Why You Should Eat Congee for Breakfast!

We frequently recommend that our patients eat congee for breakfast, but sometimes I think we fail to stress the importance and relevance of it as part of your treatment plan and overall health.
First of all, lets talk about the importance of breakfast. Almost everyone has heard their mom say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but many adults still skip this vital meal. After your body has been resting all night while you sleep, your digestive system is ready to tackle breakfast and get some nutrition to begin its day. Since your digestive system has been resting all night, this makes breakfast your best chance to absorb some nutrients. This is especially important if you have a weak digestive system, as absorbing food throughout the day gets harder and harder (which is visible if you get tired, bloated, or gassy after meals). Think of it this way, your digestive system hardly ever gets a break, and when it does rest and is ready to do its job, you need to eat something that can easily be absorbed--that’s where congee comes in.

One of the most important aspects of our congee recipe is cooking it over night in a crock-pot. While this may seem a little odd, this is really where the “magic” of congee begins. The crock-pot essentially acts as your stomach and does the first wave of digestion for you. Thereby allowing your digestive system to easily assimilate the nutrients in congee when you eat it for breakfast.

So in a nutshell, here’s why you should eat congee:

♦ To help regulate and strengthen digestion

♦ To help make more energy, protein, and blood out of your food

♦ To help improve any condition that is a result of blood deficiency or a weak immune system (I’ve seen it help patients with seasonal allergies, asthma, even MS)

If you haven’t tried congee yet, you can find the recipe on our website under Patient Materials. Try incorporating it into your diet 3-5 times a week, and remember you can also freeze extra congee if you don’t eat it all during the week.