food plan

My journey with no added sugar 

Lifestyle

It feels good to be back! 

I have now successfully completed my Master’s and moved back to Dhaka, I can finally celebrate my weight loss journey! 
I promise I’m not going to be one of those people who are pretending that losing this weight was so easy and painless. It was NOT. 
The sad reality is that people feel embarrassed to talk about weight loss openly, definitely not about the fad diets and starvation tips but I’m talking about the trials and tribulations that a weight loss journey accompanies. Either people pretend like the fat just miraculously melted off of their bodies or their metabolism just kick started by a million folds and they just ended up looking fantastic! I wish I were one of them, luckily or unluckily I was neither this time around. 
I remember before when I had lost about the same-ish amount of weight, I would always try to avoid the question of, ‘how did you do it?’ The truth is I was embarrassed of the way I got there, how can you say starved myself politely? It worked but one I gained it all back very soon and two it completely messed up my metabolism!! Don’t try this at home please! 
So moving onto happier things, I have now lost 10kg of pure fat and I want to announce it at the top of my lungs! It took about 8 months and I wouldn’t recommend doing it any other way! I feel like I have completed rebooted my system and I’m not panicking every time I treat myself on rest days. And of course, now I can’t wait for the questions and the looks on my friends faces when they saw me after 6 months! Priceless! It makes every lunge, squat and meal preparation worth it! 
It requires discipline and a dedicated mindset being mindful that It is not about being skinny, it is about being healthy! Recently, I made it a point to notice the eating habits of healthy people, no they don’t have a magical metabolism instead they have extreme discipline either consciously or subconsciously. My brother, who is probably the fittest person I know is also the most disciplined and dedicated person I know. Coincidence much? Nope! 
It’s easy to starve and constantly workout to be ‘skinny’ but what we need to realize in this extremely body conscious world is the difference between skinny and healthy. No I don’t want to be skinny, yes I want to be healthy. No I don’t want to eat a bag of popcorn the whole day, yes I want to eat a balanced meal. No I don’t want want to work out to have a thigh gap, I want to workout to be fit! You get the rhythm right? 
Develop a plan catered selfishly just for you and follow through. I promise you there will be painful days where you will want to give up but do you really want to start all over again? 
I haven’t hidden a single aspect of my journey from you, so there you go your plan is made! The foods, the workout and the careful reasoning to back it all up! It’s all at your disposal. Still have an excuse? 
Some general tips: 
– Try to engage your spouse/friends/siblings to do this with you. A strong support system is essential for the gloomy days. 
– Follow a schedule, it takes 21 days to form a habit. 
– During vacation, If you can’t maintain at least half of the food plan and work out routine, the holiday yo-yo is detrimental to your metabolism. It’s not worth it. 
– Jumping jacks/resistance bands are your best friend. Anywhere anytime! 
– Drink water and don’t skip on the multivitamins. 
– Make sure to have cheat days, eat anything you crave! Limit to 4 a month so once a week!
– Don’t get tied up into other people’s bad habits! Remember it’s your body, your journey and your health. 
– Be open about your weight loss, you’ll be surprised how much your family and friends will cater to your journey. They can also learn a thing or two! 
– Introduce this new change as a lifestyle change and not a ‘diet.’ A diet is temporary and a lifestyle isn’t. Call your new eating habit a food plan rather than a diet! 
– Work out at least 4-5 times a week, you will be so much happier! If you are short on time, 100 jumping jacks followed by few sets of curls with the resistance bands then jumps
again. Then move onto squats/lunges and finish with another 100 jumping jacks. (I will post a routine which explains this in more details!) 
– Measure yourself rather than weighting yourself. As I said before, my trainer measured us on a scale that calculates fat loss so if you have access to something like that then go for it! 
– Push harder on days you want to give up. It is totally worth it! 
– Working out is a lot like taking a shower. You moan and groan about getting in but once you are in you are so grateful! The best feeling is definitely one after a good workout! 
I have only reached half way, these tips are first a reminder to myself. My journey gets harder now because I have to push harder and be more dedicated than before. If I can do this, you can do this! 

