Yep, it's Monday and I'm raring to go. It's another new week to go out and live life to the full - I can't wait to get going.
How have you been enjoying the summer weather? Its still mighty hot here in Wimbledon but I'm loving it! I'm pretty sure I came form the Mediterranean and no one told me.Did you try the frozen grape snack from last Mondays blog? Talking of snacks today we are going to have a little look at why we snack and how to do it to our advantage!! Hubby was being schmoozed last week in Montreux and he said it was beautifully warm there too. He even got a swim in Lake Geneva! (jammy sod!)
I hope you loved Claire Smedley's guest blog on Thursday. She is very knowledgeable and wrote an incredibly useful article to support you on your way to a healthier lifestyle.If you missed it Click here to read it
Thank you to the gazillions of you who entered the blog competition. The big question is.....................are you the winner? I'll let you know in a minute! ( I love teasing!)
Coming this week:
H is for.....
Monday Munchies recipe
Myth busting - snacks are bad for me! (really?!)
and more..............
is for...............................................................
Hijiki
Horseradish
Haricot beans
Honeydew Melon
Hazelnut
Hearts of Palm
I've got to be honest some weeks I do struggle to find fruit and veg beginning with certain letters! I've had to cheat a bit this week but luckily one of my fave sea vegetables has made the list. Now you might be thinking "hold on a minute, I'm not eating seaweed" - well fine, but why not try something different just for once. I'm pretty certain that once you have tried sea veg you will become a mermaid!
Hijiki is one of many sea vegetables that are significant in the Japanese diet. Indeed it has been consumed for centuries in Japan. In the last couple of decades sea veg have become popular in the western diet too. Hijiki is very rich in dietary fibre and the essential vitamins calcium, iron and magnesium - all essential in a ablanced diet.
Hijiki with carrots and tofu
Ingredients
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 3/4 cup dried hijiki
- 1 carrot
- 1 block of firm tofu cut into smallish cubes and drained well
- cornflour or kuzu to coat the tofu
- 2 cups of vegetable dashi (or 2 cups of veg stock if this is difficult for you)
- 2-3 tbsp of reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp mirin
- vegetable oil for frying your tofu.
Method
- Soak the hijiki in water until it is 5 times its original size, rinse well and drain well.
- Coat your tofu cubes in your cornflour or kuzu and deep fry for 5 minutes or until crispy and golden.
- Chop your carrots - if you are feeling authentic use a funky shaped cutter to make them pretty! (or you can of course just slice them)
- Saute the hijiki and carrots so that they are coated in sesame oil in a pan.
- Add the dashi stock, mirin and tofu and cook until carrots are tender.
- Season with soy sauce and serve!
Yummmmmmy!
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| from just bento - the pig is cut from tofu skin! |
Myth Busters!
This week I set out to bust another "healthy living/eating" myth for you.
It's only the dieting industry that wants us all confused so that we will waste money buying"special" and more often than not lab created foods and join their clubs for an expensive weekly fee and almost certainly failure.
Keep reading here and you will be armed with the knowledge you need to live a healthy life.
The Myth: I'm on a "diet", I can't have snacks and I'm so hungry!
First of all no-one should go on a diet - healthy eating and therefore healthy living doesn't have an end date! It's all about lifestyle, a lifestyle that you can live with and reap the rewards of.
Snacking is something most people do, sometimes because there is genuine hunger and often because it is a craving caused by dopamine. Women in particular are far more likely to snack when they are stressed - which is actually counterproductive. A great and balanced diet means that you will only snack when you need to. Its the imbalanced diet that makes us dive for something sweet or salty. If you have overloaded on simple sugars you will find yourself craving savoury foods like crisps, cheese and the like even though you are not hungry. Similarly if you eat a lot of salty processed foods you will try and balance this out by over snacking on simple sugary foods. So, it seems that by following a natural eating plan and not consuming laboratory created junk you can quell the cravings.
If you crave food because you are actually hungry you wont be craving non food junk. Your body will crave what it needs such as protein in the form of beans or tofu, complex carbs like brown rice or fresh fruit.
Snacking can be good for you! Yes you did read that correctly!
It can help keep your energy levels up and stop you bingeing on junk. If you choose protein based snacks under 200 calories, with approx 10g protein and around 5g of fibre and combine this with exercise you can help to build muscle. No not, Arnie in his heyday but achieve a beautiful toned body. The reason the right snacking also helps is because as your body builds muscle you will burn calories far more efficiently. It's a great equation - you get to look and feel good plus you lose weight or maintain a healthy weight easily.
Often we forget to count snack foods in to our diet which means that our weight can creep up and we put ourselves at risk of future serious illness. No one tries to make themselves ill but they are often the victim of persistent advertising and great photography, the reality of course is often very different!
Some common snack values
Smoothies - around 700 calories
Nutella per 100g serving - 541 calories
BK LittleTaster - 295 calories
Small Strawberry Shake - 300 calories
3 Buffalo Chicken Strips - 380 calories
Pretzel ,average size, 380 calories per 100g plus 52g of salt
Cupcake 250 - 500 calories
As you probably know by now I work out hard in the gym and am very active. I often need to snack. I know that if I piled my shopping trolley full of supermarket snacks I would just eat them even when I didn't have any nutritional requirement for it. I decided that as I am responsible for what goes in to the pantry I needed to find a way to deal with this.
