By Janis Jibrin, M.S., R.D., Best Life lead nutritionist

I’ll admit it—I’ve given unsolicited advice to total strangers in the cereal aisle, but only when they look truly bewildered. It’s my nutritionist’s instinct, what can I say? Believe it or not, choosing a healthy cereal is not as complicated as you might think, especially when you follow a few simple steps.

Start with the ingredient list. Check to make sure all grains are whole. Examples of whole grains: barley, brown rice, oats, quinoa, triticale, whole rye, whole wheat, and anything else with “whole” in front of it. For more on what is and isn’t a whole grain, click here. I’d avoid sucralose (Splenda), acesulfame K, aspartame (Nutrasweet), and any other artificial sweetener—you don’t need these in a cereal.
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By Janis Jibrin, M.S., R.D., TheBestLife.com lead nutritionist

As a trim, chic couple passes me on the street, I hear snatches of their conversation—in French. The other night at a restaurant, I heard Italian coming from a nearby table of three generations: healthy children, parents and grandparents. Living in Washington, D.C., with all the embassies and international organizations, I wind up hearing many different languages. When I recognize one, I do a quick—and surreptitious—assessment of the speaker’s body weight. My amateur research findings, corroborated by legitimate studies, are that in most other countries, people are at healthier weights than Americans. For instance, our obesity rate is 3.5 times that of France’s.

I’ve pumped my international friends—all of whom are at a healthy body weight—for their secrets. No matter where they come from, there is one strategy they all share: They respect the concept of mealtimes. They eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, with little to no snacking in between.
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My daughter and I make pancakes on Saturday or Sunday every weekend. We usually do this in our pajamas and we always make a disaster zone out of the kitchen. It’s delicious bonding time that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Except maybe chocolate. But with these pancakes, absolutely no sacrifices are made.

The two of us love chocolate, strawberries, and pancakes so it seemed that marrying these ingredients would be an exciting way to get out of our standard blueberry pancake rut. We were pleasantly surprised. She enjoyed dropping her favorite fruit in to the batter and I enjoyed indulging in something at breakfast that beat just about any dessert I’d had recently.

In this recipe, you get to have a rich, satisfying serving of chocolate without overdoing it, all the while filling up on a whole grain pancake loaded with fresh, juicy strawberries.
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Kami Rivera’s biggest contributors to weight gain were a poor diet and neglecting exercise. These unhealthy habits snowballed in her late 20s and led her to weigh nearly 250 pounds. In 2007, things grew worse as a heart condition required Kami to have surgery. As a result she felt sidelined from any attempts to get healthy. Looking back she admits she leaned on that event for a long time as a crutch. She’d gotten into such a rut that she began believing her problems would be solved by doing nothing at all.

But in October 2011, things began to improve as Kami started eating better. And 2012 brought a New Year’s resolution to get more active. Her activity of choice? Title Boxing.

“I tried to think of a million excuses for why I didn’t want to do it, but I live right across the street from the [Title] studio,” she said. “I was able to hang for the first class, then I started going twice a week. Eventually each class got easier and easier and I was going about five times a week and maybe six if I could squeeze in a Sunday.”

Unlike ever before Kami was working focused on getting in shape and gaining both knowledge and inspiration from her boxing classes. Though she’d had a treadmill, total gym and weight bench at her home for a long time, she realized she’d just never found the motivation to use them. With boxing it was different.
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With Christmas Eve finally upon us, everyone is checking those lists one more time to make sure nothing is forgotten. While we tend to focus on making sure the gift lists are marked complete, the grocery list can get overlooked. Make sure you’ve got a big festive breakfast planned for tomorrow morning. As your little ones stumble upon their prizes from Santa, the big kids can go ahead and settle in to a home-cooked breakfast that’s just special enough to enjoy one morning a year.

We’ve got six healthier breakfast ideas that we promise you’ve still got time to make (even on Christmas Eve!).

Baked Double Chocolate Peppermint Donuts

You won’t find any added processed sugar in these little gems. Instead we sweeten with honey, quality cocoa, and just enough crushed peppermint sticks to brighten your morning. A few mini chocolate chips baked in the pan with the batter create an instant glaze. All you have to do is serve!
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