Eating... My Thoughts

I love eating.

That's a fact. I love, love, love, love, love eating. Eating provides our body with the fuel it needs to sustain itself and do all the extra wonderful things we want it to. Like walking. Talking. Thinking. Studying. Dancing. laughing. Clapping. Exercising.

Food is fuel, nothing more and yet we as a society seem to pin so much more to it. It's a reward. It's a guilty treat. It's a secret binge. It's an off-limits bite. It's an 'allowed' food.

Breakfast should be protein heavy. Minimal fruits. Eaten before a certain time. A portion of this many grams.

Lunch always happens after 12. Lean proteins. Little carbs. Veggies.

Snacks. Only rarely. The right kind. Veg.

Dinner before 6. Light. lightest meal of the day. Not high in fat.

No dessert.

Is this the eating plan we really want to be following for the rest of our lives? I won't lie, it was a similar plan I used to have in my head when I first starting falling into my orthorexia trap and yet it's my eating philosophy now-a-days that I really want to talk about today.

Now-a-days, I eat to my body. Yep, weird sentence. What I mean is, I eat to my bodies desires, it's intentions, it's wants and needs, because who better knows how to feed itself than the thing being fed? And what does that look like?

Breakfast: Whatever time the body hits the hunger mode! Generally large, generally whatever the body feels like. Fruits? Huge fruit smoothie! Protein? Thick, gooey, choc protein oats! Crunchy? Home-made granola! Always full of nutritious, fibrous, body-loving goodness

Lunch: Whatever time the body has finished digesting breakfast and is in need of some more fuel to tackle some more of the day! Maybe that's 12 on the dot. maybe it's more like 11am. perhaps it's not til 1:30pm. And then it's a sandwich. A salad. roast veggies. Soup. Smoothie. Hommus. Beans. You get the drift? Anything!

Sometimes breakfast was so big and filling that all I want for lunch is veg! Roasted potatoes, steamed peas and a stick of celery because I wanted some hydration!

Sometimes it's the simple things that truly hit the spot the best. So why fight it?

Snack: Essential for me to make it through to dinner. Generally fruit because that's what the body craves (natural sugar pick-me-up anyone?) sometimes soy milk and dates, or nuts. Whatever time the hunger hits.

Dinner: Anything. Any time.

I think it's definitely occurred to me a lot more recently that going with what the body wants will leave me feeling so much more satisfied and happy when eating. Even if that means not eating any spinach one day. Or if that means a lunch of steamed potatoes... :)

Sure, the critical, health-conscious, perfectionist part of us look at that and think; that is so unbalanced- waaayyy too many carbs, hardly any protein, no fats- what is this girl thinking! But then the body simply sits back and goes; you know what, this is what I needed right then and there. Nothing more, nothing less.

Dessert:
Happens almost nightly. Not because I have to fit in some certain nutrients, not because I have restricted throughout the day to enjoy that sweet treat after dinner, not because I'm necessarily all that hungry after a beautifully nourishing (both physically and/or mentally & emotionally) dinner, but because it makes me happy to nom on some dark chocolate, or a handful of deliciously creamy cashews, or a mug of sweet ice cold soy milk.

Recently, my eating has been a heck of a lot more focused on simple, minimal ingredients, meals, because that's what the body is telling me it wants. It doesn't follow any rules, time constraints, common held societal ideals. Nope. If I want a big bowl of brown rice, warm chickpeas, avocado and salsa for dinner... than that's what dinner will be:

There will be no questioning the carb content, the limited veggies, the size of the bowl or the time in which it is eaten.

Eating is simple. My body wanted this. My body felt good after eating this. Food that nourishes and feeds the food is not always the same as the 'accepted' meal plans deemed by society.

In conclusion?

Eat for you.

Not for some meal plan guaranteeing the 'perfect body'. Because there is no such thing.

