Yes, I said cereal. Let’s face it most of us grew  up on cereal. I loved ALL the cereal. But once I got wise to nutrition, I realized the sugary stuff doused with dairy each morning was not doing me any good–not good for steady energy, not good for my gut, and not good for health or performance. Shoot. Bye bye cereal.

I’ve dabbled with making “paleo cereals” using coconut flakes, crushed nuts, seeds, blueberries, cinnamon, and nut milks. It worked, but it was “heavy” and also didn’t quite replicate real cereal, you know, “toasted flakes” and granola-type stuff…

Now I think I’ve nailed it, and it’s not just a plain bowl of empty-calorie cereal… It’s a fat-adapted/moderate LCHF-friendly recipe that’s nutrient dense & more than meets the eye:

Protein-Packed Paleo Cereal

For dry ingredients, fill a bowl with:
(amounts estimated, don’t go crazy over measurements!)
Paleo Coconut Flakes* (add as your base, I add at least 1 serving)
PaleoKrunch Cinnamon Granola (grain free, gluten free, with honey* as the only sweetener)
– 5-10 chopped raw almonds
– 1 tbsp raw pumpkin seeds
– 2 scoops unsweetened coconut flakes
– 2 tbsp frozen wild organic blueberries (add straight from freezer, they thaw immediately; frozen berries are way cheaper than fresh and longer lasting!)

*this cereal and other products available for cheaper at ThriveMarket.com, the online shop where costco meets whole foods–join you won’t regret it!

For the milk, add to a shaker bottle:
(in this order)
– 1/2 cup unsweetened almond or coconut milk (preferably no fillers)
– 2 scoops Mt. Capra Deep 30 coconut protein powder (goat’s whey from happy goats!)
– 2 tbsp Great Lakes Collagen
– dash of cinnamon
– dash of pink salt
– dash nutmeg (optional)
– 1/2 cup cold water

Directions:
Shake the mixer bottle vigorously until well mixed, all blended.
Pour milk over the bowl of cereal ingredients and DIG IN immediately!

Benefits:
Long-lasting steady energy: This meal will keep you energized for 4-6 hours and it won’t weigh you down like a breakfast burrito plopped in your gut. It’s ideal for those busy days when you need quality fuel for the day ahead, or a clean-burning meal before/after a long endurance workout. It’s not “low calorie” but it’s all quality–and that is what matters. Also because it’s so satiating you maintain steady energy for hours and don’t need to graze and snack your way through the day–this break in eating for your digestive system (4-6hr) inevitably helps promote better motility, thus better gut health since things “move along” nicely on schedule.

Protein! The milk concoction takes this bowl of cereal to another level offering some of the best-quality protein sources you can find on the planet. Collagen is the hot-ticket to better health, anti-aging, quality amino acids, cell growth and muscle/connective tissue integrity; it’s also easily digested and has no crappy ingredients like sugar or fillers. And Mt. Capra is the only protein powder I like to use these days–I’ve gone through tons of protein powders that suck, but this one settles perfectly fine in my system–it must be the happy goats on that family farm up in washington. Even though it is technically dairy (lower lactose due to being goat’s whey) and has trace amounts of stevia, it doesn’t disrupt the gut in my experience. I also use the Mt. Capra on our intense backpacking trips and it works great.

Thrive with variety: I often have my athletes and clients asking for more variety in fat-adapted breakfast recipes, and this nails it. I, too, get sick of the same old eggs/avocado/veggies/butter skillet, and, also, while veggies are great and I’n never knock my beloved greens, I don’t think you need to go mega veggie in every single meal. I’ve been stuck in that trap, and it actually didn’t serve well for optimal digestion. It’s an interest topic that I’d like to explore more….

A ‘safe’ cereal & granola, for real? The Paleo Coconut Flakes are simply ah-mazing and dangerously delicious with 3ish ingredients only: coconut meat, coconut water and palm starch. This is the flakey cereal I’ve missed… and now it’s back minus the sugar and laundry list of terrifying ingredients. The PaleoKrunch Granola is just as quality if not more, made of simply raw nuts & seeds, coconut oil, coconut flakes, honey and cinnamon–that is all, folks. As such, both of these products are not the cheapest but worth a few extra bucks IMO. Also, a note on honey: since I’ve eliminated adding/using stevia as a sweetener, honey is now my go-to, and my gut/digestion much prefers the real stuff. I don’t go crazy with use of honey, all moderation.

On palm starch, other resistant starches & gut health: Wondering about palm starch? I don’t have a lot of info currently on palm starch other than 1) certain resistant starches are being praised in paleo/health communities for their gut benefits; and 2) my personal experience–not all starches are the same, so beware, but palm starch in this amount does perfectly fine in my gut, and in fact I notice better overall digestion after I have this cereal. Trust me, as someone who’s suffered from severe gut issues (SIBO, candida, H. Pylori, etc), I know what works and what doesn’t work in my gut. For example, I simply cannot tolerate the starch in plantains. Potato starch? No way. I even have to be careful of sweet potatoes in high amounts. However, in this cereal, the coconut meat/palm starch works fine with no ill side effects; no flare ups whatsoever.

Give it a try!