Breakfast is essential. Many scientific studies have found breakfast eaters achieve higher grades, earn larger salaries, have happier marriages, get into less accidents and stay alive longer. What the studies never figured out is the optimum thing to eat at breakfast.
Well, for my body at this age, I’ve got it figured! And it’s a fresh boiled organic free-range egg served with organic home baked bread, a nice hot cup of tea (I am English, don’t forget!), and importantly, 3/4 teaspoon of powdered reishi mushroom with spores.
This morning, my egg was freshly laid by an organic free-range heirloom hen at a wonderful fitness, health and wellness retreat center named The Ranch at Live Oak / Malibu here in Southern California. Run by Sue and Alex Glasscock, The Ranch is a slice of paradise in the Santa Monica Mountains. It’s a retreat center, an exquisitely designed home from home for super busy people looking for a slice of detox away from the stresses and strains of big city living.
My breakfast egg is never better than when it’s freshly laid by a hen that is cared for and handled with love, and that’s exactly how the hens are raised at The Ranch. They’re fed a generous mix of organic laying feed, fresh garden greens, organic kitchen scraps and ground oyster shells. Their coop is one of the prettiest and best designed coops I’ve seen, with great access to fresh air and sunlight, super clean inside quarters, and an insanely spectacular view of the mountains that most of LA would die for!
My breakfast egg is an important part of my health regime, as it sets my brain up for the day with its richly balanced blend of fats and proteins, and its gentle energetics from our feathered friends. So it’s subtle but true that when I start my day with a real egg from loved hens who eat good stuff and are genuinely happy, that happiness is passed on somehow to me.
Speaking of energetics, that’s where the reishi mushrooms come in. When I eat a little spoon of reishi, my whole day is deeper, more profound and angelic. I’ve found that if I ever miss taking reishi spores at breakfast time, my day is subtly less vibrant and connected. I am a complete devotee of all medicinal mushrooms, including shiitake, maitake, lion’s mane, cordyceps, turkey tail, agarikon and blazei. They are an incredible source of immunity boosting, allergy relief and a wonderful support for strength, vitality, calmness and serenity. They are so good for you, it’s spooky.
The tea I have is, of course, organic Earl Grey with organic milk, simply because I am ethnically suited to black tea with milk! I have attempted to cut it out of my diet many times, but to no avail. I drink Earl Grey tea in the morning, that’s just how I roll.
And the toast element of my breakfast… well, it’s not always home made, but it is always dense and nutritious, sometime sourdough, sometimes yeasted, not always whole wheat, but always a good loaf of bread made by hand by me or a baker. Because it’s great to start it with a little hand-made love.