Food for Thought

Hidily hodily friendly friends!

Today I want to discuss something that I think a lot of people trying to lose weight would tend to say they struggle with.

Now, I'm no expert, I definitely don't have any qualifications and I don't want anyone to take what I say as 100% accurate, etc. etc. because let's face it, I'm a 17 year old girl passionate about food, health, cooking and well being in general who simply has a voice and a need to share it. :)

So with that out of the way let's get on with the post that developed from the taking of waaayyyy too many pictures of a- albeit quite delicious- breakfast that resulted in me making up an entire post to coincide with said photographs! :D You can't get a more succinct and to-the-point intro as that, am I right? ;)

Anywho, this thinking of the topic I'm about to delve deeper into developed from another camp I went on recently (again, extremely rewarding, super fun and filled with so many great memories) wherein the food was a little different to my usual affair and in turn my hunger levels were a little different to their usual affair. Entire hulk-hungry Steph :D

You see a usual breakfast for me at home is one I've cooked up, very rarely involving anything packaged/ artificially sweetened/ processed/ high salt (you catch my drift- I'm not one for sugary cereals, or salty bacon, yupo?)

Instead I might toast up two slices of home-made spelt/rye bread spread with all natural choc nut spread and sliced bananas in a sandwich press until melt-y, gooey and oh-so-delcious (dessert for breakfast, it doesn't get much better!)

Quick appreciation time:

Along with this (no, that is not all Steph consumes for the most important meal of the day!) comes a big bowl of frozen blueberry, zucchini, kale and greek yoghurt fro-yo:

So let's think about this brekky- slow-release carbs with all natural fruits filled with important fibre and vitamins, along with healthy filling fats from the nut spread and filling protein and bone strengthening calcium from the plain 2% greek yoghurt. Not too mention a couple serves of veggies thrown in there- breakfast of champions (who like desserts :)

Now compare that to a typical camp brekky I still enjoyed but is definitely a little different to the usual Steph special (in size, calories, fillingness etc.). Some Weet-bix in milk with a banana and some toast with peanut butter.

Now that may seem like a great brekky that should keep me full for ages but I'm not going to lie- it lacked the filling fibre of a low-gi carb (white toast just will not keep me full for longer than 5 minutes). It left me with a little headache from the sugar/ salt from the heavily processed generic brand of peanut butter and quite honestly, it's probably only a little more than half of what I would usually chow down on in terms of kilojoules etc.

Without the high protein, low-processed, healthy fat grown essentials of a typical Steph brekky, I found myself quite famished when lunch rolled around, in need of a huuuuuge plate of food to feed the beast. Which, ofcourse brings me to my next point- lunch.

A typical camp lunch would usually involve a roll/ bread once again (predominantly white) with salad and sliced meats for everyone else. Yep, being a vego on camp can be a little sparse at time, resulting in the loading up of grated cheese onto a salad for added protein and fats. Once again, not a typical Steph lunch which would involve quite a lot of protein (be it beans, lentils, eggs, tofu, nuts, seeds, peas, avocado etc.)

Come dinner time and another white, highly processed carb of choice with limited fat/ protein options for the vego... you could say the hunger bug holding residents in my stomach was turning into one of those cranky neighbours who complain about your dog barking... this time complaining about the lack of filling food.

It's experiences like this that make it clear to me how I've figured out how to deal with my raging hunger levels, ensuring I don't turn into a crazy eating machine at my next meal and instead feel comfortably peckish to sit down and enjoy a beautiful meal and that's through the addition of a high protein, healthy fat included, low-gi carb meal, like the breakfast I have been bombarding you with pictures of this entire post!

And I guess that's where I'm going with the advice I would give for people trying to lose weight. Whilst I was eating typical 'healthy' foods (in that I wasn't eating sweets/ chocolate/ biscuits) I still wasn't eating the right foods to keep myself satisfied or sustained throughout the day.

Low-fat products are generally extremely processed and generally contain a lot of sugar (known to cause spikes in energy levels, dizziness and headaches- which I definitley found through the consumption of many processed foods in the past few days.)

'White' carbs are also generally over-processed and lacking in the essential nutrients they once beheld. Shunning fats altogether- even those great, cholesterol lowering ones, will leave your body searching for food and never truly feeling a sense of satisfaction with what you're eating.

So how do I think one should lose weight? Scrap the diet mentality. Focus on the healthy eating/ living mentality. Fuel your body with the essential kilojoules, proteins, fats, carbohydrates (those nutrient-rich ones- also filled with more protein than their counterparts for extra filling power!). In short; eat. Eat enough. If you're bodies starving it's starving for a reason, and even a few days of feeling ravenously hungry between meals made it clear to me that I needed food- different food to what i was eating and food my body would thrive on.

So, here we are, back to a shot of my beautiful leg and a pice of gooey choc-banana toastie with a bite taken out of it- representing whole, beautifully nutrient-rich food to keep both me and everyone else happy, satisfied and thriving with the best nutrition and well being there is!

What are your thoughts?
Do you ever find going away and changing your diet significantly affects your hunger levels?
What's your perfect ratio/ intake/ necessary requirements for a meal to satisfy you? 
What did you have for breakfast today? Just out of curiousity because that's what the weirdo inside of me finds interesting! ;)

Well that is it from me today, I hope you enjoyed the post that contained way too many pictures of a way too delicious breakfast and also got something from the little breaks of words in between! Have a fabulous day, be kind to your body, fuel it with the beautiful foods it deserves and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friendly friends! :D