A ‘Healthy’ Week of Eating

After a week of intense birthday celebrations, and that being followed by a week of long days of working and commuting (check me out, ‘adulting’ and all that jazz), I’d eaten a lot, and by a lot I mean a lot of rubbish. Eating rubbish foods make me feel so groggy, it makes me feel tired, unhealthy, unmotivated and about ten times the size I actually am. Whilst I know everyones diet is different, and different foods work for other people, for me, I like to try and eat real clean. I’m normally an all or nothing kinda girl, I’m either giving my usual healthy diet the 110% effort it deserves, or I’m letting myself indulge…and boy can I indulge. I just find it so difficult to get out of the indulgent phase, but once I’m out of it, I realise just how much better my mind and body feels from fuelling it with the right things for me. 

I believe in moderation. I believe in eating what you want within reason and not restricting yourself. However from someone who loves food like I do, sometimes eating within reason is difficult, so this week I thought I’d try and strike a heathy balance, generally eating pretty clean but allowing myself to ‘ween’ myself off of the indulgent foods so that it’s not such a shock (really I just want an excuse to let myself have something sweet here and there). I love food, but I also love to feel healthy and to feel good about my appearance. I really feel that when I eat loads of rubbish, I feel rubbish. My body is tired, even hungrier and I see myself totally differently. This week I’ve practiced intuitive eating as well as allowing myself to eat some of the not so ‘clean’ foods, next week will be even better!

I’ve never been one to really strictly diet, I’d rather just change what I’m eating, rather than how much I am eating. I find that as soon as I get into a habit of eating good, it becomes enjoyable and I don’t miss the things I used to crave and eat…if you’re filling your body with the right foods, why would it crave anything different?

I don’t believe that there is one set diet or food type that we should all eat, everyone is different and everyones bodies works differently…but this is what works for me.One of my biggest tips for trimming down is to simply reduce your carb intake for your last meal, have lots of veg and then a protein source, mine generally being some sort of Quorn or Linda Mcartney! I prefer to eat LOTS of good foods, rather than tell myself I can only eat 1000 calories a day; therefore when having a meal I’ll eat loads of vegetables. I like to have at least 3 types of vegetables per meal, that way I get to eat a lot of food and feel satisfied, without the high carb and high fat, it’s a win win! Being hungry and restrictive on diets are a fast-track to fail for me. They also don’t work in the long run, they aren’t maintainable and it also takes over your life!

This week is a typical week of eating for me, this is what I’ll generally eat on a weekly basis and I find that it makes me feel great. I never feel hungry and my meals taste great and totally satisfy me, eating healthy will never work and have long lasting effects if you’re constantly feeling deprived and restricted. With the odd piece dark chocolate or two(x 5)…everything in moderation, I allow myself to eat some less ‘clean’ things from time to time, because it keeps me on track and stops me feeling like I’m not allowing myself to eat what I want, because life really is too short for that. Similar to the style of my previous what I ate in a week, I’m not going to explain my meals, just simply make note of everything I ate on each day. If anything I make sounds particularly interesting, please do message and I’ll happily give you an explanation or step-by-step, enjoy! Unlike previous posts, I’m going to be starting on a Saturday rather than a Sunday, simply because my bad eating habits have to end ASAP, and writing this introduction is the Friday night that ended the two weeks of indulgence, there is no time like the present, so here it begins.

Saturday

Breakfast – Toast with peanut butter (I had a serious craving) and then toast with marmite & a green tea with a glass of water. 

Lunch – I recently found some ‘chicken style’ slices made by Quorn, they’re so tasty and I’ve literally been having them for lunch every day recently. I realise that I had bread for breakfast but when trying to think what I’d have the last few Quorn slices with…only bread would suffice! – these are the slices 

Dinner – M&S thai style edamame burger with salad 

Snacks – Peanuts and an ice lolly!

Sunday

Breakfast – Bran flakes, my signature breakfast meal. A whole lotta bran flakes with banana, blueberries and strawberries. 

Lunch – M&S Sweetcorn and chickpea burgers, my first time trying these and I was NOT disappointed…absolutely amazing. I had it with some veggies, some salad and some lentils. 

Dinner – A roast dinner tailored to me courtesy of Nigel. He’s so great with me being the anomaly at the dinner table, he’s so wonderful!

Snacks – Peanuts and dark chocolate.

Monday

Breakfast– Weetabix and granola 

Lunch – Boots meal deal, louisiana style cajun fritter sandwich (so yummy), a naked smoothie (I barely had any of it as one bottle actually contains three servings…going to have the rest another day!), and a bag of crisps. I also found out I had nearly 8 pounds of boots points to spend so all of that was free…doesn’t it taste better when it’s free!

Dinner – Falafel burger made by the wonderful Nigel…it was sooo yummy. 

(3 big meals today, I tend to have a smaller dinner when trying to be a bit healthier as big meals before bed make me feel extremely bloated..but hey, who could resist a homemade falafel burger)

Snacks – Some sweeties during the Love Island Final, I can’t lie and pretend I didn’t. This week is a ‘healthy’ week of eating, but it’s not a ‘restrictive’ week of eating, I fancied something sweet and so I let myself have it.

Tuesday

Breakfast – Beans on toast

Lunch – The M&S Sweetcorn and chickpea burger again…this time on a bed of salad!

Dinner – Quorn nuggets and chips, I was feeling tired and sorry for myself this evening and it was the most perfect comfort food.

 

Wednesday

Breakfast – Bran flakes breakfast…oh how I’ve missed you.

Lunch – Veggie sausages, potatoes and veggies…the perfect summer meal…not!

Dinner – Quorn chicken, lentils and veggies. 

Snacks – Dark chocolate, Alpro vanilla yogurt and fruit.

 

Thursday

Breakfast – my usual bran flakes brekkie 

Lunch – Stir fry with rice noodles and lots of soy sauce mmmm

Dinner – Really wasn’t hungry today, I think it’s the heat! 

Snacks – lentil crisps, dark chocolate and Alpro vanilla yogurt. 

 

Friday

Breakfast – Toast with Marmite 

Lunch – Veggie burger, rice and some tenderstem broccoli 

Dinner – Lentils with tahini, Quorn chicken and some yummy fried and seasoned spinach.

Snacks – Lentil crisps

I’ll give you one more bonus entry, one that wasn’t so healthy…perfectly timed, right? Before I finished off my Friday entry, I made a stack of pancakes, probably about the equivalent of 2/3 normal sized pancakes, but having them fun sized just makes it feel way more fancy! They were covered in banana, strawberries, blueberries and a drizzle of golden syrup. I like to slice up some fruit and add it onto the batter whilst it’s cooking to make it extra sweet.

So there ya have it, not a perfect week, but it’s a real week, and a considerably healthier one to the ones I’d previously been having. Food is meant to be enjoyed, eat a variety and eat as well as you can, but don’t sweat the small stuff…it’s only food at the end of the day. If you’re craving some chocolate, have the chocolate…life is way too short. Whilst I will admit this week had a little more sweet than I would usually have if I’m really giving my healthy ‘lifestyle’ my all, but it’s life…I’ve had considerably less than I have recently been having and next week will have even less. What’s your favourite comfort food? What’s your go to breakfast meal? I’d love to know!

Until next time

Megan

x x