Healthy meals here
Discussion
After mentioning this on the "what do you eat in a day" thread, I thought I would kick this off. I don't have time to dump everything down here now, but will contribute as/when I can.
Chilli:
800g lean beef mince (10-15% fat) [can sub for turkey mince if wanting to be super-lean]
2x tins of chopped tomatoes
2x tins of red kidney beans
2x medium white onions
5x garlic cloves
1x common-or-garden red chilli (swap for scotch bonnet to up the heat quota)
4x tsp cumin powder
4x tsp chilli powder
2x tsp cayenne powder
Small amount of oil for frying
Instructions:
Finely chop onions and garlic together, and gently fry (with s/p) on low heat in a little oil
As they begin to go see-through, add all powdered ingredients together
Mix thoroughly, so that onions are well coated
After 1-2mins, add finely-chopped chilli (with seeds)
Add meat, and brown
Add both tins of toms, stir well
Bring to the boil, then turn heat down to lowest setting and cover
Simmer for around 1-1.5hr, stirring frequently
When majority of water is gone, add kidney beans
Cover and cook for a further 20-30mins, stirring once or twice
Remove from heat, and leave to stand for 10-15mins before serving
Should make 4 decent-sized, re-heatable portions, each having the following nutritional value:
620cals
50g of protein
30g of carbs (good fibre from beans)
25g of fat (10g sat, can be reduced through meat)
If you want to up the carb intake, you can cut it into 5 meals, and add a small (and I mean small - 50g uncooked) portion of brown rice.
This is one of my favourite go-to meals, as it can be left while you do something else, and can make a few freezable portions. It's also bloody tasty, and doesn't give the impression of being 'healthy'.
Chilli:
800g lean beef mince (10-15% fat) [can sub for turkey mince if wanting to be super-lean]
2x tins of chopped tomatoes
2x tins of red kidney beans
2x medium white onions
5x garlic cloves
1x common-or-garden red chilli (swap for scotch bonnet to up the heat quota)
4x tsp cumin powder
4x tsp chilli powder
2x tsp cayenne powder
Small amount of oil for frying
Instructions:
Finely chop onions and garlic together, and gently fry (with s/p) on low heat in a little oil
As they begin to go see-through, add all powdered ingredients together
Mix thoroughly, so that onions are well coated
After 1-2mins, add finely-chopped chilli (with seeds)
Add meat, and brown
Add both tins of toms, stir well
Bring to the boil, then turn heat down to lowest setting and cover
Simmer for around 1-1.5hr, stirring frequently
When majority of water is gone, add kidney beans
Cover and cook for a further 20-30mins, stirring once or twice
Remove from heat, and leave to stand for 10-15mins before serving
Should make 4 decent-sized, re-heatable portions, each having the following nutritional value:
620cals
50g of protein
30g of carbs (good fibre from beans)
25g of fat (10g sat, can be reduced through meat)
If you want to up the carb intake, you can cut it into 5 meals, and add a small (and I mean small - 50g uncooked) portion of brown rice.
This is one of my favourite go-to meals, as it can be left while you do something else, and can make a few freezable portions. It's also bloody tasty, and doesn't give the impression of being 'healthy'.
Animal said:
Don't you add sugar? One of the best tips I've ever been given for tasty chilli was to add a tablespoon of sugar (10-20g, depending on the amount you're making)...
Nah. I tend to find that the tomatoes and onions release a lot of their sugars into the sauce as it cooks out.Plus, sugar represents unnecessary carbohydrates, and this thread is about avoiding that kind of thing.
In an ideal world, I would be using less lean meat, more oil, dark chocolate etc. But I kind of wanted to keep this to the bare essentials 'healthy but tasty' meals.
f13ldy said:
My current healthy meals revolve around:
1) Chicken stir fry.
2) Jacket Potato, a tub if cottage cheese and a handful of jalapeños.
Not ideal. Baking potatoes creates starchy carbohydrates, with little fibre. This causes heavy blood-sugar fluctuations, and very quick releases of energy.1) Chicken stir fry.
2) Jacket Potato, a tub if cottage cheese and a handful of jalapeños.
Swap it out for a microwaved sweet potato, and you're talking.