Your turn:
What's your method of eating? Structured? No structure? 
Do you ever fall into the meal time trap? I still struggle with this on the daily; I won't lie, but I have definitely become a lot better at telling myself if I'm hungry the body needs to eat, no matter if lunch was merely an hour ago!
Favourite simple meal? At the moment mine is that rice and bean, avocado, salsa mix, but I'm also a big fan of baked sweet potatoes, or toast with vegemite and avo.

Ahhh. That felt good to get off my chest! Alrighty, have yourself a great day, eat for YOU and only for you, fill your belly with fresh, wholesome, nourishing foods (for the body and the mind!) and tell a loved one that you love them, because I feel that's something we forget do far too often and it's far too important to forget! Bye for now beautiful people!! :D

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

The Week in Workouts!

Before we get into today's post.. guess what??

My phone apparently ran out of room for photos! Can ya believe it? Well, actually I can, because I take a ridiculous number of photos of my food (like, seriously Steph? 15 photos.. for a smoothie?) and I never seem to delete any of them.

Well, today was a different story and after I reassured myself that all the photos I wanted to keep and look back on were either on this blog or Instagram, that it would be alright to get rid of a fair chunk hanging around on my phone.

I think I deleted around 500!

Anywho, that was just today's little drama. Now I want to broaden this post's horizons with a look at the week in the form of workouts!

As you may have caught in some of my previous posts, I'm back in that season of life where workouts are feeling GREAT! I feel like I'm crushing new goals every single day and I'm pushing myself further than I've ever gone (but feeling good with it, don't worry!!)

Last Saturday's post-long-run-endorphin-filled-hunger-shot :D

So today I wanted to share with you some fitness inspiration/ ideas/ insight into my workout routine, a little break from the food for ya! 

Now, yes, you all know I run. Steph looooves to run. But more recently, Steph loves to do a whole bunch of other stuff to strengthen, tone and awesome-i-fy her body. 

Here's what this past week looked like for my activity:

Sunday:

We'll start at the very beginning with the all-essential rest day! Now I am not going to fake anything on this blog and in all truth and honesty- I hate rest days. I feel lazy, sluggish, tired, not my usual self. There's a hint of guilt, I will admit, whenever I sit down to my usual gigantor sized meal with my brain telling me I don't need that much food on rest days. I practically never sit down on rest days because there's that part of me that says, 'You haven't earned it.' and I try and keep myself as busy and distracted as possible.

Geared up for a walk on the beach... in winter :D

It's a bit sad because I should relish this time of rest and recovery, let my mind rest too, so the following day I can truly enjoy my workout after given my body the time off it needs. I know all this in my heart, but the brain always seems to take over doesn't it?

Anywho, on this particular rest day I went for a beautiful winter's walk on the beach and if I thought the beach was stunning in Summer, a Winters beach is a whole other story!

Monday:

It's mid-year holidays for me (yep, I literally have one more term of highschool left... ever!) so I can enjoy a bit more of a sleep-in (to around 6:30am- the body's natural wake time) before I whip on the workout clothes and smash in a good sweat session!

Monday saw a huge arm session (with some legs and core thrown in for good measure) as I headed into a little make-shift gym at home, picked up the dumbbells and got to work! I spent around 40-45mins in there doing a routine I seem to have downbeat now; involving moves such as bicep curls, shoulder presses, deadlifts (both single and double legged), tricep rows, shoulder hunches (don't even know if some of these names are right! :P) until my arms are jelly and I'm sweating like a pig.

It's workouts like these that don't necessarily leave me completely out of breath (but close to it!) instead making me feel so strong and powerful!) Following this I made sure I got a good amount of protein into me!

Tuesday:

Tuesday was another awesome session- probably the highest intensity, toughest and most exhausting of the week.

