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Healthy Living Challenge: Day 8 – Dieting and socialising

Published by Oana

I am sure you missed me yesterday, everybody, I did miss you too but last night we had a rare night out seeing old neighbours and friends. We were lucky enough to find a babysitter for Emma, our friends managed to put ALL their four kids to bed by 9.30 and we had a lovely evening eating Chinese and debating whether Oscar Pretorius killed Reeva Steenkamp.

Chinese, you say, I can hear you ask, almost hopeful…Is that supposed to be good for you when dieting? Eeeerm, nooo…But we tried what we thought would be the least damaging to our waistlines and ultimately, our health. We got two portions of chicken and black bean sauce and two portions of boiled rice to share between the four of us. We drank water and tea. And we still managed to have a good time.

Bottom line? You can still see friends and socialise at the weekend as long as you keep your portion size under control, choose the least fatty/sugary options from the menu and…you find a pal to share your takeaway with :-).

P.S.- just in case you were wondering, yes, we concluded Oscar Pretorius did kill his girlfriend. It took us about an hour to go over all the info provided by newspapers and television but we couldn’t explain why he felt the need to shoot four times through a locked door when his girlfriend was nowhere in sight, among other things. We assumed that, like in many relationships, there were relational patterns that only the two of them knew and understood and that lead to the tragic denouement. There, case solved!

This is day 8 of this healthy living challenge, there are only 32 days to go!

You can still enjoy a treat, once in a while, but watch your size portion and fat content!

Healthy Living Challenge:Day 7-Healthier Alternatives

Published by Oana

I am using the few minutes left of Emma’s afternoon nap time to pass on my own burger recipes. Burger, you will say, isn’t this supposed to be one of the highest in saturated fat dinners you could have? Actually no, not when you make yours out of lean breast meat turkey, add a little bit of Cheddar cheese and absolutely no extra oil or fat.

Alex loves them and I started making them in the summer in Greece because there were so many fresh flavours I could add to my burgers! Mint, fresh peppers, feta, hot chillies, fresh eggs…could you actually keep that a secret from Alex, he doesn’t really like eggs :-).

Once we were back in Ireland I had to come up with other flavoursome ingredients to satisfy our tastes buds. It helped to find people who love good food and blog about it, like Things My Belly Likes, writing about their own versions of a tasty turkey burger so after taking some more ideas, adapting and blending I came up with these babies. I will let the photos speak for themselves :-). Oh, the jar without any labels contains my mum’s zacusca, a veggie winter mix and it’s yummy!

We usually eat them in a bun but since my healthy living challenge I serve them with salad and nothing else.

Ingredients

How they look raw

Ready to munch on

This is already day 7, there are(can you believe it?) only 33 days left of this healthy living challenge. There is still time to join in, you know?

Healthy Living Challenge: Day 6 – Book Giveaway

Published by Oana

Good news on all fronts, friends! My weigh-in this morning, after only 6 days of the health challenge? A kilo lighter than last weekend!! I know for sure that this is due to not having had almost any bread this week and giving my body time to get rid of all the sticky gluten from my gut. I had cravings for it, I won’t deny it, but usually I tricked my taste buds by having one bite of bread when it got really bad. I also ate much more fruit (some I love, some-like bananas- I had to almost force them into me) and veggies and drank loads of healthy teas and water. I don’t expect to be losing a kilo a week for the rest of this challenge but it is definitely an encouraging start!

Another thing I wanted to make you aware of is that I am trying to increase my exposure on Facebook so I have set a wee challenge for this week: to get to 100 likes. Once I reach it, I will be blessing someone with a lovely book giveaway, just to encourage them to eat a bit healthier too :-). I have decided on The Diet for Food Lovers by Jennifer Irvine because it seems like a well-rounded diet book and a good place to start when trying to go for a healthier lifestyle. I discovered it in the local library the other week and it gave me loads of meal ideas and snacks, like combining fruit with nuts to feel fuller for longer and it doesn’t make you feel you are on a restrictive diet, which I would very much dread to find in a healthy eating book.

So why don’t you pop in on Mama’s Haven Facebook page and like us there as well, if you haven’t already? You may be in for a lovely surprise if you happen to be the lucky 100!

