New Year, New Commitment & Putting the “S” in a Scandinavian Breakfast

I think we can all say that 2020 didn’t exactly turn out the way we thought. My buddy J.J. Johnson and I looked back at our 2020 resolutions and it was pretty funny how far off we were.

I suspect you might have had a similar experience.

One of my challenges with a New Year’s resolution is it feels more like a revolution, it’s going to just come back around again next year to the same starting point. So this year I’ve decided to change the word I’m using to describe the changes in my life. I’m making a commitment for the first 100 days of 2021 to live a healthy lifestyle.

That means three things to me. I’m going to:

• Eat according to the Trim Healthy Mama Plan

• Stretch and exercise six days a week

• Sit down with my wife, and eat dinner together daily including a devotional time

So how’s that different than a resolution you might ask? It sure sounds like a New Year’s resolution. For me, the word commitment is something I’m going to do…period. It’s something I’ve shared with a lot of people and feel personally accountable to others to get it done. In the past, I have to say this particular commitment would have been nearly impossible, with my travel schedule. The road warrior life just created too many barriers to success. But as it stands we’re going to be at least 100 days into 2021 if not into the fall before I’m on the road again, so it’s a commitment I know I can keep.

With that in mind here’s my on-plan first meal of 2021. It's patterned after a traditional Scandinavian breakfast because minus the bread to make it a Trim Healthy Mama “S” meal. What I like about this breakfast is it’s super fast to make and that it’s nibbling food. I can whip this up in about a minute and get right to work writing something like this blog post.

Ingredients

• A deck of card size of sliced meats

• A slice of cheese

• ¼ plate of vegetables

• ½ Cup of Blueberries or 1 cup of Strawberries

Optional

• Coffee (whatever you need to wake up in the morning)

• 1 Tablespoon of Half-and-Half

• Condiments (Mustard, Mayonaise etc…)

Supplies

• Plate

Optional

• Coffee Cup

• 1 Tablespoon measure

Instructions

In general, the instructions are pretty simple, get the stuff and put it on a plate. However, there are some things you should think about.

Meat: The go-to’s in my house are Canadian bacon and smoked turkey. Both of them are fairly lean so they play the protein in an “S”, “E”, or “Fuel Pull”. So we keep them on hand all the time. That said, they aren’t super filling. So unless you add a lot of fat into this you’ll be hungry closer to three hours out than four.

Cheese: We like cheese, not gonna lie. So we have all different kinds, and I vary it with each meal. The main thing is it provides the fat that makes this an “S” meal. So if you are currently focused on weight loss eating the cheese in moderation is important.

Vegetables: I don’t have a lot to offer here other than my Mom always told me to eat my vegetables. Because this is an “S” meal you can add some ranch dressing to help them go down, but I usually just try to pick vegetables I can tolerate in the first place.

Berries: I was surprised when my wife told me I could have berries with an “S” meal. I don’t understand why that works, but I take advantage of the little bit of sweetness it adds to the meal. But like the cheese, you’ll want to stick to an appropriate portion.

Optional

Coffee & Half-and-Half: I love my coffee, I’ve been drinking it since I was three. So it’s a guaranteed part of my breakfast. The tricky part was for the longest time I was used to the sugar-free/low-fat non-dairy creamer. When my wife told me that half-and-half was the way to go on Trim Healthy Mama I was elated. Deep down I didn’t like the artificial stuff anyway. However, like cheese, you have to use it with care. The recommended serving is 1 tablespoon, so I try to stick with that.

Condiments: This part took me a long time to figure out for an “S” meal because EVERYTHING seems to have sugar or high-fructose corn syrup in it. I’ve found you can get away with most mustards and mayo. I like horseradish and thought of using Arby’s horsey sauce, but it seems to be mostly sugar. The horseradish in the picture has a really low sugar content so it’s on my list.

What’s great about the Scandinavian Breakfast is there’s no cooking or prep needed. It can be super filling or lighter with slight variations, and you can have a slightly different meal every day. This will definitely be my go-to meal for breakfast most days starting in 2021.

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