Satisfy The Craving... A Personal Experience

Hi there friends!!
How's the week treating you so far?

I've got to say, I'm getting mighty too used to these restful holidays; sleeping in (well, a sleep-in for me, even if it might only be til' 7am :)) Taking my time to get ready for an energising, uplifting, strength-inducing workout, following this with a leisurely stroll to the kitchen, no time constraints as to when breakfast has to be ready and eaten by, a nice long shower to steam off the cold icicles of the winter morning, a little scroll through Instagram to see what everyone's been nom-ing on whilst I've been off in dream-land (you can follow me at @steph2chef if your interested in my daily noms!) and then a bit of light study to dust off any of the guilt caused by not thinking about school!

So, yes, I think it may be a little bit of a struggle to get back into the school routine after this week is up, but you know what? This is my last term of school. Ever. So instead of dreading the normal early-start, rushed workout, quick throw-together breakfast, no looking at Instagram until cooking dinner that night, studying for hours routine, I'm going to enjoy it. Remember it. Be in the present of the hustle that will hopefully (fingers crossed pay off!). Because I am so ready to start my adult life... but I don't want to rush through my final year and only remember a blur.

Wow, did not mean to go on that long! What. An. Intro! See what happens when Steph has time to simply blog? Intros turn into posts! You're welcome ;)

Ok, moving right along. Today I wanted to talk about something that seemed to pop up recently for me and I know pops up recently for a lot of other people. On the daily. On the hourly. On the minute-ly!!

Cravings.

This made me chuckle- one part of pregnancy I would actually look forward to (in the very distant future!!) is the insanity of any cravings I might have; BRING IT ON!

Sweet, salty, crunchy, gooey, fudgey, warm. Chips, chocolate, cake, biscuits, pizza, burgers; the common culprits.

Now, we've all seen those posts where they state that 'A craving for chocolate simply means your body needs more kale!' Well, hallelujah! Let's go to town on that bunch of kale while my mind cannot get it's sights of a square of luscious, creamy chocolate.

I'm not saying I don't agree with those posts but I am saying that whilst it may mean your body is lacking in something entirely different to the craving, the craving is still present in the mind and mentally, you need the chocolate just as much as you need the kale.

So why is the healthy, whole-food loving, vegetarian, nourishing-fuel-for-your-body advocate going against the healthy nutritionists recommendations to eat kale when the body wants chocolate? Well, I'm not exactly, but I do think that cravings need to be satisfied- in any form that may entail...

Ok, personal experience story time:

So the other weekend I woke up to the smell of a cooked breakfast being made downstairs in the kitchen by my older sister and her boyfriend. I sneakily had a quick-peak as to their piled-high plates and my eyes grew wide with the beautifully luscious creamy eggs, toast, grilled tomatoes, bacon (not so much the bacon, but it was on the plate) and it was hard not to stop the drool slowly trickling down my chin.

It brought back memories of our easy weeknight fry-ups for dinner when mum would ask for our preference of eggs (boiled, poached, fried or scrambled) and then set us down a plate of sausages, eggs, bacon, toast etc. and my brother sister and I would be extremely happy little kiddlywinks!

Or the times we went out for breakfast and we'd all order big plates of warm, delicious breakfast foods; eggs, toast, mushrooms, etc. Celebrating whatever occasion it was with the smell of freshly brewed morning coffee and chatter amongst the war interior of the cosy cafe we chose for that brekky.

And then I got a sensation I very rarely find myself feeling. An intense want, a mighty desire, a downright need to eat this meal. And it's here where both my agreeance and disagreeance with these nutrition experts come into play.

You've seen it before on the blog. When I crave something otherwise deemed unhealthy, I simply whip up a version with just as much flavour, awesome taste and nom-factor as the desired dish, but with my own healthy spin on it. The craving is satisfied, the mind is satisfied and the body is properly nourished! Be it pizza, burgers, nachos- you name it, I've recreated it to be just as awesome and 100000x more nourishing than it's greasy, animal-product laden counterparts!

So, enter lunch:

Delicious in one picture.

Alrighty, so that my friends is my version of my sisters breakfast with a few changes that you probably can't even tell by just looking at the picture. Firstly; the toast- wholemeal with sesame seeds on the outside, spread with hummus (delicious!) rather than a thick spread of butter.

The eggs? Simply 2 eggs (yolk and all my friends; all the good stuff!) whisked up with 1/2 tablespoon of homes, 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, 1/2 teaspoon garlic and 1 tablespoon water- placed in a saucepan with a touch of olive oil and stirred slightly until forming delicious, creamy, scrambled eggs. Whilst the eggs were swirling in the pan, I also added some chopped mushrooms and a tomato cut in half to the other half of the oiled pan and let them cook until golden brown and delicious!

Boom! Craving satisfied.

And you know what, my body felt so... right while eating this. When you truly have a craving and satisfy it (in whatever way you choose; healthy or other wise) your body feels good. It feels right. Like the planets are aligning and the world is set right.

Thus, my advice when hit with a craving? Don't ignore it. Don't hit up a handful of crunchy green kale when you truly want some soft, creamy chocolate. But do make it the version that your body will thank you for. Whip yourself up a big delicious, smooth creamy, choc protein green smoothie and you've packed sooo many more nutrients into your body, got the awesome choc hit you were after AND you ate a good amount of kale without even realising it!! Happy dayyzz.

Enjoying the giving-my-body-exactly-what-it-wants this day, I decided to follow the trend through to dinner and as I wasn't all that hungry but wanting something warm, sweet and nourishing... this little bad boy came into play:

An oven-baked sweet potato with a nice big drizzle of smooth peanut butter- all warm and gooey and perfect.

It was a good day of food, both mentally and physically for the body and I enjoyed every. single. mouthful.

And yes, my friends, it is all about balance, greens did happen:

Nom.

What about you?
How do you cure an intense craving?
Do you simply go out and have the original version, or make your own 'lighter/ more nourishing' version?
Favourite alternative to a not-so- healthy common food/ meal?

That's it from me today folks, I hope you have an absolutely lovely day, look after yourself and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friendly friends! :D