyond the fruit because I’m trying to keep my blood sugar relatively stable, but you can certainly add some maple syrup, stevia, brown sugar, etc. if you prefer. Such a simple, easy breakfast when it becomes part of your routine…and so delicious!

I eat oatmeal and tea while I read my Google Reader, which houses all the new blog posts for the morning from the 30-40 blogs I follow. This is such a nice way to start the day and it usually inspires me to want to write a blog post. Eric and I will chat, too, while he’s getting ready and eating his breakfast. After Eric heads off to work, I usually get to blogging so that it posts before the end of the working day on the East Coast. Eden sits at the side of my computer to help every morning…

After blogging, which takes anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 hour (or more) depending on the post, I get right to work on my actual job, which is editorial assistant for a geography journal. I catch up with the journal’s emailing, processing manuscripts through, and keeping things organized and then get to my own work. I work until I feel my concentration slipping and then I generally shower, get dressed, have a snack and take Maizy for a walk. After that, I settle down for an afternoon session of working and try to sustain this until Eric gets home from work, but sometimes I will cook something in the late afternoon instead or take Maizy to the park or on a walk. This is basically what a day looks like when I don’t have to be at school or go to any appointments. Riveting stuff, I know… right?

Do you all have consistent morning routines? What’s your favorite part of your morning?