I had already planned to do Blogilate's Train Insane HIIT video (my favourite when I want to work up an intense sweat and inability to breath!) and so when I had finished that all flushed and jittery:

I knew the only thing that would calm my shaking and jittery muscles was a bit of a run, just to calm the body down. So, that bit of a run ended up turning into around 5.5km and by the end, I was DONE! So, once again, I fell into a delicious breakfast, caught my breath and felt incredibly strong and capable to achieve anything the day could throw at me!

Breath caught, hair re-brished and ponytailed, shoes on, and out the door!

Wednesday:

I knew I wanted to work on abs today. What I didn't know was that upon waking I'd decide to do Blogilates Extreme Abs. Yep, those insane videos of ab destroying torture. And I purposefully left out the specifics as to which one I did because, I kid you not, I did all. 3. 

Consecutively. 

It hurt.

But was so, so good!

Hello there little baby abs!! Welcome to the world!

If you think you've got pretty good core strength and you've been working on your core for a while; give that challenge a go- super awesome! (that's the key word here, I've been doing blogilates ab workouts for quite a wile now; starting with 1 Extreme Abs video, slowly moving up to 2 and now only just managing to complete 3. It takes time people!)

Thursday:

Thursday= sprint day!

Hill sprint day!

Lose the entirety of your ability to speak, breath and pull acceptable faces when running day!

Just kidding- I love sprint day. I love raising my heart rate that quickly, letting it drop back to normal and then going again. It hurts, sure, but afterwards those endorphins are real!

Yes, my hair will and always be a frizz bomb after exercising- if it isn't, I wasn't working hard enough! :P

My plan with hill sprints is that I give myself the task to complete 10 (a challenge in itself!) and then after I'm done the ten I can do however many I want before I give in and head into the house for brekky!! Today, the body decided to do 15! Happy days!

Brekky following sprint sesh- banana green smoothie (2 frozen bananas, handful frozen zucchini, kale, spinach, greek yoghurt, water- whaz!) with a side of warm, crunchy, home-made cinnamon and peanut butter granola.

Friday:

I knew that after a few days of high intensity, tough workouts, it was time for another slower, strength building session and what better than a few Blogilates videos? Seriously, I am obsessed- the right amount of challenge and fun!

I started off with a quick fat burning cardio video to get the heart pumping (great when you want to strengthen and tone other muscles later on) followed by a calf strengthening video, then an arms video, back video, finishing with a booty video! It may seem like a lot but these were all quite short videos (I think the total workout ended up being around 30 mins?) and I felt really good after it!

Saturday:

Long run day!

After a week of very different, very challenging workouts, I love to round it all out with a nice, long, easy-paced run. I get to think, breath and let my legs go where they will. Long runs can be the worst workouts sometimes. but when you're in that state of simply plodding along, mind drifting to far off places... it's something nothing else in life can really offer me.

This particular Saturday saw 14.3 kilometres and I was quite happy with that for the weekly long run! however with around 4km to go, I started to feel a niggle in the side of my left knee and that continued to grow until the pain got a bit too intense and I cut off the last hill of my run. Hopefully with a nice relaxing rest day tomorrow and plenty of roller-ing throughout the week, it should be good!!

ALWAYS need a good brekky to follow a big run!

Enter banana cinnamon maca steel cut oats, with nut butter dolloped throughout and topped with some fresh banana slices:

Mac does something amazing to oats- it brings this kind of nutty, caramel-y flavour and hey, if it offers some great recovery benefits (hellooo potassium!) then why not add it for a delicious hit to the mug of oats??

And truthfully friends, my procedure with the nut butter is some smooth PB on the bottom, mixed crunchy nut butter in the middle, topping it all off with some more melty, smooth, warm PB. I don't go lightly with the peanut butter folks! #peanutbutteraddict :P

And when you hit that mid-oat nut butter bomb:

It's a beautiful, beautiful moment. :)

Whiccchh brings us all the way back to today; Sunday! And yes, a much needed and highly loved by the body, rest day!

