My kids' food diary

My children are 10, 9 and 7.  


I'm not quite as nutritionally strict with my kids as I am with myself but I do limit their flour intake, they very rarely eat bread, they very rarely eat cakes made with flour - they do love the non-flour, non-sugar cakes I make.  I also limit their sugar intake.  They have honey as a sweetener in porridge and I never buy them cereals that have added sugar.  They do have sweets occasionally.

This diary is from a good week, when I haven't been too busy at work and I've been pretty organised.  If I am rushing then they tend to have frozen fish cakes or jacket sweet potatoes with tinned tuna mayo and cheese with salad, which are quick and easy to make - it is not unknown for me to buy thin-crust pizzas for them when I really can't be bothered.

I'm not a big fan of cooking but I do generally cook all their meals from scratch.  They are not fussy eaters because I have never given them a choice.  They get what they are given and they are thankful.  or they go hungry. = )

I also make them cook the dinner occasionally.  They're pretty good!

Monday

7.45 am Breakfast:     Bircher muesli.  Porridge oats soaked in orange juice and Greek yoghurt.  Cooked cherries and blueberries with a squirt of honey and toasted almonds and hazelnuts.

12.15 pm Lunch:        Packed lunch - oatcakes with butter and marmite.  1/2 matchbox sized piece of cheddar cheese.  Apple juice.  Greek yoghurt with Ella's Kitchen baby fruit puree.  Organix sugar-free, flour free strawberry bar.   Raisins.  Banana.

4.15 pm Snack:           Sugar-free, flour-free coconut cake.

6.00 pm Dinner:          Jerk chicken, brown rice with peas, broccoli.  Home-made 1 minute ice cream made with Greek yoghurt, frozen berries, fresh mint and honey whizzed in the food processor.

Tuesday

7.45 am Breakfast:     Sugar-free Alpen and semi skimmed milk

12.15 pm Lunch:        Packed Lunch - left over jerk chicken with brown rice salad (added chopped yellow pepper, chopped cucumber and chopped spring onions).  Cherries and berries juice.  Organix sugar-free cocoa oaty fruity bar.  Apple.

3.30 pm Snack:           raw veggies and humous

4.15 pm Snack:           Piece of fruit

6.00 pm Dinner:          baked salmon, un-peeled boiled potatoes, salad.

Wednesday

7.45 am Breakfast:     grilled pork chop, grilled mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, poached egg.

12.15 pm lunch:         Packed Lunch:  organix cheese crackers, matchbox sized piece of cheese, sandwich pickle.  Cherries and berries juice.  Organix sugar-free carrot cake oaty fruity bar.  Pear.   Raisins.

3.30 pm snack:           Small packet of mini Oreos and a glass of milk.

4.15 pm snack:           slice of watermelon

6.00 pm Dinner:         turkey mince chilli, brown rice and cottage cheese

Thursday

7.45 am Breakfast:     Raisin wheats and semi-skimmed milk

12.15 pm Lunch:        Packed lunch - oat cakes and ham.   1/2 matchbox sized piece of cheddar cheese.  Apple juice.  Chopped veggies (carrots, cucumber, yellow pepper and celery) with humous.  Organix sugar-free aple and raspberry bar.   Dried apricots.  Banana.

4.15 pm Snack:          Slice of sugar-free, flour-free lemon drizzle cake.

6.00 pm Dinner:         Fish fingers, potato wedges (un-peeled potatoes baked in a little olive oil) stir-fried veggies.

Friday

7.45 am Breakfast:     Sugar-free Alpen and semi-skimmed milk

12.15 pm lunch:          School dinner

3.30 pm Snack:          piece of fruit

6.00 pm Dinner:        Toad in the hole - batter made with gram flour (chickpea flour), peas and celeriac mash.

They eat so well the majority of the time that I try not to fret too much when they do have cakes and crisps and sweets but they genuinely are just as happy to choose an exotic piece of fruit as a treat, have home made popcorn with nothing added and a massive box of raw veggies as they are to have a packet of crisps and a bar of chocolate.

