Sunday Breakfast

Getting fit and healthy do not mean that we deprive ourselves of the delicious foods we love. It doesn’t mean we forego egg yolks, butter, and start eating steamed skinless chicken breast and broccoli with no dressing. We need to eat the right proportions of macronutrients, electrolytes, phytonutrients, minerals and vitamins.

Healthy food can be delicious. Healthy foods can be those that you enjoy, that, some people say will kill you. I think, it is our habit that will kill us and not delicious food. Our habit of wolfing down our food. The habit of eating way past the point of need. The habit of putting off change.

I suggest we start thinking about mindful eating. Eating slowly, savouring each mouthful. Eating slowly and recognising texture and nuances in our foods and revelling in them. Eating slowly and recognising the cues our body gives us, to tell us we have had enough. Stop eating when our body tells us. If we listen closely, our body will even tell us, what nutrients we need to eat more of in each meal.

That feeling of need that you have, even after you have had your second plate of pasta and salad, is your body’s way of telling you, you need proteins. If you were to listen to your body and ate some proteins, the unease you feel will subside. Of course it can be the other way round too. When you have wolfed down that hunk of beef and yet you are not satisfied. That is your body saying, you need something else. Perhaps fibres or carbs. Just, simply listen to what our body cues us.

I think to be truly fit and healthy, one has to be happy too. What better way to be happy than to eat the stuff you like and ditch the tasteless, skinless steamed chicken and broccoli.

This, was my second breakfast this Sunday, after coaching football. Yes, second breakfast. The first was a handful of nuts, a banana and a cortado, just to get going. The second was. 6 minute egg. Homemade bread. Butter. Roquefort. Pineapple dressed in balsamico. Mint. Basil. Leaves from the aerospring garden. Cortado.