Big, big breakfasts!

I am a food lover.

Now, I didn't mean to shock you with that surprising revelation but there it is. It's out there. For the entire world to see. I love food.

I've never been the type of girl to turn up her nose at a meal, or limit my intake of food in order to lose a few kilos etc.

I've always eaten to fill the belly and even though, yes, I will admit I did have a run in with orthorexia for a while, I still ate a vast amount of food (even though it was all in my 'safe' and 'healthy' category).

I guess, in particular, I love breakfast more than anything else.

See, breakfast is the time after you haven't eaten in multiple, multiple hours. Your body hasn't tasted the sweet nectar of a morsel of food all night and your taste buds are just starting to forget what the vibrant, zingy, zesty, fusgey, rich, spicy, refreshing, sweet etc. etc. foods taste like.

Breakfast is the time to rev up the machine that is your body, kick start that metabolism once again for the entire day and give your body the best possible boost to fly into all the challenges and opportunities the day has to offer!

Breakfast truly is brilliant isn't it?

Yes, well, try telling that to the girl I was on a shift with from 8:00am-2:00pm who hadn't eaten breakfast or even a single piece of food the entire time I was with her. And wasn't even hungry afterward...

I come across this way too often in my teen girl life and it really does sadden me. Not only are these girls (and probably guys too) restricting their bodies that give them so much back in return, but the havoc and damage they're playing to their bodies natural metabolism and daily functions is too important just to ignore.

But this is not a post about dieting and metabolism and restricitve eating practices.
Nope, this is a post about food.

Because as you know, we love food!

So, below I included some of my recent breakfasts. Not small insignificant bites of toast. Or a spoonful of cereal. Or a banana. (Seriously how do people get through their morning on that?!) Nope, below are my huge, hearty, nutritious and utterly delicious brekky's that keep me going from morning to noon:

 Lemon coconut truffles with a massive cup of cherry greek yoghurt:

 The frozen yoghurt concoction was an extremely simple mix of a biggg handful of frozen cherries, 3 big scoops of greek yoghurt- whazzed together in a food processor until smooth :).

 Super tasty, delicious, filled with fibre, wholegrains, protein and vitamins and minerals!

Even better when combined:

 And yes, there were some sneaky wholegrain and reduced sugar cheerios in the mix as well:

 Next up we have a stack of choc protein pancakes covered in smooth PB (I tell you, I go through phases where I generally always love crunchy and then once every so often, I decide smooth is where it's at!) with a bowl of mixed berry fro-yo:

 The pancake recipe was a simple mix of rolled oats, wholemeal spelt flour, chia seeds, baking powder, cinnamon, oat bran, raw cacao powder and choc protein powder with some almond milk mixed in until pouring cream consistency. The fro-yo was simply a handful of blueberries and a small handful of mixed berries with some greek yoghurt.

 Again filled with so many nutrients and yet tasting like a decadent dessert... you can't go wrong with this one!

 Lastly a tried and true brekky that can be whipped up in a flash and never fails to disappoint:

 2 wholemeal crumpets topped with peanut butter with a massive green smoothie to wash it down!

 Into the Vitamix went 1 chopped frozen banana, 5 chunks of frozen pineapple, a small handful of frozen zucchini, handful of kale, handful of spinach, 3 big scoops greek yoghurt and some water:

 Et voila! Extremely delicious and trust me on this- you cannot taste all those extra veg. Bonus!!

 Why would anyone ever choose to skip brekky when it comes with so many benefits? One of the main one's being deliciousness!!

I guess it's a question that will continue to cross my mind for many more years to come but I just hope this post might in fact persuade even one person to change their mindset about the way they choose to begin each and every awesome day!

Your turn:
Are you/ have you ever been a breakfast skipper?
If you're a big brekky fan, what is the ultimate breakfast to you?
Favourite topping for pancakes? I think after topping mine with nut butter for so long, I can never go back to anything else!!

