PAMPY’S
NOURISHING PRINCIPLES
After studying all things nourishing for the best part of 35 years, and trialling and assessing different approaches both personally and with literally thousands of people, I keep coming back to one conclusion:
Your best approach will always be somewhat unique to you — your appetite, activity, work, family, health and lifestyle all matter.
But for most healthy people, good nourishing doesn't need to become a maths competition.
I'm not a fan of counting every calorie. I don't think most people need to calculate the perfect ratio of protein, carbohydrate and fat. And I certainly don't think a cupboard full of supplements, powders and potions is where good health begins.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
Choose fresh, whole or minimally processed food most of the time.
Add carbohydrates according to your appetite, activity and the day in front of you.
Then eat slowly enough to allow your appetite to do something it has been designed to do for a very long time:
Eat. Enjoy it. Feel satisfied. Stop.
WHERE IT GETS TRICKY
Of course, modern life can make something this simple surprisingly difficult.
Highly processed food is everywhere.
Throw in a stressful day, poor sleep, long work hours, travel, food economy, mess halls, family commitments and socialising, and “just eat proper food” isn't always so easy.
The answer, in my view, isn't another complicated diet.
It's simply to keep coming back to the basics.
SO, WHAT DO I ACTUALLY EAT?
That's where this Spring 2026 Nourishing Menu comes in.
I've put together a collection of simple breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner ideas built predominantly around fresh whole food, complete protein and plenty of plants.
Some you can whip up in five minutes. Others require a little shopping, preparation and kitchen time.
There are no calorie counts, prescribed portion sizes or perfect macro ratios.
Choose something that looks good.
Stop when you've had enough.
Spring might be the perfect time to dial the fresh stuff back in before the silly season arrives.
Keep nourishing simple.
Your body is pretty good at the rest.
5 BREAKFAST IDEAS
- 2–3 eggs
- ½ avocado
- 1–2 slices good-quality wholegrain or sourdough toast
- Handful baby spinach or rocket
- Tomato
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt & cracked pepper
Boil, poach or scramble the eggs — whatever is easiest.
Pile onto toast with avocado, tomato and greens. Add a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Plain Greek yoghurt — ideally unsweetened
- Fresh berries
- ½ banana or chopped apple
- Small handful walnuts or almonds
- Chia seeds
- Pumpkin seeds
- Sprinkle of cinnamon
- Optional: small spoon of natural honey
Spoon the yoghurt into a bowl and throw everything else on top.
For work, make it the night before in a container and keep refrigerated.
- 2–3 eggs
- Mushrooms
- Tomato
- Baby spinach
- ½ avocado
- Small portion leftover roast pumpkin or sweet potato
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh herbs if available
- Salt & pepper
Pan-cook the mushrooms, tomato and spinach in a little olive oil.
Add eggs cooked your way, avocado and some reheated pumpkin or sweet potato.
Make it easier by cooking extra vegetables with dinner and keeping some aside for breakfast.
- Traditional rolled oats
- Plain Greek yoghurt
- Milk of choice
- Chia seeds
- Fresh berries or chopped apple
- Walnuts or almonds
- Cinnamon
- Optional: small amount natural honey
Combine oats, yoghurt, milk and chia in a container.
Refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, add fresh fruit, nuts and cinnamon. Adjust the milk depending on how thick you like it.
- 2–3 eggs
- Cooked sweet potato
- Baby spinach
- Tomato
- ½ avocado
- Pumpkin seeds
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Lemon
- Salt & pepper
Keep some pre-cooked sweet potato in the fridge.
Warm it in a pan with spinach and tomato while you cook your eggs.
Add avocado and pumpkin seeds, then finish with lemon and a little olive oil.
THE BREAKFAST MESSAGE
None of these meals has a prescribed calorie count or perfect serving size.
The common thread is simply real food, a useful protein source, plenty of plants, minimal processing and enough food to leave you naturally satisfied.
If your current breakfast is an Up & Go in the car, don't overthink the transition. Pick one of these, do a little shopping and preparation, and see how you go.
5 LUNCH IDEAS
- Leftover roast or grilled chicken
- Mixed leafy greens
- Tomato
- Cucumber
- ½ avocado
- Carrot
- Handful nuts or seeds
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Lemon
- Salt & cracked pepper
Throw the lot into a bowl or work container.
Dress with olive oil, fresh lemon, salt and pepper.