Plans for today? Eat (drink?) a delicious HUGE green smoothie, get some study down (ain't no such thing as holidays for the year 12 student!), spend some time with family playing board games, eat some lunch, read, and just relax. Sounds pretty perfect to me!

Your turn:
What did your weekly workouts look like this week?
Fav workout of the week?
Fav post-workout meal of the week?

I realise this post was very much fitness oriented, but I think as my horizons in my own health and fitness lifestyle broadens, so too will the focus on this blog, so whilst there will still be plenty of food posts with drool worthy recipe ideas and inspiration, there will also be some little dibs and dabs into more fitness based and lifestyle oriented posts too- little bit of everything right?

Now, with that said, have yourself a rockin' Sunday, spend time with friends and family, relax, recover and rejuvenate for the week to come, because I have a feeling it's going to be a good one! Bye for now friendly friends! :D

P.S. EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!!

LINKS!! And Awful Looking Smoothies :P

Hi beautiful people!

Today I'm coming at you with quite possibly the most ugly smoothie I have ever created in my entire life! I know, exciting, hold it together guys:

I mean, generally when I whip up a smoothie I go green or go home, so when I chucked in a handful of frozen cherries to my usual frozen banana, frozen zucchini, kale, spinach etc. mix, I guess I wasn't expecting it to turn that... brown?

Anywho, it was entirely delicious and regardless of the end-resulting colour, you should definitely whip this bad boy up for a super delicious, filled with nutrients, high protein breakfast! Or lunch, or dinner, or snack- it's got a perfect balance of everything for any time of the day!

Into the Vitamin went 1 handful of chopped, frozen zucchini, 1 large handful kale, 1 large handful frozen cherries, 1 scoop vegan vanilla protein powder, 3 big scoops greek yoghurt, 1 large handful spinach, 1/2 cup almond milk with 1/2 teaspoon chia seeds soaked for 10 mins, 1 frozen sliced banana, splash of water, whazzed (that's the exact order I put things into the blender too) until smooth and...brown? :P

Deeee-lish!

Now, I also wanted to share with you today some of the lovely links I've come across recently, so you too can come across them and enjoy them! Let's go!

Food:

No Bake Chocolate Fudge Protein Truffles

21 Fruits And Veggies You Didn’t Know Grew Like That

Creamy Vegan Cheez Sauce! For Kale Mac 'n Cheese, Potatoes and More.

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal Mug Cake

Fitness:

4 Tips to Feel Great With Strength Training

13 struggles newbies Experience At The Gym

Total Ab Workout: Ab Exercises to Improve Endurance

Why Every Endurance Athlete Needs to Strength Train

Health:

WHY WORKING OUT LESS WILL MAKE US FITTER, AND HAPPIER!

Here’s What Nutritionists Actually Consider Healthy Food

Good Reads:

The Mind-Boggling Bullshit of Health and Fitness

I Ran A Half Marathon Without Any Training And This Is What I Learned About Myself

Aaaand that's it from me today folks- coming at ya tomorrow with another thought provoking post! :P Love holidays with all this extra time to do the things I love!

What about you?
What did you have for breakfast today?
Worst coloured smoothie you've ever made? What was in it?
Favourite smoothie add-in?

I hope you have a lovveeely Friday, all ready for the weekend!! Do something you love, and as always, EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!!! Bye for now friendly friends! :D

AL NATURAL!

Hi there beautiful people!

Today I have on my mind something that's been popping up on the daily and, yep, you guessed it, it's food again!! (gosh you would think this was a food blog or something?...) :P

Anywho, it's something that's come to my attention each day because it's something I do each and every single day and you may have already guessed what that something is: Fantasise about finishing school and moving somewhere new and exciting to study health/ nutrition/ whatever I want..

Well, yes, that is something that I seem to allow good amount of time for each day, but actually I'm talking about:

EATING!

