An open letter to Queen Camilla from me nutritional therapist Jeannette Hyde
Dear Queen Camilla,
I know I have probably got the address wrong (should it be, “Your Majesty”?), but when I saw your winter porridge breakfast outlined in The Times newspaper this weekend by your son Tom via his new book, I felt the need to pipe up.
Obviously you can eat whatever you fancy.
But I was thinking with a few small effortless and tasty add-ins you could make this into a more nutritious meal - to optimise the health of your gut, bones, brain, heart, and immune system.
Tom says in the book: “In winter, my mother eats porridge every day - plain, aside from a little of her own honey.” These are the ingredients:
50g rolled Scottish porridge oats
350ml full-fat milk
A pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of honey
There is some good stuff here eg, the oats have a small amount of fibre (about 4g of your 30g recommended a day) to help keep the bowel moving.
It’s great that you are using full-fat milk, as that may make you feel fuller for longer than one which has had the fat removed, so less likely to get a snack attack mid morning.
I read that the honey is from your very own bee hives, so I’m presuming it is raw, and unpasteurised, which means it is “prebiotic” and can feed good bacteria in the gut (good for all round health). So far so good.
But my question is does it keep you full till lunchtime?
This is where personalisation of diet comes in.
While some people do feel full with a beige carb breakfast like this and their body slowly digests it, others digest it quickly leading to an energy crash and an attack on the shortbread tin at 11am.
My other question is, are you eating plenty of fibre and colour elsewhere to get up to your 30g of fibre daily, and 30 different plants a week, both important for gut health?
You could print out 2 copies of my Diversity Challenge worksheet and have a competition with King Charles to see who is smashing their plant diversity best over the course of a week.
Tom says you have soups for lunch with seasonal veg from your garden, so it is possible you’re on it.
Anyway, I’ve brainstormed a few ideas here to pimp up your porridge should you so wish.
Stir in 2 teaspoons of of Jerusalem artichoke inulin fibre such as this organic one. This should get you about 5g of fibre which can travel all the way down to your colon and feed good bacteria there (aka the microbiome). This can help shape the bacteria into (and stay) a nice healthy pattern. It can also help with satiety. A lot. Btw I find the taste quite neutral. Stir into the porridge on serving.
How about adding a handful of organic wild blueberries such as these from Ocado? The deep dark colours in them called polyphenols feed good bacteria in the gut which can influence the brain and help protect the heart. You could stir them into your hot porridge to defrost, and they taste delicious. You could still add your lovely honey on top.
Finally what about a swirl of flax seed oil (aka linseed oil) such as this from Biona? It tastes quite neutral (especially if you put honey and berries on top).
Flax seed oil has been shown to be anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-osteoporosis, and neuroprotective, and gets into your blood stream quicker as an oil than if your body has to extract it from actual flax seeds.
(Though those are good to keep the bowel moving, but if you have the inulin in your porridge you should have taken care of that already).
Conclusion - try to get extra colour and fibre into your porridge. Experiment! Breakfast is such an opportunity to add good stuff in for your health. Job done.
That’s it for now.
Finally I would also suggest keeping an eye on protein intake, so important for retaining muscle and strong bones as we age. This article might help.
Your current porridge has some (about 11g in the milk, and 5g in the oats, so 16g altogether). I like to aim for 20-25g at breakfast if possible.
But I’m aware some people can’t stomach much protein in the morning and need a carby porridge breakfast for energy. If this is you - you could use lunch and dinner to focus on getting more protein in.
Wishing you great gut health,
Jeannette Hyde (Nutritional Therapist BSc, mBANT, CNHC)
Now over to you readers - how do you pimp up YOUR porridge?
FURTHER INFO
Inulin
Bakirhan and Karabudak. (2021). Effects of inulin on calcium metabolism and bone health. International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research. DOI:10.1024/0300-9831/a000700
Blueberries (one of the authors of this study ⬇️, Robin Mesnage, shared his breakfast with us here recently).
Wood et al. (2023). Wild blueberry (poly)phenols can improve vascular function and cognitive performance in healthy older individuals: a double-blind randomized controlled trial. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.03.017
Flax
Al-Madhagy et al. (2023). Review: A comprehensive review of the health benefits of flaxseed oil in relation to its chemical composition and comparison with other omega‐3‐rich oils. European Journal of Medical Research. DOI: 10.1186/s40001-023-01203-6
Love this, Jeanette! All very good suggestions. She could cook a handful of whole flax seeds in with her oats to increase fibre, protein and essential fats, and also consider stirring in a tablespoon of ground almonds at the end. The chrysin in wild honey also helps with mitochondrial uncoupling - a particular hobby horse of mine! A right royal breakfast. Hope you get an invite to tea with the Queen!
Brilliant! Very topical, great fun and very informative too. She should be considering you for the New Year's honours, surely?