Some weeks I feed them better than others but they very, very rarely eat processed food and the only time they get anything to drink other than water fruit juice, tea or milk is when we eat out and they have a coke or a lemonade (never slimline!).

Hope you find this interesting.

Krish x

This post could change your life!

The reason that the K-Loss approach works is that fat loss, dress size and weight are NEVER goals or targets.
On K-Loss, your goal is to lead a fit and healthy life.  For life.

By removing and end game, you totally remove the potential for yo-yo dieting.  If your goal is to lead a fit and healthy life, for life, you will lose fat along the way.  You will (if your body needs to) drop dress sizes.


The K-Loss philosophy is that leading a fit and healthy life shouldn't be so difficult or complicated that it is impossible to sustain.  The K-Loss way is simple; it really is.

There's no point or calorie counting, there's no weighing of food, there's no going hungry or dieting.  You are making changes that simply lead you to a fit and healthy life.  For life!


The most important thing you can do to begin leading a fit and healthy life and to therefore lose the excess pounds is by cutting flour and sugar from your diet.


YOU WILL NOT LOSE WEIGHT BY GOING ON A LOW FAT DIET!


By not consuming anything with wheat in it, you are simultaneously cutting all the bad fat from your diet - no deadly trans fats or hydrogenated fats.  All the fat that is left is absolutely fine!  It will not make you fat!

I know this is hard to get your head around because we have been brainwashed by the food industry for so long to believe that the reason we put on weight is due to fat but IT SIMPLY ISN'T TRUE!

Natural fat, even saturated, animal fat is good for you.  It's natural.  it hasn't been messed with!  I'm not suggesting you eat a mountain of pork rind for dinner but chopping it off your chop is not going to help you to lose weight.  Quite the opposite, in fact - by eating the fat, you are going to feel full.  This is going to stop you eating more later.


Seriously, this is REALLY important!  Do not ever choose a low-fat option because you think oh, I might as well.  It is genuinely counter-productive!


Think how many low-fat diets you or people you know have been on.  Have they worked?  Have they been sustainable?  


The fact is that a low fat diet is going to make you consume more calories than a low sugar diet.


The second thing you can do is to avoid anything that says LOW FAT.
LOW FAT PRODUCTS ARE PARTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR WEIGHT GAIN!
They are full of sugar!  They are NOT calorie free.  The fact that they are low in fat means that they are less satisfying, so they are then pumped full of sugar.  Sugar, as I have told you before, is in and out of your system in a flash - LEAVING YOU FEELING HUNGRY AGAIN!

Along with sugar, wheat is your other enemy.  It is so ingrained in our lives that it seems an impossible task to cut it completely.  It means no more bread, it means no more pasta, it means no more traditionally made cakes, no pies and pasties, no doughnuts, no biscuits.

The reason you are shaking your head and saying, right now, that you could never do this is because you are addicted to the sugar rush you get from eating these products.  Not only does your blood sugar spike from the added sugar these products contain but you get double bubble from the wheat, which turns to glucose (sugar) as soon as it is mixed with the saliva in your mouth!

You need to realise you are addicted to these products; these products that make some businessman somewhere very rich!  That businessman has ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST in your health or well-being.  They simply want to keep you addicted so you keep on paying them!


Think about this.  Don't just dismiss it.


So, I reiterate, if you really want to change your life

1     Dont eat anything with added sugar.  If you want cake, try my sugar-free, flour-free recipes!
2     Don't eat anything with wheat.
3     Don't eat anything that says LOW FAT.

I absolutely, one-hundred percent guarantee, that if you do these three things, you will be the size you want to be.  Guaranteed!

If you do these three things, you WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER!

Maximise your time in the gym

I see so many people wasting expensive gym membership and going nowhere.  With a few simple changes to the exercises you do and the way you do them, you can make better use of your time in the gym.

Although these machines and exercises do have their place, the are so often misused or abused that they should just be avoided and replaced with things that use your time better.

