Food & Recipes

Jump to links for: Breakfast Lunch Soups Salads Pasta Dinner suggestions Healthy snack selections

‘Food glorious food’; how can we do without it? It has certainly been shown in several studies in scientific journals that reducing your kilojoule intake below what the body requires is the mainstay of weight loss. When starting your weight-loss plan, it is the reduced kilojoule intake that makes you lose weight. At this early stage, exercise has little influence on how much weight you lose.

It is important when considering the food aspect of your weight-loss program to work with what you like. For example, try modifying your normal diet rather than changing it to a radically new diet. This is important because maintaining a diet that does not agree with your taste buds is extremely hard, and can be a source of failure as you progress with your weight-loss program. It is best to adjust your food intake with the aim of losing approximately 0.5 to 1 kg (1 to 2 pounds) a month, as this amount of weight loss can easily be accommodated without feeling too deprived.

After looking though this website and reading my book, Healthy Intentions: Make it a Habit, you should be more skilled in choosing which foods to eat and planning your meals from my recipes and menu selections. The following are a selection of recipes from my book that include, breakfast, lunch, soups, pasta and main courses.

Breakfast

Salads are not conventionally considered as proper breakfast food; however there is no reason why you could not have a salad for breakfast as it contains lots of fibre. You can wash and prepare the vegetables the day before so that you can have a quick breakfast. If you add nuts and eggs to the salad, you get a good protein and energy boost for the day. The possibilities are endless.

Egg, asparagus and tomato salad

Ingredients:
4 hard boiled eggs
1 bunch of blanched asparagus
2 tomatoes
1 cup chopped iceberg lettuce

Serves: 2

Peel eggs and cut into wedges. Cut asparagus spears into 2.5 cm (1 inch) pieces and roughly chop the tomatoes. Gently toss asparagus, tomatoes and lettuce. Arrange egg wedges on top.

If desired, drizzle over a tablespoon of dressing made from equal quantities of freshly squeezed lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil (keep left over dressing in a glass jar).

Lunch

Lunch usually consists of a light meal during working hours. It may not be possible to prepare your lunch from scratch, so bringing lunch with you from home is usually the way to go. If you buy something at work or a lunch place make sure that you adhere to the principles of this book, i.e. have a salad, seafood or soup and avoid fast food places.

Avocado and chicken breast sandwich

Ingredients:
8 slices pumpernickel bread
4 lettuce leaves
200 grams (7 ounces) cooked, skinless chicken breast
1 medium avocado, peeled and thinly sliced
1 pear, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon low-fat cream cheese per person

Serves: 4

Spread cream cheese on each slice of bread. Place 1 lettuce leaf, 3 slices of chicken breast, avocado and pear slices on top and cover with remaining slice of bread (or serve as an open sandwich).

Soups

Soups are very versatile for both lunch and dinner and with their high fluid content can be quite satisfying. By having a pot of soup ready to go in the fridge throughout the cooler months, a healthy meal is always available to eat at home or take to work so you can avoid eating the wrong foods.

Minestrone

Ingredients:
4 cups beef stock*
2 large onions
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 rashers bacon
½ bunch of celery (use tops and leaves for stock)
6 carrots peeled
½ cup white haricot beans soaked overnight (or use tinned)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Chopped fresh parsley
Cracked fresh black pepper
Grated Parmesan cheese

*NB: home made is best or buy commercial salt-reduced stock.

Serves: 4

Chop the onions, carrots and celery coarsely. Trim the bacon of all fat and cut into small squares. Sauté onions in olive oil until transparent and add bacon. When cooked, add carrots and celery and sauté for a further 5–10 minutes. Then add stock and beans and simmer for 1–2 hours. Add tomato paste, chopped parsley and freshly cracked black pepper to taste. If soup reduces too much add extra stock and/or water before serving.

NB: If desired sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese on top before serving.