No chicken left over? Boiled eggs, tinned tuna or salmon make an easy swap.
- Palm-sized-or-better serving roast/grilled meat, chicken or fish
- Plenty of salad or cooked vegetables
- Potato, sweet potato, rice or another minimally processed carbohydrate if wanted
- Olive oil or simple dressing where available
- Fresh fruit if you're still hungry
No preparation required — but a little selection is.
Start with the most recognisable protein available: grilled fish, roast beef, chicken, lamb or eggs.
Load up with vegetables or salad, then add potato, rice or another carbohydrate according to your appetite and what the rest of your day looks like.
- Fresh salmon fillet
- Baby potatoes
- Mixed leafy greens
- Cucumber
- Cherry tomatoes
- Green beans
- Avocado
- Fresh lemon
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh herbs
- Salt & pepper
Bake or pan-cook the salmon and boil the baby potatoes and beans.
Allow everything to cool, then combine with the fresh salad ingredients.
Dress with lemon, olive oil, herbs and cracked pepper.
Make two servings at dinner and tomorrow's lunch is already sorted.
- Chickpeas — drained and rinsed
- Roast pumpkin
- Capsicum
- Zucchini
- Red onion
- Baby spinach or rocket
- Feta
- Pumpkin seeds
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Lemon
- Fresh herbs
Roast a tray of pumpkin, capsicum, zucchini and onion — ideally enough for several meals.
Combine with chickpeas, greens, feta and pumpkin seeds.
Finish with olive oil, lemon and herbs.
- Lean beef steak
- Sweet potato
- Mixed lettuce or cabbage
- Tomato
- Cucumber
- Carrot
- Avocado
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Lemon or apple cider vinegar
- Salt & cracked pepper
Grill or pan-cook the steak and slice it thinly.
Serve with roasted or boiled sweet potato and a big crunchy salad.
Dress with olive oil and lemon or vinegar.
This also works beautifully cold in a container the following day.
THE LUNCH MESSAGE
Lunch doesn't need to come in a packet with a nutrition panel telling you how healthy it is.
Whether you're packing it at home, buying lunch on the road or standing in a mess hall, use the same basic thought process:
Then eat until you're comfortably satisfied.
No calorie counting. No macro calculator. No need to turn lunch into a science experiment.
The trick isn't perfection — it's making the better choice easier to make.
5 SNACK IDEAS
- Fresh apple, pear or seasonal fruit
- Small handful raw or dry-roasted nuts
- A few slices good-quality cheese
Wash the fruit. Grab the nuts and cheese. Done.
Keep some nuts at work and add whatever fresh fruit is available that day.
- Plain Greek yoghurt
- Blueberries, strawberries or raspberries
- Walnuts or almonds
- Pumpkin or sunflower seeds
- Cinnamon
- Optional small drizzle natural honey
Spoon yoghurt into a bowl and pile the fresh ingredients on top.
For work, portion the yoghurt into a container and keep the nuts and seeds separate until you're ready to eat.
- 1–2 boiled eggs
- Carrot sticks
- Cucumber
- Cherry tomatoes
- Capsicum
- A few olives
- Hummus
- Optional piece fresh fruit
Boil several eggs at once and chop enough vegetables for a couple of days.
Load everything into a small reusable container and refrigerate.
Grab one on the way out the door.
- Carrot
- Celery
- Cucumber
- Red or yellow capsicum
- Cherry tomatoes
- Snow peas
- Hummus
- Small handful nuts or seeds
Slice the vegetables into dipping-sized pieces.
Pile them onto a plate or into a container with a generous spoonful of hummus.
That's it.
- 1 boiled egg
- ½ avocado
- Tomato
- Cucumber
- Carrot
- Pumpkin seeds
- Squeeze lemon
- Salt & cracked pepper
Slice the egg and avocado, add the fresh vegetables and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.
Finish with lemon, salt and pepper.
If taking it to work, keep the avocado whole and cut it when you're ready to eat.
THE SNACK MESSAGE
You don't need to snack simply because it's 10:30 am or 3:00 pm.
But if your body is genuinely asking for something, feed it.
🍓 Berries 🍏 Fruit 🥕 Vegetables 🥑 Avocado 🥜 Nuts & seeds 🥚 Eggs 🧀 Simple dairy.
Food that still resembles where it came from.
When you're standing at the servo, airport, work vending machine or supermarket, forget the clever packaging and health claims for a moment.