Of course I am! Alrighty. So, in recent times I've sort of become hooked on certain YouTubers, Vloggers, Instagrammers, Foodies and Bloggers of the likes of Freelee The Banana Girl, Bonnyrebecca, Fully Raw Kristina etc. I've been drawn into their amazingly natural, fresh, abundant lifestyles of living and eating and have subconsciously I think altered my brain into craving the types of foods I watch them prepare in their videos/ on Instagram. (Yeah, some people love watching funny cat videos for hours on end on YouTube, I could quite happily watch hours of What I Eat In A Days!)

Fully Raw Kristina- Source

When meal times roll round I feel my body screaming for simple meals filled with all the good stuff. The smoothies (the gigantor ones!!) have increased in their appearances throughout the week. Big, glorious salads are a craving I often have come lunch time. Bowls of simply cooked rice, avocado, garbanzo beans and salsa sounds like the ultimate comfort food for me. Just thinking about fruit makes my body feel alive and energetic and happy. Fruit is a happy food for sure. If foods were given a characteristic/ personality, fruit would be happy.

Breakfast Papaya Bowl, post

Peanut butter would be sexy.
Salsa would be fierce.
Broccoli would be chummy, in the friendly, kind way.
Bread would be as comforting as a mother giving a child a hug.

Ok, moving right along (that was fun though!).

So, yes, I have somehow found myself craving the bounteous, natural, fresh, abundant diet/ lifestyle of these famous vegans and I thought I would share my experience of I guess a much more whole food, higher carb (mainly based on those fruits and veggies) based diet with you.

First of all, my digestion has been trucking along greatly. Not to go into too much detail but when I first went vego, only ate white pasta, cheese and baked beans (perhaps a lentil patty thrown in for good measure) and was losing weight rapidly, had extreme fatigue and insomnia and was the most anxious, stressful kid imaginable... well I guess it's not a surprise I had terrible digestion and very infrequent bowel movements. Now-a-days? Happy, healthy, positive bowel movements- yep I know that's what you wanted to hear!

Creamy Avocado Pasta, post

I guess on a more recent note, I've definitely noticed a lot less bloating/ uncomfortable feelings after eating that I used to get a lot all through childhood (I blame dairy and too much sugar) and even the past few years. If I make myself a gigantic green smoothie filled with bananas, mangoes, zucchini, kale, spinach, greek yoghurt, water- heaps of fresh stuff- I feel so much lighter, energetic and comfortable and I think my digestion just finds smoothie-ing up all those good, natural foods is so much easier for it to digest. Hence the increase in energy and vitality.

My energy levels are stable too and I have healthy hunger signals every few hours or so that make eating so much more enjoyable (you know how good eating food when you're actually hungry feels!)

Weight loss has never been something I've ever thought about in all of my diet/ lifestyle changes. I changed how I lived to fix more emotional, physiological, physical in the sense of losing too much weight too fast for no reason types of battles. But I wanted to include that with my increase and joy of upping some of my training (more strengthening and toning days, less cardio but longer long runs and  more intense sprint sessions) and this slightly more directed focus on predominantly fruit and veg power, my body is finally toning up and revealing muscles that I've never seen before, even as a state acrobat training at least 3 times a week.

I think the part I probably most like about this whole way of living is that abundance is key. Eating big, glorious, natural, fresh, whole food meals is what it's all about. A feeling of sadness washes over me when I think back to my usual weekend lunch as a pre-teen of one white bread, cheese and tomato toasted sandwich. But because it was so processed, greasy, salty etc. that was all my body could handle. And now?

Post

ALL the food!

Look, who knows if I'm ever going to go full-throttle vegan like these inspirational people mentioned above, because I do still feel like greek yoghurt and eggs (though again, subconsciously, I think I've only been having eggs once a week, twice max) are still benefitting my growing body for the moment and so I'll simply be adding in more vegan, fresh, natural meals to my regular routine because right now, it's what feels good and makes my body happy, and that's what really counts, right?

