It's time to make a change.
Hello to anyone who is reading this right now!!
It's been a little while since I posted any recipes. I had been on holidays for a couple of weeks and I have been avoiding sitting at the computer! Instead I traded my trusty laptop for the TV and my exercise bike. I watched so many movies and shows in the holidays, I'm definitely getting my monies worth of Foxtel!
More importantly, I've started delving into the scary world of documentaries and books about diet and food.
I've always had an awareness of what I eat, this doesn't mean I eat well though. I go through cycles of healthy eating which for me consists of calorie counting, upping my intake of fresh food and limiting processed foods. This is usually short-lived until I get stressed, bored or tired of constantly thinking of food or cooking healthy meals so then I give up, start binging and really not caring about what I put into my body...
Until I start feeling sick or look at the scales and realise I need to 'diet' again.
And so the cycle continues.
I've always made excuses.. As I'm sure many others have done the exact same thing;
"I've got to enjoy myself, healthy eating restricts my lifestyle"
"I don't actually eat that bad, I don't understand why I'm not healthier"
"I'm Italian, why shouldn't I be able to eat a giant bowl of pasta? Surely my metabolism is made for that?"
And so on and so forth...
This has gone on for years, I've gained roughly 10 kilos (22 lbs/1.5 stone) in 5 years, which is a lot for someone who's only 160cm tall (5"3).. And it scares me that if I continue going like this, where will I be in another 5 years? I'm only 27, I haven't had any children. I don't want to get to a point where I'm too unhealthy to be a mother, or continue down this path and run into weight-related health problems.
I recently watched a documentary called "Food Matters" and it helped me realise something, which deep down I knew all along but had never really given much thought to. As soon as they started talking about it it was like a lightbulb turned on in my brain- we as humans, survived for millenniums on a plant-based diet. We introduced meat and animal products to our diet and we survived just fine on that too.
It's only been in the last 40 or so years that diet-related health problems have crept up to become the number one killers
What is this telling us? What has changed in the last 40 years? Is this a sign that the introduction of chemically altered foods, and the changes to food processing are MAKING US SICK? All the studies and information (not funded by the companies with an invested interest in these practises, making them biased) has lead to a resounding YES.
There are so many things in life that we can't control. People are starving to death every day. And in the developed world we are eating ourselves into early graves and the majority of us don't even try to do anything about it or find out WHY we are doing this to ourselves. The majority of us who are making unhealthy choices, are doing so because we are either unaware and uneducated about what we are actually putting into our bodies, we are in denial about how badly we are treating ourselves or we don't love ourselves enough to actually make the change to look after ourselves.
In my blog, I post lots of different recipes, some of which are healthy, some of which are definitely unhealthy. I'm not going to change that drastically at this point- I believe life is about balance, but I feel that I have a responsibility to explain the recipes I'm sharing with you and what goes into them, so you can make an educated choice about the food you cook for yourself, your family and friends.
I know it's not always easiest to source organic, or feasible to pay more then three times the price for free-range. But I'm going to start including these ingredients in my recipes more-so then I have in the past and if you do the same, great!
I find that not only do these ingredients taste better, but they actually make me feel better. Not just physically, but mentally. It's a really great feeling to know that I am supporting local farmers and that I'm not endorsing animal cruelty or unsustainable farming that has a severe impact on the environment.
I'm putting this all out there, I started this blog to encourage myself to learn new recipes and try new techniques, but now I'm encouraging myself and whoever reads this to make better food choices. And during so, start living a healthier life and being a healthier weight.
Every so often I will be posting different dietary facts and links about healthy eating. I feel a responsibility and desire to share whatever knowledge I pick up along the way, and hopefully start learning and teaching others about a healthier lifestyle.
I just would like to state, I'm not a nutritionist. I'm a chef, and every day I'm learning something different about food, and something I will learn tomorrow may change my whole outlook on healthy eating. I'm eager to learn more, and through reading un-biased material and by watching the real professionals (like nutritionist, naturopaths and doctors) do their thing, I can maybe get a better understanding of food and impart that wisdom on you, my reader.
Here's to turning over a new leaf!
