My dad phoned me this morning to tell me that recently he doesn’t feel so well and gets dizzy quiet often and would like to know what he needs to eat as he feels that he doesn’t eat well and neglects his health. My dad, lives in a different country to his three kids, it’s not easy as he is nearly 70, but I must say he is such an inspiration to me. He has been through so many ups and downs in his life but always keeps his head up and looks out for his kids’ best interests. So this was a perfect opportunity for me to help. First thing I asked was: What are you having for breakfast? And guess what he said??? “Nothing really!!” A coffee and sometimes an apple or a piece of white bread with cheese. As you can imagine I was petrified to hear that. As you have probably guessed, my dad is not alone. In the rush to get the kids to school or ourselves to work, plenty of us skip breakfast altogether.

Eating within two hours of waking can make a difference in the way you metabolize glucose, or blood sugar, all day. Your glucose level rises every time you eat, and your pancreas produces insulin to shuttle the glucose into your cells, where it’s used for energy. Research is finding that keeping glucose and insulin in the right balance has important effects on metabolism and health.

If you don’t bother with breakfast, though, the prolonged fasting might lead to a bigger than normal boost in hunger s, encouraging you to overeat at your next meal and leading to spikes and dips in glucose. Breakfast provides the body and brain with fuel after an overnight fast – that’s where its name originates, breaking the fast! Without breakfast you are effectively running on empty, like trying to start the car with no petrol!

Research involving adults and children has indicated that breakfast might enhance memory, attention, and the speed of processing information, reasoning, creativity, learning, and verbal abilities.

Breakfast can be good for your waistline too

Research shows those who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight and more likely to be within their ideal weight range compared with breakfast skippers. If you skip breakfast, you’re more likely to reach for high sugar and fatty snacks mid-morning which probably won’t keep you full until lunch, despite a hefty calorie count. But of course that what you eat is important, if you’re trying to drop a few kilos, sitting down to a healthy, high-fibre breakfast could be the key to success. One reason may be that high-fibre foods fill you up on fewer calories. Fibre also slows the digestive process, which in turn wards off hunger spikes later.

You should aim to eat a solid breakfast topped with fruit, 1 tbsp of flaxseed, 1 tbsp of oat bran meal and include one of the following:

• Low sugar granola with low-sugar yogurts (don’t head to the fat free yogurts as they are full of sugar to compensate for the luck of healthy fat).
• Porridge, made of rolled oats or steal-cut and almonds milk.
• 2 eggs any way you like with some fresh vegetables

With my dad’s health (all his tests and check-ups are perfect, thank goodness!) it is also have to do with the fact that he doesn’t eat often enough and doesn’t have healthy snacks in between main meals. He also hardly drinks water! But more about those subjects in the next few days.

And now back to me and my RESET plan.

So today at lunch time I really didn’t fancy Salad Niçoise, it was much too cold and I needed something warm and comforting so I made the Thai cauliflower rice, it was so yummy that I actually had it again for dinner, this time topped with the slow cook chicken breast. I have prepared the green Thai chicken but will have it tomorrow instead – I love having it all ready, waiting to be thrown together when needed!

Thai coconut (cauliflower) rice      

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 big cauliflower
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 2 carrots, julienned or grated
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 chilli, chopped
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 5 spring onions, chopped
• 1 cup cashews, coarsely chopped
• 1bunch of coriander, chopped
• salt and black pepper to taste

Method

• In a food processor or slicer, chop the cauliflower until it is as small as rice.  
• In a large sauté pan, heat the coconut and sesame oils, add the shallots, peppers, carrots, ginger, garlic and chilli and sauté on medium high heat for about 10 minutes.
• Add the cauliflower rice and coconut milk and cook until nearly all milk is absorbed. Remove from the heat.
• Add the chopped coriander, spring onions and cashews and serve.

This should last about 4-5 days in the fridge.