Tell me what you think:
Are you vegan/ raw/ HCLF? How did you feel after making the change?
Do you ever find yourself going through stages of only wanting to eat fresh fruit and veg?
Fav smoothie combo right now?

Anywho, it was just something I've been thinking about and whilst it's still a positive, it will remain in my day-to-day life (just like certain exercise regimes, or hobbies, or whatever should remain until it becomes less of a positive). I hope you all have a wonderful day, give someone a hug (hugs are great!) and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friendly friends!! :D

Sometimes You Have To Make Yourself Eat

Hi friends!

Today's post is a little on the serious side as it is something I know a lot of girls around the world, whoever, wherever and whatever is going on in their lives suffers with. The amazing World Wide Web enables us all to interconnect on a much grander scale than ever before and one of the things I have taken from this is and introduction to just how many people suffer as the result of poor/ inadequate nutrition.

However that's probably too big of a topic for one blog post and so today instead I want to scrap it all down to just one little section of this issue; under-eating. And it most cases; not even realising your doing it!

I've spoken on this before with my own experience, where unhealthy thoughts have entered my mind when I'm making myself a meal, saying ridiculous things like; 'If you don't add lentils to this dish that's a whole pack of food your not consuming... and do you really need to add them anyway? Will they make the dish any better?'

Lentils.

I guess on a more realistic and relatable and regular occurrence level, it would be the unhealthy voices in my mind saying;'No, you don't need to eat, it's only 2pm! You still have 2 hours until your next snack!' When I'm standing in the kitchen ravenously hungry.

But again, this issue I want to talk about is even more specific than that. It is pure and simply, not eating enough. And why sometimes you need to make yourself eat more!

It would probably shock the life out of most teenage girls to tell them to eat more and they will feel 10000x better when all they've been told from a very young age by society is how to lose weight, be skinny and therefore be happy. And thus begins the downsizing of meals, the infrequency of meals, the small, small amount of fuel being given to the body.

Do you know how hard it is to come to school, comfortably full and energised from a big bowl of warm, gooey banana porridge with nut butter and all the other good stuff, to be subjected to watching a friend eat her breakfast of- a slice of plain toast. Or perhaps, an apple. Or an orange. Or a juice. Or a coffee. Or maybe even just a bottle of water. (Whilst morning hydration is essential; so is following it up with a big, hearty, nutritious breakfast!)

Can you understand how painful it is to start digging into a home-prepared, well-sized portion of roasted veggies, spinach, beans, lentils, peas, corn etc. and look over to see a fellow girl-power nibbling on a rice cracker. Slowly crunching through some raw veggie sticks. Or better yet, a salad... made of lettuce.

Is it even legal to then go home and prepare a delicious feast of veggie pizza on a wholegrain pumpkin crust piled high with veggies and homes and nutritional yeast, only to message a friend and find out they've got another salad, or perhaps a boiled egg, or some more toast or maybe even that they're not eating dinner because they're not really hungry at all after a stressful/ bad day at school.

This is the kind of thing I'm faced with on the daily and whilst I'm not sharing this to gain sympathy (which would be rather odd because it would be like asking you to feel bad for me because I'm eating loads of food??) I'm asking you to consider the kinds of messages that are being sent out into the world and the 'normalcy' surrounding meals and eating that has been taken on by many, many girls, young women and women in general... in fact I wouldn't even limit it to women any more, the internet has also provided me with multiple examples of boys, young men and men who restrict their intakes to for an unrealistic image.

If I brought this issue up with a fellow friend who just doesn't seem to eat. At all. The response could well in fact be; 'Well, I'm just not much of an eater. I'm never hungry.' And whilst this seems legitimate, there's also a reason for this lack of hunger and I hate to tell them this, but it's not natural to not feel hunger. Ever. The reason why these girls can wake up and fill their stomachs with a whopping meal of water and then some crackers and lunch, followed by two pieces of buttered toast at dinner (and that's it) is because their body has adapted to the limited supply of energy, nutrients and just plain FOOD in general, that metabolism has slowed to the bare minimum and in all honesty the body is not burning anything anymore- storing what little food it is given is the only way to survive.

