Get better skin with my power-packed porridge

Want to set yourself up for the day with one of the most nutritious breakfasts ever? Try my ‘power porridge’, which will help you stave off the wrinkles and feed your skin, build muscle, stay regular, and stay filled up until at least, well, 11am (I have to snack frequently!). I ought to soak the oats overnight to make it creamier but I never remember to, though I advise it.

Here’s how I make it:

SUPER FOODS: My tub of linseeds and jar of raw cacao nibs (some of whic are in the coffee grinder), with Bodyism beauty food supplement, Minvita Baobab powder, and Comvita Manuka UMF15 honey - just some of the ingredients I add to my hearty bowl of porridge in the morning!

1)   OATS: Simmer a handful of oats in water. Sometimes I use almond or coconut milk. I know Irish steel-cut oats are meant to be the best – they are less processed – but I tend to use cheap ones because the steel-cut variety have too much husk still in the mix, which gets between my teeth!

2)      APPLE: Cut up an apple and add this to the porridge, along with two small scoops of baobab powder (it’s an amazing super food and beats oranges and goji berries for vit C, has more iron per gram than red meat, is packed full of antioxidants and has high levels of potassium and magnesium). At the moment I’m using Minvita Baobab (minvita.co.uk).

3)      SUPER GREENS: Next, I add a tablespoon of Bodyism’s Beauty Food (bodyism.com) which is a green powder packed full of marine collagen peptides; super greens such as spinach, broccoli and barley grass, which alkalise the body (too much acidity leads to illness); MSM (Methyl Sulphonyl Methane) which is my new fave ingredient as it helps with the formation of collagen, elastin, cartilage and keratin; green tea extract to help cleanse the liver; aloe vera, which is an anti-inflamatory; beta-glucan, a soluble fibre that’s said to help control of sugar cravings, which I need at the mo having ditched it for lent, and loads more.

4)      LINSEEDS AND CACAO: Then, I’ll blitz some dark linseeds and raw cacao nibs in a coffee grinder until powdery, and add that to the green gloopy porridge. Cacao is high in magnesium, which I read is important for healthy muscle tissue, and it’s generally lacking in our diets. Linseeds (also called flaxseeds – took me ages to work out they were the same thing!) are also high in omega 3 and 6, and fibre.

5)      NATURAL SWEETENER: If I don’t use the cacao, I’ll often add cinnamon or coconut sugar/lucuma/gurana/cocoa powder from Essential Living Foods (essentiallivingfoods.com).

6)      MORE WATER! I always end up having to add more water as I go along, as the oats soak it all up.

7)      PROTEIN POWER: Depending on whether I’m planning to exercise that day, I might add half a cup of protein, either whey or hemp powder (highernature.co.uk). Sometimes I add the hemp anyway as it’s full of omegas, which are good for the skin, as well as iron.

8)      HONEY: After only about five minutes, I pour it out into a large bowl and add a dollop of manuka honey, currently the Comvita UMF15 variety, which has strong antibacterial powers. (comvita.co.uk)

Et voila! My nutritious, power-packed porridge. It may look pretty gross with thanks to the green powder (sometimes I just add pure chlorella, which I’ve been using for ages and which is now all the rage thanks to supermodels Miranda Kerr endirsing it thedetoxshop.net), however, it tastes great. I can’t eat plain porridge anymore!  

I rarely stay this healthy for the rest of the day, but since it’s lent and I’m on my sugar ban I’m doing pretty well. This morning I walked into town and bought some sugar-free raw chocolate bars. Well, a girl can't completely give up her cocoa fix! More on those bars in a later post...