Lost the plot

I lost the plot. Completely. A combination of depression and pain have derailed my plans. Comfort food and binge eating seem to be the medication of choice right now.

Over the last couple of months I have been feeling very low. So much so I ignored the blog and my quest. It all seemed too hard and my goals seemed so far away.

I feel that right now I'm not in a good place to be writing my thoughts down. The new year seems like a good place to start afresh, even though it is just an arbitrary set of numbers on a calendar. 

Poppy seeds

I have started eating more eggs as a source of cheap protein, but I'm not keen on the taste of them, so I scramble them and add other flavourings to help the taste. Whilst looking through our spice rack I found a packet of poppy seeds. I like the taste of them on bread so I experimented with them in my eggs. I was pleasantly surprised with the result, they added a nutty taste that wasn't overpowering.

I decided to investigate these tiny seeds and see if they have any benefits to a healthy diet. It turns out they are packed full of vitamins and minerals. They contain folates, niacin (vitamin B), thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6), vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E and vitamin K. They are also a good source of calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, selenium and zinc.

Be careful though as they are quite high in calories with 525 calories per 100 grams. They also have over 40 grams of fat, although the fats contained in poppy seeds are good for you and help lower LDL cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol. Studies show that diets high in monounsaturated fatty acids, like those contained in poppy seeds, helps to prevent coronary artery disease and strokes. There have also been studies that indicate the oleic acid in the seeds help to combat breast cancer.

Ideas for including poppy seeds into a healthy diet 

 

Other than adding them to dishes like scrambled egg, they work well with lemon and other seeds and nuts.  I have also added them to coleslaw and commercial light or low fat salad dressings.

1. Poppy seed & walnut pasta. Melt 30g butter in a pan, fry 2 large garlic cloves (thinly sliced). Once the garlic is just turning golden, add 25g of poppy seeds and cook for a further minute. Then add 25g of crushed walnuts and cook for another minute. Pour over a ribbon pasta, such as tagliatelle, and then sprinkle over finely grated zest of a large lemon. Toss the pasta to coat it in the mixture, this should serve 4 people. This goes well with a garden salad with no dressing as you already have the delicate flavour of the pasta sauce.
2. Poppy seed broccoli. Heat 2 tsp of olive oil in a frying pan and fry 1 tbsp of poppy seeds for a minute to release their flavour. Sprinkle in 1/4 tsp of paprika and then add enough steamed broccoli for four people and stir well to coat the broccoli in the seeds. Dish up the broccoli and garnish with a teaspoon of grated Parmesan cheese.
3. Fruit salad with poppy seed dressing. In a blender or food processor, combine 1 banana, 60ml orange juice, 1 tbsp lime juice, 2 tbsp poppy seeds, 1 tbsp raspberry vinegar, 1/4 tsp olive oil, 30g raspberries, a pinch of salt and pinch of cayenne pepper, and puree until smooth. Cover tightly and refrigerate until ready to use. Chop up assorted fruit and dress with the poppy seed dressing. There is enough dressing for about 6 - 8 salads.

One thing to note, other than the high oil content of these seeds, they reportedly can provide a false positive on drug tests for opiates. I don't know if this is a myth or not, but it is worth bearing in mind.

Jerk the Chicken

I spent a few years living in Africa, this is where I had my first taste of jerk chicken. Whilst it is typically known as a Jamaican food, it's roots are found in African cooking. The jerk chicken I first tried was in a Jamaican style restaurant, that had given an African twist to it's menu.

I couldn't recreate the recipe from all those years ago, but this is a pretty close approximation, and with the skin and visible fat removed from the chicken, keeps the calories low. One tip, wear gloves when cooking with very strong chillies as if you get any in your eyes, you will know about it for a long time.

Ingredients:

4 skinless chicken thighs
60 ml malt vinegar
60 ml lime juice
1 tbsp dark rum
1 Scotch bonnet chilli, with seeds, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
1 tsp (heaped) dried thyme
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp molasses

How to:

1. Put vinegar, rum, chilli, onion, spring, thyme, olive oil, salt, pepper, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and molasses into a blender. Blitz until mostly smooth.
2. Pour lime juice over the chicken and coat well. Add the jerk paste to the chicken pieces and coat well. Cover the chicken with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.
3. Drain the marinade from the chicken into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside to use as a basting sauce for the chicken.
4. Preheat oven to 180ºC and cook for approximately 25 minutes, turning the chicken occasionally and basting with marinade. The chicken is cooked through when the juices run clear when a knife tip is inserted into the thigh. Transfer the chicken to a plate and tent loosely with foil to keep warm and let stand 15 minutes.
5. Serve with a rice salad.

Serves 4

Week 6

I know at the start of this new healthy life style quest, I decided I wasn't going to gauge my success on the bathroom scales and have therefore stayed away from them for the last six weeks. Today after my shower I wondered how much weight I had lost as I am feeling so much better. I am finding walking is no longer painful and I am now enjoying the occasional stroll round our local village and our out of town giant Tesco. I have not had to take my prescription strength pain killers for my recovering back injury for over 3 weeks now. And my clothes are now loose and next week I'll be opening up the storage boxes to find my older clothes in smaller sizes.

In the last six weeks I have lost nearly 60 pounds. All of this has been achieved through sensible eating, healthy food and slowly increasing my activity levels. At times it has been difficult, but overall I have to say this time round has been the easiest. In the past I have tried Slimming World, Weight Watchers and a number of strange diet plans. Whilst the Slimming World plan is the easiest to follow and you are never hungry and I had great results whilst on their plan, as soon as I tried 'normal' eating, I picked up the weight again.

In reality all diet plans work, they modify what you eat so that your body sheds weight, some rely on restricting calories, others use weak or pseudo science to sell you their plan, which is really reduced calories wrapped up in a fad eating plan. For me I saw them a bit like a course of medicine, complete the course and you are fixed. Which in reality it isn't, I and many fat people like me have underlying issues that need resolving rather than just treating the fat symptom.

For me I need to re-educate my body and food habits. I can do diets but I can't manage the time between them. So my plan is, as I stated 4 weeks ago when I started this blog, I am looking to learn to listen to what my body is telling me. I need to think about what I eat, when I eat and why I eat. It used to be too easy to eat take away, junk food, sweets etc. it was quick and required no effort. I suppose it tasted good, but sitting here now, I probably couldn't tell you what it tasted like, the food was just piled in, in an attempt to fulfill a need. I ate when food was available, I didn't need to be hungry.

