First in the battle against the baddies is to gather the goodies

The war against the baddies begins by having the goodies abundantly available so I’ve compiled a shopping list. You will probably have some of it already.

Shopping with a halo 🙂

You can swap things out (not like crisps in place of apples or wine in place of water though), you can religiously follow or just use what I write and eat as a guide. Up to you.

The main thing to remember is if you want to lose weight you need to change something.

If you move more (a lot more) and eat less AND/OR differently consistently you will lose weight, look better, feel better and depending how far you choose to go really make some massive changes to your health.

So here is a useful shopping list. A list of things that you can use for an instant snack, to throw together something quickly to eat, or to take your time to make a meal.

We need to have something easy and fast when we are hungry before we are tempted by fat, salt and sugar laden snacks and quick bites – stodge by any other name!

 

Please remember that if you can buy organic you don’t need to peel your veg ( not even the squash) and you will have a lot more nutrients than you would in non organic. If you are buying local its likely to a bit be fresher.

Carrots, celery, cucumber, onions, peppers, sweet potatoes, a whole squash, courgettes, aubergine, parsnips/swede/celeriac choose which you like.

Apples or pears, lemons (one a day), bananas (at least one a day), berries ( frozen are fine), any fruit you like.

Ginger

Herbal help: fresh coriander, chives, dill, parsley, mint. Dried Italian seasoning, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon – choose your favourites.

Good quality strong cheese ( so you use less of it but still enjoy the flavour).

Eggs

Tinned tomatoes

Tinned or dried chick peas or red kidney beans (your preference)

Really good cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.

Flax oil ( keep it in the fridge)

Ground flax seeds (Holland and Barrett do it)

Chia seeds              ”               “

Apple cidre vinegar (try to get one with the mother – the cloudy bit – in it)

Balsamic vinegar

Oily fish (salmon, mackerel, trout – ask for it in a bag ready to cook and yes it is OK to have the free butter just have one for two fish)

Chicken or another lean meat.

A jar of Miso

Packet of sea weed – Nori sheets work best.

The main meal recipes I suggest for the next few days are;

Fish cooked in the bag (from the fish monger, not the boil in a bag in sauce stuff:) with a big salad and baked sweet potato.

Roasted mixed vegetables topped with an egg or scatter of flavoursome cheese (with optional salad)

Aubergine pizza (its great and good!).

Stir fry (with salmon or chicken or another lean meat of your choice)

A veggie soup for dinner, lunches, snacks, whenever you want something warm, comforting and filling.

Tonight I have chopped up an aubergine, a red pepper, an onion, a carrot, a courgette, a couple of small beetroot and a chunk of the squash ( all organic and so all with the skin on!). Tossed it all in some olive oil, cumin, turmeric, sea salt and pepper and pushed into the oven and it has cooked whilst Ive been writing this. I’m going to sprinkle some extra strong cheddar over it and serve it with crispy sunflower sprout and pea shoot salad with a sweetish dressing.

Tips for life : Move – any which way:  yoga ( there is a type of yoga to suit most people), dance!, gym, team games, swim, walk, run, play around with kids or dogs.
Im loving the Nike Training app (OK loving it is reaching – I love it AFTER I have done it!!) also the ‘7 min WC’ app – I can never find an excuse not to find 7 minutes for that one 🙂

Bon appetit.

More recipes to follow!

Sprouts, but not as we know them!

Going back maybe 30, no 35…oh, no… OK, lets leave it at that, years I had a flat and a friend of a friend needed somewhere to stay for a few weeks. I had a spare room, so my place it was.

He was definitely a long haired hippy, quite a few of my lovely friends were then. Along with him, his girlfriend, his afgan (coat not hound) and bags of stuff came some jars which took up residence on the kitchen window sill.

These jars seemed to be very loved, they were watered, watched, sometimes covered and sometimes not and whatever was inside them grew!

This was my initiation into sprouts, the most delicious, nutricious, juicy and best of all CHEAP food going!

There are a vast variety around they are easy to grow and, if you do grow your own, they are cheap as chips. A small spoonful soon bursts into a whole jar full.

Many websites are dedicated to growing sprouts so no problem working out how to do it. They are easy to get hold of, take only a few days and no specialist equipment required, you can use a simple jam jar in fact I often, lazily, just use a sieve over a bowl. They really boost your nutrition hugely with no fuss, powders or pills.

You can take it further, as we have in France at the retreat, where we have two large automatic sprouters to keep us stocked with plenty to juice as well as throw on salads or just munch out of a bag. You can also get small stacking systems (we often use that when there’s just Robin and I at home but then I’ll usually regret not using the sprouter as we get through lots!). In winter they give variety to the basic salads available with their sweet or peppery, hot or spicy flavours and they are always fresh so bursting with vitality and enzimes.

So, here’s to sprouts –  Not just for hippies!

Coming soon: Notjustforhippies.com and our retreat info on RobinandDesri.com

A little bit obsessed!

As long as I can remember I have been at least a little obsessed with food!

I do remember being hungry as a child and I was not deprived, just burning it off fast and hungry before each meal – how often are we really hungry before we eat? Not often, try it and see.

I had to go straight to dancing school after school. When I was younger I was delivered and I remember being given Rivetas that my mother was piling cream cheese and pineapple on, I think there could have been butter too – Riveta wasn’t really advertised as it is now as a be all to all people base for fine concoctions, way back then it was just about diets.

The topping sends a mixed message – but as the skinniest kid in class thank goodness for a Mother who was ‘on a diet but just couldn’t resist’. I still love the sucre/sale flavours!

As I grew older I had to get to dancing myself so the minute the bell rang I ran as fast as I could – a few miles across flat planes, across town, up hills, to get there in 15 minutes, about 3 or 4 miles I’d guess.

Usually I had taken nothing to eat. A couple of hours of dancing at least, then a trek back to town and the bus home, just waiting for fooooood!

Home was a funny place, not always happy, a lot of tension and conflict going on. I often spent sleepless nights working out how I could support my siblings and myself on the pocket money I saved every week (religiously I squirreled it away, just in case).

I always started with a base of a massive white sliced loaf because it was cheap and would fill our tummies; there were bags of apples and bananas too. ….

I still wake in the night and work out food for the next day, make up recipes, analyse the day before, NO sliced white loaf now but the bananas and apples figure, somewhere behind the green leaves and celery.

The other day Robin was watching me and asked what I was doing – “counting my portions”  (I was counting on my fingers) I do it every day, smug when I hit ten or over, less so when 7-10 and fed up with myself (I’m working on that flagellation thing) if I don’t make 5.

That is a rare occasion these days but when staying away or travelling it can be REALLY hard to get those portions in! In the UK it is not so bad with the brilliant motorway service stations where they have M&S and Waitrose salads, washed fruits and peeled, chopped fruits but when we are going through France it is really tough.

You have to go off road and find a market or super market then find somewhere to wash the stuff – or eat bananas which is fine for the first one or two.

OR be organised and take stuff with you – even after all these years and hardly ever managing to sort myself out to take something for between school and dancing I still rarely get it together.

So that is something I will be working on “being prepared” and delicious recipes to travel with – that means they last in a very warm car or on a very cold ferry, are delicious, nutritious and easy to eat without setting up a picnic table/ getting it all over you,  and without having a bag of slimy washing up to do in a hotel room – or worse, forgotten about and to be discovered weeks later, under the seat, when trying to find out “what that smell is”!