Top tips for sticking to a healthy diet

Well it is the New Year and I know many of you, myself included will be more focused on your eating habits after enjoying a lovely Christmas feast, (for 4 weeks, ooops).

The key to success is habit and repetition.

If you do something every day for 21 one days, it should stick and become a new habit. There are ways of implementing this new scheme into your daily life and I have some tips and tricks to help.

You could possibly try eating at the same time each day.

In terms of repetition, if you do one thing the same every day, be it eating an apple at 3pm or having one of your three meals at exactly the same every day it will make life easier because you won't over think what to eat and when.

Perfect at least one healthy tea, that way you can eat it once a week safe in the knowledge that you can do it, fast and easily and it will be good for you.

We have a couple of go to's in our house, including omelettes, chicken and rice, stir fry and fish with sweet potato wedges and veg. 

As you can see, all quick, easy and healthy options. Monday is egg night, so we know, every Monday we will be having omelette or some kind of egg variation, like my Mexican eggs  which can also be found on my recipes page.

Keep fruit and nuts in sight or within reach. That way if you feel snacky you can just grab a handful. If you don’t want them, then you know you’re not really hungry you just want to snack. If the snack is there you are more likely to eat it.

Pre prepared yoghurt and blueberry pot

Chorizo and cous cous salad - meal prep

This tip will also stop you buying extra goodies in the shop as know you already have something at your desk so you don’t need to.

And finally, meal prep. We have all heard it all before but it really does make a difference.

It saves you wondering into the shop on lunch time hungry and more likely to make bad decisions. This way the decision is taken away from you and you are likely to eat healthier.

Just dedicate an hour of your time on a Sunday to cook a big batch of soup, or chicken to throw onto a salad, or a quinoa pilaf. 

Chicken and Pearl Barley Soup 

Chicken and Quinoa salad

Cooked shredded chicken

I hope these tips help you get 2017 off to a good start and if you have any others, do let me know!

Eating pud and feeling good!

Sometimes, chicken and veg just doesn’t cut it. Sometimes, you need something to finish a meal off. And there really is nothing better than a nice warming, hearty, apple crumble.

Now this is my healthified version, but by no means should it be eaten every day. When it comes to desserts, making them healthy all comes down to the ingredients. If you are one of these who hates “new” ingredients and won’t step foot into a health food store look away now. (In this particular recipe there is only one ingredient that requires sourcing from somewhere other than a supermarket. Although, by now I bet the really big ones do stock coconut sugar.)

I chopped up two cooking apples into bite size chunks and put them in a pan with a splash of water, literally a splash, you don’t want over gooey apples. When they were softening slightly I sprinkled over a little bit of coconut sugar and a squeeze of honey. Then I let it all cook and caramelise and get yummy.

It is also worth mentioning at this point that I did extra so that I had this delicious apple mixture as an extra topping for my yoghurt in the morning  - so worth it!

Once this cooked I distributed it into to little ramekins. My top tip here is to serve it in individual ramekins for portion control. By serving it this way, you can’t make too much and then go back for a second serving. :( Yey for waistline nay for taste buds. 

 

While the apple mixture was cooling I combined some oats, with a small amount of butter – this is why it isn’t 100% “clean” – some coconut sugar and lots of cinnamon. I pressed it all together in my fingers until it was just about combined and then sprinkled it evenly over the apple mixture.

Then I just baked it in a 180 degree oven for 20 mins. We were so excited that I totally forgot to get a photo of the finished product but I guess that just gives me an excuse to make it again. :) 

For the full recipe visit my recipes page

A day in food

I have a few staple healthy meals so I thought I would share another trio of recipes.

These three dishes encompass a day of food in our household. Monday tends to be egg night so I have a few eggy recipes in my arsenal as they are quick, healthy and yummy. This particular one can also be served at breakfast or lunch and as it is such a popular choice between myself and Matt, it made the cut for this post.

There isn't a carbohydrate in the image but this dish needs one to compliment it really, a nice slice of wholegrain toast sat under this is perfect. We had a crumpet with it recently as that is what we had left over. But that's just another example of how flexible healthy eating can be.