I am learning how to tell when I am hungry as opposed to just wanting to eat. I am unlearning the habit of set mealtimes and eating just because it is dinner time or some other meal time. This way of eating might not suit everyone as lots of people fix meals into busy routines, as we don't have kids, we can choose when we eat. To be honest a lot of the food I eat does fall into meal time slots, but I am finding that I eat now when I am hungry, I eat slowly, until am full and then only eat again when I feel the hunger return. This occasionally means I skip 'meals' but if you take a look at my calorie intake for the day, it averages out. I am eating a balanced diet, making sure I eat good food. Already my body has gone a long way to adapting to this type of diet. Last night I ate some chocolate pudding, it has no added sugar and was made up with skimmed milk and calorie wise it is acceptable, but this morning I woke up with a bit of a stomach ache, I feel this is my body telling me that something in the pack mix dessert it didn't like. To be honest although it tasted fine, I have to admit it wasn't that fantastic and I doubt I'll be eating it again any time soon.

It is strange to think that the human body can adapt to different foods so quickly. I know from past experience on the SW plan, which is very low fat, that one time when we were out for a meal and I had saved up quite a few of their 'sins / syns', which are the way they allow the 'naughty foods' into the plan in controlled amounts, I had chips with my dinner and really suffered the following day with what can only be described as a 'fatty hangover'. I was shocked by how much my body rebelled against a food that I had previously thought of as a staple.

So into week six with a positive outlook, and although the sixty pounds gone so far is only the tip of the iceberg, I am feeling positive.

Meatloaf

Although red meat is supposed to kill us all with an assortment of saturated fat, cholesterol, cancer, heart problems and mad cows disease. Research is showing that lean cuts of red meat, as part of a healthy balanced diet are no worse for us than any other meat. Beef contains plenty of protein, B complex vitamins, zinc and iron, which are both easily absorbed from meat.

New studies are showing that the original link between red meat and heart disease were incorrect, the link has now been made to high levels of the bad, LDL cholestrol, typically associated with diets high in saturated fats. Lean cuts of red meats do contain some saturated fat, but the average 100 gram cut of lean beef contains around 5g of saturated fat, which is about one quarter of your recommended daily amount. This of course varies on which cut of beef you use, but if you stick to lean steaks, lean cuts of meat and less than 5% fat mined beef you should be alright.

We picked up a whole pile of reduced price packs of extra lean beef mince a couple of weeks ago in the supermarket and stocked up the freezer and I was looking for ideas for healthy things to do with it. I found a few ideas but decided on trying this meatloaf recipe. The recipe I found was already healthy, but I managed to tweak it a little further to see if it could be even better.

Ingredients:

1 small courgette, grated
½ a red pepper, finely chopped
1 small onion, minced
1 tbsp water
1 large egg
2 tbsp tomato puree
4 tsp whole-grain mustard
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp dried marjoram
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
150g rolled oats / porridge, blitzed to look like bread crumbs
600g lean (90% or leaner) beef mince
2 tbsp barbecue sauce

How to:

1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Spritz a baking sheet or loaf tin (22cm x 12cm x 6cm deep) with cooking spray.
2. Place courgette, red pepper, onion and water in a microwavable bowl, cover and microwave on high for about 4 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. 
3. Drain the vegetables in a sieve, gently pressing out as much moisture as possible; spread out on a large plate to cool slightly.
4. Whisk egg, tomato puree, mustard, Worcestershire, marjoram, salt, paprika and pepper in a large bowl.
5. Add the vegetables and stir together. Next add the oats / porridge and mix.
6. Add beef and gently mix with clean hands to combine with the vegetable mixture, , don't overwork the mixture as it will make the meatloaf tough.
7. Form the meat mixture into a loaf shape on the prepared baking sheet, or fill the loaf tin. Spread the barbecue sauce over the top of the loaf.
8. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. 
9. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Serves 6.

We ate this with mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy and fried onions. 

Brazil nuts

Brazil nuts are actually seeds from the fruit of the Bertholletia excelsa tree, or to give it its common name, the Brazil nut tree. The fruit looks like a coconut husk, in that it is around the same size and hard and woody. Eight to twenty seeds are contained within, arranged like the segments of an orange.

They are well known for their high levels of the antioxidant selenium, with one or two nuts providing you with 100% of your daily requirement. Studies into selenium indicate that it may help prevent both breast and prostate cancer, but early results are inconclusive. The antioxidant also helps fight coronary artery disease and liver cirrhosis.

They are also a good source of omega-3 which the body needs to stay healthy. In addition to omega-3 fatty acid, they are an especially good source of mono-unsaturated fatty acids, which are used by the body to lower the bad LDL cholesterol and raise good HDL cholesterol levels. According to scientists from the Department of Psychology at the University of Wales in Swansea, a deficiency in selenium, may be associated with increased anxiety, depression and fatigue.

Brazil nuts are a great source of vitamins E, B complex vitamins, copper, magnesium, manganese, potassium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, and zinc. They are however very high in calories, so you should be careful how many you eat, as 100 grams of the nuts contains 656 calories. But the good news is that our digestive systems don't seem that well adjusted to eating nuts, and that up to a third of the cells within the nut, pass through us completely intact, which means the fats from the oils remains trapped inside the intact cells, effectively reducing the calorie content by around 30%. Even with this reduction you should still make sure you keep an eye on how many you eat.

The high calorie levels do mean that they provide a great energy boost, in a small package, fitness trainers suggest that they make a good snack both before and after exercise. Make sure though that your exercise is more than walking to the shops, we don't need a snack for that.

Brazil nuts in their husk

They do have one really negative side, they are very high in saturated fat, that is the really bad fat everybody says we should avoid. As with any food, good or bad, moderation is the key, and one or two nuts daily, gives you all the benefits with the minimum problems. Personally I have a couple with a handful of raisins each evening once I feel my dinner wearing off. This snack keeps me out of the biscuit box and makes sure I don't go to bed so hungry that I end up chewing on my pillow.


The Science:
Biological Psychiatry; David Benton & Richard Cook. 1991

Look before you eat

You have heard the saying your eyes are bigger than your stomach, well there is some truth to the phrase. We are conditioned from an early are to eat up everything on our plates, and the larger the plate, the more we eat.

So the obvious solution is choose a smaller plate. But it is not that simple, studies have shown that when people were given the same sized meal on large plate and then on small plates, the people who ate the meal on the small plates reported feeling more satisfied than those who ate off the larger plates. This is due to our perception, a meal will look smaller if served on a large plate, and we feel that we should be hungry as we didn't eat a full meal, whereas the subjects who ate the same amount of food, off the small plate, perceived their plates to be full, and therefore a complete meal. The research went on to show that when people were given smaller plates containing less food, they still reported the same level of satiation after eating.

We also think we have a larger drink when it is served in a tall glass, so if you have to have a non diet friendly drink, either soda or wine and beer, try a smaller drink in a tall glass, you will trick your mind into thinking you had more. This goes for deserts too, you will feel more satisfied with your sundae in the tall dish over the squat wide one.

The research also went on to discover that the colour of your plate and also influence your choice when serving up your food, and then eating it. Dr Wansink's research showed that when people served up food on plates with little or no contrast to the colour of the food, they chose to load the plate with more food. When given a plate that had a strong contrast with the colour of the food, they typically chose to serve up a smaller portion. As we can't all have a range of plates to colour match to each meal, dark blue tableware was deemed to be the most effective in reducing serving sizes.

