Its now 2018 Im 38. Iv Had 2 Babies in 3 Years. What is Still Working For Me: THE FOOD PART. (Tune in in 6 weeks time for The EXERCISE PART). (If you want to read My Previous Tips i wrote back in 2015. See Fitness Blog by clicking on http://polishedireland.com/category/fitnessblog/for those. See the section under How to Get in Shape for Your Wedding) (Also I am not a Doctor, these are my views so do not ignore any advice from your healthcare professional)
OK SO FIRSTLY WHEN/HOW DO I EAT? 5 Days a week i eat two meals a day within an 8 hour window. A late breakfast and an early dinner. I feel sick in the early morning and Its doesnt suit my digestive system to eat late. So its suits me to eat 2 big meals a day. BUT I eat a lot when I eat. I have a huge appetite. So I cannot eat 3 times or id be overweight. (I do eat later when I go out for dinner (which is only once a month cause i hate eating out as a rule) etc but most days I dont eat after 5pm). There are many articles written on benefits of eating in an 8 hour window. Google them now. This is similar to doing a 5:2 diet all week. It suits my body. I have gaps of 18 hour fasts 5 nights a week. I eat nothing after my dinner 5 nights a week, until breakfast the next day, which is usually 10/11am and (dinner happens daily with us 2-5pm). I have found It is the evening eating that makes the pounds accumulate on me. BUT sometimes I dont find this easy to do at all. I would love to eat in the evenings. I crave that too like you. I just have the willpower not to eat. I just drink green tea or hot water with lemon. Lemon helps your liver work better at breaking down fat. Then the next day I get up and im not hungry (like you would think you would be) and after a couple of days of this, your stomach and appetite will shrink accordingly and the scales will show the difference over time. Your body needs to eat itself to loose weight, after all what is weight gain, only extra fat stores on your body, so when you deprive your body of food it starts using the fat reserves. P.S I do love to eat crisps and peanuts on the couch the one night a week! Walkers and Hunky Doreys are my fav YUM. Im a savory snacker not a sweet one. I dont eat lots of biscuits and chocolate its crisps I go for..DO I EAT WELL? Do I have a good diet?. Yes BUT I wouldnt say its amazing. Heres my Typical Diet. I EAT 2 MEALS a day
BREAKFAST: IS A BIG AFFAIR for me. I like to eat a late breakfast around 10/11am and i take my time and i eat really slow not cause its good for me just because i am a slow eater.. (unless i have to leg it out door at 7am then its juts porridge). I would say I am aware of what I am eating and its nutritional content. The reality is I do use the microwave sometimes twice a daily (shameful but true). Porridge and reheating dinner. Id love to say our dinner is freshly cooked daily but its not 3 days week.
TYPICAL DAY: Hot Water with Lemon first thing.
Later Porridge & Full fat milk & Greek Yogurt & Stewed Apple or Black/RaspBerries (we have a garden full of fruit so we pick and freeze which lasts us all year around). Or Cornflakes & Banana (guilty pleasure on weekends)
AND
3 Pieces Brown Soda Bread Toasted with Peanut Butter (and a tiny bit jam) Or Banana topping or
3 Scrambled Eggs (we have our own hens) AND a Mug Barrys Tea
Mon-Thursday WE EAT Batch Cooked Dinner. Freshly cooked monday. We both work alot so we dont have time to cook daily. Items that both toddlers will also eat, (so these days dinner is not very creative). We rarely make sauces from scratch, we use best quality jars, tesco finest, lyod grossman etc. Typically
1)Homemade chicken, with Lidl pesto, pasta, with sweetcorn, broccolli and peas.
2) Homemade lasagne made with extra 5% lean steak mince, carrots, peppers, onions. We do use a Dolmio sauce!