That's it from me today friendly friends. I hope you all have a great Friday!! Do something you love that you might not have done in a while and as always... EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now! :D

WIAW #82 Strange Cereal Habits

Hidy-ho friendly friends! Happy Wednesday to you all!!
I hope your week has been chugging along nicely and can you believe it's Wednesday already!

Anywho, Wednesdays are about sharing glorious full days of eats, drooling over other people's glorious full days of eats and linking up WIAW style! All thanks to the wonderful Peas and Crayons for creating this weekly link-up :)

Breakfast: 7:15am
Brekky this morning brought me back to my childhood...
When I was little I used to love Nutrigrain (Iron Man Cereal!!) However I did not like Nutrigrain when it got soggy- ie. placed in milk. So my oh-so-clever solution was to pour my bowl of Nutrigrain, pour a seperate glass of milk and enjoy the two separately... together?

I still got the taste of cereal and milk, however with the added benefit of an always dry, always crunchy piece of cereal!

So, how does this relate to this morning's brekky? Well I did it again! A little more Steph 2 Chef style though this time:

 A super thick and creamy green mango smoothie with a side of freshly baked, warm peanut butter granola, eaten separately because I wanted to enjoy the fudgey crunch of the granola and the challenging slurping through a straw of the super thick, creamy smoothie!

 You can find the recipe for the peanut butter granola here and the smoothie was a simple blend of frozen banana, frozen mango, kale, spinach, greek yoghurt and frozen zucchini with a touch of water to get it all moving.

 This breakfast did not dissapoint, however it's not to say I'm moving on from my beloved smoothie bowls :D

 Nope, just taking a break...

 And having a little too much fun with the thickness of my smoothie and it's resulting capabilities:

 :P
Lunch: 12:30pm
So recently the hangry monster has been visiting my belly, so lunches have been a little earlier and involving a few snacks while I create it (think nomin on a carrot whilst cooking up other veg).

 Today wano different. Come 12 o'clock and I was ready for food!
Enter high fiber spaghetti with grilled eggplant, capsicum, tomatoes, mushrooms and pumpkin with steamed spinach and garlic tofu:

 A few blobs of hommus were also stirred in afterwards fro good measure :)

 And for some reason I still wasn't entirely satisfied after that bowl of deliciousness so I had a small square of dark chocolate to round out lunch.

Snack: 4:00pm
At around 4 I noticed my stomach started to sing grumble again, so I chopped up some fruit!

 Hello perfectly ripe rockmelon and pink lady apple. Gte into my belly!

 Perfect pick-me-up to carry me through to dinner.

Dinner: 6:45pm
I was quite hungry again come dinner (seriously guys, I'm telling you! I'm gonna blame it on the increase in muscles I've started getting from my blogilates videos and fitness challenges :) so I roasted up some sweet potato, parsnip, beetroot, swede, baby carrots and brussels sprouts in coconut oil for 45 mins.

 To the roasted veg I added some broad beans, corn and mixed four beans:

 Quite tasty if I do say so myself!

 To round out the day and keep my stomach quiet throughout the night I had a cup of soy milk.

All in all a very tasty and nutritious day filled with a lot of good eats!!

Aaaaand that's what I ate!

Your turn:
What did you eat this fine Wednesday?
Are you a fan of soggy cereal? My brother is. He actually pours his milk into his cereal and then goes and takes a shower so it's a soggy cereal gloop. I can't even imagine eating it!
What do you nom on when you can't keep the hunger bug at bay? I kind of try and make myself snack on veg, but sometimes it's just not what the body wants. Soy milk, seems to be pretty good at quieting the monster though!

That's it from me today folks. I hope you have a loevely rest of your day and week. Do something you love doing that you haven't done in a while and tell someone you love them- everyone needs to hear that once in a while! Oh and... EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS! Bye for now!! :D

Eating a nutrient dense, happy inducing diet :)

Diet is a word we misuse over and over on the daily.

