HEALTHY BANANA AND OATMEAL BREAD (AND SOME TALK ABOUT EMOTIONAL EATING)

     It's been a while since I've written a recipe. I won't tell you clichés about how busy life is, because that's what it's like to most of people. The truth is I lacked the inspiration in my life I really needed. I am a sensitive and emotional human being and most of the times if I feel uninspired it shows up in every aspect of my life. So, my blogging life was affected as well. Since the last time I blogged, I've been to an amazing trip in Greece to Elafonisos island with my two best girlfriends. We had such a relaxing time, doing almost nothing but sunbathing, swimming and eating during the night. What else did we need? Just some quiet for a while...

     But it's not only my everyday life that gets affected by emotions,it's food as well. With food I share a love and hate relationship for a lot of years. I almost never like to talk about it and really, who cares? I enjoy food very much, but sometimes when stress sneaks into my life, I overuse food for the wrong reasons. Then I stress about food, which leads to more stress, which leads to more food and...you get the picture. 

     I've read a lot of articles talking about "listening to your body" and I always thought they were talking nonsense or made it seem so simple, when it's not. Willpower. Such a strong word and also so far to reach sometimes. And what about having an order in your life? 

   It often seems that when chaos exists in your life, it's the reflected chaos inside you that you look at. 

So, I had to do something about it.

     In my journey towards realising what my body is saying to me, I tried for the last two months to keep a journal. Not a calorie and food intake journal, but an emotional journal.  Every time I am hungry I make a note about how I am feeling at that time of the day. Then I can see which days or periods during the day I am really hungry and when I am just bored, angry, stressed or sad about something going on in my life. It's really a silly task to let myself realise sometimes that it's not hunger that's making me crazy and not being able to concentrate on something else. It's my own emotional chaos that is recking everything. If anything sounds familiar to you, then maybe you should give it a try and see if something clicks in your head. You can also read this article I found that talks suggests doing a Broccoli test before you eat anything. It also talks a lot about emotional eating. 

     Another major change in my life that helped me a lot with my relationship with food was exercise. But not once or twice a month exercise. Daily one, with a few breaks between the week. My plan? Plan ahead... Every Sunday I make a schedule about possible gym days, running or Pilates during the week and give it my best to try to do them all. So far it has really helped that in my new internship position we have a pretty good gym where I spend all my lunchtime days there. I am pretty sure my classmates and colleagues think I am a freak for doing so, but it really makes me feel amazing afterwards. I am doing a lot of HIIT sessions combined with running and Pilates, which I can never give up. 

     In this spirit of a healthier body and mind, I made a recipe this morning for a healthy banana bread with oatmeal, oat milk and walnuts. It's a real treat and since it's not very sweet, it's a good choice for breakfast. What I like doing with it is toasting it slightly and then slather on top some crunchy peanut butter. I am already hungry talking about it!

Healthy Banana and Oatmeal bread

ingredients (for one loaf)

2 large ripe bananas smashed and one not so ripe

1/4 cup oatmilk (or any other type of milk)

1/3 cup olive oil or vegetable oil

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup oats

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 eggs

2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup crushed walnuts

how do I make it?

1. Preheat oven to 180 C. In a large bowl whisk together the oil and honey. Then pour inside the eggs and whisk again very well until everything is combined. Add the milk and smashed bananas. 

2. Lastly add the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and mix everything very well. Mix in the walnuts.

3. In a prepared loaf pan pour the bread dough. Take your other banana and slice in lengthwise. Top the unbaked bread with the two halves of banana. 

4. Bake the bread for 40 minutes or until slightly golden brown. 

5. Let it cool for about 10 minutes and then enjoy it while it's still warm.