Do you have a recipe for the stir-fry, as that was kind of the point of this thread?
I read something interesting the other day in the Daily Mail (in my defence it gets delivered free with my Tesco order) about the fat content of mince being really hit and miss.
Basically if you buy extra lean there's no guarantee it will be any leaner than standard mince, and it could well have more fat!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1297262/Th...
Basically if you buy extra lean there's no guarantee it will be any leaner than standard mince, and it could well have more fat!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1297262/Th...
Mobile Chicane said:
Personally, I'd rather eat less than obsess about the fat and carbohydrate content of what I eat.
If a teaspoon of sugar lifts the flavour of chilli, I'd rather include it than not. It elevates eating from being a chore to a pleasure.
Completely agree. I feel that you should enjoy your food, but good food should be eaten in moderation.If a teaspoon of sugar lifts the flavour of chilli, I'd rather include it than not. It elevates eating from being a chore to a pleasure.
Mobile Chicane said:
Personally, I'd rather eat less than obsess about the fat and carbohydrate content of what I eat.
If a teaspoon of sugar lifts the flavour of chilli, I'd rather include it than not. It elevates eating from being a chore to a pleasure.
Thanks for that, and in some ways I would probably agree. However, when training, simply "eating less" isn't really an option.If a teaspoon of sugar lifts the flavour of chilli, I'd rather include it than not. It elevates eating from being a chore to a pleasure.
However, there are thousands of other threads in FD&R which cover exactly what you are describing.
This thread was created, following a request from a couple of PHers, from the recent 'what do you eat in a day' thread. I made the point that there was a fine balance between eating exactly what you want, and barely surviving on a bland, boring (training) diet - so, I offered to give some examples of this.
If we could please keep this on track, and either list or critique (from a nutritional perspective) recipes which are healthy or useful when training, then I would really appreciate it.
Edited by Dave200 on Tuesday 10th August 13:15
The Mrs and I went on a diet a couple of years back. She lost a lot of weight and I lost some.
It was the Slimming World scheme. I can confirm that if you follow it - it works.
But my goodness the food was bland and tasteless. The reason why is that it's a low fat diet. There's good reason for this: fat is the most concentrated form of calories so by eliminating as much as possible from your diet you get a low-cal diet which, given you stay as active as previously, means you lose weight.
But the issue with this is that it is [b]fat[/i] that carries flavour.
We discovered that if we followed their low-fat, low-cal recipes the food tasted of nothing. We ended up increasing the level of seasoning (herbs, spices, salt and pepper) to levels that bordered on ridiculous.
So in the end she'd lost all the weight she wanted to - and I had lost some weight, too - and we went back to cooking normally. I'll admit I now think about fat content and deliberately try not to up it needlessly but, blimey, it was good getting back to stuff that tasted of something.
Just my experience: and yes I'd rather eat less of something wonderful than more of something compromised by banning ingredients.
It was the Slimming World scheme. I can confirm that if you follow it - it works.
But my goodness the food was bland and tasteless. The reason why is that it's a low fat diet. There's good reason for this: fat is the most concentrated form of calories so by eliminating as much as possible from your diet you get a low-cal diet which, given you stay as active as previously, means you lose weight.
But the issue with this is that it is [b]fat[/i] that carries flavour.
We discovered that if we followed their low-fat, low-cal recipes the food tasted of nothing. We ended up increasing the level of seasoning (herbs, spices, salt and pepper) to levels that bordered on ridiculous.
So in the end she'd lost all the weight she wanted to - and I had lost some weight, too - and we went back to cooking normally. I'll admit I now think about fat content and deliberately try not to up it needlessly but, blimey, it was good getting back to stuff that tasted of something.
Just my experience: and yes I'd rather eat less of something wonderful than more of something compromised by banning ingredients.
calibrax said:
I read something interesting the other day in the Daily Mail (in my defence it gets delivered free with my Tesco order) about the fat content of mince being really hit and miss.
Basically if you buy extra lean there's no guarantee it will be any leaner than standard mince, and it could well have more fat!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1297262/Th...
To be honest, that's probably true of 90% of supermarket fresh produce. As we don't all have the appropriate testing equipment at home, nor regular access to alternative sources of fresh meat, it's difficult to work from anything other than the label on the packet (as I have done).Basically if you buy extra lean there's no guarantee it will be any leaner than standard mince, and it could well have more fat!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1297262/Th...
