Good morning and happy Friday! It's been a busy week so I'm very sorry for sending you my weekly email just as you are winding down for a relaxing weekend. I hope that you've had a great week and are enjoying the Spring weather. It's been great to get out and about and I have taken quite a few sessions outside which always makes people feel better. This week I'm talking about fat loss. Some of you may be at a standstill with your weight and the clothes may be fitting a little tighter now that winter is over.
An easy way of reducing you calorie intake, getting your metabolism higher and therefore losing bodyfat is to eat MORE (yes sounds crazy) but I'll explain why. Often if you aren't eating enough (below 1200 calories a day), your body thinks that food may be in short supply and thus goes into 'storage' mode. It thinks that it needs to store those calories for later. Your metabolism then starts to slow.
Now this isn't a free ticket to eat loads of junk, drink more alcohol or have an extra slice of cake. The extra calories need to be useful to your body. Think veggies, lean protein, good fats and tasty small portions of complex carbs.
I've put together a list of low calorie but nutrient dense foods. This means that you get 'more bang for your buck' and you get to eat more! Next time you are making dinner, chop up a whole extra cucumber/pepper/carrot etc and put in a container to nibble on the next day. Pimp your salads with tonnes of radish, roasted courgettes, crunchy green beans or steamed broccoli (trust me, it actually tastes pretty good cold!). Or snack on cherry tomatoes and blueberries (maybe not at the same time!).
Like I said, it's important to think about nutrient density, which is the ratio of nutrients (vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc.) relative to the total calorie content in a food. Therefore, a food with a high nutrient density would contain a large amount of key nutrients (protein, iron, zinc, B vitamins, etc.) per 100 calories of food.
Calorie density is defined as the ratio of calories (which are merely units of potential energy in food) to the actual weight of a food. Therefore a food with high calorie density would have a lot of calories per 100 g of food while a food with low calorie density would have few calories per 100 g of food. For example, icecream is very calorie dense, with around 200 calories per 100g, whilst foods with a lot of fibre and water tend to have lower calorie density like the ones below.
List of foods with a low calorie density:
- 1 cup of broccoli (31 calories)
- 1 cup of carrots (50 calories)
- 2 satsumas (70 calories)
- 1 cup of sugar-free Hartleys jelly (5 calories)
- 1 cup of blueberries (90 calories)
- 1 cup of celery (14 calories)
- 1 cup of cucumber (14 calories)
- 1 cup of cooked spinach (41 calories)
- 1 cup of cooked cabbage (20 calories)
- 1 cup of cherry tomatoes (27 calories)
- 1 cup of popcorn - no butter/oil (50 calories)
- 1 cup of watercress (35 calories)
- 1 cup of broth based soup eg Miso, chicken, (65-100 calories)
- 1 cup of bok choi (52 calories) – splash of soy sauce for flavour
To add more flavour to vegetables – add chilli flakes, balsamic vinegar, Italian dressing, lemon juice or soy sauce and sesame seeds.
Other ways to ‘eat more’ with less calories:
- Make cauliflower ‘rice’ – pop florets raw in a blender and blend until ‘rice’ like. Sautee in a fry pan with a splash of oil and serve as you would normal rice.http://www.everydaymaven.com/2013/how-to-make-cauliflower-rice/
- Make courgette ‘spaghetti’ http://deliciouslyella.com/recipe/video-how-to-make-courgette-pasta/
- Tomato slices with basil and spinach splashed with balsamic vinegar
- Braised cabbage with soy sauce and sesame seeds
I hope you found that useful. Do let me know if you have any questions at all.
Have a great weekend and speak next week!
Angela