Want to have some fun while helping to wipe out child hunger? Quaker’s Candace Mueller Medina, today’s Guest Blogger, is here to tell us how you can support Share Our Strength while celebrating Oatmeal Month on the Quaker website. Send an “Oatmail” to a friend today!

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”  Despite the fact that this maxim is by now conventional wisdom edging toward cliché, it’s possible that we still think less about breakfast than any other mealtime.    Maybe our minds are too foggy in the morning to carefully consider all of our breakfast options, or we’d rather spend an extra 10 minutes in bed than in the kitchen.  Whatever the reason, we often neglect breakfast as a legitimate meal in its own right.

Oh, how boring we’ve let breakfast become!  We hypnotically dole cereals into our bowls like zombies with bed-head, scarf down an egg sandwich behind the wheel while we concentrate instead on the defeating row of tail lights ahead of us, or absentmindedly chomp on an oversized bagel while we get set to tackle our morning email.  Breakfast has become an almost-invisible afterthought accompanying our other morning activities.  

But if breakfast sets the tone for the day, then one mindless meal quite likely begets the next.  In contrast, when we eat mindfully, we pay attention to what our bodies need and potentially make healthier food choices throughout the day.  In turn, these healthy choices set us up for making equally deliberate and nutritionally-sound decisions when we eat next.  

Breakfast not only offers a natural opportunity to start earning quality nutrition points but can also be a pleasant way to awaken your senses as you begin your day.  Whole-grain choices abound.  Whole-grain ready-to-eat cereals, breads, and oatmeal are inherently good choices for adding fiber to your daily diet and most are fortified with additional vitamins and minerals. 

What’s more, they also lend themselves to nutritious and delicious (and sometimes unexpected) pairings.  While white toast with butter or sugary jelly is neither particularly healthy nor especially exciting, multi-grain bread with a no-sugar-added peanut butter topped with grilled bananas or peaches is good for you and gives you a meal that’s worth savoring.  

Or how about vegetables?  Though often ignored altogether before noon, they can also be counted on to liven up the standard breakfast.  The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) now recommends upwards of 9 servings of vegetables a day, yet many of us are way below that benchmark.  Why not make your egg-and-cheese sandwich with a whole-grain bun and add spinach and sprouts?  Try mixing pumpkin purée and cinnamon with your oatmeal, or add diced veggies and an unsweetened multi-grain cereal to cottage cheese.  Clearly, there are bolder breakfast dimensions to be explored.

In this spirit of mindful and experiential eating, Quaker is encouraging consumers to enliven their breakfast routine with adventurous oatmeal “creations” to help start their day.  Starting January 25 (today!) you can describe your upcoming day (or that of a friend) and Quaker will create a virtual, customized bowl of oatmeal designed to help you meet the demands of your specific day, on the Quaker website. With surprising toppings like kiwi, avocado, and coconut, these unexpected twists on classic flavors put the “meal” back in oatmeal and get you thinking mindfully about breakfast again.  

The virtual bowls can serve as real-life oatmeal inspiration in the morning to jumpstart your day ahead.  Whether you’ve got a big day at work or your friend has a big date night ahead, each inventive topping combo is tailored to give you a fun way to start your day.

You can share your just-for-you bowl with others by uploading the creation to your facebook page or Twitterfeed, or send the perfect oatmeal creation to a friend through Quaker’s “Oatmails” (oatmeal emails).  What’s more, for each Oatmail you send, Quaker is donating $1 (up to $25,000) to the national nonprofit Share Our Strength (SOS), an organization dedicated to eradicating child hunger.  By sending oatmails to friends and families, you’re not only calling others to re-think and re-awaken their own breakfast, you’re also helping hungry kids start their day off right, too.

It’s time to take back breakfast.  It doesn’t take much to make breakfast basics more exciting and possibly even more nutritious.  And if you take the time to think mindfully about your meal and your needs as well as exercise a bit more culinary creativity in the morning, you’re more likely to follow suit throughout the day. (Guest Blogger Candace Mueller Medina, Communications Manager, Quaker Foods & Snacks)