1     The cross trainer.

       For the simple reason that people generally don't work hard enough.  Having a little chat with your friend means you are not nearly out of breath.  The by-product of the aerobic energy system is water (sweat) heat and carbon dioxide (breathlessness).  Sweat is the best cardio!  Also people seem to think that cardio is the best way to lose weight.  You will get better results by mixing in a lot more resistance work - lift weights!

Do this instead:

The rower.  You get a full body workout from this machine.  make sure you do it with good form and that you make enough effort.  You should be out of breath, hot and sweating after 3 minutes, if you aren't, you are just not working hard enough to make any difference.

2     Any machine apart from the pulley machine.

       For the simple reason that you could do the same exercise and get way more benefit with free-weights.  When you use free weights (dumb bells, barbells, kettle bells and medicine balls) you have to use other muscles, including your abs, to assist the muscles you are exercising.  When you use machines, you isolate those muscles and get less benefit.

Do this instead:

Use free weights - bar bell squats and dumb bell lunges for your legs.  Dumb bell or bar bell chest press and standing dumb bell or bar bell bicep curls.  Dumb bell kickbacks.  Press ups.  Dumb bell flys.  Planks.  Dumb bell Dragan presses and shoulder presses.

3     The treadmill

       You really need to do more than an hour's cardio to see much benefit and if you want to go for a run, go outside and get a vitamin D hit too.  I see lots of people holding onto the bar at the front of the treadmill as well, especially when walking or running on an incline.  This doesn't mirror real life and is therefore no longer a functional exercise.

Do this instead:

Go for a long run outside.  Use the treadmill for interval training and make sure you don't hold onto the bar at the front.

4     Pointless weights

       You may have heard that you should do low weights, high reps for weight loss and muscle endurance.  Personally, it's a waste of time on two levels.  One: it takes a lot of time.  Two: you get quicker and better results from low reps high weights.  Men and women.  

Do this instead:

Uplevel your weights!  Push yourself and make sure you are lifting heavy enough.  If you aren't doing more than your muscles are normally used to doing you will see no progression.  If you are looking to increase muscle or tone up, choose a weight you can lift no more than 8 times before muscle failure and do this for three sets with a 30 second rest between sets.  Or, if you are really looking to lose fat, try Tabata style training and do 6 sets of 20 second work, 10 second rest, with lighter weights.

Bear in mind that NONE of this will make any difference if you haven't addressed your nutrition!

Gym membership is expensive, don't waste your time and money on exercises that make little difference - change up and see the benefit within weeks!

Krish x

       

Fat is not the enemy!

Did you watch that program last night about sugar? What have I always said? No good can come from a low-fat diet! Sugar and flour are what you should be avoiding. Sugar and flour! That is all.

Time for a new recipe

Sugar-free, flour-free coconut cupcakes

Ingredients

200g ground almonds
1 cup milk powder
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1/4 cup of honey
(milk to loosen to dolloping consistency if necessary)

icing

500g Greek yoghurt - strained through a muslin
1 cup of desiccated coconut
1/4 cup of honey

method

Mix all dry ingredients, add other ingredients and mix until combined.  Dollop into paper cases and bake at around 160 degrees for around 10 minutes or until golden and the top bounces back when pressed lightly.

Meanwhile, strain the water from the Greek yoghurt, add the coconut and honey and ice the cakes when cool.  If the mixture is too sloppy, add a little more coconut.

Krish x

Want toned arms?

Want Sarah Connor-from-terminator toned arms?  Do these exercises 3 times a week and see a noticeable difference within weeks!

These exercise are equally good for men and women so long as you use weights heavy enough for you to do 3 sets of between 6 and 8 reps and no more.  If you can do more, the weights aren't heavy enough!

The reason I am going for high weights and low reps - hypertrophy (muscle gain) is because you get much better, much quicker results than if you go for low weights and high reps - endurance.  

Women - it's virtually impossible to bulk up and get great, big muscly arms unless you are on steroids.  These exercises will tone up your arms, giving you long, lean muscles without those bingo wings!

Men, so long as you are using heavy enough weights, your muscles will bulk up more as the men's muscles are shorter and rounder than women's.

So, these are my top exercise for awesome arms, beginning with body-weight exercises that need no weights, moving onto free weight exercises.