Salads

Salads are always a great meal choice that can be combined to include all the essential nutrients you need each day. They can be as simple as throwing some lettuce, red pepper (capsicum) and cucumbers into a bowl or much more elaborate. For example use different varieties of lettuce as a base and add other salad vegetables on top then blend. By adding different vegetables/ fruits in your salad you can vary the taste and have a lot of variety. If you use your imagination, you can easily come up with your own ideas as long as you combine vegetables with protein-containing foods such as meat, eggs, pulses (beans, lentils etc.) and/or nuts.

Rice salad

Ingredients:
1 cup brown rice
125 gram (4 oz) mushrooms
1 stick celery
1 red pepper (capsicum)
4 shallots
1 440 gram can corn kernels
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped chives
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Serves: 4

Add rice to a pan of boiling water and simmer for 30 minutes, or until tender. Drain and place on tray in refrigerator to cool or make the night before. Finely slice mushrooms, celery, red pepper and shallots. Combine olive oil, lemon juice, curry powder, parsley, chives salt and pepper. Combine rice, vegetables and dressing.

NB: Can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

Pasta

Pasta is a great dish. Nearly all pasta is absorbed slowly by the body and therefore provides you with sustained energy. By adding meats and vegetables you have an all round meal that is good both for lunch and dinner. You should always prepare your pasta al dente (firm) as this is absorbed even more slowly and will keep you feeling full for longer.

Ratatouille pasta sauce

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small Spanish (red) onion
1 red pepper (capsicum)
1 green capsicum
2 zuchini (courgettes)
1 large eggplant (or 2 small)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 425 gram can crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Freshly ground black pepper
400 grams (1 pound) penne or spiral pasta
Parmesan cheese, shaved to serve

Serves: 4

Slice eggplant into 1 cm (1/2 inch) slices and sprinkle with table salt. Wait 10 minutes and wipe surface with paper towels. Repeat on other side and then rinse and pat dry. Chop eggplant, red pepper, green capsicum and zucchini into 1 cm (1/2 inch) squares. Chop onion finely and sauté with garlic and olive oil in a heavy base fry pan. When onion is transparent, add chopped vegetables and sauté for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, thyme and tomato paste. Simmer for 20 minutes and season to taste. Cook pasta according to the directions on the packet and divide between 4 pasta bowls. Spoon over sauce and serve with shaved Parmesan cheese.

NB: This rustic dish can also be served on its own with the vegetables cut into larger cubes before cooking.

Dinner Suggestions

The dinner is usually seen as the main meal of the day. As such it is more substantial than the previous meals. It is important here to keep to the portion sizes and not go for seconds, i.e. ‘the one-plate rule’. Having a plain steak, fish or seafood with plain vegetables and lettuce is simple and straight forward and will suffice for an easy appetizing dinner.

Mediterranean chicken

Ingredients:
600 grams (1.5 pounds) chicken breast fillets
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Serves: 4

Combine garlic and rosemary in a small bowl. Add the Dijon mustard, olive oil and the juice and zest of the lemon. Stir well and season to taste. Pour over chicken in a non-reactive dish (i.e. glass or china) and marinate covered for at least half an hour or overnight in the fridge.

Cook chicken in a pre-heated hot BBQ or under a grill. When cooked on the first side, turn over the chicken and reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking until cooked through. Chicken should still be moist with no pink juices when pierced (i.e. juices run clear).

Serve with Greek salad or another salad side dish.

Healthy Snack Suggestions

Again try to avoid snacking if you can. Remember that hunger is a good thing if you are trying to loose weight. If you have to snack, try to use some healthy alternatives that will not make you gain weight or interfere with your diet. The only snack that is logical if you are trying to loose weight is vegetables. If you snack on fruits or any other high sugar containing foods you will find that you become hungry quickly after and that you will not loose weight. Only having vegetables as a snack suggestion may seem bland but you are trying to loose weight and change your lifestyle so it is important that food and snacks are not your main focus. Again moderation is the rule, no matter how healthy the snack is, if you eat too much then you will gain weight.