Dave200 said:
If we could please keep this on track, and either list or critique (from a nutritional perspective) recipes which are healthy or useful when training, then I would really appreciate it.
Sorry, Dave.If you are thinking of grub good for training surely the old standby is a plateful of pasta the night before - slow release energy! Dress the pasta with a minimum of oil/butter to keep the fat content down and opt for a tomato or red pepper based sauce.
Then you have to watch that the sauce wasn't made with loads of olive oil...
Don said:
The Mrs and I went on a diet a couple of years back. She lost a lot of weight and I lost some.
It was the Slimming World scheme. I can confirm that if you follow it - it works.
But my goodness the food was bland and tasteless. The reason why is that it's a low fat diet. There's good reason for this: fat is the most concentrated form of calories so by eliminating as much as possible from your diet you get a low-cal diet which, given you stay as active as previously, means you lose weight.
But the issue with this is that it is [b]fat[/i] that carries flavour.
We discovered that if we followed their low-fat, low-cal recipes the food tasted of nothing. We ended up increasing the level of seasoning (herbs, spices, salt and pepper) to levels that bordered on ridiculous.
So in the end she'd lost all the weight she wanted to - and I had lost some weight, too - and we went back to cooking normally. I'll admit I now think about fat content and deliberately try not to up it needlessly but, blimey, it was good getting back to stuff that tasted of something.
Just my experience: and yes I'd rather eat less of something wonderful than more of something compromised by banning ingredients.
Thanks Don. I appreciate your input, but I didn't really want this thread to become "Healthy food - a waste of time, or not?".It was the Slimming World scheme. I can confirm that if you follow it - it works.
But my goodness the food was bland and tasteless. The reason why is that it's a low fat diet. There's good reason for this: fat is the most concentrated form of calories so by eliminating as much as possible from your diet you get a low-cal diet which, given you stay as active as previously, means you lose weight.
But the issue with this is that it is [b]fat[/i] that carries flavour.
We discovered that if we followed their low-fat, low-cal recipes the food tasted of nothing. We ended up increasing the level of seasoning (herbs, spices, salt and pepper) to levels that bordered on ridiculous.
So in the end she'd lost all the weight she wanted to - and I had lost some weight, too - and we went back to cooking normally. I'll admit I now think about fat content and deliberately try not to up it needlessly but, blimey, it was good getting back to stuff that tasted of something.
Just my experience: and yes I'd rather eat less of something wonderful than more of something compromised by banning ingredients.
The point I am trying to make, which seems to be ignored by most, is that there is a middle-ground - where food can be tasty, yet nutritionally sound.
The purpose of this thread was to share ideas for recipes, as per the original request, rather than discussing the merits of low-calorie food.
ETA: Don, re: your second reply, that's exactly the kind of bland, restrictive food I'm trying to get away from. Training diets don't have to be "barely-dressed pasta" with a plain sauce.
Edited by Dave200 on Tuesday 10th August 13:13
Known romantically at Zep acres as 'Fish in tomato' I'm fond of the following:
(Serves 2)
2 pieces of white fish fillet -even works with those little (cheap) frozen blocks of Coley that come in a bag.
First, knock up a tomato sauce -its going to go with fish so the flavours need to be lighter and reigned in a bit.
clove of garlic
splash of olive oil
fish stock cube made up with half a mugful of hot water
tin of tomatoes or a pound or so of cherry/normal toms
decent splash of white wine (good way of using up that last left-over inch of white in the fridge)
some fresh tarragon (I've got loads growing in my garden, fresh thyme or some basil would work too)
Fry off the garlic in the oil briefly, then chuck everything else in, reduce down until its thickened a bit and whizz up if you want a smooth sauce.
If the fish is frozen you'll need to simmer it in the sauce for 20 mins -half an hour. If not -less time, maybe 5-8 mins depending on the thickness of the fish. Add a touch of water if the sauce is getting to thick. Don't stir around too much because you want to keep the shape of the fish, otherwise it'll break up.