Sure, it can be known as a special course of food to which a person restricts themselves to lose weight...
 However if you google the word diet yourself you will see that the definition above is the second definition for the word diet.

The first (and foremost) definition is simple. The kinds of food that a person, animal or community habitually eats.

Diet doesn't just refer to a calorically deficient, inevitably bland, restrictive eating plan that guarantees 'great weightloss' and a model-like body.

Nope. Diet is so much more... and yet so much simpler.

See, the problem I have with the above description of diet is this ingrained and even inherited idea suggests that the only way to be healthy and look your best is to torture yourself with your food choices.

You and I know just how much I love food and just how much I hate eating foods that make me unhappy. Sorry overly bland and cardboard like, low-carb/ other crazy bread invention. Sorry low-fat and barely-there-kilojoules quinoa milk (yes, it does exist)

So when I read eating plans like this, or here people claim that the only way they'll lose weight is to go on a delicious-food hiatus and live off steamed broccoli...

... I can't help but cry a little inside.

So what do I suggest then?
I suggest you do like the pros. The pros don't come in a set category with a title that I can specifically refer to. No, the pros are simply those who thrive off a diet filled with variety, tastiness, whole foods and awesomely prepared meals, don't fluctuate all over the place messing with their bodies natural set point, eat to the point of satiety and eat when they're hungry too. Who allow themselves the foods they truly desire. The pros that have this whole eating thing worked out (but are always making changes coinciding with the changes of their bodies).

Who eat breakfast when they rise in the morning:

 And fill it with so many nutrients and even more delicious flavours!!

 Green smoothie: 1 chopped frozen banana, 1 handful chopped, frozen zuchinni, 2 big handfuls spinach, 3 big scoops greek yoghurt, 1 tablespoon peanut butter, 1/2 cup soaked oats in almond milk, chia seeds, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, water- WHAZ!

 And enjoy every second of eating it! (In other words, are mindful of their happy eating time :)

 The pros don't stick to a rigid time plan, or the typical time-of-day foods. The pros listen to their bodies, what they're calling out for (quite often hinting at lacking nutrients!)

 Roasted white sweet potato wedges, raw veg (mini roma tomatoes, cucumber and capsicum) with a big dollop of hommus for dipping) and a bowl of popcorn on the side.

 The pros have worked out the idea that our bodies need nourishment and restricting food can only lead to problems. Instead? Load up on all the good stuff!

 Snacks also seem to occur in the pros diet. But again, snacks seem to have taken on a different meaning in this day and age, so let's bring it back to it's simple meaning: A small amount of food eaten between meals. So the pros know to keep their bodies chugging away and brimming with energy all day long, wholesome, nourishing snacks are essential.

And then along comes dinner:

 A time not to restrict even further, but again, a time to nourish the body for the long day of work it has given to us.
Carbs after dark won't kill us. Instead it will give the body the energy and nutrients it requires to rest and recover and rejuvenate throughout the night to prepare for the next exciting day to come!

 Roasted veg (pumpkin, potato, parsnip, swede, sweet potato, beetroot, baby carrots, brussels sprouts) roasted in olive oil with some drained and rinsed lentils and spinach.

The pros also know that a little something after dinner could be just what you need to wind out the body from eating and leave it happy and satisfied with the day of good, good food!

And we all have the capability of being pros- in fact a lot of us know what our bodies thrive on, we just have to make the conscious effort to respect the machine that keeps us running day in day out and feel the best we can.

So let's become pros!

Tell me:
Best thing you've eaten this passed week?
Favourite food, hands down, ever!?
Food that makes you feel your absolute best?

I hope you all have a little think about some of the things I've mentioned and look after yourselves and your bodies- because you deserve it! Have a fabulous rest of your day/ week/ year and I'll see you next time with some more food fun-ness!! Bye for now friendly friends!! :D