I love to innovate with my muesli recipes, and recently, I’ve been pacing around the local Organic Grocers for some renewed inspiration. This post builds on my previous piece about the Uber-Muesli, adding all my latest discoveries to the trusty recipe. My Muesli is a bit like the Sugababes then – always changing what’s in it, but you know just what you’re getting, and it’s a well-formed product nonetheless 😉
There are 9 novelties making their way into my muesli shaker-box these days, which are helping to reduce the fat content, boost the protein proportion, and reduce the carb constitution. In short, these are:
1) Chia Seeds, 2) Toasted Pine Nuts, 3) Organic Flaxseed, 4) Chopped Roasted Hazelnuts, 5) Roasted Almond Flakes, 6) Puffed Wholegrain Oats, 7) Organic Sunflower Seeds, 8) Puffed Wholegrain Brown Rice, and finally (perhaps most tree-huggingly), 9) universe-friendly sustainably grown Organic Puffed Spelt Flakes.
To read more about the health benefits of each ingredient, click MORE below, and see why I felt it was MISSION CRITICAL to tinker with the beloved Muesli recipe! Faya x
Spaghetti Bolognese – a classic favourite, but one we all know just can’t be all that healthy. In fact, it’s really quite calorific, often packed with salt and dripping in fat (and not necessarily the healthy kind). The ultimate word on all things calorific, MyFitnessPal suggests 35g of fat and 520 calories in a medium sized portion of spaghetti bolognese, and that’s without the industrially grated cheese on top! To access that classic taste and texture, whilst still being friendly to your quest for abs, here’s my healthier alternative.
Quorn! Once a bit weird, hippy and almost taboo, it’s now pretty mainstream as a healthy alternative to meat. But it’s not actually meat; it’s part of the fungi family. The main ingredient is ‘mycoprotein’, a fungal spore, grown by fermentation, much like the process used in the production of yoghurt, bread and beer. Quorn ‘mince’ is low in fat (1.9g per 100g) and high in protein (14.5g per 100g) & packed with dietary fibre (22% of your GDA in 100g). In short, it’s a lean alternative to minced beef, at just 90 calories per 100g.
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One of life’s greatest pleasures is eating – for me that means trying out new restaurants or cooking for friends and family, but I remember a time when eating felt more like a guilt trip. As a young, impressionable teenager I used to guinea-pig my way through unrealistic diets because I was led to believe (through clever marketing, and a pressurising ‘media onslaught’) that eating 5 bars a day was ‘the best way to be healthy’. I also thought the word ‘skinny’ was synonymous with ‘healthy’ and that the quickest way to achieve ‘skinny’ was by eating less food. The scales may have told me I was right, but I felt physically tired, emotional, starving and frankly miserable…. That is anything but an informed understanding of ‘healthy!
I think that especially amongst women, there is a vast and dangerous misconception. By eating far too little in order to lose weight you starve the body of essential nutrients, & have less energy to do anything, including work out! My ‘trick’ is to eat the right food, little & often, throughout the day, to speed up the metabolism. Weighing scales can be very deceiving. Going on bizarre fad diets which promise ‘rapid weight loss’ generally rely on either water loss (i.e. dehydration – bad, as c.70% of the body is made up of water, and there’s a reason for that!) or the loss of your natural muscle mass. Some long term diets may also slow down your metabolism further. Caring for your body by eating well and by being active, you’ll lose the right kind of weight (thus improving the ‘body fat percentage’ ratio).
I hope some of the recipes on my blog can help inspire healthy eating. With that in mind, here’s my asian-inspired lean Chicken Curry packed with nutritious flavour! It’s perfect for sharing!
FOUR KEY HEALTH BENEFITS OF THE RECIPE ???
1) GREEN FRESH JALEPENO CHILLI Chilli is full of immune-stimulating and health-promoting properties. One is capsaicin (which gives it the spicy kick, and is a strong anti-diabetic). It also has anti-bacterial and anti-carcinogenic properties, whilst reducing (bad) LDL cholesterol levels. These Jalepeno peppers are pretty fiery (2500 on the Scoville scale of ‘can you handle the heat?’), and are more than enough to raise your metabolism a few notches too! It’s rich in vitamin-C (100g chilli = c.240% of RDA) which is immune boosting and fights free radicals from the body. There’s a good amount of minerals such as potassium, manganese, iron, and magnesium too, all of which will help regulate the blood pressure. It also provides your body with its required dose of B-complex vitamins such as niacin, pyridoxine (vitamin B-6), riboflavin and thiamin (vitamin B-1).
2) LEMONGRASS Contains beneficial ‘essential oils’ (counter-irritant, anti-fungal & anti-septic properties), as well as vitamins and minerals (such as vitral, lemonal, and aldehyde responsible for that strong lemony scent, but which also has strong anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties). It contains a mini ’99 calories per 100 g’ and not a trace of cholesterol! The stem and leaves are high in folic acid (19% of RDA) which is important in cell division & repair. Plus it’s also rich in vitamin B5, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-1 (essential for the body to replenish). There’s also a cheeky amount of anti-oxidant vitamin-C and vitamin-A (immune and sight-boosting respectively), and finally lemon grass has plenty of bonus minerals like potassium, zinc, calcium, iron, manganese, copper, and magnesium. The body needs these – lemongrass has them!
3) GARLIC
Garlic is a great source of potassium (regulates blood pressure / oxygenation & heartbeat pace, lubricates joints), iron (supports red blood cell formation), calcium (promotes healthy bones), magnesium (aids nervous-system functions, body temperature regulation, detoxification, energy production, and hormone balancing) manganese (an antioxidant enzyme), zinc (cell regeneration, digestion-aiding, with anti-cancerous properties), and selenium (heart-healthy, antioxidant enzyme). It also has a compound called ‘allicin’ which has been shown to reduce cholesterol, alleviate high blood pressure and help decrease the risk of heart disease and stroke.
4) ORGANIC CHICKEN
Free -range, hormone & antibiotic free organic roast chicken breast (100g contains 116 calories, 22g protein, 3g fat) is perfect if you’re trying to lose weight, as it’s lower in fat and calories than other meats such as beef (100g fillet steak contains 196 calories, 26g protein, 9g fat) and pork (100g pork chop contains 260 calories, 28g protein, 16g fat), whilst still being high in lean protein. It contains vitamins B6 and B3 (to help cell recovery) and contains essential selenium (anti-cancerous properties) and zinc (as per description in ‘garlic’, above). A small serving of chicken can meet the niacin requirements for the entire day (essential for brain health, shown to help protect against Alzheimer’s disease & dementia), as well as Vitamin E, betacarotene, and Vitamins B6 and B12.
Click more below to see the full instructions to make this delicious and healthy dish. Enjoy, and I’d love to hear what you think of it! fitnessontoast@gmail.com for any feedback and questions. Faya 🙂
I love to innovate with my muesli recipes, and recently, I’ve been pacing around the local Organic Grocers for some renewed inspiration. This post builds on my previous piece about the Uber-Muesli, adding all my latest discoveries to the trusty recipe. My Muesli is a bit like the Sugababes then – always changing what’s in it, but you know just what you’re getting, and it’s a well-formed product nonetheless 😉
