Oh The Irony

It's Thursday and I'm ready to Think Out Loud, however this one's not so much a random brain dump, as more of a structured, thought out and  re-written over and over again post I've been working on for a while. Still with me? Sure you are! Thanks to Spoons for hosting this link-up.
The first time I came across this image I felt a song post coming on!
If I thought I was passionate about girls my age dieting... well this is a whole other level of passion.
Take a look:

I've never really thought about it.. but it's so true! The irony of it made me laugh. Out loud. For a few good minutes. Until that ugly truth dawned on me with full force. Then I got angry.

We all know some of the big problems of a poor diet include:

• Chronic fatigue
• weight gain, leading to high blood pressure
• heart disease
• arthritis

Just to name a few. So wouldn't one think that the cure for these problems as a result of a poor diet would be a better diet?
However, taking a look at the solutions...

• High blood pressure= blood pressure tablets
• Heart disease= anti platelet drugs
• Arthritis= glucosamine supplements
• Anticoagulants, Digitails ACE, Beta blockers, Nitrates, Thrombolytic agents were just a few other drugs rounding off the list

So instead of tucking into this:

Chocolate oat balls with banana soft serve

We're choosing this?

 Something's not quite adding up here and I'm pretty sure I know what it is. It's human nature. Well.. the modern day human nature. You see we're accustomed to easy quick fixes and have grown up in a scientific and medicinal era.

Now I'm not dissing science or medicine. There's a reason we are living far longer than our ancestors and a lot healthier. All I'm saying is we simply cannot rely on a magic pill to save us from our bad choices. I've always grown up hearing this phrase and only now do I realise just how important it is:

If we were all well-educated and the food industry worked harder at caring for our health- we wouldn't need all those drugs mentioned above and constant doctors appointments and even dangerous surgeries. We could instead focus our brightest scientific minds on diseases we have no control over like AIDS, Malaria, Ebola, cancer and even the common cold.

Instead:

To paint it plain and simple:

Instead of this:

Why not this:

Because I truly believe:

It amazes me that our ancient ancestors knew before their world was run by science and medicine, that the diet is the fundamental element of health and medicine for problems associated to diet is unnecessary.They were wise people and I think we should all take a leaf out of their book:

Yeh, it's a big dream and one not many people have probably even considered before. It takes two to tango, so I guess the first move of figuring out how to solve this puzzle is bringing together both the health and food industry, then we can see where to go from there.

In the meantime, I urge you all to take a look at your diet first before rushing off to the doctor, because a quick reflection on what's entering your stomach and fueling you're body could be the answer to the problem. (If you've broken your arm, by all means rush off to the doctor- although some chocolate may help as well!)

Stay happy stay healthy and I'll see you all later! :D

WIAW #22

Wednesday. I like Wednesday. Heaps of people don't though and I don't get it.
They're like this:

When I'm like this:

I especially like Wednesdays on account of WIAW- where I can share my noms and steaky-beak at other's too :) So thanks as usual to Peas and Crayons for the link-up :D Now onto the food!

Breakfast:
I.LOVE.BREAKFAST. But you already know that (unless you don't... now you do.. yeh)

 Breakfast featured two delicious wholemeal crumpets topped drowned in all natural crunchy peanut butter with a side of muesli (heated slightly in the microwave) and a delicious nudie juice.  

I love nudie juices because there is nothing artificial added and all the grams of sugars on the back are from the fruits. I also love me some chia seeds.
This brekky kept me full all the way up until lunch...
Lunch:
Lunch was a simple delicious salad of cooked millet, drained and rinsed 4 beans, spinach, capsicum, tomato, carrot and a squeeze of lemon juice:)

I don't care what people say- I can definitely make friends with salad!

Snack:
The usual. The best!
Some fruit and soy milk;)

Dinner:
 I was hungry. It was dinner time. I ate food :)
I heated up some of the best veggie sausages ever roasted up some sweet potato and regular potato, steamed up some brussels sprouts and peas, chopped up some tomato and sprinkled up some spinach. Hmmm, I guess I couldn't write a whole sentence with 5 ups and make it make sense- silly old spinach not being able to be sprinkled up!
Anywho! It was tasty!

What do you eat on this fine Wednesday?
Do have juice with brekky? (I never usually have juice unless it's a nudie)
Brussels sprouts? Yay or nay? (I'm sure there will be a few nays!)

Ok, definitely time to go when I start with the cheesy jokes! Don't forget to check out others eats!
Bye for now! :D

Five Foods

Welcome friendly friends back to my 10-day-you challenge, where once a week I work through these 10 topics:

And we are now up to... five foods! (YAY!/ FINALLY!)

This was hard guys. I love food. Pretty much all food (foods- not processed unidentifiables)
However I think I've got my top 5.
Here we go!
Coming in at number 5 is
5. Bread. I. Love. Bread. I do not like the plastic, sugary white bread. I love real, freshly baked bread. The smell, the feel... THE TASTE! I like wholegrain bread, baguette, panini, sour dough, rye, spelt, banana bread, flat bread, rolls, you name it, I'll probably like it!

