Day CXVII: Breakfast

If you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, you're not hungry.

-Michael Pollan

I've never been a breakfast eater.

Ever.

There was a brief period in high school--or was it college?--that I insisted on eating something every morning because I'd heard it was beneficial. And, I suppose, when I worked at River Rock coffee, rarely a morning would pass without a scone or a muffin from the baker. Those rare instances aside breakfast has just never been a part of my routine. 

Even as a child, I refused. My grandma was especially good at insisting that I have something, anything, regardless of what it was. She offered ice cream. She made bacon. She asked "what about Scandinavian Almond Cake?" No, nope, no thank you. Mom and dad were unsuccessful in championing breakfast as well. Cereal, toast, fruit: nothing ever sounded less appealing than it did in the minutes between waking up and heading off to school.

Now an adult, I still feel the same outside pressures to consume a meal before lunch.

You didn't eat breakfast?! friends ask, incredulous.

Hungry? Didn't you eat this morning?

That's all? Must have had a big breakfast!

Of late, I've noticed a gradual shift. A tendency toward snacking--a light breakfast of sorts.

Simplicity makes sense to me. I am an editor, after all.

So a tiny cup of frozen grapes and almonds works perfectly as an appetite buster and meal. My coworkers, at least the three I share a space with, like to point out that I eat like a bird at work. Fruit and nuts, nuts and fruit. You might as well set a feeder above my desk.

Still, it's something, right?  A little bit of nourishment to assist the morning coffee. 

And, who knows, maybe it's been helpful. Maybe it hasn't. I haven't spent enough time reflecting on how this new regimen has helped or hindered me. My guess is that it's been more beneficial than not, and, let's be real, almonds and grapes--or blueberries!--are delicious.

Lewis Carrol wrote: 

Why sometimes I believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. 

If that's six in just one day, it's no wonder I'm mad.