Thinking about the 5:2

Hello everyone! It has been lovely to have had so many visitors to both this blog and to The Teapot. If you are here for the Grow-Your-Blog party, you can read my special post here.

I have been trying to post more often, but someties it is difficult to know what to post about! The usual focus of this blog is food, but today it is a 5:2 Fasting day...so far today (1.20 pm) I have had two cups of coffee with milk and a piece of sugar-free gum. It is nearly time for a bowl of butternut squash soup (slightly watered down) with half a slice of bread, and a big glass of water. Huzzah! I'm starting to feel ready for it.

I do think the 5:2 is a supportable way of losing weight, and, according to a lot of research, to become healthier too. It is a bit hard, but generally I manage without any problems, although I suspect that I go over the recommended 500 calories a fast day for women, and I probably eat too much of the junky stuff on the other days! However, even if I'm nearer 700 calories, it is still at most 50% of what I usually consume, and probably less than that!

Tonight's meal of spiced chicken sounds good...

1 tsp rapeseed oil
200g chicken fillets
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp paprika
1tsp ground cumin
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
200g squash, cubed
100g  couscous
150ml hot chicken stock
150g sliced leeks
1/2 pepper chopped
Left over veggies from Sunday lunch

Heat oil in a large flameproof casserole, add chicken, coriander, paprika, cumin, leeks, pepper and onion and fry for 10 mins to lightly brown. Heat oven to 200C, Gas 6.
2 Add garlic, squash, cous cous, chicken stock and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover and oven cook  for 25 mins until the chicken and squash are tender and the liquid absorbed.
3 Add left over veggies and cook for 5 more mins.

SOURCE: womanmagazine.co.uk

 

In fact, if you're following the 5:2 way of eating, Woman Magazine have some good resources - about a year ago I was offered a magazine by them, which had lots of recipes in. I use it a lot, even though it does use some convenience foods not available in France.

Their meal plans make the way of eating seem do-able:

Breakfast: Start your day with 2 Rye Ryvitas and spread with 2tsp Marmite. Calories so far: 90.
Lunch: Make soup your choice of lunch with a can of Weight Watchers’ filling Chicken, Potato & Leek soup (96 cals). As lunch is low cal, you have room for another snack, and a Sun-Maid Mini-Box (42 cals) is a great choice. Calories so far: 228.
Dinner: You still have quite a few calories for today, so tuck in to our tasty chicken tikka masala (225 cals), which leaves you with 89 calories extra for the day - see if one of our snacks under 100 cals takes your fancy. Total intake for whole day without snacks: 453.

 

 

 I personally prefer to go without breakfast, but others may find that harder. Of course, if you like your drinks with milk, you need to factor that into the calorie count too. If you are a 5:2-er do let me know. I'd like to know how you're finding it!