So now we have the perfect small, dark blue plate, what should we be putting on it? To maintain a healthy balanced diet, we need to get a good ratio of protein, carbohydrates and vegetables. The simple rule is half of your plate should be vegetables and or fruit, one quarter protein and one quarter starch or carbohydrates. If you are struggling with knowing how much you should be eating a simple guide to remember is one serving of protein is the the size and thickness of one palm of your hand for a woman, and 2 palms for a man. Once you know this, the rest of your meal is served up in relation to your protein.

Finally presentation is also worth the effort, top restaurants and advertisers know that we eat first with our eyes and imagination. If a dish looks sumptuous and delicious we have already decided that we will enjoy the meal before we have tasted a single bite. Look at the image below and decide which meal looks like it would taste nice.

Take a few minutes to make your food look nice on the plate, your taste buds will thank you for it.


The Science:
Wansink, Brian (2006), Mindless Eating – Why We Eat More Than We Think, New York: Bantam–Dell.

Don't cry for me

Forget the tears, onions are another great health food, often overlooked as just an ingredient. Onions not only contain high levels of vitamin C, but they also improve how your body handles vitamin C, so you get more benefit from the vitamin C in your other food, which improves your immune system.

The unsung hero of the kitchen not only adds flavour to your cooking, but it can prevent some forms of cancer, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cataracts amongst other common diseases. It even contains antibiotic chemicals that can reduce the risk of food borne illness from microbial contamination.

The onion is however one of the calorie heavyweights in the vegetable world, with 40 calories per 100g. In reality this isn't that high when compared with a take away pie and chips with gravy, but it is worth remembering if you are calorie counting. Onions however, like most veggies contains no fat and very little sodium and 100g will provide you with 1.7g of fiber, 12% of your RDA vitamin C as well as some calcium, iron,B-6, magnesium and chromium which helps your bodies insulin work effectively.

There are several varieties of onions and below is a list of the most common and ideas on how you can use them.

Yellow Onions (every day onions) are full-flavored and are a reliable staple for cooking almost anything. Yellow onions turn a rich, dark brown when cooked and give French Onion Soup its tangy sweet flavor. It works well raw in salads, and is delicious dry fried with burgers, pulled pork or any meat.

Red Onions, with their wonderful color, are a good choice for using raw or grilling and roasting. They taste great in salads and on kebabs.

White onion, not very well known in the UK, but they have a sharper taste and more pungent aroma. They are the traditional onion for classic Mexican cuisine.

Spring onions are a salad staple, but they can also be used to add a subtle flavour to coleslaw, Chinese recipes and can also be eaten raw with dips as they have such a mild flavour. 

Sweet Onions lack the sharp, astringent taste of other onions and really do taste sweet. They are great thinly sliced and served in salads or on top of sandwiches. They can range in colour from white to yellow and often have a flattened or squashed appearance.

Finally a couple of tips on how to cut onions with less tears.

Use a sharp knife as it will cause less damage to cell walls, and fewer irritants will be released.

Cold onions release less propanethial S-oxide, as it is this chemical irritant that causes tears when it evaporates.

The video from Chow also shows you the 'right way' to chop onions, this works as most of the onion's cut surfaces are not exposed, reducing the surface area from which the irritants can evaporate.

Baked beans

The unassuming baked bean is an unrecognised food super hero. It is low in fat, less 7% (1.9g saturated fat) and full of protein and fiber. It has a low GI index, which means your body takes longer to break it down into usable energy and so keeps you full longer.

They can help lower the bad LDL cholesterol, the tomatoes used in the sauce contain lycopene, an antioxidant shown to help prevent heart disease and prostate cancer. They also contain a whole host of essential vitamins and minerals, that contribute to a healthy diet. They are a good source of iron, and when combined with the vitamin C from the tomatoes, the iron is more easily absorbed by the body. Baked beans do however contain a relatively high level of sodium at 422mg per 100g, so it you are eating them with a meal, you really don't need to add salt to either the cooking or your plate.

So apart from throwing them on a slice of toast, what else can we do with them? Well as a side dish to many different meals is the obvious answer but below are a couple of ideas for baked bean recipes.

For those of you who don't like the powdery kidney bean in chilli, throw in a tin of beans instead.

Baked bean & pasta soup, quick and simple, fry off some onions and a bit of garlic, add the beans, chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, basil, oregano and a splash of water and simmer till cooked. Stir in the cooked pasta and server with a grating of cheese and a twist of black pepper.

Curried beans, dry fry curry powder, chopped onion then stir in the beans and heat through, goes well with BBQ

Chilli bean dip, dry fry chilli, minced garlic, chopped onion and cumin, stir in the baked beans and cook for 10 - 15 minutes. Blitz in a food processor and serve as a dip.

Stir into the mince when making cottage pie, bulks up the meal and keeps you feeling fuller longer.

Baked bean burrito, Dry fry some onion, garlic, chilli and cumin then add the beans and cook through. Serve in a soft flour wrap, with a little low fat cream cheese, shredded lettuce, spring onion, tomato salsa.

I've even heard that one of my friends blitzes up a tin of sausage and beans to form a thick paste, and uses it as a sandwich paste.

Pulled pork sandwich

When I first started looking into recipes for pork, I kept finding pulled pork recipes cropping up over and over, but I always assumed that it was high in fat and calories so at first dismissed it. But after the pouting reaction from my wife, who loves pork, I read more, on what is now my favorite sandwich of all time.

When stripped of the fat and crackling pulled pork is actually lower in calories and fat than chicken, it's only downfall is it is high in salt. I was very surprised to find that it contains half the fat of chicken and half of the saturated fat. Pulled pork is also half the cholesterol of chicken at only 35mg (11%) per 100g opposed to chicken at 64mg (21%) per 100g. Pulled pork also contains 1.2g of fiber per 100g and vitamin A, B-6, B-12, C, Calcium and magnesium.

Ingredients:

1kg lean shoulder of pork
4 cloves sliced garlic
1 roasting bag
crusty wholewheat rolls
shredded lettuce or baby spinach
dry fried onions

Rub
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp mustard powder
ground black pepper

BBQ sauce
1 finely chopped onion
1 clove of garlic, minced
100g tomato puree
100g malt vinegar
75g honey
1 tsp mustard powder
100ml beef stock (1/2 oxo made up with 100ml water)
Juice from roasting bag with the fat drained off.