I mentioned in my last blog about visiitng V Delicious the other week. One of the companies that impressed me was the Good Health Box. Set up by Tin, a fitness freak and Chin, a cookie addict to provide us with great healthy, imaginative, guilt free snacks delivered to our door.
They offer several options on the boxes and several delivery options too. I particularly like the protein box. Not only do I get high protein scrumptious snacks but I can choose free from, veggie, vegan options and know the calories contents to help me make my mind up.
Having a box delivered means I don't need any rubbish from the shops! This week I had a great vegan protein box which included among other things the best Cookie I have ever eaten, Tamari Roasted Almonds,Peanut Butter Crunch Bar, Acai Berry Bite, Hummus Chips (to die for!) and Chilli Miso Ramen (100% brown rice noodles with chilli miso soup). Delivery is free too and when I've finished writing this I'm going to put in my next order.
It's so worth going for a look at their website and also to support independent traders. To go and have a look and make your first order click right here. I honestly think you will be super impressed. let them know you found out about htem on my blog so we can persuade them to write us a guest blog one day!!!!
BTW I don't get paid by them to tell you how good they are. I just love their products, passion and drive for healthy living.
And the blog competition winner is.............................
Click here for the fanfare!
Coming in Thursday's blog......
Have a happy healthy week....
with love and peace
Janie xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ps. Why not try two macrobiotic meals this week?
First of all no-one should go on a diet - healthy eating and therefore healthy living doesn't have an end date! It's all about lifestyle, a lifestyle that you can live with and reap the rewards of.
Snacking is something most people do, sometimes because there is genuine hunger and often because it is a craving caused by dopamine. Women in particular are far more likely to snack when they are stressed - which is actually counterproductive. A great and balanced diet means that you will only snack when you need to. Its the imbalanced diet that makes us dive for something sweet or salty. If you have overloaded on simple sugars you will find yourself craving savoury foods like crisps, cheese and the like even though you are not hungry. Similarly if you eat a lot of salty processed foods you will try and balance this out by over snacking on simple sugary foods. So, it seems that by following a natural eating plan and not consuming laboratory created junk you can quell the cravings.
If you crave food because you are actually hungry you wont be craving non food junk. Your body will crave what it needs such as protein in the form of beans or tofu, complex carbs like brown rice or fresh fruit.
Snacking can be good for you! Yes you did read that correctly!
It can help keep your energy levels up and stop you bingeing on junk. If you choose protein based snacks under 200 calories, with approx 10g protein and around 5g of fibre and combine this with exercise you can help to build muscle. No not, Arnie in his heyday but achieve a beautiful toned body. The reason the right snacking also helps is because as your body builds muscle you will burn calories far more efficiently. It's a great equation - you get to look and feel good plus you lose weight or maintain a healthy weight easily.
Often we forget to count snack foods in to our diet which means that our weight can creep up and we put ourselves at risk of future serious illness. No one tries to make themselves ill but they are often the victim of persistent advertising and great photography, the reality of course is often very different!
Some common snack values
Smoothies - around 700 calories
Nutella per 100g serving - 541 calories
BK LittleTaster - 295 calories
Small Strawberry Shake - 300 calories
3 Buffalo Chicken Strips - 380 calories
Pretzel ,average size, 380 calories per 100g plus 52g of salt
Cupcake 250 - 500 calories
As you probably know by now I work out hard in the gym and am very active. I often need to snack. I know that if I piled my shopping trolley full of supermarket snacks I would just eat them even when I didn't have any nutritional requirement for it. I decided that as I am responsible for what goes in to the pantry I needed to find a way to deal with this.
I mentioned in my last blog about visiitng V Delicious the other week. One of the companies that impressed me was the Good Health Box. Set up by Tin, a fitness freak and Chin, a cookie addict to provide us with great healthy, imaginative, guilt free snacks delivered to our door.
 |
| Tin |
They offer several options on the boxes and several delivery options too. I particularly like the protein box. Not only do I get high protein scrumptious snacks but I can choose free from, veggie, vegan options and know the calories contents to help me make my mind up.
 |
| It's what's inside that counts! |
Having a box delivered means I don't need any rubbish from the shops! This week I had a great vegan protein box which included among other things the best Cookie I have ever eaten, Tamari Roasted Almonds,Peanut Butter Crunch Bar, Acai Berry Bite, Hummus Chips (to die for!) and Chilli Miso Ramen (100% brown rice noodles with chilli miso soup). Delivery is free too and when I've finished writing this I'm going to put in my next order.
It's so worth going for a look at their website and also to support independent traders. To go and have a look and make your first order click right here. I honestly think you will be super impressed. let them know you found out about htem on my blog so we can persuade them to write us a guest blog one day!!!!
BTW I don't get paid by them to tell you how good they are. I just love their products, passion and drive for healthy living.
And the blog competition winner is.............................
Click here for the fanfare!
Jane Dunkley this is your prize!
Coming in Thursday's blog......
- Cooking healthily on a tiny budget
- Great budget recipes
- Motivation Central
- Move More, Chill a Bit less.
Have a happy healthy week....
with love and peace
Janie xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ps. Why not try two macrobiotic meals this week?
 |
| me & my gorj daughter (June 2013) |
Omg! It's me!!!!!! Thank you!!!!! ��
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Jane! It's an awesome life changing prize. Enjoy xxxx
ReplyDeleteThank you xx
ReplyDelete