I’ve been thinking a lot this week about how I eat. My relationship with food has changed so much over the years, due to growing knowledge of food, better cooking ability, and a far greater knowledge of my own mind and body.

I’ve said it so many times on this blog, but it’s true so here we again: no one approach to diet and eating is going to suit everyone. We’re all different on the outside thus it is unsurprising that we all have subtle differences on the inside too. Food that is going to make me feel good could potentially make you feel like rubbish and vice versa. This is why ‘diets’ don’t ever seem to work for everyone and why Michael Pollan’s words to sum up how to eat are the one’s that resonate with me, ‘eat food, not too much, mostly vegetables’. That approach is clear in these weekly meal plans that are mostly centred around eating whole foods, lots of different plant foods and a little bit of seafood and meat (in the non vego plan!).

This is how I eat. But that doesn’t meant that I eat ‘healthily’ all the time. This blog is called ‘The Healthy Hunter’ because of my continued quest to understand what the word healthy really means. What does it mean to you? What does it even mean to me? I guess it means approaching life with a semblance of balance. Not becoming stressed or emotional about food, or overly restrictive. The whole mild fructose malabsorption thing I have going on is as much restriction as I want in my diet. I try to eat the food my body needs and pay attention to how it reacts to certain things. But I don’t deny myself things I want, new experiences or let a quest for health control my life. Caring about what I put in my body is part of me but it’s not my defining quality. Loving all food is another part of me that I balance with the whole caring what I put in my body thing!

With nutrition being a relatively young and every changing science it can be so hard to tell fact from fiction with the health advice that’s out there. That’s why I stay away from fad diets and stick to advice that has a wealth of scientific evidence behind it. Like, ‘eat your greens’ 😉 With that in mind this weeks meal plans are full of a variety of greens and other plant foods, lots of dishes involving healthy fats, seafood and pasta. Because I’ll always love pasta.

Plan A

Day 1: Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Tortilla Soup with Grilled Sweet Corn and Avocado, it’s getting a tiny bit cooler in Melbourne this week and I’m craving this soup, it’s so flavoursome and somehow summery as a hot soup?

Day 2: Prawn Gado Gado Salad. If you haven’t put prawns in your Gado Gado yet, you’re doing life wrong.

Day 3: Hasselback Potatoes with Roast Chicken with a Zucchini and Leek Stuffing, this combination is so perfect. The lemon scented chicken with the crispy potatoes. Just make a quick green salad for on the side from cos lettuce and any leftovers you might have in the fridge.

Day 4: Garam Masala Baked Eggs with Chickpeas and Spinach. Baked eggs are every meal of the day kind of food.

Day 5: Chipotle Salmon Tacos with a Mango Salsa. Serve these super tasty tacos with a Mexican Rainbow Salad on the side.

Plan B

Day 1: Garam Masala Baked Eggs with Chickpeas and Spinach. Baked eggs all day every day.

Day 2: Crispy Satay Tofu with Coconut Rice and Cucumber and Avocado Salad, still my favourite way to eat tofu.

Day 3: Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Tortilla Soup with Grilled Sweet Corn and Avocado 

Day 4: Grilled Eggplant Salad with Quinoa, Zucchini and Tahini Yoghurt Dressing. Tahini and eggplant belong together.

Day 5: Garlic and Lemon Linguini with Blistered Cherry Tomatoes and Basil. Serve with a peppery rocket, parmesan and cucumber salad.

This weeks bonus recipe is something savoury for a change! Snack on broccoli and feta dip this week for extra yum.

HH. x