The Food Story..: FitLife

Food, Health and Nutrition..

1:53 PM

I read an interesting article about food. It talks about our obsession with "Fat-free" food.
We all want to be fit and healthy but we keep forgetting that we need fats also.
I think changing the focus from healthy food to nutritional food is what we all need. Well, thats my perspective on food.

Understanding the basics is very important. Just because olive oil is healthy it does not mean that we should start cooking Indian food in olive oil. It is not meant for high temperatures that our Indian cooking is used to.

Frankly, I prefer cooking in little butter rather than using truckload of olive oil. I use butter every now and then - Sautéing my vegetables, as a spread on an occasional slice of bread, a bit with crackers.

Similarly I have seen a lot of people substituting sugar with honey. What they fail to understand is that honey is also sugar and excess sugar is well just as bad. It is loaded with nutrients and It is still high in calories and is a high energy food. Food not used for energy may be stored on the body as fat!

Some of my basic rules are:

1. Avoiding processed food

2. Avoiding sugar

3. Letting go every once in a while

4. Limiting alcohol to 1-2 glasses of wine per week

5. Post workout fuel - The most important meal of the day

6. Controlling portions

7. Dinner by 8 latest

8. Using butter instead of Margarine

Needless to say that I love experimenting with my butter and this weekend I finally made garlic butter for the week ahead.

Here's the process:

1. I used a little jar and cut salted butter (approx half stick) in tiny cubes and stuffed it inside the jar

2. I chopped a few garlic pods finely and stuffed them in the jar

3. I added some garlic powder (Totally optional but if added gives that extra strong garlic flavor) fresh rosemary, pepper and chili flakes

4. I closed the lid tightly. I keep this jar on the stovetop. It makes the garlic butter really soft and all the flavors mix well sitting there

How do you like your butter?

FitLife

Favorite Five

5:32 AM

"Snacks can make or break your diet"

Well all you fitness enthusiasts already know this. We all swear by it. We work on it. We count our macros and portions right. Just when we think we are doing everything right the whole process of eating/ preparing the "right" snacks becomes tedious. The monotony sets in and before you know it you are grabbing that on-the-go sandwich with bazillion calories in it.

The cafeteria at my workplace sucks. Even if you tried you wouldn't be able to find one right thing to snack upon. Most of my colleagues go for the diet options which are even worse. Every weekend laboriously I plan my snacks for the week ahead. In my world eating fruits is not the only healthy snacking option. It is good to eat fruits but somehow I can never satiate my hunger pangs. I need things which are substantial and also have a bit of proteins since I rely on natural sources.

So I decided to compile my current favorite snack ideas:

1. Gram flour pancakes ( or called besan ka chila)

Besan (Gram flour) - 1 cup
Ajwain (Carom seeds) - ¼ teaspoon
Garam masala - to taste
Salt - to taste
Onion - 1, finely chopped
Spinach - 1/2 cup, finely chopped
Carrot - 1, grated
Yogurt - 2 Tbsp
Water - 1 cup
Oil - to shallow fry cheela

In a bowl take besan, carom seeds, garam masala and salt and mix well

Add all the vegetables and mix well and then add yogurt.

Add little water at a time and make batter thick enough to coat the back of spoon. In case it in lumpy add a little more water.

Heat the pan on medium heat. Add oil and with wooden spatula spread it on evenly to coat pan.

Once it is hot, pour the batter and spread it to make a round shape pancake. When done flip it over to cook the other side

2. Apple Peanut Butter Grilled Sandwich

Apple slices finely cut length wise
Peanut butter - 1 Tsp
Maple Syrup/ Dates Syrup/ Honey - 1 Tsp
Bread - slices -2

I make a sandwich with rye toast and spread peanut butter and then arrange apple slices and drizzle honey/ maple syrup/ dates syrup and grill it on high heat. It works like a charm on heavy training days. Food is an important part of recovery and you can never train well by compromising on your fuel.

3. Roast Tomato and Mozzarella

This one is my favorite these days. I place the tomatoes, cut side up, in a single layer on a well greased cake pan I place some peeled garlic pods also. I drizzle the pan with the olive oil and sprinkle with the rosemary. I then roughly roast it for 40 minutes at a high temperature. The tomatoes caramelize and garlic flavor gets infused. I love to spread the tomato on a multi-grain cracker and have it with a bit of mozzarella cheese. When I pack it for work I just place the tomatoes and add mozzarella chunks. To add more flavor I cut chicken salami pieces really fine and make a nice little tangy salad..

4. Rice-Paper rolls

This one is pretty simple. I pulse cabbage, sweet corn and carrots together for a coarse mixture.

I mix in Soy sauce and chili sauce to the vegetable mixture. For other vegetable combinations you might need to saute or pre-cook the veggies a bit

I use this mixture as a filling for the Thai rice paper rolls.

5. Yogurt

I love to eat yogurt as a snack, dessert or side dish. I love it in every form.

There are times when I pulse pineapple and yogurt together and freeze it to have chilled fruit yogurt

I love mixing berries and cocoa with my yogurt too. This combination works like magic for me.

It is so convenient to carry to work in a small box . I normally buy packaged yogurt which has thick consistency since Greek yogurt is not easily available here. I then make my own flavored yogurt and pack it as a snack. I also tried mixing pumpkin puree and vanilla extract and loved the combination.

So what do you think? Please share your ideas and I would add more to this..

Ciao..