To accompany, you can be as healthy as you want but if I was cooking this for tea tonight I'd dig up some new potatoes, boil them in chicken or fish stock and crush them with a little butter or olive oil, a decent squeeze of lemon and some fresh parsley, and some sauteed courgettes.
But nicely cooked pasta, or cous-cous cooked in stock with some mild spice and some chopped dried apricots is good too. Steamed green veggies would work as well.
Its about as healthy as I get, but is pretty low fat until you start adding butter to potatoes or sauteeing courgettes.
(Serves 2)
2 pieces of white fish fillet -even works with those little (cheap) frozen blocks of Coley that come in a bag.
First, knock up a tomato sauce -its going to go with fish so the flavours need to be lighter and reigned in a bit.
clove of garlic
splash of olive oil
fish stock cube made up with half a mugful of hot water
tin of tomatoes or a pound or so of cherry/normal toms
decent splash of white wine (good way of using up that last left-over inch of white in the fridge)
some fresh tarragon (I've got loads growing in my garden, fresh thyme or some basil would work too)
Fry off the garlic in the oil briefly, then chuck everything else in, reduce down until its thickened a bit and whizz up if you want a smooth sauce.
If the fish is frozen you'll need to simmer it in the sauce for 20 mins -half an hour. If not -less time, maybe 5-8 mins depending on the thickness of the fish. Add a touch of water if the sauce is getting to thick. Don't stir around too much because you want to keep the shape of the fish, otherwise it'll break up.
To accompany, you can be as healthy as you want but if I was cooking this for tea tonight I'd dig up some new potatoes, boil them in chicken or fish stock and crush them with a little butter or olive oil, a decent squeeze of lemon and some fresh parsley, and some sauteed courgettes.
But nicely cooked pasta, or cous-cous cooked in stock with some mild spice and some chopped dried apricots is good too. Steamed green veggies would work as well.
Its about as healthy as I get, but is pretty low fat until you start adding butter to potatoes or sauteeing courgettes.
Dave200 said:
Mobile Chicane said:
Personally, I'd rather eat less than obsess about the fat and carbohydrate content of what I eat.
If a teaspoon of sugar lifts the flavour of chilli, I'd rather include it than not. It elevates eating from being a chore to a pleasure.
Thanks for that, and in some ways I would probably agree. However, when training, simply "eating less" isn't really an option.If a teaspoon of sugar lifts the flavour of chilli, I'd rather include it than not. It elevates eating from being a chore to a pleasure.
However, there are thousands of other threads in FD&R which cover exactly what you are describing.
This thread was created, following a request from a couple of PHers, from the recent 'what do you eat in a day' thread. I made the point that there was a fine balance between eating exactly what you want, and barely surviving on a bland, boring (training) diet - so, I offered to give some examples of this.
If we could please keep this on track, and either list or critique (from a nutritional perspective) recipes which are healthy or useful when training, then I would really appreciate it.
Low-carb? Low-fat? Both?
Mobile Chicane said:
Dave200 said:
Mobile Chicane said:
Personally, I'd rather eat less than obsess about the fat and carbohydrate content of what I eat.
If a teaspoon of sugar lifts the flavour of chilli, I'd rather include it than not. It elevates eating from being a chore to a pleasure.
Thanks for that, and in some ways I would probably agree. However, when training, simply "eating less" isn't really an option.If a teaspoon of sugar lifts the flavour of chilli, I'd rather include it than not. It elevates eating from being a chore to a pleasure.
However, there are thousands of other threads in FD&R which cover exactly what you are describing.
This thread was created, following a request from a couple of PHers, from the recent 'what do you eat in a day' thread. I made the point that there was a fine balance between eating exactly what you want, and barely surviving on a bland, boring (training) diet - so, I offered to give some examples of this.
If we could please keep this on track, and either list or critique (from a nutritional perspective) recipes which are healthy or useful when training, then I would really appreciate it.
Low-carb? Low-fat? Both?
For an ideal training diet (to complement a good gym/sports training routine), one should be consuming plenty of lean protein (around 1.5g per kg of bodyweight), a balanced amount of high-fibre carbohydrate (typically around the same amount as protein, in terms of grams/day) with relatively low saturated fats (fats aren't a problem per se, but could do with being overall less than half the volume of protein, again in grams/day terms).