The Stages of the Egg

These eggs are cooked in a yummy tomato base made up of with whatever you like really. Usually, I start with garlic and onions and throw in whatever veg we have, spinach and mushrooms is great and then tip in chopped tomatoes. I added a chopped up rasher of bacon too recently which was left over. As mentioned, this is such a flexible and versatile dish, you can make it your own!

Make some wells in the sauce and crack in some eggs, give them five minutes to cook through and bob's your uncle. I have to say, it may be yummy but certainly it isn't the prettiest dish to photograph.

I love salads. I hate when people perceive salads as the bog standard lettuce, tomato and cucumber -boring! I experiment with different ingredients and new recipes all the time. It isn't hard and doesn't take up any more time then any other lunch prep would. Often you can make enough to last a few days too.

This (almost) raw Pad Thai salad is one of my latest creations. I draw inspiration from various cook books such as Get the Glow (the most recent edition to my collection) and Jamie's Superfood (my current favourite) and make my own versions of salads based on something I see in other places.

Almost Raw Pad Thai

The Pad Thai combines wholewheat rice noodles with finely sliced veggies. Just choose your favourite it's easy! Then simply make a dressing, this had lots of lime juice, tahini and soy sauce. Ooze it over the salad and let the flavours come together. Yum.

All  ingredients and the final result of the overnight oats (including in a to go tub)

Overnight oats are one of our favourite breakfasts, perfect for those with a busy lifestyle who need a grab and go breaky. The best part is, it takes a matter of minutes to prepare the night before, and if you want you can prepare two days worth.

All you need is a banana, mash it up, mix it with oats and milk and let it soak over night. I often include other soft fruits, mainly berries when mashing up the banana. It is so tasty and if you have a sweet tooth (like me) add some extra honey into it too.

Then, when you wake up, grab it out of the fridge and eat it. Hey Presto!

I will put the full recipes up on my page here in the next couple of days.

Happy eating! <3

Bikini body blast

It's that time of year again. The sun is peaking out giving us a taste for summer and the smell of sun cream is in the air.

Our summer holidays are upon us plaguing our minds while we look down at our winter pouch.

Because, let's face it, even the fittest of us do not keep up with our routines as thoroughly in the cold months. The drizzly mornings make us roll over rather than roll out of bed.

The Christmas chocolate, cheese and biscuits are still sitting heavily in our greedy guts.

But the short shorts are staring back from the dark corner of the wardrobe and we know it isn't long until we will need to whip them on.

So this is the way I ensure I have a good week. I get organised!

Forward planning is the key. It is essential in ensuring you don't get stuck on a night with nothing in to eat and the "goody cupboard" enticing you in.

Now trust me, I'm no saint. The plan below was faltered by the fact that today (Tuesday) we had a working lunch so we had to put on a spread for clients making it inappropriate for me to pop out of the meeting room to get my packed lunch, and also, my boyfriends mum wanted to make us tea.

Obviously, you cannot dictate what someone else cooks for you. So Tuesday was a flop, but it is okay because you cannot let one day ruin the rest.

And in the grand scheme of things - one day is okay.

By planning and putting the time aside to prepare lunches and set your workout routines you can make sure the rest of your week is planned around your health and fitness schedule.

It might sound tiresome to some people but to enthusiasts alike, it makes life complete. And once you get in to the swing of it, you will enjoy it. Particularly when you see the results and feel yourself getting faster and stronger. But the final satisfaction comes when you strut down the beach, in the bikini you dreamed about all last year and couldn't face, with the confidence to match your hot bod!

Prepare! Prepare! Prepare!

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Snack	Dinner	Workout
Monday	Scrambled egg and watermelon	Feta and avocado salad	Greek Yoghurt and banana	Broccoli and beef stir fry	Run, Chest and Abs
Tuesday	Protein and banana smoothie	Chicken and avocado salad with watermelon	Apple and nuts	Sesame crusted chicken fingers and courgette quinoa	Sprint intervals, and arms (Biceps and Triceps)
Wednesday	Scrambled eggs and watermelon	Courgette quinoa salad with tuna	Protein shake, apple, almonds	Salmon and sweet potato	Morning run, Legs and obliques
Thursday	Monkey nut yoghurt and granola with watermelon	Salad and fruit	Protein shake and nuts	Mexican quinoa	Morning Swim, Shoulders and Abs
Friday	Scrambled eggs	Tuna salad and fruit	Apple and yoghurt	Simply cook box	Back  and cycling

This week's healthy feasts

Vegetarian Mexican casserole,
Avocado, rice cake and poached egg,

Banana cookies

This week I have embarked on a culinary experiment.