Lots of love and health

Karin

Two Healthy Cookies

Sorry guys, I didn’t manage to cook my meal plan today in order to take some pictures and place the recipes….sometimes life gets in the way and I’m so happy I was so organised and spiralized some courgettes yesterday and made the slow cooker chicken breast as dinner which was ready in 10 minutes tonight and I fed my family and some friends!

I was teaching a salad workshop today for a group of ladies in Golders Green, London (yes, I also teach cooking courses besides my catering business) where I taught how to create your own salad dressing and what healthy substitutes we have for carb, sugar and fat. We also made three gorgeous salads: green coconut quinoa, roasted broccoli power salad and of course the Thai inspired kale salad from yesterday’s meal plan.

One of the tricks I taught today was to cook the quinoa with coconut milk, we used half of it for our salad and the other half was for breakfast with some berries on top – scrumptious and filling.

All these greens just make me want to sing, fantasising about being on remote, hot beaches wearing a bikini….that’s what healthy food makes me do. It makes me so happy and my brain is clear and I just want to tell the world all about it and I want you all to feel the same even without the need for a glass of wine.

Can your diet make you happier? Yes it can!

It has been proven that foods that are rich in nutrients like vitamins A, B12, D, and E, and folate, iodine, magnesium (everything with dark green colour), calcium (dairy and greens!), iron, fibre, and omega-3 fatty acids ( Salmon) are your Essential Elements of Happiness.

I’m not going to bore you with all this Scientifics but just want to give you the bottom line – the best place to begin your personal pursuit of happiness is at the end of your fork.

I’m still sticking to my diet plan, by eating a mixture of three tasty salads for lunch and a bowl of courgettes spaghetti (sauté with spinach, garlic, parsley and chilli) and topped with the slow cook chicken for dinner – a bowl off happiness so delicious, so comforting and warm, who needs the white stuff? I just wanted to get into my PJ’s, stick a good movie on and slurp my bowl of courgette spaghetti, but I had to write the blog, so bed will have to wait.

I hope your day was as good and green as mine and I look forward to seeing you all again here tomorrow.

Lots of love and happy food

Karin

Two Healthy Cookies

 

Day one started with three grains porridge and berries. as part of me trying to change my eating habits and lose some weight I head back to my Pilates classes today, I haven’t been for sooo long that I actually forgot I have a membership (don’t mention the gym membership….). I haven’t been back to the gym yet but I’m so glad I managed to do my Pilates class, my body felt so cramped and shrunken by sitting next to my computer all day long, the Pilates opened my chest, elongated my legs and reminded me where my tummy was. That was awesome!!!

Exercise makes me hungry… I’m sure I’m not the only one? So thankfully, it was nearly lunch time and I was meeting Elana at my house for work and lunch!!! Hooray, Thai inspired kale salad was on the meal plan for today, I had the ingredients chopped and the dressing in a jar, all I had to do was add the avocado and mix. We added the shredded chicken as protein for the salad – deliciously easy. 

And of course all ingredients are optional and you can swap them for whatever you like or have, swap kale to baby spinach, sugar snap with fine French beans etc.

Prepare all the ingredients and the dressing ahead of time and keep them in the fridge, mix just before you eat.

So here is how we made it:

 Kale Salad 

Makes 4

 Ingredients

• 4 cups baby kale or shredded kale (no stalks)   
• 2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
• ½ red pepper, julienne
• ½ yellow pepper, julienne
• 1 cup shelled edamame
• 150gr mangetout, sliced diagonally
• 150gr sugar snap, sliced diagonally
• 50gr super sprouts
• Tender stem broccoli, chargrilled
• 4 spring onions, finely chopped
• Small bunch coriander, roughly chopped
• 1 avocado, diced

 

For the dressing:                                                  

• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. toasted sesame oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lemon grass stick, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. Tamari
• 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp. fresh ginger, grated
• 2 limes, juiced

 

Method

• In a jar, mix well all the dressing ingredients and keep in the fridge for later.
• Cut all the vegetables into a matchsticks or juliennes, place in a bowl and toss together.
• When ready to eat, add the avocado, drizzle with the dressing and serve.

