What's For Breakfast?

I am such a cliche.  It's the new year and John and I are on a diet.  Maybe a more accurate statement is that John and I are trying to change and improve our diets.  Because man did I get sloppy in December.  John is fairly strictly following "The 17 Day Diet" with excellent results.  In a nutshell, the first phase calls for unlimited veggies and lean protein, two servings of either yogurt or cottage cheese per day plus two eggs.  No starches, breads, sugar.

I stayed with him for the first 10 days or so, but now I have added a few carbs back (generally at lunch) into my diet.  I seriously got to the point where I was obsessing about toast.  But I have cut way down the sugar, diet soda etc...  with some notable exception (ahem, my birthday).

I have happened upon a smoothie that I love and keeps me full until lunch (yes, a smoothie that keeps me full until lunch!) thanks to my new favorite thing - chia seeds.  Chia seeds have the appearance and texture of strawberry seeds (John says birdfood) - the ones I have are 60 calories per tablespoon, 5 grams of fiber, 3 grams of protein.  But here's the thing - they naturally absorb liquid and expand to 10 times their size as they slowly digest and keep me full.  The best way I've found to have them is in a smoothie - their texture is a little bit off putting in other things I've tried.

Smoothie

1 cup frozen mixed berries
1 Tablespoon chia seeds
1 scoop protein powder
1 carton greek yogurt (any flavor)
6-8 oz water (depending how thick you like smoothies)

Blend and drink in the car on the way to work...