Spicy coleslaw
50g shredded cabbage
75g grated carrot
50g finely chopped red onion
2 tbsp low fat mayonaise
2 - 3 tsp hot sauce
1 tsp lime juice (or lemon)
1 tsp soy sauce
ground black pepper


How to:

Pulled pork

1. Combine the rub ingredients well and rub into the pork shoulder and place in the fridge for at least an hour.
2. Place the meat in the roasting bag and sprinkle the garlic slices over the joint. Seal the bag as per the manufactures guidelines and roast in a cool oven at 140-150 degrees for 5 hours, turning the bag once an hour to baste the meat.
3. Carefully open the bag after cooking to test if the pork is easily shredded with a fork, allow to sit in its juice for 20 minutes.
4. Drain off the roasting juices and allow the juice and fat to settle, discard the fat.
5. Pull into shreds with a couple of forks and serve.

BBQ sauce

1. Sweat the onions and garlic in a small pan until just transparent. You don't need oil, just a non stick pan and frequent stirring.
2. Add the vinegar, tomato puree, honey or syrup and stock to the pan and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes till the sauce thickens.
3. Just before serving, pour in the retained roasting juices (minus the fat) into the sauce and simmer for a further 2 minutes.

Spicy coleslaw

1. Throw all the ingredients into a bowl and mix.
2. Allow to rest for 20 minutes.

To make the sandwich, cut the rolls in half and toast the cut side. Load the open sandwich with a layer of lettuce, a layer of pulled pork, a layer of fried onions and a spoonful of the BBQ sauce. Serve as an open sandwich with a side of spicy coleslaw salad.

I like making this with Tesco Walnut rolls as the nutty taste works well with the flavour of the sandwich.

Serves lots, we got seven good sized portions of meat from the joint.

Meaty balls

Meatballs and pasta is one of those dishes lots of people like, but seem to think that it is a lot of effort to make, so don't bother. I was the same to be honest. This recipe is simple and although not the quickest meal to prepare, it does freeze well, so can be made in bulk in advance.

I prefer to serve this with white spaghetti, but in an effort to eat plenty of fiber, we usually eat with wholegrain pasta. To reduce the calories even further in this dish you could substitute half of the minced beef for Quorn mince as it is lower in fat 0.5g per 100g.

Ingredients:

Meatballs
500g lean Beef mince (or 250g beef & 250g quorn mince)
1 egg
2 beef Oxo
1 italian Oxo
1tsp basil
1tsp oregano
Pinch of salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Squirt of fry light

Sauce
2 chopped onions
1 chopped sweet red pepper
500g Passata
400g Tin chopped tomatoes
1 chopped clove garlic
1 chopped red chilli / ½ tsp chilli powder
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp granulated sweetener
½ tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper

How to:

1. Mix all of the meatball ingredients together thoroughly.
2. Form in to approximately 24 small, firm balls. 
3. Dry fry in a pan till your balls are nicely browned, use a squirt or two of fry light if needed in the pan. 
4. Dry fry your onion, peppers, garlic and chilli until just soft. 
5. Next add the remaining sauce ingredients and bring to the boil. 
6. Cook the sauce for 2 minutes then add your balls back into to the pan. 
7. Simmer for a further 12-15 minutes. 
8. Serve over pasta with a little grated Parmesan cheese.

Serves  5 - 6

Week five

Well here we are in week five and I'm finding this healthy eating lark the easiest of all the diet and get fit schemes I've done. Don't get me wrong, the junk food cravings are still there, the need to comfort eat has not gone away, but the cravings haven't manifested into obsession like they normally do when I am dieting.

I don't want to sound like I am bashing diet plans, some are very well constructed and work well for people, I love Slimming World eating plans and did well on them, but I found I slipped back into my old eating habits and piled on the weight again, so this time round I'm trying to find a sensible approach to food that I can live with for the rest of my life. I need to find a way to live with a food addiction, or whatever is wrong inside my head. This time I am learning what foods I can eat healthily and learning to listen to my body and how it responds to the food I eat.

So this last week I got another bad carbohydrate craving, but I am happy that a couple of slices of wholemeal toast and peanut butter knocked them out pretty quickly. Usually food cravings for me, turn into an all consuming obsession as I eat mindlessly through piles of refined sugar and carbohydrates trying to satisfy an unfulfillable need. It is hard to explain, but I need to eat, I imagine this is how alcoholics feel when needing to drink. You know it is bad for you but it doesn't matter, you just feel better whilst eating, even to the point of feeling ill.

This week I had chocolate for the first time in five weeks. I thought that seeing as I have now been off the junk completely for over a month, I would try to see if I could introduce chocolate into my diet without it resulting in the total breakdown of the plan. I bought 3 mini packs of Cadbury's buttons, so that if the worst happened, and I scarfed the lot, I couldn't do too much damage. That afternoon I was working at my desk and decided to crack open the buttons. My taste buds were all a quiver at the prospect of chocolate, but surprisingly the taste of that first button wasn't as satisfying as I anticipated. I don't know if my taste has changed in the last few weeks, but the chocolate didn't give me the usual pleasure hit that it used to. The flavour and texture was nice, but a small bag that would have lasted me all but a few minutes, now sat half eaten on my desk when I went to bed.

Next weeks experiment, I plan to face my nemesis, the Biscuit. 

Dietary Fiber: The important non food

We know we should eat whole grain cereals, wholewheat bread and the magical five a day, as they are a good source of dietary fiber, but what is it and what does it do for us?

Fiber is the the part of plants our digestive system can't break down and use, so in reality it passes through us and provides no nutritional value, essentially a non food. There are two types of fiber in our diet, soluble and insoluble. Pectin and gum are water-soluble fibers found inside plant cells. Cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin are fibers found in the plant's cell walls are water insoluble. Each type of fiber serves a different purpose in our gut.

Water soluble fiber dissolves in water to form a gel-like material. It can help lower blood cholesterol and glucose levels. Soluble fiber is found in peas, beans, citrus fruits, carrots, barley, oats and apples.

Insoluble fiber helps ease the movement of material through your digestive system, a diet without enough fiber can result in diarrhea or constipation. Whole-wheat flour, wheat bran, nuts, beans and vegetables, such as cauliflower, green beans and potatoes, are good sources of insoluble fiber.

Current research indicates that for optimal benefits you should eat around 14g of fiber per 1000 calories, reducing this slightly if you are over 50.

	....	Under 50	Over 50
Men		38g	30g
Women		25g	21g

Tips for eating more fiber

Considering a fist sized, 250g baked potato has five and a half grams of fiber, consuming 38g a day can be quite an effort. Here are a few tips for how I try to cram in the fiber.

Whole grains, this is the obvious one, eat whole grain cereal and bread.

Add flax meal to your food, as one table spoon contains nearly two grams of fiber. I add it to baked beans on toast, soup, bolognese and chilli, by stirring in one or two tablespoons just prior to serving. You can also stir into things like yogurt and coleslaw, but I haven't tried these yet.

A glass of citrus fruit juice with your breakfast, a typical 200 ml glass of OJ gives you and extra half a gram of fiber plus counts towards one of your five a day.

Add chopped fruit to a yogurt, not only does it add fiber, but add a little extra bulk to your snack, which will keep you full longer.

