What to do With Yogurt

• Mix in some frozen fruit (they get nice and juicy as they defrost)
• Spoon over oatmeal instead of adding milk
• Chop in your favorite fresh fruit or add fresh berries (mango, banana, strawberries, blueberries…)
• Add in ¼ cup nuts or seeds
• Use as base for a creamy salad dressing or dip
• Mix in fruit and freeze for a yummy cold treat
• Add to mac and cheese instead of adding extra cheese to add creaminess
• Use thick yogurt instead of cream cheese in frosting
• Add to a smoothie
• Swirl in a spoonful of nut butter
• Use instead of mayonnaise in egg salad or tuna fish
• Add ¼ cup raisins, dried cranberries, or your favorite dried fruit
• Sprinkle with some cinnamon or coconut flakes
• Serve with dry cereal such as Cheerios, Chex, or Grapenuts
• Add ½ cup dry oats and 1 cup milk and leave in fridge overnight for overnight oats
• Stir in some jelly or jam
• Drizzle with honey, syrup, or some sugar
• Add some applesauce or fruit compote
• Serve over warm pureed butternut squash
• Use as a spread on toast
• Eat it plain

Is breakfast really that important?

                Maybe it is. Is it the most important meal of the day? I’d say not. I think that any time we eat is important in some sense. There is research that shows that people who eat breakfast weigh less. That is not to say that breakfast will make you lose weight—perhaps eating breakfast is a behavior that people who weigh less tend to do. It is also not clear that breakfast “jumpstarts” your metabolism, as many believe. It does take energy to digest your food, but a lot less energy than is actually in the food. I have not found any studies that show that people who eat breakfast have faster metabolisms. I definitely encourage my patients to eat breakfast. The main reason is that it gives us energy to start the day. And you can eat such yummy foods for breakfast…such as oatmeal.

                On that note, here are my favorite ways to eat oatmeal. Please post additional oatmeal suggestions in the comments below!

• ½ cup oats + 1 cup water, cook on stove top. Pour into bowl. Add 1 Tbsp natural peanut butter (that is peanut butter that has only peanuts OR peanuts and salt as the ingredients.) Stir the peanut butter in.
• ½ cup oats + 1 cup water, cook on stove top. Pour oatmeal into bowl. Add to pot ¼ cup of applesauce; when warmed, pour over oats. Add ¼ cup cottage cheese.
• ½ cup oats + 1 cup water, cook on stove top. Pour into bowl. Add ½ cup yogurt. (Greek yogurt will provide more protein and regular yogurt will provide more calcium)
• Put ½ cup oats, 1 cup soy milk, ¼ cup water, and a generous sprinkle of cinnamon into a container. Leave in refrigerator overnight. (You can also use regular milk. I happen to not prefer the flavor of regular milk.) This is best eaten on the NYC subway, especially on the uptown A train.
• Other options are to combine a few of the toppings listed in the different recipes here onto one bowl of oatmeal. It will probably also taste delish!