Yes, my internet is still unreliable. I'm probably uploading this via someone else's... Shhh.

So, I wanted to share what I typically have for breakfast, after the initial cup of tea I mentioned on Day 1:

A bowl of nuts and some vitamins, all washed down with a cup of coffee:

~6 brazil nuts
~6 walnut halves
~10 cashew nuts
~10 almonds

People generally find this to be an odd breakfast (and I would have too years ago) but I threw this list of nuts into ChatGPT and it informed me that it equates to approx. 400kcal and said how healthy and well balanced it generally is. Now if you compare this to the typical breakfast cereal every-other-person has been conditioned to consume since childhood* and, well... my breakfast is actually food. Consider how processed breakfast cereal typically is, and how it is supplied in colourful boxes that are attractive to children...

When I moved out of home some 10 years ago and I had to buy my own breakfast cereal, I opted for porridge oats because it was probably the healthiest (no added sugar or other crap), and, most importantly, the cheapest. At home we always had a variety of cereal boxes on the go, and generally the healthier options such as Weetabix and cornflakes. I loved Shreddies too... Sugarpuffs also (although they're not so filling, although better than Rice Crispies which are useless at keeping at bay) we mostly had the unbranded versions, but even these came in at more than twice the price of porridge oats, I realised.

Then, when I lived on my own, and as I was cycling more and more miles each month, I ended up consuming a large portion of porridge in the morning and again in the evening before bed (I still sometimes have a pan before bed in the winter because it's so nice and warming then). Things came to a-head when I did 3-weeks of cycle-touring (some years ago now) and I seemed to develop pre-diabetes (even though I was always slim) and I couldn't stop eating when I got home because I'd had to keep eating so much each day to fuel me on the 60+ miles I was cycling each day (I'd essentially messed up my metabolism). When I researched this, the solution I found was to "cut out the carbs", so I did; I cut out the carbohydrate-heavy breakfast and switched to eating those nuts to replace the calories I needed.

After I became accustomed to eating the nuts (which I buy in bulk), which I can really only consume with the coffee, I realised how "carb-addicted" I had been before; I used to always "enjoy" a large bowl of cereal, or a "mountain of mash"ed potato with a meal. Now that desire has gone. It's quite weird to discover you were addicted to something for all that time - it's not until you cut it out that you get the perspective. Or maybe it's just that the micro-biome of my gut had changed to accommodate my changed diet.

As for the vitamins, I go into detail in my Wellbeing section. I began with Vitamin C, but the other important one (for me in the UK's winter months at least) is Vitamin D. If you struggle with depression you might want to consider if this is seasonal and if so, look into Vitamin D. For the rest, while I did by one point have them all in one go, I now just have them as-and-when I feel like it, rather than flood my body with them.

I recently added Milk Thistle to my pile because I had what I (wrongly) determined to be some liver issue (due to a variety of symptoms). However, literally the day after I ordered a bag of these, I passed a kidney stone... so that had been the issue all along). I'll, however, continue with the occasional milk thistle until they're used up.

And if you're curious about the chipped bowl, and the cup; I've had those since my childhood. The bowl is from Kellogg's, you know when you save up the coupons from the box, and is referred to as the "rumble-tumbs" bowl. I actually have another (that also now has a chip on), but that one isn't original to my childhood, so doesn't really have the same sentimental weight to it. I once bought a book online that I'd had in my childhood, but again, it lacked that feeling when I received it - perhaps more so because it had someone else's name written in it...

The artwork in the middle of the bowl.

*In addition to being conditioned to consume breakfast cereals for breakfast, you may have also been conditioned to believe that if you want to lose weight you need to cut out fat. I believe (and this is widely made known) that this is wrong; in addition to (but certainly start with) sugar, I deemed it best to cut out/down on carbohydrates, beginning with refined/processed carbs, such as pastries, and certainly things like potato-chips/crisps, and bread. Replace the calories, where necessary, with a high-fat alternative... nuts was the obvious one for me, but I also don't shy away from meat. It's also harder to over-eat on nuts or meat (unless you really have an issue), than it is carbs or something sugary.