 After being wheat free for a bit over a year, I've come to appreciate all the different kinds of breads that don't contain wheat. I didn't really like the gluten-free grocery store versions (my sandwiches were much to big for those little slices), but home made spelt breads and rye breads are absolutely just as drool-worthy as regular wheat breads.

4. Next on my top 5 foods is of course...
PESTO!
 You know it, I know it, we all know I have a pesto obsession. So it's no surprise this is a favourite.
What you might not have known was that I used to detest pesto. Luckily my taste buds changed (as they did towards mushrooms and avocado and tofu etc.) and the world is right again:

I've literally put pesto on everything.

3. PIZZA! You also may have guessed that I have an obsession with all things pizza. Especially with pesto on top :) Pizza has always been a childhood favourite of mine and after a few reinventions, my home made pizza is to die for!

 (All these recipes can be found on my main meals recipe page)

2. Bananas. Guys, it was so hard to pick between my top 2. I eat a banana a day- I think it also keeps the doctor away- I also really love them! They're so versatile. I melt them into oats, freeze them into ice cream, whaz them into smoothies and eat them raw. Bananas are probably the one food I could eat daily and never get sick of :)

And finally... drum roll please...
Coming in at number 1:
1. Nut butterandchocolate!  Sure that's one word!
Yes. I cheated. But guys, come on, you can't separate nut butter and chocolate! :D
 

  Chocolate cheesecake ice cream in the peanut butter jar:)

And there's my top five six foods!

What would make your list?

Catch ya later :D

The packed lunch

I love lunch! Not as much as I love brekky... but I do love lunch (dinner not so much, because I like variety and I sort of run out of something new to make a meal with by the end of the day.
On weekends and holidays my lunches are super-yummy and filling- however packing a lunch and making it super yummy and filling is a whole other story.

I've packed my own lunch for quite a while now... so I have a pretty good repertoire of things to make that not only last, but put a smile on my face as I eat it (yep, my friends think I'm weird)

So I thought I might show you last weeks lunches for inspiration/ stimulation/ salivation :D
Monday:
Monday was gooood! Home-made wholemeal spelt bread, spread with hommus, topped with spinach, mashed pumpkin, sauteed mushrooms, a lentil burger, tomato slices and grilled yellow capsicum:

A beautiful tower of sandwich:

Grilled in a sandwich press: (I do this because I find the bread gets less soggy and it stays together better, not to mention tasting so darn good)

And cut in half and admired:

Tuesday:
This may have been my favourite lunch of the week! It was cooked brown rice, steamed pumpkin and mixed four beans, all mixed together with some home made pesto!

Soooo yummy. It kept really well too :)

Another delicious boxed lunch was this toasted veggie and hommus lunch:

Roasted pumpkin, purple baby carrots, swede, parsnip, beetroot and potato, topped with spinach and hommus.

I roasted the veggies in the morning (because I get up freakishly e3arly- but you can definitely pre-roast them the night before)

Lastly, Thursday's lunch was black quinoa, steamed pumpkin, and roasted eggplant +zucchini+capsicum+mushrooms- drizzled with olive oil and crushed garlic and roasted for around 20-30 mins at 180 degrees celsius:

That was last weeks lunches and I fell like they were all a success!

I must admit, I don't mind the jealous stares I get when opening my lid/ unwrapping my sandwich. My enjoyment of this is simply the fact that they should bring more then- an apple is not enough for lunch! (as shown in images above:) And if my lunch prompts them to do so: win/win!

What are you having for lunch today?

That's all for now folks! See ya later

Weekend happenings

I'm in a weird mood this morning guys. Don't know what kind of mood.. just weird. Sort of unmotivated, sort of wishy washy. Catch my drift?
It's been a pretty good and productive weekend however filled with yummy eats!

Just like this nacho bowl I had for lunch yesterday:

 Very similar to this recipe, without the mashed veggies. It definitely put a smile on my face and fueled me up for a long day of shopping.

See I had to find a batman costume for a superhero party next week and I've got to say that though I tried, the 5-year-old boy costumes just didn't budge over my head :) I'm not complaining though, my costume was relatively easier than my friend's who was going as Robin ;)

After lots of walking and worrying, we managed to put together our costumes :)

Once home, dinner was on my mind and it was a good one:

Super simple baked sweet potato with coconut butter and a side of baby kale, chopped tomato, peas and a torn up veggie burger.

Best part of the meal!

Seeing as I don't have too much else to say I thought I might join in on the link love this week and share some interesting links I've found around the web!

First of all my favourite blog post of the week:

1. Plants have calcium too  - it's a must read for all vegans (and non-vegans) out there and raises a lot of good points!

Another good link for vegans/ dairy allergies to check out:

2. 7 top products to try if you're allergic to dairy

And lastly on my links for vegans (I'm spoiling you today!) check out...

3. 7 technically vegan foods to avoid

Moving on to some awesome links I've come across:

4. 41 delicious facts about chocolate  - the fact that there were 41 facts just made me smile :)

This next link is hilarious:

5. 11 inventions that are so absurd they might be genius

If I were to start online shopping this site would kill me:

6. This is why I'm broke

And this would be the first item I'd buy:

Bubble wrap calendar!


So there you go, some links if you're bored/ interested/ click-happy :)
I've got a good week of posts planned for this week so stayed tuned!
Catch ya later!