If you’re a regular reader of FitnessOnToast, you’ll know that I hold breakfast in super high esteem! It’s the key opportunity to engage your metabolism and fuel your body with a serious meal that’ll keep you going for the day ahead. If you do it right, you’ll underpin the rest of your day, increasing the likelihood of staying on track and diminishing the temptation to snack! Given this, I’m always looking to devise interesting breakfast ideas, and when the invite arrived in my inbox to attend the launch party of Love Beets (a beetroot company with British heritage), I had a bit of a breakfast brainwave… This post is broken down into three parts; 1) The benefits of beetroot, 2) the Love Beets Voga session at the London Edition hotel last week, and 3) my healthy ‘Beetroot Breakfast Milkshake’ recipe which is loaded with fresh ingredients and healthy fats to nourish your body nice and early in the day. Click MORE to get it all…
1) BENEFITS OF BEETROOT
I would argue that beetroots are a bit of an unsung Superfood! The pigments that give beetroot their gorgeous deep red hue are called betalains – a powerful antioxidant which help to reduce inflammation. With a seriously earthy flavour, beets work well in soups, salads, to accompany a meat dish or indeed as part of a healthy smoothie! They’re super rich in glutamine (for maintenance of your digestive health), they contain plenty of iron (to promote white blood cell production) and teeming with nitrates (which has been linked with lower blood pressure), and are an excellent source of folates (which promote tissue growth and repair). Add on to this that they’re super low in saturates and cholesterol, with plenty of dietary fiber too…. Great!
But the real characteristic that pushes this over the ‘superfood line’ for me is the sugar. We humans need sugar to operate, and too often it’s vilified as something hideous and sinister! Yes there are 7g of sugar in every 100g of raw beets, and most of the microscopic 40 calories stem from that sugar, but the important point to make is that the glycemic load (a measure of how much your blood glucose is raised by eating it) is a mere 3/250, vs. a Banana at 18/250 and a white baguette at 48/250. This, once again, should keep you protected from danger-snacking! Too much sugar is a bad thing, but the right amount of the right sort of sugar is perfect!
2) THE LAUNCH EVENT
Last week I attended the Love Beets launch event with ‘House of Voga‘ at the stunning London Edition Hotel, just a stone’s throw away from Oxford Circus. The Voga class (a hybrid of Yoga and Voguing) was an enormously satisfying, uplifting yoga session which unusually combined the physical energy of dance and the fluid tranquility of traditional yoga moves (a perfect combo, if you ask me!) alongside fun 80’s tunes. The lesson was led by the movement’s founder, Juliet Murrell and it really transported me back to Ibizan memories of yoga on the beach – which she actually hosts every summer! Apart from feeling worked out, I felt unusually uplifted and content leaving the class! Below are some photos of the event. Big Thank you to Juliet for the fab class!
3) THE BREAKFAST MILKSHAKE
A really convenient way to access the benefits of beetroot is through its juice; Love Beets kindly sent me a batch of their tasty, earthy juices, and I immediately thought I’d try using it as the base of this delicious drink. ‘Milkshake’ isn’t the typical word you’d use to describe a healthy juice, but in this instance, it seems totally appropriate, not just because of how fabulous it tastes, but because of the fresh coconut milk! Why not blend up a batch on a Saturday morning, and keep some for your Sunday morning smoothie too ;) !
Recipe:
1. The Milk of 1 fresh Coconut
2. Fresh Strawberries – to taste!
3. 1/2 Avocado
4. Fresh spinach leaves
5. 250ml Love Beets juice
6. Sprinkle of chia seeds
How to?
1. With suitable equipment, lop off the lid of an organic coconut and pour out the coconut milk into your mixing bowl.
2. Spoon out the inside of half an avocado
3. Add the spinach and strawberries
4. Mix all the ingredients together, add the beetroot juice and sprinkle some chia seeds on top!
5. Blend, serve with cubes of ice and enjoy! Faya x
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I WAS WEARING:
Top: Reebok Black Zip-through Running Jacket, similar HERE
Leggings: Koral Activewear Hyperdrive Legging
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