First Day!!!

The day is finally here healthy eating starts now! The last moments of 2013 where spent stuffing my face with blue cheese and crackers.

Got on the scales this morning and I'm back at 14 and a half stone. Not so bad as the start of the month I was only 14 and 4lb, 3lb gain over christmas I can live with. My first mini goal is to make it to 13stone so that's 21lb to lose. 

In the past I have focused on giant weight loss goals, this time I have focused on mini goals, when I reach that weight I reassess where I am and decide where to go from there.  

I updated "My Fitness Pal" and my total daily calories if I want to lose 2lb a week is 1230. 

One thing I wanted to make sure of is that I am getting my 5 a day. I'm not terrific with fruit, so I've decided to start off each day with a smoothie.  By using 3 portions of fruit I only have to worry about using 2 more throughout the day. 

(If your wondering about 5 a day portions the NHS website has a fab PDF you can download telling you all the portion sizes here's the link http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/5ADAY/Pages/Portionsizes.aspx) 

My Breakfast Smoothie Recipe:

All my breakfast smoothies are very simple. I use a yogurt, 3 types of fruit, wheatgrass and ice. 

Today I used:

Aldi Active fat free probiotic Forest fruits yogurt 52 cal

1 banana 89 cal

2 Tinned Pineapple rings 35cal

1 apple 65cal

10g wheatgrass 20cal

Ice 

Total calories : 261

I put all of the ingredients in a blender and use water to get it to the preferable consistency. 

I use wheatgrass in my smoothies. Wheatgrass contains vital enzymes that we destroy during cooking. 

There are many benefits of using wheatgrass from stimulating the thyroid to lowering blood pressure. I use powdered wheatgrass, you can buy this at holland and Barrett by following this link http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=3741&cpid=4329

Another way of getting in your 5 a day is soups. 

Today I made 3 different types of soup for my lunches for the up coming weeks. I freeze them in individual portions, that way they don't go off and your not eating the same thing day after day. I find that It's definitely important to keep variety. 

The first soup I made was "Carrot and Coriander"

Ingredients :

750kg of carrots 410cal

1 Large onions 63cal

2 Vegetable stock cubes 14cal

2 Tsp cumin 16cal

Fresh Coriander 5cal

Method : Peel and chop the carrots, chop the onions and put them both in a pot, preferably one that comes with a lid, pour over the vegetable stock, make sure there is enough to cover the vegetables, add 2 tsp of cumin. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook the vegetables until soft. Once vegetables are soft remove from heat. Using a hand blender, blend until smooth, once the soup is smooth add the fresh coriander am blend again, add salt and pepper to taste. 

Serves : 8 Total: 65 calories per serving

The second soup I cooked was "Split Pea Soup" 

500g Split Pea Soup 650cal

250g Carrot 85cal

Onion 46cal

Head of Celery 40cal

Garlic 8cal

Vegetable stock cube 58cal

Mixed herbs 20cal 

Method : Soak the peas over night (as per instruction on packet). Slice and chop the carrots, chop the celery, onions, garlic and put all ingredients in a pot preferably one that comes with a lid. Add the stock enough to cover the vegetables and add the herbs. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook till vegetable are soft the use hand blender and blend till smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves: 10 Total : 91 calories per serving 

A good way of portioning soup for freezing is using freezer bags, I place them in cups and ladle equal amounts into them. Once cooled I remove the bags from the cups and seel them. This way they can be stored in the freezer taking up minimal space. 

For Dinner I made one of my favourite dishes, Chilli Con Carne.

Ingredient : 

Beef mince

Onion

Chilli powder (add to own taste)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

3 peppers

1 carton of Passata

3 Garlic cloves 

Tomato purée

Beef stock cube

1 tsp Oil

1 tin if kidney beans

Method: Chop onions and garlic, fry in the oil until brown. Add the beef mince to the pan and brown, add the chilli powder, cumin and paprika, stir so beef mince is coated. While the mince is cooking chop the peppers into chunks, (I like to chop mine quite big around 2cm by 3cm) add the peppers to the pan. After cooking the peppers for around 1-2 minutes add the passata, kidney bean, tomato purée and stir. Crumble over the beef stock cube and stir, bring to the boil the leave to simmer for around 20 - 30 minutes.

 

Serves : 2 Total : 472 calories per serving

(remember to add on additional calories for cheese) 

That's all for today. Today has been a great start to 2014.

More recipes tomorrow !

Steph

Xxx