Sprouted Wheat Bagel with Hummus and Salad

Today’s breakfast is a departure from the smoothie breakfast that we usually consume. I have been reading another book “Life Over Cancer” by Keith Block, MD. In the book, the doctor (who has been treating cancer patients for 30 years) advocates a diet, which gets between 11.5% and 13% of its overall calories from fat (mostly Omega 3) to prevent and treat cancer. Really? Approximately 12 percent total calories from fat? Well, needless to say this put me into a little bit of a panic. I try to keep our total fat down, and make certain that is good fat, but 12% total calories from fat. Wow, that is going to be tough but I am going to try to do it!

This morning I decided to see how low I could go on overall fat, while still creating a breakfast that we wanted to eat. My no fat added hummus came to the rescue today. It makes a nice spread on bagels or crackers. I added a few sesame seeds for good fat. Next I decided to include some cruciferous veggies to our breakfast to fight cancer, since we were going savory with the hummus it seemed to make sense. Arugula is a part of the cruciferous vegetable family so it became the base on our salad. Tomato adds lycopene, another potent antioxidant and cancer fighter. I used a measured teaspoon of canola oil (it has a better omega 3: omega 6 ratio than olive oil) because I think salad needs a little fat. An equal amount of sherry vinegar was included for flavor.

Overall, this breakfast tasted much better than I expected. The teaspoon of canola oil was enough on the salad (which surprised me). The hummus on the bagel added protein without fat. If you want to get closer to the 12% goal eliminate the sesame seeds and the overall fat percentage falls to 13%.

I think it is going to take some work to get to the 12% overall fat goal. My husband and I were discussing this last night and again this morning. We both have decided to try to reach the 12% total, but agree that if the food doesn’t taste good at that level we will need to rethink this concept. You should expect to see the fat in my recipes decline over the coming weeks and now you will know why.

Sprouted Wheat Bagel with Hummus and Salad
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 sprouted whole wheat bagel, split and toasted
6 tablespoons of hummus with roasted red pepper, garlic and paprika
2 teaspoons of raw sesame seeds
2 cups of baby arugula
1 tomato, cut into bite size pieces
1 teaspoon of canola oil
1 teaspoon of sherry vinegar

Directions:

Spread hummus on toasted bagel halves. Sprinkle sesame seeds on hummus. Toss arugula and tomato with canola oil and vinegar.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 264.6
Calories From Fat (17%) - 43.98

Total Fat 5.11g
Saturated Fat - 0.42g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 514.56mg
Potassium - 399.95mg
Total Carbohydrates - 45.96g
Fiber - 6.21g
Sugar - 3.29g
Protein - 10.23g

Comments:

This breakfast was much better than I expected. My meals normally contain a little more fat than this. We didn’t make the 12% total calories from fat goal, but the fat we got was healthy, and lower than we normally consume.

I missed the sweetness from the fruit this morning. I may make a green salad with fruit tomorrow instead of the veggie salad. An apple with a little smear of peanut butter may also be a good idea. I will need to do a little research to determine how much peanut butter we can have and still keep the overall fat down.

If you like savory recipes for breakfast this was good, and filling. I am curious to see how long this breakfast “stays with me”. If I get hungry before lunchtime I will update this post.