I eat meat but I do love having a few days without it as it can be a bit heavy on my stomach. I have also been having trouble with my stomach lately and I suspect it is a wheat or gluten intolerance.

So I have tried a couple of new healthy recipes to try and get my tummy happy again. (Apologies about my sloppy presentation and photographs).


Guacamole and poached egg on rice cakes: 

The avocado, rice cake and poached egg is pretty straight forward and came from me having half an hour to rush a lunch using the few ingredients I had in.

So these new buckwheat rice cakes are brilliant. Only 29 calories and full of healthy seeds.

I love avocado, it is rich and creamy and full of healthy fats, it was a no brainer really - the guacamole and rice cakes would be a match made in heaven. But I needed more. It had to be more substantial to keep me going for the rest of the afternoon. My go to protein is eggs and I love poached egg.
Essentially I made my own healthy version of egg on toast. I upped the benefits by using super foods.

It was really delicious and will be a regular meal in future.

Banana cookies

These banana cookies were delicious and satisfied my sugar cravings. You only need three ingredients and they take 20 minutes to make.

Mash or blend two medium bananas to make a smooth paste, mix in a cup of oats and a quarter of a cup of chocolate chips - or dried fruit if you prefer. Scoop out onto a baking tray, (it made about 12 for me) and bake at 180 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Then enjoy!

Mexican casserole

Now this was something special. As someone who loves Mexican food and peppers this was perfect. I made it for friends and it served six so I had two portions left over for the next day.

I fried a load of peppers and onions in a pan, added some sweetcorn once the peppers had softened and sprinkled everything with chili powder and cumin.

Then I mashed up a tin of mixed beans and pulses with a bit of water to loosen them and made some enchilada sauce.

I used whole wheat tortilla strips and layered all the ingredients in a baking dish. Popped it in the over with some cheese on the top for 20 minutes and viola - a stunning dinner.
My boyfriend didn't even miss the meat!

Enjoy and keep an eye on my recipes page for instructions...

Feeling better with food

I am one of those people that feels really at home in the kitchen. 

If I am down, I cook.

If I am happy, I cook.

If I am celebrating, I cook.

If I am commiserating, I cook.

If I am ill, I cook.

Which is what I am right now - ill. Unfortunately I am having some severe stomach issues that are leaving me with no appetite one minute, to starving from lack of food the next. And once I indulge, welcoming the urge to eat which has been rare, I feel sick and writhe in agony.

So I decided to cheer myself up by recipe testing.

I had a go at making homemade, wheat and rye bread, chicken, vegetable and pearl barely soup and cinamonutty granola.

And am I pleased with my self or what?!

The granola is delicious and goes so well on top of yogurt. The soup is also great, made with homemade chicken stock really makes all the difference, and the different textures make it a pleasure to eat. And what more could you ask for when you're poorly than homemade chicken soup.
The rye bread is nice but it is a bit dense and heavy - but I guess rye bread does tend to be like that. One thick slice, toasted has been tasty and filling to dip in the soup, so I will definitely make it again - maybe tweaking it slightly each time.

To find out more watch out on my recipes page where I will shortly upload the method. 

The importance of a healthy fridge

I know I am not alone in this, there are a few of us out there who appreciate a full fridge.
So I thought I would share with you all, the contents of my fridge after a "big shop" and a night doing prep work in the kitchen.

My Fridge

From top left; Watermelon, homemade lemon and mustard salad dressing and half a butternut squash.
Second shelf down from left; Cottage cheese, Muller Rice (my naughty treats), Greek yogurt, homemade pesto, eggs and the superfruit - strawberries.
Bottom from left; A variety of mushrooms, frozen blackberries defrosting for breakfast, haddock (always have some kind of fish in). The containers, stacked from the bottom; homemade chicken soup, cooked quinoa ready to go as a quick salad or carb and roasted butternut squash (supposedly to add to salads but often used as a snack). Also hidden in the back is a salad prepared for lunch tomorrow.
Drawer; loads of fresh veggies like rocket, spinach, broccoli, spring onions, peppers etc... a lot of greens.