Workout 1

1     military press ups (body weight)

2     Triceps dips (body weight)

3     Front shoulder raises 

4     Bicep curls

5     Kickbacks

Workout 2

1     Diamond press ups (body weight)

2     Overhead triceps extension

3     Bent over reverse flys

4     Hammer curls

5     Lateral shoulder raises

Make sure that you mix it up each time you do an arm workout.  So alternate workout one and two so you work the same muscles in a different way each time.

If you have no weights, you can still tone up but the results won't be as noticeable.  Focus on a variety of pressups and triceps dips and if you can find somewhere to do it (a pull up bar at home or monkey bars in the park) do some pull ups and chin ups.  i really recommend investing in a set of weights, you can get them pretty cheaply online.

One last quick bonus exercise - a favourite of mine:

Dragan presses - (curl to press) look online to see how to do them.  Do as many as you can with no rest!  keep count and see if you can beat your score each time.

Krish x

Why do I put on weight?

A lot of people I speak with seem genuinely confused as to why they put on weight.  If I ask them what they eat normally, they'll tell me what a balanced diet they have; generally a healthy breakfast, a salad for lunch and a healthy dinner.  Never any mention of snacks, treats or alcohol.

If you were to survive on the above day-in, day-out, you would lose weight, not gain weight.

The fact of the mater is that we lie to ourselves exceptionally well about a raft of things not least what we consume on a daily basis.

Keeping an honest food diary for a week is a really good way to assess our eating habits. It makes us aware of what we are consuming by having to write it down.  It's unbelievably easy to consume double the amount of calories we think we are consuming without even realising it.

A lot of people with whom I speak about nutrition tell me they really don't snack.  They eat breakfast and then they might or might not have lunch and then they have dinner.  What this tells me more than anything is the lack of planning and the irregularity of their eating.  This is a major cause of overeating or choosing highly calorific foods to eat when you do eat.

Let me explain.

If you eat little and often, your blood glucose levels remain pretty static.  You rarely experience that blood sugar crash which is when you crave highly calorific foods for an instant energy hit.  You need an instant energy hit when your blood glucose levels crash because glucose is the only fuel your brain can use.  So if you are suffering from low blood sugar, your brain is under-fuelled; you know you need food but you can't think straight so you make poor choices (hence my suggestion for not having the poor choices in your house to start with).  And the cycle continues because you choose food that leaves your system quickly leaving you with another sugar crash that needs rectifying with yet more inappropriate calories!

It's a vicious cycle!

If you eat clean, little and often, you avoid this situation.  It means that when meal times come along, you are less tempted to overeat. It takes around 20 minutes for your brain to register that it is full so if you are so hungry that you are eating a larger amount than you need in under 20 minutes, your brain will not stop you!

It is all about eating enough, bizarrely.  If you don't eat enough and regularly, you cannot control your eating.

You gain weight because you eat the wrong things.  You eat the wrong things for two reasons.  1: it's in the house. 2: you let your blood sugar drop low enough for you to panic eat.

You gain weight because you eat too much.  You eat too much because you let your blood sugar drop low enough so you eat large amounts quickly before your brain has time to register you are full.



If you want to stop gaining weight, if you want to lose fat, you HAVE to avoid those blood glucose highs and lows, so do these things:


1     You have to make sure you have a non-sugary breakfast EVERY SINGLE DAY.
2     You have to make sure you have a protein, carbohydrate and healthy fat snack between breakfast and lunch.
3     You have to make sure you have a protein, carbohydrate and healthy fat lunch.
4     You have to make sure you have at least on other healthy snack between lunch and dinner (I have 2)
5     You have to make sure you have a healthy dinner - I like to limit starch carbs for this meal.
6     You have to cut the processed food.
7     You have to be honest with yourself. 
8     Don't have unhealthy choices in the house.
9     Plan your meals carefully.
10   Accept that you are going to have to make changes to how you approach your nutrition.  Some of them are going to take willpower but that is OK!

One last word.  A balanced diet does not mean salad AND cake. And you know it.