 

For dinner, I just had a salmon glazed with miso glaze (ready-made glaze) in the oven, some of the salad left overs and courgettes pasta that I spiralized in the spiralizer yesterday, ready to add to any meal.

 

I recommend you use at least one courgette per person, then toss it in a frying pan with a tiny bit of coconut oil, finely chopped garlic clove (1 per serving), coriander, chilli flakes, salt and pepper – delicious and nutritious dinner!

I’m using a new spiralizer at the moment so will review it after I made the pad Thai on Friday, when I can check how well it copes with sweet potatoes and butternut noodles.

Re: MISO, I will use it at least twice this week, once as a glaze and once as a dressing that can go both on roasted vegetables or any salad really. If you haven’t tried it, miso is a Japanese soybean and grain paste that has been fermented and then aged for up to three years. It is usually made with rice or barley. It’s a versatile savoury soup base similar to bouillon paste or cubes. Look for tubs of miso in the refrigerated section of Japanese food markets, health foods stores, or large supermarkets. Powdered miso is also available, as are powdered soup mixes made with miso and dashi. Boosting the intake of your fermented soybeans (like miso) can also help with insulin resistance, lower diabetes risk and lead to improvements in bone health.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s dinner, Laksa soup in on the menu!

Let me know how you are doing.

Two Healthy Cookies.

 

 

 

 

 

So, this is it!

Today I went to do my shopping and start preparing my breakfast, chicken and vegetables for the week.

 

I started by making chicken breasts in the slow cooker, I will shred it when it’s done and use it during my week as my protein to add  to any salad and soup that is in the weekly plan. This is a really easy way of making chicken breast and it will absorb any flavour that you add to it. So add it tomorrow to our Thai inspired kale salad or to the Laksa soup. And when you don’t feel like making a recipe just sperilize some courgettes and top it with the shredded chicken.

Slow Cooker Chicken breast

INGREDIENTS                                                               

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1 big onion, sliced
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 8 garlic cloves,
• Parsley
• 3 French celery (with the leaves)
• 4 cups chicken stock (MSG free)
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

METHOD

• Prepare the chicken stock and add the paprika, salt and pepper and mix together.
• Place the chicken breast, vegetables and herbs in the slow cooker and cover with the chicken stock.
• Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.
• Remove from slow cooker and shred.
• Use to top soups and salads.

 

While the chicken was cooking I made breakfast, there are two options in the plan and you can choose to have just the one or the other or alternate between them like I do. The first option is breakfast muffins or baked eggs muffins and the other option is porridge, you can use my recipe or any recipe you like.

I made the 3 grains porridge and divided them into five bowls, ready to be topped up by 1 tbsp linseed and fresh berries or six nuts from the evening snack (if you have your porridge with the nuts then deduct it from the evening snack).

Then I made the baked eggs breakfast muffins, I froze them in portions of two so they are ready to go. This time I made them with only green vegs but you can use any veggies you like, like: mushrooms, red pepper, kale, tomatoes etc. if you are not on a strict diet you can also add some cheese to the mixture. I like my veg pretty small so I chopped them in a slicer / blender.

 

Mean, green and lean power muffins  

Makes 12 muffins                                                       

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tbsp. coconut oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 green pepper, finely diced
• 1 cup broccoli florets
• 2 handful spinach
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 9 eggs
• ½ cup asparagus , sliced
• Small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
• 3 spring onions, sliced

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 170C
• In a slicer or blender chop the onion, pepper, broccoli, spinach and garlic until small.
• In a frying pan melt 1 tbsp. coconut oil add the chopped vegetables and sauté for 5 minutes until all tender. Then let cool down.
• In a bowl whisk the eggs, add the chopped asparagus, chopped parsley and spring onion, add salt and pepper to taste.
• Pour the cooked and cool green vegetables into the egg mixture and mix.
• Spray a 12 muffin pan with low calories cooking spray or used paper cases in the pan.
• Divide the mixture into the 12 muffins cases and bake for 15-20 minutes.
• Let the muffins cool in the pan before removing so they want break down.

