There can’t be many amongst us who dislike the fabulousness of a hearty ‘hotel breakfast’ spread – at a time when your body desperately needs fuel to power up, gather mental alertness, and prepare you for the day ahead, the trusty hotel delivers in spades! By starting the day correctly with a healthy meal, you’ll underpin the rest of the day and your body will be less likely to panic for food or overeat later. Also, by stabilising blood sugar levels early on, regulating energy and appetite, you’re more likely to avoid the classic irritability and lack of concentration.
Becoming a morning person is all about getting into a tolerable routine and what better way to do it than by bringing a little excitement to the ritual; a hotel-like breakfast. Rather than stressing your way out the front door on an empty stomach and demolishing a coffee and croissant on the go (both responsible for eventual blood sugar dips), take some time to wake up at the breakfast table, sip a green tea, read the paper, and enjoy a colourful, restorative, tasty meal in the same way you might do on holiday! It can (and should) be a fabulous meal like any other to really enjoy and look forward to. There is a huge amount of choice too; breakfast doesn’t just have to be bran flakes out of a cardboard box… If your reason for not having breakfast is because you’re time-poor, check out my healthy muesli which only involves the time it takes to add milk to a bowl! However, my breakfast this Sunday morning was made up of a selection of healthy dishes but in rather smaller portions – a good source of protein, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats and plenty of vitamins and minerals. A bowl of porridge topped with some yummy berries, a hard-boiled egg, smoked salmon and avocado, a small glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and a cup of green tea. I’m loving grapefruit at the moment so managed to add a half as well.
See more photos and nutritional info below… Faya x 🙂
Just an incredibly short post on one of the easiest & quickest healthy snacks I’ve ever made; brilliant as a replacement for nuts / canapés when you’re entertaining friends! It’s titled ‘Economies of Kale’ because this clean snack really isn’t expensive – Tesco offers a bag of fresh curly kale at just £1.50 for 200g! This foodstuff is basically royalty in terms of ‘fitness vogue’; my nutritious little kale chips take just c. 5-10 minutes to make, and if I do say so myself are satisfying, utterly delicious, and offer the following 6 key benefits: (more…)
In a bid to make Fitness On Toast more practical / useful this holiday season, this is the first post in a line of travel-related fitness ideas which I’ll be posting over the coming months. The first part of the holiday can be the most difficult, as you relax and sink into ‘holiday indulgence mode’. Before even reaching your fabulous holiday destination, it’s not unusual to have eaten your body weight in tempting travel chocolates whilst waiting out a delay! Being stuck in an airport waiting – bored, hungry, tired and emotional – is no fun, and the odds seem impossibly stacked against you to stay healthy. It’s often the case of grabbing a quick bagel, bag of crisps and a soda. Junk foods, like air, can be found anywhere, anytime. But unlike air, they should be occasional treats and not meals of laziness. In the pic below (all of them shot in Paris, en route to the South of France on the TGV), I’m tucking into a healthy and exotic fruit salad – a travelling gift from FOT‘s friends at the fabulous Buddha Bar Hotel, teamed with a Starbucks tall Green Tea for a hydrating metabolism boost! If you can’t muster up the enthusiasm to make your own healthy travelling meal here are 8 tips & tricks to stay away from all the refined simple carbohydrates and filthy factory foods when you’re jetting off… Bon voyage 🙂 Faya x
1. STOCK UP: Make sure to have a nutritious, sustaining breakfast/lunch/dinner before you even leave the house.
2. DRINK UP: Stay hydrated. Recirculated air-conditioned airplane air is draining, and when you’re already dehydrated you’ll feel even hungrier as your body recognises that it needs *something*!
3. PLAN AHEAD: Bring your own snacks – you control the content – think nuts, seeds, fruit, water – at least until you get to your detstination and can enjoy a proper meal!
4. CHEW SOMETHING: Chewing Gum is a sweet stimulation, to simulate sugar intake, and trick the brain into thinking its meal time. Not great on a totally empty stomach though, as it raises acid levels.
5. GO GREEN: Salads with some protein are a totally fair option if available, but be sure to check fat/salt content of things like the dressing – often a hidden calorie bomb!
6. SIZE MANAGEMENT: Watch your portions – nibbling little and often is better for the body’s natural metabolic pace.
7. MEET THE CHALLENGE: Being a bit hungry isn’t the end of the world and won’t kill you. Many swear that it raises mental alertness as you head into ‘forraging’ mode!
8. SLEEP IT OFF: Low in blood sugar? Feeling tired? Zzzz… far better than scoffing a packet of crisps and chocolate bar for the sake of it!
Click HERE for more to see the rest of the pics from sunny Paris 🙂
