Diet spaghetti

diet spaghetti - half of calories, full of good carbs and protein

Today I tried to prepare diet spaghetti :) How I turn that dish into healthier option? I used sphagetti squash instead of regular pasta.
As I mentioned in previous post, I have a little winter squash obsession those days. Checking out spaghetti squash was next on my kitchen wish list.

raw spaghetti squash

How to prepare diet spaghetti?

half squash and take out seeds (use spoon)

Half squash and take out seeds.
Put two halves on baking paper and make some holes with knife.

put squash on baking paper and make little holes with knife

Bake 30-40 minutes in max temperature in the oven until squash is soft.

inside of prepared squash goes very easy out, you need only fork

In a meantime prepare meat. I used extra lean pork meat (less than 5% fat). I basically fry it on a teflon pan with garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. 
Then I added canned tomatoes and lots of tomato puree. I boiled everything together until I got great souse consistency.

half of calories, yummy taste

Serve spaghetti squash with meat in tomato souse or serve half of regular pasta portion and fill the dish with squash.
Enjoy your low carb dish! :)

Hello squash!

If it comes to food choices, go for seasonal vegetables and fruits. Late autumn is perfect time for wonderful squashes and tasty brussels sprouts.

my little squash collection ;)

For recent weeks I try different types of winter squashes. Rich in beta caroten, vitamins and minerals, squashes are perfect way to add some variation for your diet. 

My personal favourite is kabocha squash which I chop and boil. The great thing about kabocha is that you can eat it with the skin, so it means less work for you. 35kcal per 100g and  8.2g carbs makes kabocha a perfect source of carbohydrates :)
Another favourite is butternut squash, but its preparation takes a little more time.
I can wait to check out spaghetti squash!

an inside of spaghetti squash

Kale chips

crispy, salty, healthy snack

Want some salty and spicy snack? Try super easy and healthy kale chips.

Kale is green veggie full of iron, with characteristic curly leaves. It contains lots of iron, beta caroten, vitamin K and C. In 100g it has only 28 kcal.

How to prepare chips from kale?

Wash and dry kale leaves and tear them into medium size pieces (I used packed, already washed kale).

Warm up oven til 200 degrees.

put kale on baking paper, spray a little oil on it and season

Put kale on a baking pan and spray oil on it, then season with salt and pepper (or chili).

bake for 30-40 minutes in 200 degrees

Bake for about 30 minutes until kale is crispy. 

done :)

Enjoy! :)

Shortcut to shred

making adjustments to plan

So, it is August 1st and it is about a time to get serious about nutrition and training again. 

this is my 'before' photo - hope to see great results in 6 weeks :)

After some consideration, I will follow Jim Stoppani's 'Shortcut to shred' training and nutrition program for 6 weeks.

Trainings are based on intensive cardio sessions in between each series of exercises. You train each of body parts twice a week, having 6 training days all together with 1 rest day.

Nutrition is based on cutting calories with each week. For the first week there are 1,5 carbs per pound of bodyweight, then 1g carb and at last only 0,5g carb with high protein and healthy fats included.

Supplements are essential part of the program. They are additional to training and food, but still they may help!

my supplements :)

Whey protein, casein protein are the crucial ones, together with BCAAs, some fat burning combo (yohimbine, coffeine, l-tyrosine, green tea), l-carnitite, carnitine and CLA.

Turkey meatloaf

turkey meatloaf

Today I needed a quick and super simple lunch before my next interview. This recipe came out low carb, which only makes it even more great!

For 4 portions you will need:

*400g of minced low fat turkey meat (mine had 3%fat)

* 1 egg

* 1 spoon of psyllium husk

* spices (salt, pepper, paprika, garlic, onion)

* chopped paprika

* bread crumbles (optional)

mix all ingredients together and put them into baking pan on a baking paper

cover meat with thin layer of bread crumbles

Bake in the oven for 50 minutes in 220 degrees. After 40 minutes take the meat from the pan and bake it reversed for the last 10 minutes.

enjoy alone or with new potatoes

macros (2 slices): 120kcal, 2,7g fat, 1g carbs, 33g protein

Did somebody say Quest bars?

I've just got some small delivery from Predator Nutrition (British official re-seller of Quest Nutrition products) with lots of protein Quest bars. 

It was my first experience with Internet shopping in UK and I was a little shock that Predator Nutrition asked me to prove my identity and show my previous invoices I had on my debit card. I was also a little disappointed by the shipping, because all that formal stuff took some time and I didn't get my pack on the other day, but actually after a few one. But at least customer service was nice and politely ;)

What are these treats? 

For first, as I already mentioned, these are treats - even though they contains protein I perceive them more like a candy, something sweet rather than a food from daily diet. However, there are places where I don't have chance to eat my 'real food' or have a sweet tooth and taking a bar like that is convenient. 

Any why Quest bars? 

Because as far as I know these are the healthiest options within protein bars. They contain little carbs, lots of fibre, no strange additives (just to mention: no, I am not sponsored by Quest hehe, but I would really like to be though!) and 20g of protein. And what is more, they have wonderful taste and can be find in very different flavors.

good macros: 170 kcal, 6g fat, 24g carbs (17g fiber), 20g protein

I've got mine Quest bars in flavors:
* cinnamon roll
* chocolate cookie dough
* strawberry cheescake
* apple pie 
* banana muffin
* berry
* almond

I've already tried one - Cinnamon Roll and it tastes like cinnamon cakes I found in Norway, yay! :)

This week's end and its summary

I end this weekend with amazing weather in Oslo. High temperature and shining sun. This is what I needed! :)

Beside sitting and sunbathing, I made a gym training today dedicated to legs and abs. I was kind of weak after 6 days of continuous training, that is why I decided that tomorrow it will be a rest day for me. 

