People seem to care about this sort of thing, so I thought I'd write a blog about it.
I don't weigh or measure my food, control portion sizes, count calories or any of that stuff, and haven't for years! (I don't even weigh myself.) I think the "calories in vs calories out" model is reductionist and doesn't take into account that e.g. eating 500 calories' worth of avocado has a different effect on my body than eating 500 calories' worth of Quality Street.
Eating 500 calories' worth of avocado has a different effect on my body than eating 500 calories' worth of Quality Street.
Photo by Stefano Brunesci.
I have found that when it comes to maintaining my healthy size 8 figure through food choices, quality is more important than quantity.
I.e: I can eat as much as I like in quantity, as long as the quality of the food is high, without gaining weight.
"High quality" = natural, nutrient-rich, high-fibre
"Poor quality" = heavily processed, low in nutrients, low-fibre
I'm not a dietician so all I can really talk about is what works for me at this time of year. And here it is :)
Breakfast
I have the same breakfast most days- a cup of warm water with the juice of half a lemon squeezed in, a pint of water to wash down a good quality probiotic, and about 1 - 1.5 pints of Glowing Green Smoothie. Green is a festive colour, so I guess you could serve green smoothies with wide red paper straws or something if you were in charge of breakfast on Christmas Day (maybe as a starter if you're catering for people who will also be expecting bacon and eggs!).
Mid-morning
Homemade spiced latte and a couple of satsumas. I really associate these flavours with Christmas! Other traditional Christmas fruits that seem to pop up in various re-enactments of A Christmas Carol are oranges, red grapes and red apples.
I make my latte by frothing up hot almond and coconut milk with espresso and allspice, then sweetening with raw honey. If you don't have a coffee machine, you could just warm all the ingredients up together in a small pan, using ordinary coffee from a cafetiere, with the option of frothing it by whipping it up in a blender before serving. It makes it come out really foamy and delish! And if you rinse the blender straight away, you don't really have to wash it up :p #bachelorettefrog (Not recommended if using dairy milk! No-one wants an accidentally cheesy blender.)
If you don't like hot drinks, you could blend frozen cranberries with water and Truvia to make a cranberry smoothie that makes you pee a lot = makes your tummy flatter. It's a standard trick used by Hollywood actresses when preparing for red carpet appearances.
Lunch
I make soup all the time. It's one of the few things I'm good at cooking. A nice easy winter warmer is leek and potato, which is simply boiled potatoes (no need to peel) + leek boiled in vegetable stock + blender. Leeks and potatoes are particularly cheap and good quality right now because they're in season. The potato makes the texture really creamy, so you don't need to add anything else except sea salt and pepper.
The Easiest Winter Soup Recipe in the Whole Wide World
- Chop and boil 2 medium-sized potatoes (no need to peel).
- Chop and boil a leek in vegetable stock.
- Add the cooked veggies and stock to a blender with a generous pinch of sea salt and pepper. Blend while pressing a tea towel on the lid to avoid accidents.
- Pour the soup back into a big pan on the lowest heat setting and add more seasoning to taste. Done!
I make a fish-free version of the traditional seafood salad at Christmas- Dharma's Kale Salad, which still has that sea-freshness from the dulse and dill, and uses local kale, which is in season at this time of year. I like a BIG helping ^_^ You can use grated carrot instead of sprouts, or whatever other veggies you like.
Another thing I'm actually good at making is chocolate truffles. It's easier than it sounds. I melt coconut milk, coconut oil and dark chocolate together in a pan, then take it off the heat and stir in a few drops of vanilla essence. Then I just pour the mixture into a baking dish lined with baking paper and put it in the freezer to set. Sometimes I mix fruit and nuts in there too. The texture is always much better than just eating dark chocolate straight out of the pack, and it's so rich I can only manage one or two pieces for dessert.
Mid-afternoon
I avoid caffeine after lunch, and besides, there are so many great Christmas spicy teas to choose from! My favourite is Pukka Vanilla Chai, which doesn't contain black tea, so it's naturally caffeine-free. I also like to bake mince pies the easy way, with a pack of Jus-Rol shortcrust pastry and a jar of ready-made mincemeat.
Dinner
I so relate to this ad ;)
I know plenty of models who eat meat, and roast turkey must be one of the healthiest meat choices available. Still, I prefer to stick with my veggies :) It makes the meal digest more easily for me, and my tummy feel flatter afterwards. I like all the traditional trimmings, mind: sage and onion stuffing, my homemade Yorkshire puddings, a glass of red wine, floury roast potatoes, mashed root veg, kale, broccoli, carrots and super thick English gravy ^_^ Just looking at Brussels sprouts sets off my gag reflex, however D:
No, no, no, no, no.
Hot mince pies fresh from the oven, drizzled with oat or coconut cream and served with sherry in pretty vintage glasses is the perfect dessert to send everyone into a post-dinner food coma in front of the TV ^_^ This year I have a couple of individual-sized Christmas puddings in the cupboard for anyone that wants one. I do like the spectacle of setting a pudding on fire before eating it but then I do also feel like I'm going to die after rounding off a roast dinner with a dense, microwaved pudding, so...
Give yourself the gift of self-hate this Christmas :p
In the evening I like to make hot coconut buttered rum or mull some wine, which makes the house smell even more amazing, light some candles, curl up in front of an open fire with my cats and take time to really appreciate the company I'm with. I like to feel happy and healthy, and not be distracted by a tummy ache or wondering just how hard I'm going to have to restrict in January. I put out bowls of mixed nuts and Medjool dates for people to snack on, but there is always leftover smoothie, soup, salad, roasties and mince pies for anyone still hungry, too.
So, to summarise, this is pretty much my standard Christmas eating:
Breakfast: lots of water and a green smoothie.
Mid-morning: nut milk latte and fruit.
Lunch: huge salad and homemade soup with one or two chocolate truffles for dessert.
Mid-afternoon: vanilla chai tea and homebaked vegan mince pies.
Dinner: Traditional Christmas dinner minus the turkey and pork with hot mince pies and oat/ coconut cream for dessert.
Evening: mulled wine, nuts, dates, leftovers.
I like reading other people's healthy food ideas, hate being hungry, and am also quite nosey as to how other models and entertainers stay in shape with minimum effort. For anyone out there similar to me, I hope you enjoyed this blog :)
PS: The Winter Wonderland Christmas cards I mentioned in my last blog had a great response and there are now only 2 packs left! If you would like a glamorous twist on the tradition of card-giving this year, and on 100% recycled stock, click here to buy one of the very last packs!
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