A Food Snapshot

12:40 Simply Shrinking 9 Comments

One of the biggest things that was quite daunting for me at the start of my weight loss journey was this huge cascading flood of outlandish recipes displayed with a minute left of details across fitness social media. 

 My Mother has always brought us up with hearty food which was made from simple ingredients but was nonetheless absolutely delicious. If you're Russian then you'll understand its all about quality wholesome ingredients rather than truffle oil or lobster mousse served in some fancy ass bowl. 

 Numerous times people have said to me that they just don't know what to eat when they're trying to be healthy so I've put together another post with some food ideas which work well for me as I work 9-5 so lack the time to do anything spectacular or labour intensive. 

 Breakfast 


  • Smoothies - just about any fruits and vegetables can go into a quick breakfast smoothie if you don't have the time do cook anything like omelettes. My favourite is raspberry, blueberry, yoghurt, spinach and some granola. 
  • Overnight Oats - probably the most Instagram trendy breakfast you'll see after smashed avocado on toast. I make mine with 40g rolled oats, 1.5 cups chocolate coconut water, a pinch of cinnamon, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter a sprinkle of cacao powder (£4 in Costco - absolute bargain!) and vanilla extra. Shake this all together in some tupperware and enjoy the next morning. 

  • Porridge - this totally drums up memories of my childhood when I would have fat bowls of porridge during the winter. Now I'm not so wholesome and I have the Quaker Oats pouches made with semi-skim milk. If you can, get your mitts on the variety with fruit pieces in it... 
  • Bagels - nothing quite beats a thin sliced bagel topped with chocolate peanut butter and banana. Sometimes I add a few chia seeds for some texture too. 

Lunch 

Since I've left behind my awkward 3-11pm shifts and now work regular 9-5 shifts I have become more conscious of what I take to work. There is always someone's birthday or someone has brought in sweets for "fat Friday" which I have managed to avoid so far. 

I'm not going to be some high and mighty fitness fanatic and say you can never enjoy these things and you must take 100% clean foods with you to work. I'm not that kind of person and anyone that has followed me for a long time knows I'm realistic so some things I take to work are processed and others a little "cleaner"

  • BBQ chicken salad - bbq chicken breast pieces, spiralised beetroot, shredded carrot, mixed leaves, red pepper, sweetcorn and balsamic dressing
  • Chicken and sweetcorn soup - nope I totally don't make my own. I get the preprepared pots from Aldi for about £1 which contain pretty nice ingredients which you can even pronounce!
  • Three Bean Salad - buy yourself a nice tin of 3 bean salad from Tesco for roughyl 49p, add in some sweetcorn, coriander, red pepper and red wine vinegar. The Waitrose version is obviously a bit more posh. 

Dinner

Once again I just keep it simple. I do not entertain the idea of 3 hour prep time and 5 minutes of enjoyment for my food. I want to come home from work, chuck it all together and enjoy it before my workout. 

  • Mediterranean chicken - chicken thighs sprinkled with paprika, sweet potato, red pepper, red onion, cherry tomatoes sprinkled with some orange juice and roasted in a large oven tray for about 45 minutes 
  • Korma - skinless chicken thighs roasted in a korma sauce (naughty me buying a processed jar!) and separately roasting sliced red onions in a little oil until crispy for 45 minutes then serve with brown rice 
  • Satay chicken salad - continuing the chicken theme with cooked chicken thigh, red cabbage, spring onion, red pepper, coriander, lime juice, carrot, sesame seeds and satay sauce.

  • Halloumi salad - fried halloumi cheese served with balsamic dressing on a plate of mixed leaves, pine nuts and tomatoes 
  • California cous cous - blend or finely chop the head of a cauliflower, add pistachios, raisins, pomegranate, spring onion, coriander, fresh mint and dressing of your choice 
Snacks

Snacking keeps me sane between meals and is where I think I used to let myself down because I never understood what a reasonable snack was due to eating out of pure boredom before realising I was doing so. 

  • Soreen - chocolate soreen lunchbox loaves are like 100 calorie brownies. They also some in banana flavour which is pretty much banana bread. 
  • Basic fruits - apples, grapes, bananas and oranges. No excuses for saying you can't have anything to hand at work! 
  • Vegetables - I can quite happily sit and eat a whole bowl of cooked peas and sweetcorn because my freezer is stuffed with frozen vegetables. They're dirt cheap, basically can't go off and only take like 4 minutes to cook. 
  • Yoghurts - anything passion fruit and I'm there. Normally I will go for low fat rather than non-fat but they're pretty convenient in little pots to nab when you're peckish. 
  • Sweetcorn fritters - so many recipes online for these and you can freeze them. 


I hope this gives anyone a little clue as to what they would like to enjoy if they're stuck or maybe how to jazz up what they already eat if its getting boring. People have realised my tendencies to always eat the same things but I'm a creature of habit. As long as your food is nourishing and you enjoy eating it then you're not going to get bored as easily!

XOXO 



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