Dinner

About Fitness And Jazz..

8:44 AM

I have been running for the past 11 years now and have been ~~competing~~ participating in races for the past 3 years. I have been obsessed with fitness for a while now. It is a big part of my identity and my lifestyle. I love every thing about it. It is a journey. I eat EVERYTHING. Crash diets are not for me and I realized that a long time ago. The fact that I have a sweet tooth does not help either.

I am at a stage in life where I need to lose a few kilos to improve my half marathon performance. I made some conscious decisions last year and the outcome has been great so far. I think I have hit the wall now. Some might argue that a runner does not have to do anything to lose weight because you know running does it for them. It is a myth. Running might help newbies in losing weight but for a seasoned runner (I am taking that liberty here) it gets difficult. Your body starts storing extra water, muscle weighs more than fat and all that jazz. The biggest challenge is that you are always hungry or what I like to call #rungry.

Last week I decided to take matters in to my hands. I have decided to go for a self imposed clean eating challenge. I know it is going to be super difficult but I gotta do what I have to do to reach my target and what better way than to blog about it?

So I will try and post recipes of my dinner. My days are smooth without any issues. I am very disciplined through the day. Sometimes I just go ballistic after my dinner and eat whatever I can. Stress eating is another one of my problems.

Some ground rules that I have set for myself are:

1. No Alcohol
2. No Refined Sugar
3. No substituting honey for sugar
4. No chocolates on rest days or easy workout days
5. Only 2 squares of chocolate allowed on heavy intensity days
6. No Junk food
7. No Biscuits (Another bad habit that I have recently picked up). Only 3 biscuits allowed on heavy intensity days
8. Ice cream only allowed if I am running more than 13Kms
9. Protein with every meal
10. Less portions and 7 meals in a day
11. Eat cheat meals every once in a while

So lets start from yesterday:

Mexican Bean Salad:

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Boiled red kidney beans
1 yellow pepper
1 shredded carrot
1 onion chopped
1 cup broccoli
1/2 cup baby corn
1/2 cup sweet corn
Garlic pods chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms finely chopped
Dried rosemary sprigs

Dressing
1 sweet lime freshly squeezed
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Soy Sauce
Pepper
Chilli Flakes
1 tsp Vinegar

Guacamole:
I used the standard Food Network recipe

Method:

In a pan heat a little oil and add chopped garlic pods and when garlic starts turning golden brown add mushrooms, rosemary sprigs and saute well.
Add yellow peppers and all the other vegetables one by one with broccoli at last.
Add beans and mix everything

Mix all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl, mix well and pour it in to the pan. Mix everything well.

Serve it with Guacamole..

Ciao..

Dressings and Sauces

Dressing Up..

2:57 AM

I love food. No surprises there. When I talk about my love for food it is not just the eating bit that I appreciate. I love shopping for groceries (Which is mainly online these days) also. When I was in Germany I made sure I visited Farmers market every week for fresh produce. I create and construct recipes in my head. I come up with ideas, pairing of ingredients and then the task of executing my idea. I do this everyday.

When I moved in with Archana and Deepal back in 2006 I realized the importance of cooking for oneself. Before that I was mainly dependent on tiffin services. Every now and then I hear people moan that they don't like cooking for one person. C'mon how could you not love yourself enough to go through that process. I love cooking and the numbers don't matter anymore. Thankfully fitness is a major part of my life and it has only helped me in my cooking and the choices that I make. Almost Everyday.

The other day I was talking to a friend when she suggested that I share recipes, ideas and tips that I use on a daily basis. She wanted me to bring together my two passions - cooking and fitness. Her suggestion made sense and I have decided to blog about that as well. Let's see how I get on with it.

So please go ahead, read and share your thoughts.. I have decided to kick-start this series with dressings and Sauces. My preferences keep changing. It is quite a seasonal thing for me. My favorite five dressings/recipes these days are:

1. My favorite dressing these days is Sweet Lime Chilli Dressing
Method: One fresh lime freshly squeezed, 1 tablespoon dark Soy sauce, Chilli Flakes and 1 tsp Honey. Mix well and toss veggies in this dressing

2. Date and Tamarind Sauce: This is my latest obsession after Priyanka shared her dessert recipe with me. Her dessert was too good to be true so I flicked the idea for creating savory dishes.
Method: Soak tamarind and then extract the pulp, mix a tsp of Date sauce with chilli flakes and sea salt
It works really well with chicken

3. Orange-Yoghurt-Dill dressing: Squeeze a fresh orange (I used Mandarin) and mix it with thick yoghurt - 1/2 cup (store bought). Whisk well. Add Dil, Lots of Garlic, Salt and a bit of olive oil. It works like a charm and goes really well with chicken

4. Coconut Milk Dressing: Mix skimmed Coconut milk- 1 cup (I use - Homemade by Dabur), Soy sauce - 1 tbsp, chilli sauce - 1tbsp, Peanut butter - 1 tsp, Garlic- Finely chopped and mix well

5.Plum Sauce: I know I should posting about all things apple now. I am not yet done with Plums though. I love this fruit for the kind of variety that it offers.
Method: Chop plums and then caramalize them in a heavy bottomed pan and add soy sauce (1 tsp) and chilli flakes. It goes really well with chicken and can also be used for marination

What do you think? Yay or Nay?

Ciao..

Food, Health and Nutrition..

Favorite Five

About Fitness And Jazz..

Dressing Up..

The Food Story..

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