Porridge is not only a good source of fiber, but add in a table spoon of sliced almonds, a table spoon of raisins and some flax meal sweetened with a little honey, gives you a filling low calorie breakfast with nearly four and a half grams of fiber.

Don't peel fruit and veg with edible skins, rather just wash and eat whole.

Lentils or split peas can be added to stews, bolognese or chilli in smallish amounts without effecting the taste, and will add a fiber boost. Or just try split pea soup, maybe with a little lean ham chopped up for added protein. 

Beans on toast is a 'classic' British dish, but this humble staple of student life, when made with wholewheat or wholemeal bread, contains over 16g of fiber. Add a spoon full of flax meal and you can get well over half your daily fiber in one meal.

One word of caution, add fiber to you diet slowly over a number of weeks. Don't just jump from a low fiber diet of burger and chips to wholegrain everything with a side salad over night. Your gut won't have time to adjust, leading to cramps, gas, diarrhea or constipation.


The Science:
The Mayo Clinic: Nutrition and healthy eating
Food and Nutrition Board: Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids. September 5, 2002

5 A Day

The government have decided to promote the idea that we should all eat at least five portions of fruit and veg, every day to help keep us healthy. But where did they get the number from?

It turns out that the original five a day was started as the “National five-a-day for better health” program in the USA in 1991 as a partnership between the National Cancer Institute and the Produce for Better Health Foundation. The original program was launched with no actual science to back it up and it has been claimed to have been little more than a marketing ploy by the Institute and the Produce for Better Health Foundation members, which coincidentally turn out to represent most of the US fruit and vegetable growers, and some of the companies that produce the fungicides, insecticides and herbicides used on the crops.

Several organisations have tried to reverse engineer some science into the slogan, but opinions still vary as to how effective five portions of fruit and veggies at countering illness and obesity. This doesn't mean we shouldn't stop eating our veggies, rather we should look at what we are eating and try to make sure we are eating good food.

My theory is that if we look at our bodies and in particular our teeth, it is a safe bet that we evolved to eat a varied or omnivorous diet, just like our relatives the apes. And it is very rare to see an obese chimp in the wild, so we would do well to imitate their diet. Now even on my most enthusiastic healthy eating days I couldn't eat the same food as chimps, but making sure I eat plenty of raw fruit and veggies, lean meat, seeds, grains and natural oils and fats, I get good food my body can utilise correctly. Highly processed foods, take away, packet foods etc all contain abnormally high levels of nutritionally poor calories. What I am finding is the more food I eat that I have cooked or prepared from raw ingredients, the better I feel both physically and mentally.

So don't stress if you can't manage five portions of fruit and veggies every day, but do pay careful attention to what you do eat. Read the ingredients and the small print and understand what you are really eating. Try to make informed and healthy choices and your body will reward you.



The Science:
Paolo Boffetta et al, “Fruit and vegetable intake and overall cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)”, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, (April 2010).

Peri-peri chicken

The fiery taste of peri peri chicken is hard to beat. The original peri peri is said to come from Africa, when the Portuguese explorers first encountered the pili-pili, which is the Swahili name for the notorious birds eye chilli. They blended it with herbs, spices, lemon and vinegar to form what we know as peri peri.

This is not as good as my favorite Nandos peri peri, but this is a healthy option that I can cook at home.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, skinned and spatchcocked

6 fresh red chillies, more if you want it hotter
1 tbsp garlic, blanched and chopped
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp oregano
½ tbsp paprika
60 ml olive oil
50 ml red wine vinegar



How to:

1. Roast the chillies in a 180°C oven for about 10 minutes and allow to cool.
2. Chop the chillies and mix with the garlic, sea salt, oregano, paprika, olive oil and vinegar in a pan and simmer for 2 -3 minutes.
3. Let the mixture cool and then blitz to a puree.
4. Baste the chicken with half the sauce mix and place in a bowl and cover with film and let it marinade in the fridge for at least an hour.
5. Cook the chicken in a 200°C oven for 30 - 40 minutes, or until the juices run out clear. Basting occasionally with the remaining sauce mix. You can start the chicken off in a griddle pan to add that BBQ look. 
6. Serve with golden rice and a green leafy salad and a side of home made coleslaw.

Serves 4

The dreaded gym

Losing weight is basically a simple calculation, consume less calories than you expend during the day. Sounds simple but when you are over weight even normal chores can be exhausting, so the thought of trying a workout at the gym is close to impossible. Another factor that makes gyms an unattractive option is that thought that you will be watched by all the fit and skinny regulars, destroying and remaining self confidence you had.

Your body also conspires to keep you out of the gym, the stress the extra weight places on your body causes joint pain, blood pressure problems and you are already fatigued from walking across the car park. It also turns out that fat is metabolically active and secretes hormones that contribute to low grade, chronic inflammation, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. The net result is your excess body fat causes you to feel like crap before you even start.

I'm recovering from a serious back injury and really don't want to aggravate it by doing something daft in the name of getting fit, so my plan is to scour the web for exercise ideas that are low impact, free and will start me on the route to conventional exercise. Here is a list of some of the things I have found and am planning to try this week.

1. Toothbrush squats, we all spend 2 minutes stood passively at the sink brushing our teeth every morning, staring vacantly into space. The idea is to do gentle knee bends or squats whilst brushing. The sink or wall will provide a bit of stability if needed at first.
2. Sinkercise, when stood at the sink, stand on one leg. This simple exercise will work your bodies core muscles improving your balance and posture. Try to do this without holding on to the sink or counter top, the slight wobble is what you are aiming to control with your abdominal muscles.
3. Deskerobics, if you find you spend a lot of your day sat at a desk, during your screen breaks, take a moment to do some stretches. Hold each stretch for a couple of seconds, then relax and repeat.
4. Become the office beverage distribution officer, be the one to walk round the office, collect the cups and mugs and make the teas and coffees. Not a huge effort, but the extra mileage on each tea break adds up. Just steer clear of the biscuit box.
5. Stand up whilst on the phone, walk around if you have a cordless phone. You could also try slowly raising yourself up on to tip toe, holding for a couple of seconds then slowing relaxing. This will help strengthen your legs and ankles, but also work your abdominal core.
6. Adverticise, whilst watching TV during each advert break, slowly raise each leg in turn, and hold for as long as you can, then slowly lower your leg, then switch legs. If you are finding this is getting easier, rest a cushion on your foot and try it with the additional weight. You can also add arm stretching and raises to your adverticise routine.
7. This one is for the guys, rather than performing the heroes walk, where you manage to get all the shopping in from the car in a single finger crippling journey, make a trip for each bag, you will increase the distance walked. To add a bit of upper body workout, carry the bag away from your body, at arms length. Mind your back with heavy bags.