Store them in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze and defrost when needed.

And then I made the porridge

Three grains porridge:

Makes 5

INGREDIENTS                                                              

• ½ cup old fashion Oats
• ¼ cup Quinoa, white or mix colour
• ¼ cup Amaranth
• 4 tbsp oat bran
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 cups almond milk
• 2 cups water
• Pinch of salt

METHOD

• Place all the ingredients in a pan and cook on low heat for 20 minutes, stirring often.
• Portion the porridge and place in the fridge for up to 5 days.

 

That’s it for today, send us some photos of your meals and scales… and if you have any questions please leave them in the comments.

Have a healthy week

Two Healthy Cookies

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, I didn’t appreciate how much work and time I’m putting into this meal plan and shopping list! It is not perfect yet – but it is nearly there!

I’ll finish the shopping list tomorrow and update it here on the blog as I had to do some last minute changes to the plan, to make sure it’s up to Elana’s standards. For the meanwhile, have a look at the meal plan and let me know what you think.

During the week I will post the recipes for the day which are marked with a star* next to them.

Week 1 meal planner

The only way I can do it and stick to the plan is if I’m ready, have all my ingredients and some preparation has been done. So to makes things easier, tomorrow (Sunday), I will start preparing for the week ahead by cooking some chicken breast in a slow cooker to shred over some of the meals during the week, as well as breakfast muffins, vegetables noodles and cauliflower rice.

…..And now I’m off to bed zzzzz

Good night, sleep well

Two Healthy Cookies

 

Food is a big source of pleasure in my life, I enjoy the preparation, garnishing, presentation, aroma, texture, quality of ingredients,  and everything that comes with it. I started teaching cookery five years ago for both kids and adults and over the years I have developed a love of healthy food, wholesome ingredients, fresh flavours and the nutrients that come with it. I also started my little catering business out of the enjoyment of seeing people indulge in my food creations. At the same time something went wrong and while I fed everyone with my beautiful food I was stuffing my body with a quick fix of sugar and carbs to keep me going! The kilograms started adding up with my busy life routine and I realised that I needed to do something about it and fast…  I thought to myself that my body deserves better!!

So with a wish to lose some weight, I decided to go to a dietitian, I had heard so much about Elana Hirschowitz and decided to give her plan a go myself.Her method worked and I started shedding some kilograms and developed an awareness for eating the good carbs and quitting the white stuff… In addition, I learned about new food and how it affects our bodies.

It was so easy to talk to Elana  and we found that we had so much in common, mainly the love of good food. When Elana offered me the opportunity to write a book together with her I couldn’t have been happier. I thought the best way to start our new adventure would be to start with a blog where everyone can enjoy our work, watch my weight loss progress and healthy eating routine and leave us some comments and support.

So that’s how ‘two healthy cookies’ was born. This is where we celebrate our love for healthy food and wellbeing.

I know losing weight is not always easy, but in my opinion, starting to eat healthier is more manageable as it can actually also be delicious. I love exploring with new food and exciting possibilities and when that leads to associated weight loss, so much the better.

You too can make the entire family join you (without them noticing, hopefully…) by being a role-model and eating nutritious meals together.

I also think that joining me in my challenge and doing it together will give us all the support and encouragement that we need and make eating well extremely easy by following Elana’s low GI plan  and my menus and recipes.

I will start my process by following a healthy diet, but one that I can stick to eating mainly fresh, home cooked food with low-GI ingredients.

One of the secrets of success is planning ahead, and I will therefore publish a shopping list for the week ahead to give you the opportunity to have all you need ready to go in your fridge, I will also be cooking bigger portions to encourage you to freeze meals for later in the week.

So with all of that in mind I’m going to get working, writing and cooking…

Happy and healthy 2016 everyone and I hope to see you soon again

Karin x