Cheers,
Hangry
It's been a little while since I posted any recipes. I had been on holidays for a couple of weeks and I have been avoiding sitting at the computer! Instead I traded my trusty laptop for the TV and my exercise bike. I watched so many movies and shows in the holidays, I'm definitely getting my monies worth of Foxtel!
More importantly, I've started delving into the scary world of documentaries and books about diet and food.
I've always had an awareness of what I eat, this doesn't mean I eat well though. I go through cycles of healthy eating which for me consists of calorie counting, upping my intake of fresh food and limiting processed foods. This is usually short-lived until I get stressed, bored or tired of constantly thinking of food or cooking healthy meals so then I give up, start binging and really not caring about what I put into my body...
Until I start feeling sick or look at the scales and realise I need to 'diet' again.
And so the cycle continues.
I've always made excuses.. As I'm sure many others have done the exact same thing;
"I've got to enjoy myself, healthy eating restricts my lifestyle"
"I don't actually eat that bad, I don't understand why I'm not healthier"
"I'm Italian, why shouldn't I be able to eat a giant bowl of pasta? Surely my metabolism is made for that?"
And so on and so forth...
This has gone on for years, I've gained roughly 10 kilos (22 lbs/1.5 stone) in 5 years, which is a lot for someone who's only 160cm tall (5"3).. And it scares me that if I continue going like this, where will I be in another 5 years? I'm only 27, I haven't had any children. I don't want to get to a point where I'm too unhealthy to be a mother, or continue down this path and run into weight-related health problems.
I recently watched a documentary called "Food Matters" and it helped me realise something, which deep down I knew all along but had never really given much thought to. As soon as they started talking about it it was like a lightbulb turned on in my brain- we as humans, survived for millenniums on a plant-based diet. We introduced meat and animal products to our diet and we survived just fine on that too.
It's only been in the last 40 or so years that diet-related health problems have crept up to become the number one killers
Cancer Diabetes Hypertension Heart Disease Cholesterol Obesity
What is this telling us? What has changed in the last 40 years? Is this a sign that the introduction of chemically altered foods, and the changes to food processing are MAKING US SICK? All the studies and information (not funded by the companies with an invested interest in these practises, making them biased) has lead to a resounding YES.
There are so many things in life that we can't control. People are starving to death every day. And in the developed world we are eating ourselves into early graves and the majority of us don't even try to do anything about it or find out WHY we are doing this to ourselves. The majority of us who are making unhealthy choices, are doing so because we are either unaware and uneducated about what we are actually putting into our bodies, we are in denial about how badly we are treating ourselves or we don't love ourselves enough to actually make the change to look after ourselves.
In my blog, I post lots of different recipes, some of which are healthy, some of which are definitely unhealthy. I'm not going to change that drastically at this point- I believe life is about balance, but I feel that I have a responsibility to explain the recipes I'm sharing with you and what goes into them, so you can make an educated choice about the food you cook for yourself, your family and friends.
I know it's not always easiest to source organic, or feasible to pay more then three times the price for free-range. But I'm going to start including these ingredients in my recipes more-so then I have in the past and if you do the same, great!
I find that not only do these ingredients taste better, but they actually make me feel better. Not just physically, but mentally. It's a really great feeling to know that I am supporting local farmers and that I'm not endorsing animal cruelty or unsustainable farming that has a severe impact on the environment.
I'm putting this all out there, I started this blog to encourage myself to learn new recipes and try new techniques, but now I'm encouraging myself and whoever reads this to make better food choices. And during so, start living a healthier life and being a healthier weight.
Every so often I will be posting different dietary facts and links about healthy eating. I feel a responsibility and desire to share whatever knowledge I pick up along the way, and hopefully start learning and teaching others about a healthier lifestyle.
I just would like to state, I'm not a nutritionist. I'm a chef, and every day I'm learning something different about food, and something I will learn tomorrow may change my whole outlook on healthy eating. I'm eager to learn more, and through reading un-biased material and by watching the real professionals (like nutritionist, naturopaths and doctors) do their thing, I can maybe get a better understanding of food and impart that wisdom on you, my reader.
Here's to turning over a new leaf!
Cheers,
Hangry
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