Welcome to me, the new Resident Foodie at Food 24 for the next 5 months. Yay. Unlike Caro I can’t claim to be a chef, but I’m a pretty decent cook and I can’t wait to get to know all of you.
I just dread having to eat “healthy”. Don’t you? It always feels like I’m denying myself pleasure. Life can be hard and it seems unfair. I’m big on self-gratification.
Yet. Complaining about my low energy levels one day, a health freak friend talked me into following a high protein, low carb, zero sugar eating plan. The deal was that I cooked him dinner every night and he showed me which side of a dumbbell you pick up first.
8 weeks and 8 kilos later
It is now 8 weeks and 8 kilos later and here is what I learned.
Eat breakfast. In fact eat often – 6 times a day is ideal.
Plan. Pack your lunches and snacks the night before you go to bed.
When in doubt – eat protein not carbs. Avoid fat and sugar.
No booze. (This was and is the hardest). Do what you want over weekends. Our wellbeing (and weight) is 70% what we eat and 30% exercise.
Now look, I’m not going to go all sanctimonious on you here. If you come for a dinner party to my house there will be lashings of butter, stinky cheese and creamy sauces to be had. And wine. Lots of it. What works for me is this: If it is loaded with calories – then it better be the best freaking tasting calories in the world.
Otherwise it is not worth it. So when I’m not spoiling my taste buds, I make wiser choices about what I put in my mouth and spoil my inner skinny-jean-wearing-self. Because pleasure is also slipping into a smaller size.
Skinny jeans recipes
Here are 10 dishes that I go back to for midweek meals because they taste great, are high on protein and low in fat. And my family actually like eating them too. Which is important if cooking is your only redeeming quality.
One of the things I’m going to be doing while I’m here is choosing the best recipe from the food blogs each week. (From Thursday to Wednesday each week.) Our food bloggers put so much love and effort into sharing their recipes with all of us, that we feel a little thank you once a while wouldn’t be out of place.
The recipe that blew us away this week is Juno from Scrumptious SA’s smoked chilli pate. This is just the right time of the year to indulge in some snoek on the braai, and leftovers – smoked or otherwise – will work beautifully in this pate with punch. Congratulations Juno, we’ll be sending you a R100 Kalahari.net voucher.
So keep cooking – I’m loving it!
Aletta