This week was about concentrating on my diet efforts. I hate work 'diet', I would rather use term 'way of eating', but it is much longer ;) Anyway, food intake was my priority since I realised that with my active lifestyle and job it is diet which has to mastered in order to get more definition.

For 6 days I cutted 'traditional' sources carbs from main meals (potatoes, rice, flour, pasta) and replace it with more vegetables. Still I was consuming carbs in the morning, little before and after workout. I had slice deficit in my calories intake (about -300 kcal) and about 150g of carbs intake per day.

My example food intake this week looked like:

breakfast: oat bran with wheat bran mixed with protein powder
brunch: chicken with vegetables
pre-workout: carrots and small protein coffee, bcaa
post-workout: protein shake with rice cakes
snack: greek yoghurt or low fat yoghurt
dinner: chicken/fish with vegetables and shirataki noodles
supper: cottage cheese

(I deliberately do not mention portion sizes, because this thing is dependent on your weight, goals and fitness level) 

Is that low carb diet? Well, not exactly, I still did eat carbs but little less then normal.

Today, at the last day of the week, I have some carbs refeed. It is not a cheat day, but something more like oppcarbing. 

Why refeed? To refill my muscles with glicogen, ensure my body that everything is ok and it doesn't have to go into starvation mode, calm down my cortisol levels while dieting and restore my energies levels. 
I eat more calories today (round 2200kcal) with emphasis of good carbs (more oats in the morning, sweet potatoes for lunch, fruits as a dessert). 
I expect little water gain after today refeed, but in the end it should result in fastening my metabolism. 

carb sources are not only limited to bread and grains

I look forward to see result of my dieting on Wednesday. I will check then if my efforts were worth it and decide weather I will continue with that time of eating or not. 

For those of you who are looking for some good source of protein in your diet, check out new MyRevolution's offer where you can buy 3 different flavours of MyoProtein and 2 packages of fat burner in great summer price:

Chicke'n roll

Today's lunch/dinner suggestion is chicken roll with spinach filling. 
It looks fancy, but in fact it is very easy to prepare!

For 3 portions (approximately 150g each) you will need:
* 400g ground chicken meat (mine had 7,8% fat - generally the less fat the better)
* 200g of spinach (I used frozen one)
* 1 egg or egg white
* psyllium husk
* spices (salt, garlic, onion, paprika and so on).

Preparation: 
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees. Prepare meat first. Mix it with egg/egg white (if you sparing calories) and spices. Add 1 tbsp of psyllium husk which will make meat more sticky.

Pre-cook spinach. I added only little salt and garlic to a pan with de-frozen spinach.

On a baking pan spread a meat over baking paper. Form rectangle. In the middle of it, put a line of spinach.
Take a one side of baking paper and put it on the opposite one, that two sides of rectangle will split with each other. Roll a little and delicate take the paper from the top of your roulade.

Roast for 30 minutes in 200 degrees. 

Nutrition value for 1 portion (150g):
225 kcal
28,5 g protein
11,9g fat 
2,6 carbohydrates

Enjoy!

High energy!

Recent days are full of positive attitude, happiness and smile!Nothing special happened since Tuesday thought, but last weekend filled me with good energy :)

Trainings are getting well. I did back&biceps on Tuesday, legs&abs on Wednesday and chest,shoulders&triceps today. Two upcoming days are dedicated to cardio (due to my aerobic classes) and Sunday for heavy leg workout!

 

I started also little cutting. I don't want to use a word 'diet', because it has a negative meaning for me. 

With my own version of cutting I ate my carbs in the morning and after workout, but swap another sources of carbs (rice, bread, potatoes) for vegetables. 

This results in less calories per day, but not a drastic cut (I don't want to let my body put it intro starvation mode when it's stared to gain fat in order to protect itself from being not enough feeded).

And why I even started cutting? Because I want to go on a higher level with my fitness progress. Simple clean and balance eating keeps my body in balance, but I want more ripped look. In order to achieve the look I wanted, I have to do a little more than regular effort. 

Diet noodles helping me with quantities. It is almost no calories asian food which makes your dish bigger and make you more full, without adding additional calories.

lunch for today - diet noodles with eggs, ham, vegetables and parmesan souse

Today I made myself delicious lunch with 1 egg, 3 egg whites, lean ham, vegetables, shirataki noodles with Walden Farm's Alfredo souse on top. 

Alfredo souse which I used for my dish :)

 

Walden Farm's products are another diet-savers. 
These are no fat, little carb souses (they are also sweet dips) which makes my cutting life tastier. 
Sure, it is not natural and definately it is not a 'clean food', but if you treat it only as a addition to regular, clean food, it can make your diet dishes even more pleasurable :)

For my polish readers I can recommend this site with Walden Farm's offer in Poland.

Banana bread

aromatic&sweet banana bread

Great Sunday solution - whether you want a bread for breakfast or piece of cake for later coffee - you can use this one!

Banana bread is easy to prepare. You will need:
* 2 big smashed bananas (or 3 smaller ones) - use matures one, it will be easie to smashed them with fork
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup of milk 
* 2 spoons of sesame flour (or other flour of choice)
* 1 spoon of sweetener (I used SukrinMelis, but Sukrin Gold would be perfect)
* 2 portions of protein powder banana flavour, I used banana&toffee from Reflex (it is an additionally ingredient)

Dough should be watery, it it is too tense, add a little water.
Use baking pan (the same you use for making bread). Put a baking paper before (and spare yourself some time with taking the cake off).

Serving proposition: with cottage chesse and low sugar jam

Bake it for 40 minutes in 200 degrees in the middle of the oven. Then take it out and let it cool down in room temperature. Slice it into pieces and.. enjoy! :)

Banana bread is a low carb solution whether for bread and cake!