One tip I think is going to be helpful is to make 3 lists, the first should be easy activities. The second list should be moderately difficult and the third list should be difficult activities. Each day plan to do three items from list one, two from the second list and one from the third list. Each week re-evaluate your lists and as activities get easier, move them to a different list. Then each month you can compare lists from previous months to monitor your progress.

One word of caution though, diving into any form of exercise when overweight can be potentially dangerous, so make sure you are careful, listen to your body for warning signs and have a chat with your doctor.


The Science:
ACS: New evidence that fat cells are not just dormant storage depots for calories 
Dr. Nicholas Perricone, MD, CNS

Omega 3

So I have heard all over the place that I should be eating oily fish each week to make sure I am getting plenty of omega-3. But I don't like fish, especially the oily kinds, so what should I be doing and what is this omega 3 stuff anyway? Is it just another 'miracle cure all' peddled by the food supplement industry, or is it something we actually need?

What is omega 3? Or to give it it's proper name, omega-3 fatty acids, are polyunsaturated fatty acids needed by the body for essential bodily functions, such as blood clotting and building cell membranes in the brain. Our bodies cannot make these fatty acids itself, so we need to get them from our diet.  

There are two types of fatty acids, one sort is found in nuts, seeds (and seed oil) and some dark green leaf vegetables, the second type is found in fatty fish. Your body needs both kinds of fatty acid, but the good news is that some of the first type of omega 3 you consume is converted to the second type. Science isn't sure how much, and if it is enough on its own, but studies of vegetarians who never consume oily fish have sufficient type 2 fatty acid when eating a diet rich in type one fatty acid.

So with a sensible diet, that contains a balanced source of nutrients, you don't need to take any supplements. If you struggle to get enough of the vegetable based omega 3, fish oil supplements are a good alternative.

Personally I don't want to take fish oil pills every day, so have opted to try to include as much omega 3 rich foods into my diet. So I eat a couple of brazil nuts each day as they provide other essential nutrients. I have also started to add flax-meal to my cooking and as well as being a good source of omega 3, it is also high in fiber, 2 table spoons providing 15% of my daily requirement and 132% of omega 3 (alpha-linolenic acid, type one).

So to answer my original questions, yes we need omega 3 but we don't have to believe the food supplement merchants, a balanced diet will provide enough omega 3 for a healthy body.

The Science:
Harvard School of Public Health: Omega-3 Fatty Acids 
Muskiet FA, Fokkema MR, Schaafsma A, Boersma ER, Crawford MA. Is docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) essential? Lessons from DHA status regulation, our ancient diet, epidemiology and randomized controlled trials. J Nutr. 2004;134(1):183-186. 
Cunnane SC. Problems with essential fatty acids: time for a new paradigm? Prog Lipid Res. 2003;42(6):544-568 

Week four

Well I'm just about four weeks in to my new life style and I'm surprised as to how well I am feeling. I still suffer with cravings and the need to comfort eat, but apart from a few minor wobbles I'm doing well.

This week however I when I had to pull my belt in another notch, I decided to measure the distance between the last hole on my belt (where I started) and the 5th hole I used for the first time today. It was an amazing 11.5 centimeters, or 4 1/2 inches for the old folks out there. I admit in the great scheme of things I still have a huge way to go, but 11 and a half centimeters in just four weeks has left me with a grin a mile wide.

Another thing I noticed this week was walking around our village in the summer heat wasn't killing me. I felt like I was walking not waddling for the first time in ages and that made me feel good. This healthy living lark isn't easy, not by a long shot, but I find focusing on these small milestones or feelings of achievement really help, especially when I feel a dip coming on. All the good intentions in the world are no match for a mood dip and the need to eat to satisfy an emotional need. But remembering how I felt when I noticed a change in my body, that feeling of accomplishment, pride and well being does go some way in fighting the need for food.

I thought I had finally rid myself of the carbohydrate cravings, but they were back again this week. Luckily I had a massive computer project to complete this week, so I managed to distract myself with an awful lot of programming and only one minor wobble, but I am happy to report that the wobble only consisted of an extra 2 small slices of wholemeal bread and a soft cheese pretzel from Tesco. I'm happy that when I did falter I made a controlled choice and did not resort to mindless eating that I would have succumbed to only a month ago.

So with a smaller waist and a lighter step, we head off towards month two and August.

P.S. The numbers for the Tesco pretzel are; Calories 315 and 5g of fat (1g saturated). So for falling off the wagon, it wasn't such a bad slip.

A healthy fry up?

Is there really such a thing as a healthy fry up? Not really, but there are ways to help make it healthier by reducing the fat levels and upping the dietary fiber with extra veggies.

I love bacon and in its natural form its loaded with fat, most of which is saturated, which is the sort that gives us the bad cholesterol that your doctor loves to worry you about. If you trim ALL of the visible fat from the bacon and grill it, you can significantly reduce the fat and calorie levels to an acceptable level.

Stage two, no more fried eggs, rather scramble them, try poaching them or throw them in an omelet, to restore them to health food status. In either scrambled eggs or omelets I add a generous splash of either Tabasco or hot sauce to pep it up a little. If you want to up your veggie intake via your breakfast 'fry up' then adding chopped onion, peppers and mushrooms and 15g of grated cheddar to the omelet is a tasty way to do it.

Get a big hit of fiber from a portion of baked beans. One serving of beans can be counted as one of your five a day. For preference, choose reduced sugar and salt beans, to further lower the impact of your feast. They are high in protein which your body needs for building new muscle and keeping what muscle you have healthy. They also counter cholesterol and contain antioxidants to fight those pesky free radicals.

Add in a few grilled mushrooms and a grilled tomato on the side.

Finally I add either a slice of wholemeal toast, without butter or spread, as the bean juice is more than enough to soften it up a little. Or more recently I replace the toast with one of my wife's blueberry pancakes topped with a teaspoon of maple syrup, which goes really well with the bacon.

Overall this meal could never be classed as health food, but eaten occasionally as part of a balanced diet, it does go a long way to alleviating the craving for the full fat version.

Don't get blue, get blueberry!

Blueberries increase the production of the feel good chemical dopamine. So when you are feeling blue, reach for the happy berry.

Blueberries also contain catchins, that according to research at Tufts University, when eaten regularly can boost weight loss and increases the amount of abdominal fat lost when consumed as part of a healthy diet.

Blueberries are also reported to have beneficial effects in the brain, protecting it from some environmental toxins. Researchers have dicovered in animal studies, that compounds found in blueberries may reverse some age related memory loss and motor skills decline.

Blueberries contain significant levels of the phytonutrient quercetin, which may reduce the likelihood and severity of allergies. Good news for hay fever sufferers, like me. The little blue fruit also contains salicylic acid, commonly known as aspirin, which is proven to thin the blood. They are a good source of anti-inflammatory chemicals which can reduce age related inflammation and cell damage.

My wife found a good recipe on the web and adapted it slightly to make it a little more healthy. Please note though, these pancakes are not wonder foods, you still need to exercise restraint and only eat them sensibly.