Simply simple: Roasted tomato and garlic soup in many ways!

food

I used to think I had to make every meal on the day until I discovered the art of freezing! Especially with soups and sauces, you can use them interchangeably and voila! you have a fresh and healthy meal too!

I made a huge batch of roasted tomato soup and had it as a soup the first evening with shredded chicken! Protein overload! Next afternoon, I used that same ‘soup’ and turned it into a pasta sauce with whole wheat pasta!

You can do countless meals with this versatile sauce, I am even thinking of baking chicken with it as a healthier version of chicken parm…hmmmm!

Not only is this recipe useful, tomatoes are packed with nutrients! They are known to support heart health, bone health and has anti-cancer benefits while being backed with anti-oxidants! Tomato-containing diets have also been linked in a few studies with reduced risk of obesity. Convinced?

So, this recipe should yield about 4 cups of soup but honestly it depends on how soupy you want it!

Roasted tomato and garlic soup with poached/stir fried chicken!

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Here we go:

Ingredients: 6 tomatoes, 12 plum tomatoes, 12 vine tomatoes
1/2 cup of celery
1/2 cup of white onions
1 whole garlic to roast and 2/3 cloves chopped
1/2 cup kidney beans
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp brown sugar
2 cups of water
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Place half the tomatoes and whole garlic cut through the middle in a roasting pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and salt. Roast till blackened and roasted. Depending in size of tomatoes.

2. Steam the remaining tomatoes and place into blender to purée.

3. Take roasted tomatoes and roasted garlic and purée them together and mix with purée from step 2. Set aside.

4. Take the juices from the roasting tray and blend together with basil leaves. Mix this to the tomato purée.

5. Sauté chopped celery, onions and garlic with olive oil until softened. Add salt and pepper to taste and chili flakes for heat (optional).

6. Add in the tomato and basil mixture into the sautéed mixture. Add in the water and let this simmer under low heat.

7. Add the cinnamon, sugar and kidney beans and stir occasionally until desired consistency is reached.

8. I didn’t do this as I like a hearty soup, you can choose to mash the veggies and put the soup through a sieve for a smooth consistency.

9. To make the chicken: Poach chicken breast in water and salt. Shred the chicken and stir fry in a non stick pan with cilantro for flavor.

So this afternoon, I turned this soup into a delicious pasta dish. I wish I had some mushrooms in hand; there’s next time!

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1. Sauté any protein/veg of your choice. I would use mushrooms!

2. Add in a cup and half of leftover tomato soup to the sauté.

3. Add in 3 tbsp of starchy water from the pasta.

4. Simmer till warm and add in the pasta!

Its simple, low calorie and you know every single ingredient in your meal! No excuses to buy store bought pasta sauce anymore!!

Enjoy!

Why shouldn’t you mix Carbohydrates and Proteins?

food

This food plan that I follow is the one devised by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. Their bestselling book “Fit for Life” was first published in 1985, and was re-released in 2010 and contains information in details. Buy the book

Here are the basics:

Till 12pm

You must only eat fruit, homemade smoothies in this period.  No coffee, tea, toast etc.  You can drink herbal teas, and water.  This works as fruits have their own digestive enzymes and only takes 20-35 minutes to digest. Fruits also contain fructose which will aid you to give up sucrose, refined sugar! 

 Lunch

Carbohydrate + Vegetables (preferably steamed as it holds most nutrients)

(30:70 ratio)

 Dinner

Protein + Vegetables (preferably steamed as it holds most nutrients)

(30:70 ratio)

 Do not mix carbohydrates with proteins. Protein is digested by acid and carbohydrates are digested by alkaline. Alkaline cancels out acid and so the food consumed is not properly assimilated and is very difficult to digest.

 Do not eat fruit after a main meal as it will ferment your meal.

 Add a tablespoon of olive oil or coconut oil to main meals.