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Before I lay out what my dietary behaviour typically looks like, I have to first say

BANANAS ARE THE GREATEST!

My day often has to begin with at least two bananas, that’s the first food item I reach for. OK so, I love bananas! I am always thinking of bananas and truth be told, I nibble on these yellow sweet gifts from nature on the daily without a single shame. I eat them throughout the day pretty much. On average I would estimate that I have about 6 bananas a day, probably more, depends on the day and on the size of the bananas. You may be wondering, but ain’t that excessive? Well, no – it’s not.

Bananas although often peeled, can be eaten unpeeled, Yes, you can eat the peels folks! I don’t eat the peels personally but I have done so a few times – it’s alright but not my thing. Another sweet deal is that you can use the peels for your skin, you can even use them to whiten your teeth. In fact, now that I think about it, bananas among other reasons like sheer lack of interest, may be the reason why I have never been or never needed to visit the dentist. The skins also have great anti-aging properties and according to research, they help with breakouts, fight wrinkles and acne. Let me also say that because I’m generally lazy, I don’t rub the peels on my skin and do all that Dermatology, I just eat them and lots of them. However, those of you that want to glisten up your skin should give it a go, it’s helluva cheap skin care without side effects!

Now that’s out of the way, what does my day look like from breakfast until dinner?

Breakfast

Like I already said, the first thing I eat in the morning is often a banana. My breakfast is usually comprised of just fruit. Between 7am -11am, I would’ve probably eaten, at least two/three bananas, three apples, two mandarins, sometimes a couple of slices of watermelon or a papaya and that would constitute my breakfast I don’t adhere to these numbers strictly, how many of these fruits I eat will vary but basically most days, I tend to just eat mostly fruit during the day, it works the best that way for me cause I don’t like spending much time on food. Plus fruits are digested much faster and pass through the digestive system without requiring lots of energy for digestion, so you’ve got energy the whole time and you can keep refilling as you need. It’s also perfect detoxification, because fruit upon waking up will clean you up like a broom! Also I’m a student so I have the proclivity to keep it easy and keep it cheap and eating fruits is both very easy and cheap.

On the weekends I take the time to make oats for breakfast. Oats are ritualistic for me on the occasion I have them, and by ritualistic I mean in the manner in which I prepare the oats, which again is nothing elaborate. I just boil water together with cinnamon and half chopped banana (or whole banana if I’m making a large serving) and an apple. I boil all these together for at least 10 or so minutes until the apples are soft and then mash them into a kind of liquid paste. Then I add a little bit of water along with the oats, a spoonful or two of peanut butter.[1] and cook for a further 2-3 minutes

You can obviously do without the peanut butter, but I love peanut butter so it will feature! However it’s got to be 100{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} peanuts for me, no sugar, oils and whatever other unholy things they like to add. That’s just my preference – you can also use almond butter, cashew butter and the array of nut butters out there, but on pockets like mine that stuff’s often painfully expensive so I keep it to peanut butter.

Finally, I chop in banana on top, half an apple, sprinkle a little more cinnamon, some more peanut butter and that’s pretty much it for me – ready to roll. If I’m feeling to a bit bourgeoisie, I’ll chuck in some crushed flax seeds and some blueberries and/or strawberries on top as added niceties. What’s cool about oats is that you can pretty much use whatever fruit combination you want, it somehow works.

What’s for dinner?

I frown upon dinner because it usually means, I’m spending time in the kitchen. The thing is, I love the culinary craft and I enjoy cooking, but I’m not fond of spending time in the kitchen unless I’m preparing food with friends and then it’s a jolly good show. Although generally I’d much prefer to be cooking up some tunes in the studio!

I don’t quite have a particular staple, it’s always fluctuating. When I’m lazy though, I usually just have avocado on wholewheat bread or rye bread, or just sprout up a salad or eat some more fruit. But when the culinary gods call upon me with inspiration to cook then things can get quite savoury. I’m experimental, so I tend to just open the cupboards and the fridge and use whatever produce I have.

For a dense meal, there’s almost always sweet potatoes, potatoes, rice and legumes in my kitchen. By legumes I mean, peas, beans and lentils – those are almost always hanging out in the pantry, and again, easy and cheap. As far as greens are concerned, spinach, kale, cucumber and broccoli are most common, there’s also always carrots, tomatoes and such basics around. I also diversify with the likes of butternut from time to time and of course you always gotta have herbs and spices. The amount of creative things one can do with legumes and the plethora of vegetables of the earth is almost endless, it’s all about experimenting and finding out new recipes.

For example the past night, I made avocado mashed potatoes with steamed broccoli and raw spinach. It’s the simplest thing – I just boiled the potatoes and mashed them together with avocado, lemon juice, black pepper and a bit of himalayan salt. Boom, done and you got yourself a good meal, real food that’s satiating and natural to your body.

Check out the sources below for more on information on bananas and evidence based nutrition.

https://nutritionfacts.org

http://www.dresselstyn.com/site/

http://proteinaholic.com/

https://www.pcrm.org/

https://www.drmcdougall.com/

https://foodworldblog.com/15-most-powerful-fat-burning-fruits/

http://naturesnurtureblog.com/treat-acne-other-skin-conditions-with-banana-peels/

https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/benefits-of-banana-how-to-include-the-fruit-in-your-daily-diet-1216006

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-to-treat-jet-lag-with-melatonin-rich-food/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0leFsZc7zY

[1] I use Eden Peanut butter (with cinnamon and raisin), it’s 100{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} peanuts, nothing else, no oil, no sugar etc, I like that, and it’s not expensive. https://eden-cpt.co.za/

Published in October 2018 by Derrick Shadrack (aka Banana Boy)