This should provide energy for training, and fuel for muscle repair/growth.
I know people who work to exact figures, but I prefer to use a rough estimate, based on knowing that the meals that I'm eating are a good balance of the above. This was the purpose of developing meals which can achieve this balance, and knowing that I can eat them without thinking about it.
ETA: Can a mod change the thread title, as I think it may be confusing some. "Training diet/meal ideas here" may do the trick.
Edited by Dave200 on Tuesday 10th August 15:16
Why is it that people usually turn to microwaved jacket potato and tinned tuna when being healthy? Either that or pasta? It just takes a little thought and you can easily prepare fresh, flavoursome food with very little fat indeed. Isn't it about seasoning and herbs/spices as well as portion control?
The 'lean mince' debate is very true. If you are going to all the trouble of cooking healthy dishes why not choose something other than mince? Either that or mince (chop) some lean beef yourself. To rely on supermarket nutritional information is short-sighted given the importance of low fat recipes in this thread.
And I agree with others here too. By limiting portion sizes we can easily have a moderate amount of fat and therefore flavour without food becoming a chore.
The 'lean mince' debate is very true. If you are going to all the trouble of cooking healthy dishes why not choose something other than mince? Either that or mince (chop) some lean beef yourself. To rely on supermarket nutritional information is short-sighted given the importance of low fat recipes in this thread.
And I agree with others here too. By limiting portion sizes we can easily have a moderate amount of fat and therefore flavour without food becoming a chore.
Riiight. In which case, there are two kitchen gadgets you must get: a plastic spray bottle for spritzing olive oil, and a lime squeezer.
Two mainstays of any low-fat diet are salsa for adding flavour to boring lean meat or fish, and roasted vegetables for complex carby bulk.
Take either/both of these to work in a container with some meat or fish and sling it all in a pitta or wrap for lunch.
Salsa
4 biggish ripe tomatoes
1 small red onion
2 chillies
juice of a lime
small bunch fresh coriander
pinch of sugar to taste
Chop everything small (somewhere between the size of Dolly Mixtures and sugar), mix and chill. Almost anything can be added to the basic recipe: cucumber, red pepper, pineapple, mango, apple, avocado etc. You can also substitute the coriander for mint and/or basil.
Roasted vegetables
Summer - asparagus, peppers, aubergines, courgettes, red onion, garlic. Cube, season and spritz with olive oil. Roast at 200 C until the edges blacken slightly.
Winter - sweet potato, beetroot, butternut squash, carrot, red onion, broccoli, swede, garlic. Spritz with olive oil and roast at 200 C until soft. Try sesame oil, a splash of soy sauce and a thumb of julienned ginger instead of olive oil for an oriental variant.
Cooked beans, chick peas, sprouted beans and grains etc can be added to either of the above.
Two mainstays of any low-fat diet are salsa for adding flavour to boring lean meat or fish, and roasted vegetables for complex carby bulk.
Take either/both of these to work in a container with some meat or fish and sling it all in a pitta or wrap for lunch.
Salsa
4 biggish ripe tomatoes
1 small red onion
2 chillies
juice of a lime
small bunch fresh coriander
pinch of sugar to taste
Chop everything small (somewhere between the size of Dolly Mixtures and sugar), mix and chill. Almost anything can be added to the basic recipe: cucumber, red pepper, pineapple, mango, apple, avocado etc. You can also substitute the coriander for mint and/or basil.
Roasted vegetables
Summer - asparagus, peppers, aubergines, courgettes, red onion, garlic. Cube, season and spritz with olive oil. Roast at 200 C until the edges blacken slightly.
Winter - sweet potato, beetroot, butternut squash, carrot, red onion, broccoli, swede, garlic. Spritz with olive oil and roast at 200 C until soft. Try sesame oil, a splash of soy sauce and a thumb of julienned ginger instead of olive oil for an oriental variant.
Cooked beans, chick peas, sprouted beans and grains etc can be added to either of the above.
Please don't flame me, but have you ever tried making chilli with meat-free mince? We used to use the Quorn stuff, but recently had to use Asda Meat Free Mince as the Quorn was out of stock. It's really quite good, low fat, and good protein. I make a cottage pie with it, and it's very tasty.
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