Hot Breakfast After TCM – That's It!

Warmed up, well saturated, but still light as a feather and full of energy to start the day?

All of this is possible according to TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) – if you prepare a hot breakfast in the morning and observe some basic rules.

That's why we've taken a closer look at it in this blog post and tell you why hot breakfast after TCM is so healthy, what the internal organ clock has to do with it, and what should ideally be on the breakfast table.

TCM Breakfast – Morning like an Emperor

At Verival, we love to constantly develop ourselves and our recipes and to be inspired by them from all over the world. A diet that is becoming increasingly important is the 5-element kitchen, which describes the nutritional theory according to TCM.

Breakfast – strictly speaking, the hot breakfast – is often referred to as the heart of the TCM diet. According to the TCM diet, the saying "in the morning like an emperor, at noon like a king, and in the evening like a beggar", which describes how extensive the meals should ideally be distributed throughout the day, is exactly right.

The concept of the so-called "internal organ clock" explains why this is the case.

The TCM organ clock – When should I have breakfast?

The internal organ clock simply states that our organs function better or worse at different times of the day. So if we are guided by this scheme, we can support our body in its work in a very natural way.

The stomach has its most active time between 7 and 9 o'clock in the morning. This means that it can process food best during this time. After the stomach has, so to speak, made its contribution to digestion, it is the spleen's turn, according to TCM.

Their job is to convert food into energy (Qi) . It works best between 9am and 11am. Exactly 12 hours later, these two organs are each in their resting phase, which speaks for a light dinner.

Have breakfast when you're hungry

So if you follow the nutritional theory of TCM, it is optimal to have breakfast at this most active time, between 7 and 11 o'clock . Ideally, you should always have breakfast around the same time, because our body likes routine. But as always, listen to your body. Do not eat anything until you feel slightly hungry.

If you have been skipping breakfast for years but would like to change this habit, we recommend starting at the same time every day with a small, well-digestible food – you will see, soon the feeling of hunger will come on its own.

What's on the TCM breakfast table?

According to thousands of years of science, it is not only important to pay attention to when you have breakfast in the morning, but also to what you eat. This means choosing meals that can be processed well by the stomach and spleen, which again tightens the bow to a hot breakfast.

Hot breakfast strengthens your organs

Warm food is already at the "operating temperature" of the body, so to speak, and therefore does not have to be heated by the stomach in an energy-intensive way before it can be further processed.

After all, a stomach strained by heating cannot ideally prepare the spleen for its task. This subsequently leads to digestive problems and to a weakening of the immune system. However, if you treat your body to a heated, cooked breakfast, the stomach and spleen can ideally work together and build up Qi , which can be translated as "life energy" in TCM.

Breakfast according to the 5 elements

Essential to all TCM dishes is that each of the 5 elements wood, fire, earth, metal and water is included in the form of the ingredients. According to the nutritional theory of Chinese medicine, all foods are assigned to one of the elements due to their taste and mode of action.

So it is sometimes not so easy to conjure up a warm, balanced, and tasty breakfast dish on the table, which is ideally also prepared quickly. Simple options are, for example, a  warm porridge, an egg dish, or a soup .

How to make your hot breakfast after TCM

Regardless of whether you prefer salty or sweet in the morning, if you observe these most important basic rules of the TCM breakfast, you are already on the right track:

Superfood Oats

If you take a closer look at the foods that should not be missing from a TCM breakfast, you can hardly miss one ingredient: oats . Since we have already written extensively about oats and its healthy properties in another post, we will only give a brief overview of the miracle cereal from the TCM's point of view.

Cereals generally have a high priority in the TCM diet, as they are one of the most important staple foods and should have a positive effect on the organs of the stomach and spleen . Even if cereals taste rather sweet across all varieties, oats are the sweetest and at the same time the warmest variety among the otherwise rather neutral or cooling cereals.

Therefore, it is particularly suitable in the cold season, for example as a delicious oatmeal – because porridge is perfect for a hot breakfast. Since oats are also assigned to the element metal, they are said to have positive effects on the organs of the lungs and large intestine.