This evening dinner is inspired by Jeniffer Irvine’s book. Chicken marinated for a full 12 hours with turmeric, garlic and chilli powder, cooked in the oven and served with a side order of spicy aubergines and rice? Yum! The only complaint I have with her book is that there is no calorie table for every recipe so I will have to do my own maths again. Oh well…

Bon appetit, everybody!

This is day 6, there are only 34 days left of this healthy living challenge!!

Healthy Living Challenge: Day 5 – Another Dimension

Published by Oana

I am only now starting to realise how much I know about dieting and nutrition.

Since hubby went on a dieting bender three years ago I have been accumulating- willingly or not- a lot of information about dieting. It happened mostly because I did the cooking and the portioning (at some point he lived for entire months on microscopical 100g portions of lean meat and wholegrain rice !!). Then when we travelled to see his family I noticed his brother eating an equally strict but slightly more varied diet, including “good” fats like peanut butter, tahini and fruit. Needless to say they were both the beaux of the beach wherever we went and got all the attention but many times I wondered at what cost. Well, I got my answer this weekend when hubby had what I called a “48-hour body shut down.” He had felt tired and slightly run down for a month with a couple of bouts of cold but then we attributed it to work stress. What I never expected was for my Duracell-rabbit-kind-of-a-hubby to go into complete exhaustion mode and lie in bed for almost a full weekend!! He’s better now but I still think he needs to see a doctor and get some blood tests. I suspect a massive lack of iron and other essential minerals due to his extreme dieting in the last few years.

And then here I was today feeling all chuffed with myself because I am on a what I thought to be a much more balanced diet. My bubble burst when I read a post on Facebook from Maria Mind Body Health on beans and legumes. Maria claims that just like grains, things like chickpeas and beans contain lectins which have a negative influence on leptin, the hormone responsible for the “feel-full feeling”. So my “healthy” snacking on hummus(made of chickpeas) could be not so healthy after all…

But then I thought, wait a minute! I went from snacking on toast and pancakes basically all week around to snacking on things like hummus and celery. It could not be the best solution(and in time I might consider replacing hummus with other dips if I see any alteration to my appetite) but I have made a step towards better eating. I try to have as many veggies and fruit as I can, I try to integrate healthy oils into my diet and I am being a better example for my three-year old.Well, you know what, for the moment, that is good enough for me!! I know for a fact that overdoing it is as bad to your body as not doing it at all.

This is day 5, there are only 35 days left of this challenge! Whatever you do, enjoy the small steps you take towards a better you!!

P.S. – I should put a photo of the two beaux to delight your eyes with but I haven’t asked for their permission, so, sorry, it’s again, salad pics ;-).

Craving a real Greek salad tonight with veggies fresh from the market! Summer, hurry up!

Healthy Living Challenge:Day 4 – Visiting like-minded friends

Published by Oana

Half-term means one thing for for Emma and mummy: catching up with friends!!

Today we visited with my lovely friend Iva, from MotherNatureLovesYou.com. I have known Iva for a good few years now and we have both started blogging at about the same time. Iva blogs about food and last year she has decided to adopt a vegan lifestyle and is doing really well!

After a healthy cuppa of detox tea and some much needed banter, we took the kids out for a walk. Today we were blessed with sunshine again but it was a bit nippy so we didn’t last too long outside. Having lunch with Iva, and her lovely three boys, was like being in veggie heaven(or shall I say, haven ;-)? We feasted on mixed salad of red and white cabbage, red pepper, onion and cucumber with home-made falafel in pita pockets. Filling, crunchy, fragrant and low-calorie!

Tonight I decided for a throw-everything-in-the-pot kind of dinner. I love Sainsbury’s recipes, you know, the ones you can pick on the way out of the store? I decided to go for their Indian fish and rice stew despite the fact that the calories per serving were estimated at a whooping 649!! I counted the calories going in and I concluded the portion referred to was enormous and actually a serving of 400 grams(too filling for me) comes at around 400 calories. Not too bad for a dinner with sweet potato and healthy fish!

Well, this was day 4, there are only 36 days left of this challenge. Let me know if you want to join in the challenge, it would be quite fun to have friends along on this journey!