A Pomegranate A Day

We’ve all heard the saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  In the period before my diagnosis, I began to hate breakfast.  In those days I’d usually eat a mug full of cereal or toast a bagel, and then, although I’d just woken up, my body was exhausted, and I had to do everything I could not to crawl back into bed.  It took some time, but I realized the food I was eating was making me tired.  Although I didn’t know I had diabetes, and didn’t know the exhaustion that overwhelmed me was connected to high blood sugar, I changed my breakfast habits, and began to feel better.  I gave up the pure carbohydrate breakfasts for a breakfast with nutrition packed pomegranate seeds.

I’ve been a fan of the pomegranate since I was a child.  I love the taste, the color, and I don’t even mind the mess of it.   Cutting open a pomegranate is always an exhilarating experience for me, kind like opening a treasure box full of rubies. (If you want to spend 4 minutes of your life watching someone neatly open a pomegranate, see here. For the record, I have never used this technique).

The pomegranate is one of the healthiest foods around.  It’s loaded with nutrients and an excellent source of vitamin C, folic acid, and vitamins A and E.  And there is growing evidence that it’s great for diabetics too.  A 2006 study showed that drinking pomegranate juice could help diabetics reduce their risk of heart disease.  And last month the British Journal of Nutrition   published a University of Houston study that showed pomegranate seed oil improved insulin sensitivity in mice.

Here’s my quick and easy recipe for a pomegranate breakfast. (When pomegranates aren’t available, I substitute with blueberries, or finely diced pieces of apple).

Plain yogurt (I like Stonyfield’s Organic Whole Milk yogurt)

One heaping tablespoon of ground flax seeds

Pomegranate seeds

Mix it all up and enjoy.

Just for fun:  Here are some statistics on the number of seeds in pomegranates.

Jessica Apple

Jessica Apple grew up in Houston. She studied Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, and completed an MA in the same field at the Hebrew University. She began to write and publish short stories while a student, and has continued to write essays and fiction while raising her three sons (and many pets).

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Jessica Apple

Jessica Apple grew up in Houston. She studied Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, and completed an MA in the same field at the Hebrew University. She began to write and publish short stories while a student, and continues to write essays and fiction while raising her three sons (and many pets). Jessica’s work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Financial Times Magazine, The Southern Review, The Bellevue Literary Review, Tablet Magazine, and elsewhere. She is the diabetes correspondent for The Faster Times. In 2009 she and her husband, both type 1 diabetics, founded A Sweet Life, where she serves as editor-in-chief. Jessica loves spending time with her sons, cooking with her husband, playing with her cats, reading, biking, drinking coffee, and whenever possible, taking a nap. Follow Jessica on Twitter (@jessapple)