Wholewheat blueberry buttermilk pancakes

Ingredients:

125g wholemeal flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 egg
250ml low fat buttermilk
45g of vegetable oil
85g crushed blueberries

How to:

1. Mix buttermilk, egg and oil and pour into the dry ingredients.
2. Mix lightly until the dry ingredients are all incorporated. Do not over work the mix.
3. Fold in the blueberries.
4. Spritz a heavy bottomed frying pan with Fry light, or other spray oil and set the heat to medium and allow the pan to heat up.
5. Spoon a generous dessert spoon of mixture into the pan and cook until brown on both sides.

 Makes 12 -16 pancakes.

These pancakes freeze well and can be reheated, from frozen, under a grill for a couple of minutes on each side. Serve with a teaspoon of maple syrup on each pancake (around 17 calories for a teaspoon of syrup). I like them as part of a healthier fry up breakfast.



The science:
Tufts Journal: catechins effect on abdominal fat.

Shift that ass

So its about time I faced that dirty word, 'exercise'. We all know how it is supposed to be good for us, but when you are morbidly obese just the thought of a planned exercise session is enough to tire you out.

Now that I have lost some weight, I am starting to feel lighter and a lot of the every day aches and pains are less noticeable. I am also feeling less head fug. When combined the thought of exercise isn't that bad. However I'm in no fit state to start preparing for a half marathon. So how to get more active without ending up in A&E? Well my first ploy was to not park as close to the place I was going, I parked on the far side of the supermarket car park, whilst in town I used the out of town park and ride, which drops you on the main street in town, which means walking around town, rather than hopping into the car between shops.

This might not seem like a huge effort to fit people, but try giving a piggyback to another person for a couple of hundred yards, then you know what it feels like. I'm not looking for sympathy, I accept that I ate those pizzas and burgers and scarfed down those sweets, for whatever reasons I had at the time. But when faced with exercise, obese people really struggle to even get started and sometimes a small fail early on can deter further efforts. So small steps and easily achievable goals is a positive step forward, no matter how small.

So back to my active plan; I have also made a conscious effort to make sure when I need something from upstairs, I go get it, rather than think that it is too much effort and do without. I also make a point of getting up from the computer, whilst working at least once an hour and walking about a bit. It helps with concentration as well as burning a few more calories.

If the thought of an exercise DVD fills you with dread, then pick up your mp3 player, crank up your favorite dance music and have fun. With the curtains closed and the door firmly shut, enjoying a personal boogie can burn off a few extra calories. You might feel a little self conscious at first, but just feel the music and shake your butt in time to the beat.

Love a spud

Start a diet, cut out potatoes, that's what all the diet gurus seem to say, but lets hold on a moment before we bash the humble spud.

Potatoes are a very good source of complex carbohydrates, the wonderful stuff that gives you that full feeling, and makes sure you feel fuller longer. It is also a very good source of fiber, your average baked 'tater will provide between 10-15% of your daily recommended amount of dietary fiber.

Now we get on to the host of vitamins and essential minerals contained in this humble vegetable. Vitamin B1 or thiamine is used in the body to help digest food and is also used by the brain. B6 next and this is a hard working vitamin, it is used all over the body from digestion, to the nervous system and the blood amongst other uses.

I was surprised to discover the spud provides nearly half as much vitamin C as a fresh orange and almost a quarter more potassium than the banana.

Spuds are good source of Magnesium, Zinc and copper which are all used along with calcium to build strong bones and teeth. They also contain iron, which is needed for healthy blood. Folic acid is needed by the blood and again the potato is a good source.

Our dumpy little friend is one of the ultimate low fat foods, it has about 0.01% fat per 100g, so next time you fancy a nutritious and low fat meal, love a spud.

Low fat wedges

Ingredients:

Potatoes
Fry light
seasoning


How to:

1. Cut the potatoes into wedges, leaving the skin on.
2. Par boil the wedges for about 5 - 10 minutes or until they are just tender.
3. Drain the potatoes and spritz with 3 to 5 squirts of Fry light, or other spray oil.
4. Arrange on a single layer on a baking sheet and spritz the wedges again.
5. Bake in a hot oven (200 degrees) for around 20 or 25 minutes, turning once.

You can add different seasonings before baking, I like adding a dry BBQ seasoning myself, but they work well with all sorts of dry seasoning.

These wedges are low in fat, but just be wary low fat doesn't mean low calorie, so just as with any carbohydrate, they shouldn't take up more that a quarter of your plate.

They are very nice when dipped in cool Tzatziki along with a crisp Greek salad and a good feta cheese.

Week three

Well I am now three weeks in to this attempt at getting healthy and despite a couple of wobbles I'm still feeling positive about it all. My clothes are no longer tight and my belt needs to be done up another hole tighter. More good news my blood pressure is now back in the normal range, so I won't be needing to start blood pressure medication.

I am pleasantly surprised on how much better I am feeling after only three weeks of eating a healthy balanced diet and starting to increase my activity level. I am starting to lose my short attention span and regain a clear head when faced with challenging mental tasks. I didn't realise how much diet can effect cognitive skills, but my own experience is proving the fact for me.

Cool as a cucumber

This unusual British summer weather has awakened a passion for salad this week, which is strange as I have always seen salad as a side dish to ignore as best as possible whilst enjoying the BBQ meat. But my sister has given me a really simple Greek Tzatziki recipe which is really nice in the hot weather and goes well with salad.

Tzatziki is made primarily from Greek yogurt and cucumber and whilst researching this blog article I was surprised by a few of the facts I discovered about the unassuming cucumber.

Cucumbers are almost all water, around 95%, which makes it a great food to help keep you hydrated. In hot weather to avoid health problems you should make sure you consume more fluids or eat more hydrating fruit and veggies, such as cucumber, melon etc.

Cucumbers are known to contain lariciresinol, pinoresinol, and secoisolariciresinol – three natural antioxidants that may reduce the risk of some forms of cancer. They are also a rich source of potassium, magnesium and dietary fiber which all help to regulate blood pressure.

They are an aid to digestion and can help alleviate heartburn and other digestive disorders by helping to flush toxins out of the body. Cucumbers are also a good source of vitamins A, B1, B6, C & D, Folic acid, Calcium as well as Magnesium and Potassium mentioned earlier.

Cucumber juice has been found to be beneficial for the diabetic patients. This vegetable contains a hormone needed by the cells of the pancreas for producing insulin.

Finally it tastes really nice in Tzatziki...

Ingredients:

160g pot of Total 0% Greek yogurt
1/2 cucumber
2 tsp good olive oil
1 clove of crushed garlic

How to:

1. Grate the cucumber, then squeeze out as much water as possible and set aside. (Save the cucumber water in a small clean bowl)
2. Measure out the oil and add to the yogurt along with the crushed garlic.
3. Stir in the squeezed cucumber and once well mixed, set aside for at least an hour, longer if possible.
4. Dip a couple of cotton wool pads in the cucumber juice and lay back and place gently over your closed eyes. Enjoy the soothing feeling as your Tzatziki chills in the fridge.