The shorter that journey, generally, the better.
5 DINNER IDEAS
- Fresh salmon fillets
- Baby potatoes
- Broccolini or broccoli
- Green beans
- Rocket or baby spinach
- Lemon
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Garlic
- Fresh herbs
- Salt & cracked pepper
Boil the baby potatoes until tender, drain and lightly crush with a fork.
Pan-fry or oven-bake the salmon with lemon, garlic and pepper.
Steam the greens, then finish everything with fresh herbs, lemon and a drizzle of olive oil.
- Chicken thighs or breast
- Baby potatoes
- Zucchini
- Capsicum
- Cherry tomatoes
- Red onion
- Olives
- Garlic
- Lemon
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Oregano, rosemary or thyme
- Optional feta to finish
Roughly chop everything, place onto a large baking tray and toss with olive oil, garlic, lemon and herbs.
Roast until the chicken is cooked and the vegetables are caramelised.
Scatter over a little feta and fresh herbs if desired.
Better still — cook extra. Tomorrow's lunch is now sorted.
- Pumpkin
- Lentils — cooked or no-added-salt tinned, rinsed
- Haloumi
- Baby spinach or rocket
- Cherry tomatoes
- Red onion
- Cucumber
- Pumpkin seeds
- Fresh mint or parsley
- Lemon
- Extra virgin olive oil
Roast pumpkin and red onion until golden.
Pan-sear the haloumi.
Combine with lentils, fresh greens, tomato and cucumber. Finish with pumpkin seeds, herbs, lemon and olive oil.
⭐ PAMPY'S PICKS
These final two require a little more shopping, chopping and kitchen time. That's okay. Nourishing as nature intended sometimes requires a bit of effort. Learn them, tweak them to your taste and they might become one of those meals you eventually make without even looking at the recipe.
- Lean beef steak
- Jasmine rice
- Cucumber
- Carrot
- Red capsicum
- Bean sprouts
- Spring onion
- Fresh coriander
- Fresh mint
- Fresh chilli
- Lime
- Garlic
- Fresh ginger
- Cashews or peanuts
- Fresh lime juice
- Fish sauce — check gluten-free if required
- Small amount honey
- Fresh chilli
- Grated ginger
- Garlic
Cook the rice and set aside.
Get a pan or barbecue properly hot and cook the steak, leaving it slightly pink if that's how you enjoy it. Rest before slicing thinly.
Finely slice the vegetables and roughly tear the herbs.
Mix the dressing — lime, fish sauce, ginger, garlic, chilli and just enough honey to balance the acidity.
Build the bowl with rice, loads of colourful vegetables, sliced beef and handfuls of fresh herbs. Spoon over the dressing and finish with crushed nuts and plenty of lime.
- Chicken thighs
- Pumpkin or sweet potato
- Zucchini
- Capsicum
- Red onion
- Chickpeas
- Garlic
- Lemon
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh coriander or parsley
- Almonds
- Pomegranate seeds — optional, but brilliant in Spring
- Cumin
- Ground coriander
- Paprika
- Turmeric
- Cinnamon
- Cracked pepper
- Plain Greek yoghurt
- Fresh mint
- Fresh coriander or parsley
- Lemon juice
- Garlic
Coat the chicken with olive oil, garlic and the spices and leave it to marinate if you've got time.
Roast the pumpkin, zucchini, capsicum and onion until caramelised, adding the chickpeas toward the end.
Grill or pan-cook the chicken until beautifully browned and cooked through.
Mix plain Greek yoghurt with chopped herbs, lemon and a little garlic.
Pile the roast vegetables and chickpeas onto a large serving plate. Slice the chicken over the top, add dollops of herby yoghurt and finish with almonds, fresh herbs, lemon and a scattering of pomegranate.
Put the whole thing in the middle of the table and let everyone help themselves.
THE DINNER MESSAGE
Dinner might be your best opportunity of the day to slow the whole nourishing process down.
Not every night, of course. Some nights you've got 20 minutes, hungry kids, late meetings or you've just walked through the door after a long shift.
That's real life.
But when you've got the opportunity, buy the ingredients. Put some music on. Chop some vegetables. Try some herbs and spices you've never used before. Cook enough for tomorrow.
It requires a little more effort than opening a packet.
But once you've got five or ten cracking whole-food meals that you know how to make almost without thinking, good nourishing becomes a whole lot easier.
And a whole lot more enjoyable.