Diet culture is really good at creating rules. One of those rules dictates when it is acceptable to eat certain foods. For example, we "should" have oats, fruit, yoghurt or cereal for breakfast, or the idea that we "shouldn't" have pasta for dinner. Well, I used to think like that...
The typical breakfast in Barcelona, my hometown, is a cafe latte with a pastry, such as a croissant or a muffin, or ''pa amb tomàquet'', a half baguette smothered with olive oil, garlic and tomato.
Now, since I don't like tomato, my lifelong breakfast preference was a muffin with black coffee. For me, it wasn't just a muffin and a cup of coffee, it was peeling away the muffin case, dipping the muffin in the coffee, and picking the crumbs with my fingertip that made having breakfast a joyful and satisfying experience!
But unfortunately, when we get caught up in the diet culture and begin to set our own food rules, we obsessively focus on calories and sugar or fat content. I know this because, a few years ago, when I was obsessed with eating super healthy, I went to Barcelona to visit my family and the first morning my mum made breakfast for me. You guessed it. Black coffee with a muffin. I remember telling my mum that we ''should'' have a healthier breakfast, that a muffin for breakfast wasn't "good".
Your body doesn't care if you feed it with a muffin for breakfast or an omelette for dinner. As long as you find the right balance for your body and the pleasure in every eating experience, it is all that it matters!
So, challenge the diet culture's food rules by making these sticky granola and honey muffins. I also encourage you to think about the following prompts to cultivate more curiosity and compassion.
CURIOSITY: Next time you're in a cafe-restaurant, pay attention to what other people are having for breakfast. What stories do you tell yourself about them? Do you find yourself judging their health or personality?
COMPASSION: Tell yourself: "These thoughts are not true, they are my own food rules. I will be compassionate with myself as I'm learning how to recognize these negative messages and change my beliefs".
Sticky Granola and Honey Muffins
INGREDIENTS - Makes 10
⅓ cup (65 gr) butter
1 ¾ cups (175 gr) almond flour
¼ cup (30 gr) tapioca or arrowroot flour
¼ tsp salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup maple syrup or raw honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp. baking soda
3 cups of granola of your choice
1 ½ cup of raw honey
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 160°C / 325°F. Grease slightly a 6-holes silicon muffin tin.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter, pour in a bowl and set aside to cool slightly. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, tapioca and salt.
Separate the eggs, putting the whites in the bowl of a stand mixer. Place the yolks in the bowl with the melted butter, add in the maple syrup, vanilla extract and lemon juice and whisk to combine. Add the egg yolk mixture to the bowl with the flours and whisk until you get a smooth batter without lumps.
Using a hand mixer, beat the eggs whites until soft peaks. Stir the baking soda into the batter and then, using a spatula, beat in one-third of the whipped egg whites to lighten the batter. Fold gently in the rest of the egg whites.
Pour 2 tablespoons of batter into each hole and bake for about 35 minutes or until a wooden skewer poked into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
Meanwhile, the muffins are baking, in a bowl combine the granola and honey until the mixture is very sticky. Set aside.
Leave to set for about 5 minutes, then take the muffins out from the tin and place them on a cooling rack.
Using a knife, spread some honey over the top of a muffin and straight after, top with granola mixture until cover all top of the muffin. Use more honey if needed! Repeat this operation for each muffin. Enjoy!
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