Does fasting work?

More and more scientists are looking into fasting and intermittent fasting (IF) as an aid to control obesity and its potential health benefits. However research is still in its infancy and there are as yet no hard facts as to the long term benefits to fasting in humans.

After reading much of the science on this topic and experimenting myself with intermittent fasting I am surprised at the ease that I have adapted to this kind of eating. Whilst the diet books suggest either the 5:2 plan, where you cut your calorie intake to 500/600 calories  (women/men intake levels) for two days of the week and eat whatever you want on the remaining five days. Or the alternate day fasting where you reduce the times you can eat to between 11am and 7pm, every other day. I found that listening to my own body provided me with natural times where I wasn't hungry and so didn't eat. From an early age we have been taught to eat at set times of the day and so most of us are habitual eaters. Combine this trend with the availability of easily accessible, highly refined foods, we end up with an obesity problem.

Look back to our ancestors or our primate cousins and we find that they are opportunistic eaters. They spend a lot of time being physically active finding their food, and they don't eat processed foods and as a result don't get fat. We have evolved to eat when food is available and to efficiently store excess calories for lean times. I have found that by ignoring the clock when it comes to eating and listening to my body, fasting comes naturally. Frequently I wake and don't feel hungry till mid morning or sometimes mid afternoon, at that point I eat a healthy balanced meal.

The hard part is learning to distinguish actual hunger from the cravings I get for sweet and fatty foods. The cravings are difficult and in my opinion akin to the overwhelming need alcoholics express for another drink. They are however beatable and every day it gets a little easier to ignore the sugar beast.

The problem I see with the 5:2 or IF plans is that people assume that on the feast days they can do just that, feast, but they feast on all the foods that our body finds easiest to store as fat. Put simply our bodies burn food as fuel, you need some fuel for your body to tick over and some to provide energy for your daily activities, plus essential nutrients and vitamins to keep your body healthy. If you put less calories in to your body, your body is programmed to release the fuel it stored as fat to keep you alive.

The reason fasting seems to work well and has additional health benefits beyond weight loss and the factors associated with weight loss, is that during fast periods reduced levels of the insulin like growth hormone somatomedin C (IGF-1) causes our bodies to switch from growth mode to repair mode. This switch in cell function has shown in various animal studies that the effects of aging and some forms of cancer are reduced.

We are however in the early days of fasting science, so don't believe the hype from the people selling you this new miracle diet. Getting healthy is going to involve work and a lot of common sense. Fasting as part of a balanced diet can work for some people but not everyone. Whilst a 900 calorie meal of burger and fries is not off the menu in any balanced diet, common sense should tell you there might be a slightly healthier compromise and that this type of food should be a monthly occurrence, not daily.

The Science:
V. D. Longo - Evidence for Programmed Aging
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition July 2007: 86(1); 7-13
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 1991:74(4); 757-765 (PDF)

Asian salmon soup bowl

This is a quick and simple lunch time soup. We have all heard that we should eat oily fish every week as it is high in Omega-3 fatty acids, but do you actually know what this does for you?

Omega-3 fatty acids help to lower your LDL cholesterol and raise your HDL cholesterol. It also helps to repair heart damage and strengthen the heart muscles whilst aiding in lowering blood pressure, which all reduces the risk of heart disease.

Salmon also contains vitamins A, B and D as well as the minerals calcium, iron, phosphorus and selenium, all of which form part of a balanced healthy diet. These vitamins and minerals combined with the Omga-3 fatty acids work to protect your nervous system from the effects of aging. Some studies have shown that regular consumption of salmon could lower your risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson disease.

The omega-3 and selenium in salmon helps in reducing depression and lifting mood. A review of five studies published in "Nutritional Neuroscience" found a clear relationship between poorer mood and low dietary selenium.

The fresh ginger in the recipe also has numerous health benefits ranging from anti-inflammatory properties to anti viral, anti toxic, and anti fungal properties, and is used for the prevention of and treatment against the common cold. 


Ingredients:

625 ml chicken stock
1 tbsp lime or lemon juice
2 tsp grated fresh ginger root
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
60 g medium or fine egg noodles
1 medium carrot, very thinly sliced
150 g salmon, cooked, skinless and boneless
30g mange tout halved diagonally or asparagus chopped in small pieces
2 spring onions, sliced


How to:

1. In saucepan, bring to boil the stock, lime juice, ginger root and chilli flakes. 
2. Stir in the noodles and carrot; simmer 4 minutes.
3. Add salmon, mange tout and spring onions; continue simmering for 2 minutes or until heated through.
4. Serve in bowls.

If you don't like salmon you could substitute fresh tuna fish and still reap all the benefits of the Omega-3 fatty acids. For those of you that are not keen on fish, then you could also try this with finely diced leftover cooked chicken or pork.

The science:
http://umm.edu Alzheimer's disease

Hunters chicken

This is an indulgent BBQ chicken dish that has all the taste of the restaurant staple but a healthier option with less fat and calories. I did a rough calculation that each portion works out at around 380 calories and if you leave out the cheese, you can save a further 60 calories.

I have to point out this is not diet food, this is a healthier option than going out to a restaurant. For me getting fit and losing weight is trying to find a better way of eating and living. I could go on a very strict diet and cut out all fat, sugar and reduce my carbohydrate intake, but in the the long run I fall back into my old eating habits as the eating plans for most diets are not easily sustainable. This dish along with others I will post are to help me learn to eat better, less processed food.

Ingredients:

4 small boneless chicken breasts
4 rashers of lean bacon with all the fat removed
4 slices of strong cheddar, 3mm thick (optional)

1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
100g malt vinegar
100g tomato puree
75g honey or golden syrup
100ml beef stock

How to:

1. Sweat the onions and garlic in a small pan until just transparent. You don't need oil, just a non stick pan and frequent stirring.
2. Add the vinegar, tomato puree, honey or syrup and stock to the pan and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes till the sauce thickens.
3. Place the chicken in an oven proof dish, place a slice of cheese on the chicken and then cover with a rasher of bacon. Place in the middle of your oven and set it to 190°C (I don't like wasting electricity waiting for the oven to heat up, so I have added an extra 5-10 minutes to allow for this)
4. After the chicken has been cooking for 15 minutes, remove it from the oven and spoon the BBQ sauce over the chicken and return it to the oven for 20 - 25 minutes depending on your own oven
5. Once the chicken is cooked all the way through, serve with either rice and some green veggies.

Serves 4

I usually make this for two people and make the sauce up as above and freeze half for next time. To save more calories you could swap the honey or syrup with some low calorie sweetener, but personally I think the calories in this dish are worth it for the taste, and I just forgo a dessert.