“I can’t eat this, I can’t eat that. Well, what’s left for me to eat, then? Carrot sticks with kale and quinoa?” Lol, this is often the reaction I get from my friends and loved ones when I try to encourage them to make better, healthier and different food choices. They get frustrated and feel like there’s nothing left to eat but “boring” rabbit foods (though quinoa is not a rabbit food, technically :p).

I get it, changing your diet can feel very overwhelming and quite discouraging at times as well. I have been there. Trust me, there was a time I thought life would never be fun or sweet or delicious ever again. I had just discovered that all my favourite foods were actually not quite healthy for me. And though I was committed to this new lifestyle and way of eating, I missed the ease, routine and comfort that my old way of eating had given me for so many years. Now, I had to revise and change what I ate, where I ate, how I ate. It all felt very overwhelming and very restrictive at first. But I was so convinced that healthy nutrition was a key to sustain a complete vibrant health, that I stuck with it. Little by little, I started experimenting with new foods, new recipes and I was amazed at how equally delicious it all tasted- soon I forgot about my old favourite foods… I could still have delicious sweet treats (Have you seen my desserts section?), Italian dinners, creamy and even cheesy savory dishes- all without compromising my body and health in the long run. I was hooked.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because, I understand that changing your eating habits can seem very hard at first and feel quite discouraging. That’s why I strongly encourage you to take baby steps, cutting down unhealthy foods one at a time, while increasing your intake of wholesome real foods. For example, have a meatless day during the week where you can experiment with delicious and very satisfying plant-based meals or use your breakfast meal to forego animal products and increase your consumption of raw fruits and veggies with smoothies, juices or overnight breakfast bowls. There are so many ways you can start to incorporate healthier foods within your diet, lifestyle and budget. It’s all about taking baby steps, keeping an open mind, preparation and exploration. Trust me, your body will thank you for those small changes and soon enough you will start seeing a difference in the way you feel both physically and emotionally :).

With that being said, let’s talk about breakfast for a quick second. Most of you already know this by now: the way you “break” your night “fast” is key to how you will feel for the rest of the day. A good breakfast should leave you feeling satisfied and energized throughout the whole morning and not sloppy, sleepy and hungry again by the time it’s 10:30 AM. For those of you saying: “But I don’t have time to make a healthy nutritious breakfast in the morning, I gotta get up, get ready and go”, I got the perfect solution for you :). Let me introduce you to the concept of overnight breakfast bowls.

What if I told you, you could still grab a very nutritious AND filling breakfast right out of your fridge in the morning as you leave the house without having to do any morning preparation for it? Now isn’t that enticing? All you need is a little prep work the night before- not more than 10 minutes (usually 5 minutes)! And I know that everybody got at least 5-10 minutes at night to do it, so no excuses here ;).

Overnight breakfast bowls are a great way to enjoy highly nutritious foods in their raw state. The benefits of eating raw foods is that, because they have not been heated, processed or pasteurized, they are still intact and full of enzymes (which helps with digestion), vitamins, minerals and proteins, which have not been altered one bit. So you truly get to full health benefits from all the nutrients stored within those foods. Superfoods are especially great eaten raw.

So without further ado, let me give you the recipe for this delicious overnight breakfast bowl. It is sweet, creamy, crunchy, tasty and super nutritious for you :).

Overnight Chia Breakfast Bowl

Ingredients:

1 cup of FULL fat coconut milk (or almond milk)
1 ripe banana (if you don’t like bananas, add one more Tbsp of chia seeds instead)
2 Tbsp of chia seeds (make sure they are raw, organic and whole- not ground)
1 tsp of vanilla extract
Optional: 2 tsp of cinnamon (great to regulate blood sugar levels & anti-inflammatory)

This will make one serving, so double or triple the ingredients for more than one person ;).

Instructions:

Start by mashing the banana into a chunky purée, like so: