Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:09] Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's edition of the Whole Health podcast. It's lovely to have you back with me again.
[00:00:15] Now, if I told you that tomorrow morning I was going to have leftover roast chicken and salad for breakfast, some of you might think that's a bit strange, but if I poured myself, maybe a bowl of cornflakes or rice bubbles would probably be considered perfectly normal. And why is that? Who decided that eggs belong at breakfast time, chicken belongs at dinner, cereals belong in the morning? Because when you think about it, your body doesn't know it's breakfast. Your stomach doesn't look at the clock, your pancreas doesn't know it's 7:30 in the morning, and your muscles don't know whether the protein they're receiving came from breakfast or dinner. Our bodies simply respond to nutrients.
[00:00:54] So tonight I want to take you on a wee little journey.
[00:00:57] We'll look at how breakfast has changed over the last, say, 150 years or so. How cereal became the default breakfast in many Western homes, and why today's cereal aisles look so different from where it all began. I mean, they look like confectionery aisles, don't they? But don't worry, it's not going to be about, you know, I'm not going to say never eat cereals again. It's really about becoming a more informed consumer.
[00:01:22] So first up, let's wind the clock way back. Long before supermarkets and cereal boxes existed, breakfast was simply food. You know, people generally ate what they had available. It might have been eggs and bread, porridge, meat, soup, or leftovers from dinner the night before. And in many cultures around the world, that still exists. That's what people eat today. In Japan, for example, breakfast often includes fish and rice and miso.
[00:01:49] In parts of China and Vietnam, people might eat noodles or savoury rice dishes. And across the Mediterranean, it could consist of yogurt, eggs, cheese, olives and vegetables. These are quite common foods to have in the morning. And nobody thinks that's strange.
[00:02:04] It's mainly us in our Western countries who have developed this very rigid idea that breakfast has to look a certain way. So the question really is, how did that happen?
[00:02:16] One of the very first manufactured cereals was something called granula, I think that's how you say it, created by a doctor named James Caleb Jackson. And it was made by baking whole grains. And apparently it was so hard that you had to soak it overnight before you could even chew it. Not exactly the cocoa pops that we see today.
[00:02:35] Then a little bit later, later in the 1800s, towards the end of the 1800s, along came a doctor called John Harvey Kellogg. You might recognize that name. He ran a health retreat called the Battle Creek Sanitarium. And in fact, one of our major cereal manufacturers here in New Zealand is Sanitarium.
[00:02:54] So Dr. Kellogg believes strongly that the diet affected health, which hey, he was on the money there, wasn't he? It does. And his patients exercised, they spent time outdoors, they ate a simple vegetarian diet and followed generally healthy routines.
[00:03:10] Now here he and his brother accidentally discovered a way of making toasted grain flakes. Originally, these FL weren't sugary or colourful, they certainly weren't marketed to children, but they were simply a bland health food for people staying at the sanitarium.
[00:03:27] But this is where the story changes. John wanted cereal to remain a simple health food. But his younger brother Will saw something different. He saw a business opportunity because he realized that people were becoming busier. Families wanted more convenience, you know, the start of convenience foods. And if breakfast could be come from a box instead, with no cooking required, people might buy it. And boy, was he right.
[00:03:52] And this convenience really changed everything you think about life. In the early 1900s, families were becoming busier, people were moving into different cities, the world was becoming a lot smaller, work hours might have been changing. And suddenly a breakfast you could pour into a bowl in 30 seconds was quite attractive. Companies weren't just selling cereal, they were selling the convenience. They were selling time and modern living. They marketed cereal as a healthy way to start the day. And that health message became really powerful over the years. And then something else happened.
[00:04:27] Manufacturers realized that children were also a huge market. So what did they do? They started putting cartoon characters on the boxes, nice bright packaging. They started putting in free toys and competitions, et cetera.
[00:04:41] Television marketing. And when, when were the television adverts on? Usually in the breakfast when we kids were. I remember it in the 80s when kids were watching morning TV or their favorite cartoons. So before long, breakfast wasn't just about nutrition, it became entertainment. And today, breakfast cereal is a multi billion dollar global industry. And that's a reminder that we're not just talking about food anymore, we're talking about one of the world's biggest packaged food businesses. But then over the years, we've found that the recipe changed. The original cereals weren't particularly sweet. But over the decades, companies discover something that we all know today, that sugar sells so little by little, more sugar has been added, more refined grains, more flavorings and colors, those bright colors that appeal to kids. And then of course, with all of that comes more processing.
[00:05:35] And today if you walk down a supermarket cereal aisle, you'll see marketing such as whole grains and high in fiber, contains iron, you know, rich source of B vitamins because.
[00:05:45] But the thing is, when you turn the packet around, many are still predominantly refined grains with significant amounts of added sugar. Not all cereals, but most of them.
[00:05:57] And over the years I've watched and listened to many experts and I want to just talk about a few experts today. And if you're interested in the topic at all, you might want to look into them and what they write.
[00:06:09] So some of the people that have really influenced me along the way when it comes to nutrition, one of them is Dr. Mark Hyman. You might see some of his recipes in the members hub because he's got great whole food recipes on his website.
[00:06:23] Now he was a family physician and then he turned into a functional medicine practitioner. So he focuses on holistic medicine now. Pretty much what I've been doing, neutropathy.
[00:06:39] And he uses nutrition and lifestyle to prevent and treat chronic disease. And he often says that we've become very good at taking real food apart. When you think about it, we do. They've taken food apart and then they try and build it all back together again. So you think about cereal. The grains that it originally comes from, they're processed. Parts of it are removed. Parts of the grain, they remove parts of the grain, then they add sugar, then they add flavor, and then vitamins and minerals are added back in because they've taken it out of the grain already. And it's almost like they've dismantled something that nature made beautifully and then they've tried to reconstruct it again in a factory. And he regularly talks about what he calls the food health halo, and that is foods that appear healthy because the front of the packet says, you know, whole grain, fortified, low fat, all this jargon, but when you look at the ingredient list, it's a very different story. His message isn't that every cereal is terrible, it's that we should stop letting marketing decide what healthy looks like. And there's another man I'd like to bring your attention to, and that's Gary Taubes. I think that's how you say his name. That's how I've always said it might be. Taubes. T A U B E S. He's an award winning science journalist and author.
[00:07:55] He's written many books. Some of them include good calories, bad calories. He's written another one called why we Get Fat and another one called the Case Against Sugar. So you can see why I like him. He's written extensively about sugar and how it's slowly become part of our everyday diet. And he explains that sugar used to be an occasional treat and it did, didn't it? Back in the 1800s or prior, it was only the wealthy that would get sugar, and that was now. And again, it wasn't something that we had every day.
[00:08:25] And today though, you know, it's in sources in breads, drinks, yogurts, snacks, bars. It's in things that you wouldn't even think would have sugar in. And the problem is, and which he writes about as well, is that many people start every single day with it. And he also points out that breakfast cereal began as a health food. It wasn't originally designed to be dessert. But over decades, competition between manufacturers has led to sweeter and sweeter products, because sweeter products sell really well. So what started as a bland health food has gradually evolved into something that in many cases resembles a dessert or confectionery.
[00:09:04] And then there's one more man I'd like to bring your attention to, another one I've been following for years, and that's Dr. Robert Lustig. Now he's a pediatric endocrinologist. And he spent decades researching how sugar and ultra processed foods affect our metabolism and long term health. Now he's written books, he's an incredibly smart man. And there's lots, lots on YouTube with him talking about sugar, particularly on the effects of children. He's done many, have been involved and done many studies.
[00:09:34] And one of his strongest messages is that we need to look beyond just calories. Food isn't simply calories. And that's why when people talk about calories in, calories out, and I did a podcast on this very subject myself, it's not just about calories because calories from a bag of donuts, a thing of donuts, is going to be very different from calories from a fruit salad. You know, it's inflammation for our cells. And food sends signals to our hormones, it sends signals to our gut, our brain, our metabolism. And he also talks about how ultra processed foods are designed to be incredibly easy to eat.
[00:10:11] Sometimes they're soft, sometimes they're crunchy, they're sweet and salty. Sweet sugar, fat and salt, wonderful combination for getting you hooked on these foods. They're very shelf stable. You can buy something and it doesn't expire for years. They're highly rewarding because it lights up that part of our brain that the dopamine that says, oh yes, we want more. So all of these foods are designed to encourage, to keep, to encourage us to keep eating.
[00:10:39] And when you think about it, breakfast cereals often tick many of these boxes and again, not every cereal, but certainly many of the highly processed varieties that we see today.
[00:10:50] Now another man as well is Chris Kresser. He's a functional medicine practitioner, naturopath, and he's also an author. And he spent many years educating people about the benefits of whole food nutrition. It all comes back to whole food, which is what my program is all about as well, and how traditional diets can support better health. Way before we went into the low fat era and everything went wrong. And he reminds us that breakfast is simply the first meal of the day. It's not a special category of food. He often points to traditional cultures around the world where breakfast might include fish or soup, rice, vegetables or meat. And nobody there is going to think it's odd when you eat these things. Only the Western cultures do.
[00:11:32] And it reminds us that there's nothing magical about breakfast foods. Food is food, protein is protein, vegetables are high in fiber. And we've simply been conditioned to think that certain foods belong in different categories and we should eat them at certain times.
[00:11:49] So if this subject or the subject of how the standard Western diet has changed so much over the years, I really encourage you to follow their work. They're really knowledgeable, they're experts in their field and I think you'd enjoy it. So back to cereals. Does one eating one bowl of cereal doesn't mean you're unhealthy? Of course not. You know, nutrition, as I always say, isn't built on one meal. It's built on a thousand breakfasts, a thousand lunches, et cetera. It's the patterns that really matter. But many of today's cereals share common characteristics. What I see is they're relatively low in protein. Even if they say high protein, which seems to be the buzz at the moment, everything's got high protein on the package.
[00:12:31] But often they'll contain a poor quality of protein. Many are highly refined, many digest quickly and contain a lot of sugar. And if breakfast is mostly coming from refined carbohydrates with very little protein, many people that they're hungry again by mid morning. If I was to eat a bowl of cornflakes or rice bubbles, which I haven't had for a long time, don't get me wrong, I like them, but I haven't had for a long time. But if I was, I would Be reaching for a coffee soon afterwards or some a snack because I would be hungry within the hour. I can guarantee it, because they don't come high in protein. Now let's just talk about protein for a bit because one of my talks wouldn't be a talk without including protein.
[00:13:14] Think about breakfast from your body's perspective. After sleeping for seven or eight hours, your body isn't waking up asking for brightly colored cereal or big hit of sugar, it's asking you for nutrients. It needs protein to repair and maintain muscles. It needs fibre to feed our gut bacteria, healthy fats to support our hormones, and a wide range of vitamins and minerals to help our bodies function at their best.
[00:13:38] And protein is especially important because it's often referred to as the building block of the body. It helps us maintain our muscle, it's a supports our immune system, keeps us feeling fuller for longer, it helps our mood. And ideally we should be aiming to include a good source of protein at each meal and sometimes a protein based snack as well to help us meet those daily requirements. And this is where many breakfast cereals fall short.
[00:14:04] Even if they contain some protein, it's not often enough to make that breakfast particularly satisfying. You want about 20 plus grams per meal.
[00:14:13] And some cereals also, they boost their protein content, but they do it with soy protein isolates. And personally, I'd much rather get my protein from a whole food source that brings so much more to the table, like eggs and Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, milk, any kind of milk, whether it's a nut based milk or cow's milk, nuts and seeds.
[00:14:37] For example, if you're eating three eggs, there's about six grams of protein in each egg. So I always say about three is a good serving because you're getting about 18 grams of high quality protein along with all the important nutrients like choline 12 and selenium. You compare that with many breakfast cereals, which may contain only a small amount of protein unless they're heavily fortified.
[00:14:59] And compare that with many breakfast cereals, which may contain only a small amount of protein unless they're heavily fortified or maybe you've added other protein rich foods.
[00:15:09] So before even thinking about how many calories is in this meal, I really encourage you to ask one simple question, and that is, where is the protein? It's such a simple question, but it can completely change the quality of your breakfast.
[00:15:23] And what about our children? You know, this part is the one that concerns me the most, because children's cereals are often some of the sweetest products in the Whole supermarket because many of them are marketed to children. They've got those cartoon characters on the front, they're brightly coloured. And children who eat a very sweet breakfast each day get used to that level of sweetness and this becomes their norm. So you give them a fresh fruit salad or some plain oats or Greek yogurt and it just doesn't taste good.
[00:15:52] And what we're doing is we're teaching their taste buds that breakfast should taste like dessert. So really we should be teaching them that breakfast can be delicious and healthy at the same time. Healthy doesn't mean bad. And if you think about it, if cereal was really the perfect breakfast, why do manufacturers have to spend billions of dollars convincing us to buy it?
[00:16:14] And as I say, I am not a cereal hater. I was brought up on cereals. That was my time in the 80s, 70s and 80s. And we do have plenty of breakfast options in the members hub. In fact, there's an entire tab for breakfast.
[00:16:29] We don't have to abandon cereals completely. And if you love a cereal style breakfast, excellent. You know, my goal is to make this meal work harder for us and set us up well for the day. So we've got things like overnight oats, we've got Michelle's goodness, granola, bircher muesli, chia seed puddings, those steel cut oats. These are all really good options if you like the cereal type breakfast to start your day with. The breakfast options in the members hub are all really well balanced and many of them are aimed at providing sustained energy without those sugar spikes. That's my whole aim, is not to give you those sugar spikes throughout the day. And hey, you know, if you want to choose a lunch option for breakfast, go for it. See how it makes you feel for the day. Does it keep you feeling fuller for longer? So it's just another short one this week. I like these little short sessions because you can listen to them anywhere. You are on a short walk in the car.
[00:17:22] In closing, your body didn't suddenly decide that cereal was what it needed for the first meal of the day. Believe me, it was a combination of industrialization, convenience food manufacturers and over a century of brilliant marketing. Marketers are very, very good at what they do.
[00:17:41] But we can question that because information is power, isn't it? We can choose breakfasts that nourish and satisfy us and support our health. And I know those of you that have been on the program for a while now are already doing this and have been doing it for a long time.
[00:17:57] We want to have a breakfast that's going to support our muscles and our gut, and we want to feel our best, whether that's eggs or overnight oats or granola or leftovers.
[00:18:06] And yeah, the occasional bowl of cereal that's thoughtfully chosen and maybe balanced with some nutritious toppings is absolutely okay. Because this, once again, is not about perfection. If one of your treat meals happens to be a bowl of nutrigrain, then go for it. It's about making those small, informed choices that add up over time.
[00:18:25] So my challenge for you this week is I don't want you to throw out any of your cereals. Don't feel guilty if you do have them in the in the pantry. I simply want you to become more curious. So tomorrow morning, look at your breakfast. Ask your where's the protein? Where's the fiber? How much of this meal is made from real food? And then one more question. Am I eating this because my body needs it or because decades of marketing have convinced me that this is what breakfast should look like?
[00:18:53] So hopefully you've enjoyed that topic. As always, it's often been a topic of conversation with myself and clients and people over the years, so if you have any questions that arise from this, please do reach out to me in the group, in the WhatsApp group or personally WhatsApp. I always love to hear from you. And of course, if you have any burning questions that you'd like me to cover in a future Zoom topic, I would be more than happy to. So please do reach out. Don't be a stranger, and I look forward to chatting again soon.