Hence the absence of hunger signals.

I was never one to restrict any of my meals or anything as a girl but even looking back at my 6-7-8-9 year old self who would wake up and have a bowl of cereal, then a cookie at recess, a vegemite sandwich on white bread at lunch and some rice and meat (pre-vego) for dinner, if I ate that now-a-days? I would be a screaming, hanger monster. That wouldn't even make up half the kilojoules I consume now! And what's even better? My body burns that energy I feed it now and I've never been stronger, fitter, more toned (similar lean-ness, I've never really been 'big' before) than ever. With probably 3x the amount of fuel!

So what would be my advice to these girls? Firstly, start slowly. Add in extra foods and kilojoules slowly and regularly to each meal. Not a big breakfast eater? Start with a home-made granola bar, or a small smoothie, or some fruit with nut butter. Then after a bit, add in a small bowl of oats, a piece of wholegrain toast with a delicious topping, add more fibre and protein to the smoothie. Slowly and slowly the hunger will creep in. You'll start to wake up with an appetite. Until eventually you're like me and a hungry monster after a night of fasting! The same goes for lunches and dinner. Slowly but surely (and regularly) add in another nutritious food, whether it be some avocado, pumpkin seeds, quinoa, sweet potato, chia seeds, homes, greek yoghurt, tahini- you name it!

You know when I mentioned my smoothies are always suuuuper huge and there's a good amount left in the blender after filling my smoothie jar?
Well, here's the remainder: Eaten with a spoon straight from the blender! :) NOM!

To kick-start a healthy metabolism and regular hunger signals, you need to gain your body's trust again, and whilst it may be uncomfortable or scaring or just plain unwanted (t's not that fun not being remotely hungry and forcing yourself to eat something) in the long-run your body will be an efficient, fuel burning, powerhouse that runs so well and doesn't store 100% of the food you eat because it knows there will be more (and a good amount) soon!

I won't lie, I've struggled with non-hunger before (see here, here and here) but in my case, this has never stopped me eating a meal, or dramatically downsizing portions etc. Instead it's made me aware that I still need to fuel my body even when it's not particularly hungry (especially if it's been over 4 hours!) because not only am I a growing teenage girl, with increased iron needs and calcium and protein etc. I'm also a runner, lover of HIIT, fitness addict, who loves to work up a sweat. So if I've worked up a sweat that day, I know I need to work up a good amount of food!

Pre-hill-sprint sesh leg shot:

Post hill-sprint sesh leg-shot:

Followed by the refuelling nature of post-fasted-workout breakfast:
This is a great example of a not-so-hungry Steph meal, that tasted delicious I might add, which was my breakfast of choc protein oats with nut butter and banana:

I'd just done a sprint session and needed to refuel, so I whipped up my regular (huge) amount of oats

and dug in:

When i got to about here, I could have comfortably stopped 9though I'm sure I would've been ravenous an hour later)

So this was one of those times when I had to tell myself my body requires more fuel than a few bites of oatmeal in the morning and continued to enjoy my creamy, rich, chocolate oats:

And enjoy them I did!

One last note on this; I really struggle with proper feeling on rest days and my short answer to myself and anyone else suffering with this mentality? This is when the changes happen, when your muscles rest and relax- so why deprive them of the fuel they need?? (I will do a more in depth post on this topic because I feel it is quite important!)

Your turn:
Do you struggle with feeling your body properly?
Ever have to make yourself eat because you know your body needs the fuel?
Favourite oatmeal combo at the moment? Kind of hooked on chocolate at the minute to be quite honest!!

I hope you take what I've said today and really consider the foods you are eating and if it is enough to sustain your day-to-day life. Enjoy your day, do something you love and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS! Bye for now friends!! :D