Breakfast Fun!

So I've started to notice this week that I am waking up hungry at night. It has happened the past three nights, and it's very unusual for me. Prior to using Ozempic I've never in my life woken up hungry. I've also noticed that after I've gone back to sleep and woken up in the morning that the raging hunger is gone. So I'm not sure if I do need to up my dose to 0.5mg after all, or if I am just not eating enough given the exercise that I'm doing. I'm going to try eating a bit more the next few days to see if it resolves the hunger issues before just going straight to upping my dose. I am still losing weight (oddly enough, it seems that Thursdays are the day where I weigh the least) and other than the middle of the night hunger, my appetite still seems well controlled during the day.

I've been stepping on the scale daily just to see my patterns, but only logging Mondays as my official weigh in. It seems that right after my shot I start losing, and it keeps dropping until Thursday. Then on the weekend, a little bit seems to creep back on. I'm still very pleased with the losses I'm seeing so I haven't been concerned. I find it interesting though because I do track every calorie I consume on Lose It, and I'm not generally eating more on the weekend. Monday actually tends to be the day I eat the most. I try for an average of 1500 calories daily, but calorie cycling between about 1200-1700 so that my body doesn't get too used to it. So I'm not sure what specifically is causing this pattern (I'm no less active on the weekends, either), but it's interesting, and so I'll keep an eye on it.

So that being said, I decided to focus on heartier breakfasts this week so that possibly I'll be less hungry at night. I've always loved decadent breakfasts. They feel special to me for some reason. While with some of my health conditions I found myself skipping breakfast more often, I've been trying to make an effort to eat something early in the morning because I've found that if I do something that requires energy on an empty stomach, that I am more likely to feel nauseous afterwards.

Pancakes really aren't that time consuming to whip up, especially if you use a premade mix. I prefer to go for one with added protein and whole grains so that it's lower on the glycemic index, less likely to spike blood glucose, and to increase satiety. I've tried a couple of different recipes lately, and both were delicious, filling, and sweet enough not even to need maple syrup!

Blueberry-Lemon Ricotta Pancakes:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 egg, separated

8 tbsp light ricotta cheese

1/4 cup milk

2 tbsp sugar replacement of your choice

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp grated lemon zest

1 tsp lemon juice

handful of blueberries

Preheat your griddle or frying pan over medium heat. In a large bowl, whisk together ricotta, egg yolk, milk, lemon zest, vanilla, and lemon juice. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, sugar replacement, baking powder, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined- do not overmix. Beat the egg white with a mixer until soft peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter, do not over mix.

Spray your cooking surface with cooking spray, and when it's heated up, spoon 1/4 of the batter out per pancake. Dot each pancake with blueberries. Cook each pancake for about three minutes, or until the edges are dry and bubbles form in the top of the pancake. Flip pancake, and cook for another 1-2 minutes or until golden brown on both sides.

You won't even need syrup on these- they're nice and sweet as well as loaded with protein. I dusted mine with a little bit of Swerve icing sugar.

This recipe serves two people two generous pancakes each, for a total of 220 calories, 6g fat, 16g carbs, and 13g protein per serving. You could also use your favourite high protein pancake mix in place of the flour, salt, and baking powder if you like.

One of the reasons that I enjoy pancakes so much is that they're such a blank canvas to play with. You can make them savory or sweet, but always delicious. I've got a few great savory pancake mix recipes if you look in my Recipes tab, like a copycat McDonalds McGriddle sandwich and corn dog pancake puffs! 

I can't stand sugar free syrup, so I either use a small amount of real maple syrup, or I look for recipes where the pancake doesn't need any and tastes great on its own. Here's a trick- freeze bananas while they're still in the peel, and let them defrost overnight. The freezing helps break down the sugars so it tastes like you're using real sugar plus a nice rich creamy flavour but less intense banana taste.

So this morning I modified the recipe a bit to this:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 egg whites

3 tbsp light ricotta cheese

1/4 cup water

1 banana, frozen, then thawed

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

handful of blueberries

The banana, once thawed, is easy to mush into almost a liquid, but the dry mix still needs the water to thin out the batter. I kept the ricotta cheese and the egg whites to up the protein. Again, use your favourite high protein pancake mix if you like instead of the dry ingredients.

Definitely no syrup needed on these! Again, serves two with a total of 199 calories, 1.5g fat, 19g carbs, and 9g protein.