I got in control of my breakfasts again.

When I eat poorly it often starts with breakfast - living in Paris it’s easy to gobble down hundreds of calories and many many fat grams first thing in the morning (actually, that’s pretty easy to do anywhere!).

When I start with oatmeal things are really great, but I haven’t felt like oatmeal in a while. Two weeks ago I decided to buy some different cold cereals as I savor the end of my imported shredded wheat (ah, the strange things one misses as an expatriate!).

I bought 2 boxes of Special K, one with red berries, the other with chocolate.

Chocolate? In cereal? For breakfast? Not just any chocolate either - it’s real dark chocolate (also available in milk chocolate, in fact). Not ‘chocolatey’ like in the US either. Real shavings of chocolate. Of course, the calorie-saving aspect is in the fact that the pieces of chocolate are shavings and not chips, and of course the ratio of chocolate-to-flakes. But after my initial hesitation I spent a few minutes examining the nutrition info on the boxes and since the calories for the flavored cereals are about the same as the plain Special K, I figured what the heck.

These past few days it’s been an treat in the mornings. Healthy, quick and easy, but also a bit of an indulgence. I even had that twice over the weekend while my DH indulged in a rich brioche with our fabulous farm-fresh butter and a friend’s homemade jam for breakfast. Other than that first moment of decision I had no regrets with my choice. That said, maybe the bowl is a little more full than usual, so while it fits within the healthy breakfast criteria, I don’t think I’ll be buying it every week…

But having breakfasts back under control makes a big difference, and if it took a bit o’ chocolate to do it, what’s the harm?