Plant milk instead of animal products

According to the TCM diet, dairy products are not a good idea in the morning, as they have a strong mucus-forming effect and are also comparatively difficult to digest . Try preparing your morning porridge with a plant-based drink such as oat, almond, or cashew milk.

These vegan milk alternatives are now available in every supermarket from many different suppliers and in countless varieties. But if you are more of a DIY type and like to avoid packaging waste where possible, you can also try making your own plant-based drink.

Refrain from raw food

This news is less good for those who like to drink fresh smoothies in the morning: a hot breakfast logically does not include raw food. This means that you should ideally cook all the fruits and vegetables you eat in the morning. Because raw food is harder to digest and, according to TCM, also has a cooling effect on the body, which should rather be avoided in the morning.

However, there are different views on this point, because some people think that small amounts of raw food together with a warm dish are very well tolerated. However, you should make sure to serve the fruit and vegetables at room temperature and not directly from the refrigerator.

Bye, bye, breakfast bread

Bread has unfortunately lost little on the breakfast table, according to TCM. Because in general, foods made from flour, especially wheat flour, are difficult to digest. In addition, bread is not a warm or cooked food, which is why it deprives us of energy during digestion rather than giving it away, as it has to be laboriously heated by the body beforehand. Bread should therefore generally not be eaten alone, but accompanied by a cooked food, such as a soup or a stew.

5 benefits of hot breakfast after TCM

In another blog post, we have already discussed the advantages of a hot breakfast in great detail. Here is the short version for you again:

Hot breakfast made easy after TCM: TCM porridge from Verival

We all know it – unfortunately, most people only eat a lavishly prepared and extensive breakfast on weekends. However, this does not mean that you have to do without a balanced, hot breakfast on working days. With the three new TCM varieties from Verival, which have been developed according to the 5-element doctrine, your TCM breakfast will be ready to enjoy on your breakfast table in just a few minutes.

How to do it? It's easy! We have already combined all the ingredients needed for a balanced dish according to TCM nutritional theory in our porridge mixtures. This means that the composition of the ingredients has been chosen in such a way that each of the 5 elements wood, fire, earth, metal and water is represented in a balanced way. Let's take a closer look at our three new varieties:

Warming Recipe: The Sour Cherry Cocoa Oat Porridge

Those who are more prone to cold feet and hands – not only in the cold season – could find their new favorite breakfast with the sour cherry cocoa oat porridge. As already mentioned, the grain – among many other positive properties – also has a warming effect on the body.

The oatmeal is vegan, contains a lot of vegetable protein , and is also prepared in just a few minutes. Simply pour hot water, milk, or – our recommendation – heated oat drink over the porridge mixture and let it steep for 3 minutes.

Harmonizing Recipe: The Coconut Orange Rice Porridge

If you sometimes need a little longer in the morning to get your balance right, we can recommend our gluten-free rice-based porridge with coconut & orange. According to TCM, rice has a harmonizing effect on our body and is also easily digestible.

To make the rice grains really soft, you should let this porridge steep for at least 8 minutes. However, this time can easily be bridged, for example with a short meditation, oil pulling, some yoga exercises, or journaling.

Slightly cooling recipe: The apricot-strawberry spelt porridge

Our slightly cooling apricot strawberry spelt porridge is perfect for the warmer months or simply for all hotheads among you. Thanks to the fruity taste of its ingredients, the porridge is completely sugar-free, vegan, and a high-quality, plant-based protein source.

Just like the oat porridge, it only has to swell for 3 minutes after mixing with – depending on the taste – water, milk, or plant drink and is therefore ready to eat in no time. You can also add nuts such as cashew and hazelnuts or try chia seeds.

Curious? We would be delighted if you could tell us on Facebook or Instagram if you had a taste for it and discovered hot breakfast for you.

Making porridge yourself: that's how easy it is

BMI calculator from Verival

Have you ever had your BMI calculated ? You can do this quickly and easily with the Verival BMI calculator. You will also learn great information about the Body Mass Index.