Author: Oana

Healthy Living Challenge: Day 13 – Celebration Day

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As I told you before, I have this habit of weighing myself in the morning, first thing. Well, almost first thing. Hmmm, how do I put this delicately in a blog post? What I mean by almost is I weigh myself after….ahem…my bowels empty…blush…I wouldn’t have mentioned this aspect, really but I think that when dieting this is one thing that needs to be very…regular. And I will tell you for why. You see, your body needs to start fresh every morning so to say but if your bowels don’t empty properly, due mainly to the consumption of processed wheat, in the form of bread, buns, cakes and the like then all you do is carry around…dead weight! Anyway, since I started my almost-no-wheat-but-plenty-of-fruit-and-veggies-diet, the dead weight has been shedding, so to say :-). So from 71 kilograms(that is11st 2.5282lb, for you, metric lot!)  on Valentine’s Day(I know, shame on me!!) I am down to 68.7 kilos(10st 11.5lb) today!! I am thrilled for a number of reasons: 1. I didn’t feel deprived at any point. …

Healthy Living Challenge: Day 12 – New Flavours

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I bought millet and aduki beans from the health store last Friday and today I decided to give them a go! I haven’t made millet before and I didn’t know what to expect. I like couscous and I sort of expected it to be similar in texture and taste. It sort of is and it isn’t, I found millet a bit coarser and drier than the couscous but I think the millet has the potential to retain more flavour if boiled with the right ingredients(I added chicken stock, a bay leaf and a whole onion plus a spice mix we bought in the Greek open market, called Arabiko) . I used this recipe I found online last night but I decided to replace the lentils with my aduki beans. It came out a bit too dry so next time I will not roast the millet and I will probably add 3 cups of water to one cup of millet. I served it with fish which I marinated, inspired by Ottolenghi’s Mediterranean Feast on Channel 4, …

Healthy Living Challenge: Day 11 – Easy Week Meals

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I love cooking our meals from scratch but I don’t like spending too much time in the kitchen, especially on the days I work. So tonight I’ll be making a meal we all love that takes less than half an hour to put together: Thai chicken! These are my four magical ingredients: chicken breast, that I chop and tenderise in the pan with a bit of coconut oil, salt and pepper. Green Thai curry paste( a couple of spoonfuls) that I add to the chicken, once cooked(I never let it get brown, just not pink in the middle). Reduced fat coconut milk that gets added on top of the chicken and curry paste, once the chicken is coated in the paste. And stir fry veggies that I add after the coconut milk has boiled for a good 10 minutes and infused the chicken, only for about 3 minutes(I have overcooked veggies!). I serve it with boiled rice. How do you get sticky Thai rice? Add 1 and a half cups of water to one cup …

Healthy Living Challenge: Day 10 – Dieting and Kids

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“And I don’t even like you!” I bet your first thought was: “Naughty little one!” when you read the line above. But hey, I’m going to surprise you(once again!) and say, no, actually, that’s what I said to Emma yesterday evening after a day of eating too little and doing too much! I had a busy weekend, then on Sunday night I didn’t sleep until midnight as BBC1 decided not to work at 8 p.m., time for “Call the Midwife” and I stayed up catching up with the girls in the latest episode on iPlayer. Then yesterday morning I grazed on pita bread and hummus, went for a 30-minute power walk and then just rushed on to work at 1. Biiiiig mistake! I managed to grab half an apple and a banana but it was way too little in terms of nutrition(for running around after 3 young kids!) and at 5.30, when I returned from work I was RAVENOUS. Not a good time for Emma to put on a little tantrum over leggings but hey, …

Healthy Living Challenge: Day 9 – Nine wisdom nuggets

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Okay, so I was pondering today on what I have learnt(or have been reminded of) since I started this health challenge. 1. Whatever change you want to make in your life, start TODAY! For so long I used everything and everybody as an excuse for not eating healthily and for procrastinating . That bikini body I want, guess what? It will never happen unless I ditch the “ifs” and “buts” and “tomorrows”. 2. Start small. If you haven’t moved all winter(like moi!) then start taking short walks every day(weather permitting). If you have been eating double what your hubby ate(again, like moi…) then eat a bit less. Whatever you aim to achieve, achieve it with every meal, with every little change. 3. Congratulate yourself when you manage to stick to your resolutions, don’t beat yourself up when you stray from the plan. Okay, I had Chinese on Friday night( the most sensible Chinese I’ve ever had!), okay, I had a bit of apple pie and  crème brûlée ice cream today. As long as these incidents …