As you can see with a fridge stocked so well with delicious goodies it is hard to miss the foods and snacks like crisps, chocolate and pizza. I have full, healthy meals ready to go when I want and great things to pick at.
I find it so satisfying to know that I made healthy alternatives to foods. By making things like, my own salad dressing and pesto, I know exactly what the ingredients are and it is good to go whenever I am.

I hope my fridge inspires one or two of you to pre-prepare just on thing whether it be soup or even cooking up some brown rice.

Eat smart guys.

A lady that lunches

I have posted before about prepping meals for the week. I cannot recommend it enough.
This Saturday I spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen, I know for some people that sounds like hell, but I love cooking and experimenting so I was in my element.
I got a full chicken and had a go at jointing it. I have to say it wasn't the prettiest crown when it was finished but not a bad job for a first attempt.

Ready for roasting

I roasted the crown so I had lovely roast chicken for salads and scrambled egg etc.. all week. I then used the bones, thighs, legs, wings and whatever was left and made chicken stock. It was the first time I had ever made it and it was pretty easy. It tasted great too. I then tore the meat from the legs and thighs to put with the roast breast. Once all the chicken I could get was torn up I had about five 100g portions. Yum.

Lots of chicken ready to go for whatever I want.

So that was my quick protein source sorted but as we all know, I also love a good soup. So I used some of the chicken and all of the chicken stock to make a chicken and barley soup. Next to that I made an Indian spiced vegetable soup.

Spiced veg on the left and chicken on the right

I left some chunks in the spiced veg soup but blended most of it for a lovely curry consistency. The chicken one, made with the homemade stock is so rich and gloopy. I had never made any soup that was not just a vegetable based soup so I was pretty pleased with it. They freeze brilliantly too. All I have to do is get which ever I fancy out in the morning and heat up at lunch. Each soup made six servings so I have enough to last two weeks now, as I will have a few salads and egg based dishes to mix my lunches up a bit.

Some ready for freezing, others ready for lunch this week

If you're not a big cook don't worry. You don't have to spend hours in the kitchen to get these results, soup can be made in no time at all and as for a chicken, roasting a crown, just put it in an 190degree oven and forget about it for 50 minutes. It really is that easy. This way you save the pennies, jam pack your lunches with nutrients and vitamins from veg and have protein on standby. I can't recommend taking an hour out of your weekend to do something like this enough. Home made soups taste 100 times better than tinned stuff, are more filling and provide much more nutritional benefits to the body. So get out your crock pot and give it  go.

Start the week right

I am a big believer that there is no excuse for unhealthy eating.
All this, I don't have time to make a healthy lunch or a panini or meal deal is quick and easy, is rubbish.
Yes sometimes all you want is a pizza or a chicken curry, that is fine, sometimes... but on the whole you should and can eat well.
First of all, not only are there healthy choices out there if you look for them. But secondly, all you need to do is to put aside about one hour of your Sunday and you can be prepared for greatness.
I make one or two soups every weekend depending on how many I have stacked up in the freezer. 
This week I made chunky vegetable soup. I also cooked some brown rice so I had the carbs on hand for a quick dinner and roasted some butternut squash. It is a favourite vegetable of mine (they say orange veg is one of the best types) but it takes a while to cook. 

Vegetable soup, brown rice and squash, yum

The great thing about homemade soup, and I know i've probably said it before, is it is so versatile. Anything you want can be made into a soup. Most soups are veggie based so already you are getting a nutrient packed lunch and it is low calorie. Especially if you ignore the use of cream in a recipe. (It never really needs it in soup.) It is quick for lunch, heat it up in the microwave or on the hob and in three minutes you have a delicious, nutritious meal. It also freezes brilliantly, I always make a massive batch so I have some left over to freeze meaning some weeks I can mix and match.
By pre-cooking the brown rice and butternut squash it meant when I came home from a long day at work followed by a session at the gym I still ate well. So many people would see it as a reason for a take-away but it doesn't have to be. 
I mixed the rice with tinned tuna, the squash, lots of fresh veggies like spinach, broccoli, soy beans, spring onions and tomatoes. It meant I ate a hearty, healthy, filling dinner which was ready in the time it took to steam the broccoli. 
So try it yourself. A bit of preparation goes a long way.