3) Homemade Mild Chilli Con Carne, made with extra 5% lean steak mince. Potatoes or Rice
4)Shepards pie made with extra 5% lean steak mince, carrots, peas, savory packet sauce
5)Chicken curry, made with Sharwoods Jar sauce, Rice
6)Spagetti Bolognaise made with extra 5% lean steak mince, onions, garlic, peppers, olives, chopped tomatoes, tomato puree. We eat the same main dish 3 dinners in a row BUT add different QUICK TO PREP sides. The sides we add to the above on alternate days to bulk up above dinners are:~
Homemade Coleslaw= ( Hellmans mayo, white cabbage, carrots, black pepper)
Tinned mixed beans, rinse and drain in water
Tinned sweetcorn, rinse and drain in water
Tinned pineapple (in juice not syrup)
Frozen peas, spinach, mixed veg
Frozen microwavable rices
Jamie Olivers microwaveable curried lentils and chickpeas, or these yummy ones below found it ALDI last week, I minute in Microwave. Add a red pesto to make more palatable.
Friday: SURPRISE! Oven Chips and Homemade Chicken Goujons (fresh chicken strips in egg and in breadcrumbs or Donegal Catch and Tin of Heinz Beans
and Homemade Coleslaw.
Saturday & Sunday: FISH. Cause its nicest ate FRESH off the fish monger. And its really good for you. Look up all benefits of OMEGA3. And you need 2 fish days a week. Right would be a typical weekend dish for us. Those bits you maybe wont recognise they are Courgette, Peppers, Aubergine In Rapeseed oil in the oven 30mins. Salmon, Trout or Hake 15mins in oven with Sea Salt, Chilli and Black Pepper (to taste)
FATS OR SUGAR? I eat a lot of GOOD FATS, only full fat butter and milk, I snack on olives and walnuts/cashew nutsn(good fats) when i do snack and Crisps (bad fats) are my downfall. I think it is SUGAR more so than FATS that is causing the IRISH obesity crisis.
EAT MORE PROTEIN! Protein burns more calories per unit than carbs or fat per unit so eat more meat, fish and eggs. Eating an Omelette for dinner with low calorie tin of salmon, spinach and onion ONE DAY A WEEK definitely should help you shed pounds faster. You could use it on your 5:2 diet day once a week..From what I am recently reading it is largely eating 2/3 good fats and proteins with 1/3 carbohydrates to get your body into a permanent “Fat Burning Mode”. Read more online from The Diet Doctor
YUMMY TREATS? I eat a treat EVERY SINGLE DAY, but always after the dinner. I bake a lot of “our treats”. I use Avoca Book for brown breads
Odlums for regular apple tarts, fruit crumbles, scones. Susan Jane Whites Book-Flapjacks, Tiffen. I have noticed when i eat a homemade treat made I dont crave the other nasty white sugar treats. But I do eat odd bars of chocolate. Maybe one a week. Not everyday. Cadburys Fruit and Nut and Star Bars are my fav. Oh and scones and pink pastries from o’heihirs and min chocolate rolls..
I find the more I eat “the good food” the less I crave the bad food.
I add as much spices to dinner as i can. Read about the benefits of this..
I dont drink much alcohol. I might have one glass wine a week and a gin and sprite or soda with elderflower cordial.
I dont eat takeaways at all.
I dont drink fizzy drinks. Only Pure Non Concentrated Fruit Juices occasionally. Mainly boring Water. Tea. Green Tea. Max 2 Mugs a day. Occasionally Coffee. If I have a sugar craving for a drink I add “a dash” of robinsons to water.
IM REALLY INTERESTED IN HOW OUR BODY WORKS: I have a burning desire to learn more about nuitrition. Im very interested in how the food we are consuming is effecting our nations mental and physical health, and hows its affecting how our skin ages etc. For fun I read ALOT about Food, and Fitness, Recipe Books, Newspaper Chef Columns, Online Blogs etc. Im planning to do another degree in Nutrition down the line when kids are further on and iv more time…
LAST TIP Remember it is what you are doing with FOOD 80% of the Time That Counts The Other 20% of the Time You Can EAT WHAT YOU LIKE (within reason) SO thats means 2 in every 10 days you can eat all the things you love unrestricted. Following The above i the last 5 years has totally reduced the amount of exercise i have to do. I am no longer a slave to running, or the gym like i was, because i now know it is 80% about the food you are eating and when you get that right and in the right portions withe the right amount of calories per day your body will “naturally” burn off the pounds.
Hope You Get Something From This.
Fee x
