Foodie

Hunger Pangs – It’s not about the calories

Every time my belly rumbles I start to contemplate my shopping list.

I feel like I’ve not been able to satiate my hunger since I stopped training and returned to England from Phoenix.

And to me that doesn’t make a lot of sense except that maybe my body is hungry all the time because I’m not distracting myself with training and other bits of life’s busyness. Because clearly, normal good sense would tell you that higher training load = higher calorie intake. But right now it’s the complete reverse.

Sooooo I started to think and figured it out…I hope.

It’s the type of food/calories I’m taking in. Right now, it’s all super duper carbilicious like spag-bol and jollof rice (Mum’s home cooking), which of course I absolutely adore taste-wise, but my body is CLEARLY CRAVING (I never in a gazillion years thought I’d catch myself saying or admitting to this)…uhm…my body is clearly craving…veg!

GREEN RABBIT FOOD’ was what I once referred to the type of ‘horrible’ food my body is craving right now. But clearly, that’s what my body has been missing and is in desperate need of!

Here’s my theory: your body gets fuelled more efficiently eating green, leafy and cruciferous veg than by simple carbs.

So if you’re going through a rubbish time in life or are injured/infirmed/down-and-out right now certainly do indulge for a little while, but after about a week or so you are more than welcome to ignore one of my ‘perks’ (order takeaways) from my latest post, and create a new shopping list. Here’s mine. Sorry if it is slightly uninspiring, but it truly does the job! (And good food is essential for quick, effective muscle recovery so… voila!)

Shopping List

  Meats/Protein Fresh Fruit/Veg Complex Carbs Fats Miscellaneous
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner §  Eggs

§  Turkey Lunch Meat

§  Fresh Salmon

§  Chicken legs/thighs

 

(£12)

§  Broccoli

§  Green Beans

§  Spinach

§  Mixed Peppers

 

(£4)

Yam/Sweet Potato

 

Brown rice

 

(£3)

Cheese

 

(£3)

Golden Syrup Quaker Oats (I missed these SO SO SO MUCH in America! They don’t have anything like this there.)

 

(£4)

Snacks §  Popcorn – sweet & salty – try Metcalfe’s or Tyrrells (£1.49 each or £1 each when on offer) (£3-6)

§  Nuts (Roasted Salted Cashews OR Plain Almonds) (£2)

§  Lactofree milk (Arla) (£9-10)

Approx Total:

£40-45

 

Now, the cupboards aren’t completely bare and the fridge is pretty full, so even though I’ve included everything you may need on this shopping list, I actually already have chicken and rice at home, for example. The breakfast/lunch/dinner prices are also a slight guesstimation (except the Oats) since I have based this from US prices, where grocery shopping is significantly more expensive than in the UK. I’m pretty certain the snack prices are about-accurate though! Best of all, batch-cooking these items could potentially last you 5-7 days if you don’t get bored easily. And the snacks and Quaker Oats should last weeks longer than the fresh perishable items (benefits of bulk buying and batch-cooking).

Here’s a quick breakdown of what my diet may look like what I hope my diet will be like over the next few days…

Breakfast Lunch Dinner Snacks
Scrambled eggs x2 with turkey & 15g grated cheese (1 slice of toast optional depending on how I feel) Chicken leg, jollof rice & steamed broccoli Grilled salmon, oven-baked sweet potatoes & peppers (as seen here + recipe.) §  Handful of nuts + 1-2 portions of fruit

§  Bowl of popcorn

§  Chocolate, preferably Galaxy or Kinder Bueno (because I’m allowed!)

§  Mug of hot milk before bedtime

Golden Syrup Quaker Oats with 180ml lactofree milk (Arla) Mixed bean chili on a bed of steamed spinach Grilled salmon + steamed broccoli & green beans

 

I’ve not done one of these foodie posts for a while. To check out previous posts like this, take a look at my mini Fabulous Foodie collection.

Thanks for reading. I appreciate you!

P.S. What are your eating habits like? Share any tips!

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