No-brainer Fitness is not a blog about food.

This is not a blog that provides recipes.

But…

No-brainer Fitness is about being healthy and fit. And, of course, after having done the correct “first thing first” and exercised regularly, what logically comes next is to eat right.

And it is a blog that is not afraid to go off the beaten path. Once in a while.

So in case you’ve ever wondered, I’m going to share one of the staples of my diet. (That’s diet in the correct, noun sense of the word, not in the verb sense. Just to be perfectly clear.)

My wife and I start all our days pretty much in the exact same manner: By eating a good breakfast. (Yeah, I know, we’re boring people.)

Since we try to put as many veggies and fruit in our diet as we can, essentially eating a largely plant-based diet, breakfast has become a major part of our “greening the plate” effort.

To achieve that, we use a product found at Trader Joe’s called “Cruciferous Crunch Collection.” It consists of a mix of shredded kale, cabbage (both green and red, light on the red), broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. Yummy! Especially when you sautee it with some coconut oil…

Here’s the detailed recipe:

• 1/4 cup of roasted and unsalted cashew pieces
• 1 tbs coconut oil
• 184 g Cruciferous Crunch Collection (1 bag)
• 1/4 cup of raisins
• 4 large eggs (cage free)
• Spices to taste (I use a bit of salt, pepper, garlic powder, curry powder, turmeric, chili powder, and red pepper flakes)

Simply roast the cashes pieces at high heat a little in coconut oil before adding the green stuff and reducing to medium heat. Stir and mix until the green stuff is pretty much glistening and feeling soft, then start adding in turn the spices, raisins, and finally the eggs. Continue mixing between each ingredient, and finally until the eggs are cooked and completely mixed with the rest.

According to the software I used for the calculations, this recipe provides 64 grams of carbs, 39 grams of protein, and 49 grams of fat. Total calories: 830. If you share equally between two persons, divide those numbers by two. (We share roughly 55-45.)

The fat comes essentially from the cashews and the coconut oil, both recognized as sources of healthy fats. But feel free to substitute. The cashews, by the way, add a nice crunchiness to the mix.

The proteins come from the eggs almost exclusively, and as we all know now, eggs are good eating.

The cruciferous crunch mix provides some of the carbs, and a whole lot of phytonutrients and stomach-filling (and gut-friendly) fiber. So the big contributor to the carbs count is obviously the raisins.

That’s breakfast.

It may not look appealing to you, but in fact it is full of textures and shades of colours, admittedly mostly in the green-yellow range. But your digestive system does not care, ultimately, what the food looks like, and your taste buds can be reset to consider this very tasty.

Notice how there is no juice, no milk, no toast (no, not even whole wheat or gluten-free anything) in that breakfast? We drink a bit of coffee (add some 10-20 calories, because it is espresso, black) and some water. That’s all we need.

And we feel full for a good long time.

Were we to add those other things, often referred to as “parts of a balanced breakfast” but really just loads of extra carbs and some fats, our individual calorie counts would likely double. And we’d get very little additional nutritional value for it.

Notice also how none of this is done in order to get some “super foods” onto our plates. This is just our normal breakfast.

And that’s the key: The normal food has to be good food. Everyday.

NOT FOOD, like coffee, and other stuff that might happen during the day, must become a very small part of your diet. Not the main part.

That being said, keep in mind that I’m not here to provide meal plans, or tell you what to eat. You’re grownups, so you should be able to figure it out for yourselves.

I’m here to tell you to move more, to exercise regularly: To become everyday athletes.

But sharing recipes among everyday athletes is fair game. So feel free to try this.

Pictures by Sacha Veillette, yesterday morning, while making the usual breakfast.