Healthy Chicken Risotto

Healthy Chicken Risotto (10mins prep, 10/15mins to cook)

Serves 4

Ingredients
Rice (preferably wholegrain/brown) Doesn't have to be risotto rice!
Half an onion
Teaspoon of lazy garlic
Mixed veg (anything in the fridge!
Cooked chicken
Chicken stock cube
Soy sauce (optional)

Preparation and cooking
Boil the rice and chop the onion. Break the chicken into manageable pieces. Add boiling water to chicken stock and stir.

Brown onion and garlic in a deep frying pan or wok. Add mixed herbs. Add in your veg (I added peas, sweetcorn and brocolli) and let cook for a couple of minutes while stirring. Add the chicken stock and let simmer for a couple of minutes and put in some salt and pepper. Add the small chicken pieces (I also added some chopped ham!) and stir in and let cook for a couple of minutes. Then add the rice, and pour over a bit of soy sauce for added flavour. Stir for a bit and you're done!

It'll be a big batch depending on your quantities, so put the leftovers into tubs and freeze for another night!

Happy Eating!

What's best for weight loss - exercise or diet?

If you want to achieve weight loss, diet is just as important as exercise. This cannot be stressed enough. If you are wanting to lose weight, you have to achieve a calorie deficit in order to do this. This deficit, coupled with exercise, enables you to not only lose weight, but any loss in skin elasticity (as a result of weight loss) will be kept in check. Also, as your muscles become stronger and leaner through exercise, your body requires more energy to function, therefore burning more calories - effectively increasing your metabolism.

Here's some food advice.....

Calorie intake
A recommended deficit for day-to-day is around 500 calories. Anything more than that and your body goes into starvation mode - as soon as you eat again your body will do what it can to retain as much fat as possible. It doesn't know when it'll get it again! Also, if you skip meals your blood sugar levels take a serious drop, leading to irritability, tiredness and sugar cravings.

What to eat...what not to eat.....
So...try having a couple of boiled eggs for breakfast instead of cereal or toast - you'll be fuller for longer. You could swap your daily latte for a herbal tea or espresso, swap fizzy drinks for water (with cordial if preferred), swap a big plate for a small plate at dinner. A large milkshake from (insert popular takeaway restaurant here) is over 500 calories!! Cut it right out! Don't feel you have to cut out carbs - they are a major source of energy. Opt for those with a lower glycaemic index (GI) like wholegrain pasta & rice, rye bread, beans, lentils and most fruit and veg. Less processed food means less bloatedness.

Portions
Be sensible with your portion sizes. For example, an adult serving of rice/pasta should be roughly the size of a tennis ball. Jacket potato = your computer mouse :-)

Hope this helps.

Happy Eating & Exercising!

Another simple, healthy recipe

Baked egg in tomato cup (10mins prep, 17mins* to cook)
Calories = 139, Fat = 6g, Carbs = 12g, Protein = 10g

Serves 1

Ingredients
1 large tomato (variety of your choice)
1 large egg
1/4 cup white cheddar, shredded
 Sprinkling of parmesan cheese, finely grated**
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon fresh basil, shredded

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Slice off the top of the tomato, and using a sharp knife, gently cut around the inside perimeter and scoop out the seeds. Place the tomato in an oven-proof baking dish. Depending on the size of your tomato, place about a tablespoon of the cheddar in the bottom, making a little well with your fingers so that the egg will lie flat. Break an egg into the tomato, trying as best as you can to keep all the whites inside the tomato.

Cooking
Bake the egg for 10 minutes. It will just begin to set during this time. After 10 minutes, remove the egg from the oven and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese**. Bake for another 7 minutes, until the egg is set to your desired consistency. Remove the egg from the oven and let sit for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and garnish with the fresh basil.

* depending on how you like your eggs

**parmesan is optional

Happy Eating!

What's the difference between....?

Ever wondered what the difference between Coke and Diet Coke really is? Green peppers and red peppers? Read on to find out!

Diet Coke or Coke Zero?

Nutrionally, there's no different between the two. The difference is in taste. Both are sugar and (virtually) calorie-free, but Diet Coke contains Aspartame - an artificial flavouring that's 200 times sweeter than sugar - while Coke Zero has aspartame and a sweetener called Acesulfame K.

Wholewheat or Wholegrain bread?

This can be a bit confusing. Wholegrain is higher in nutrients and fibre as it contains the entire grain kernel, and often has a mix of other grains (eg rye, barley & oats). Wholewheat only includes part of the grain. Today's diets are quite wheat-dominated, so it's good to vary your diet from time to time.

White sugar or Brown sugar?

Both are made from sugar beet or sugar cane, but white sugar is more heavily processed, so that the natural dark brown colour from the plant is removed. This means that brown sugar contains more minerals, like calcium, phosphorous and iron, and is slightly lower in calories. Any health benefits from brown are too small to make a real difference.

Green peppers or Red peppers?

This is down to ripeness - green peppers are picked before they're ripe (that's why they're bitter). If the pepper stays on the plant for longer, it turns yellow, and further still it turns red. The red ones are both sweeter and have beauty benefits - they're a great antioxidant to help fight the signs of ageing.

Cow's milk or Soya milk?

Both contain the same amount of calcium - it occurs naturally in cow's milk and is added to soya milk. Soya milk is made from pressing cooked soya beans and is lower in calories and saturated fat, and it tastes sweeter. Cow's milk has much higher levels of iodine, which is important for thyroid function. This one is more a question of taste.

So there you have it. Hope this helps!

Happy Eating!

*content courtesy of Glamour Magazine, August edition

NEW CLASS LAUNCH! Kickbox Cardio

KICKBOX CARDIO - LAUNCHING SAT 4th AUGUST!

Every Saturday, 11am - 12noon

Thornhill Community Centre, Falkirk

Only £3!

If you want an amazing full-body cardio workout, Kickbox Cardio is the place to be. Execute punches, kicks and blocks to music and feel those calories burn away!! Men and women of all shapes and sizes get something from this class as you can take it as high or low as you like! Non contact.

Happy Exercising!

Calf cramps - the causes and remedies

Have you ever been woken up by a severe cramp in your calf, or it's come on when you're stretching in the morning? What causes this? and what can we do about it?

Common causes

- Tightness after exercise the day before
- Dehydration
- Stretching as soon as you wake up
- Lack of potassium

Remedies

- Make sure to stretch after exercising. Muscles get leaner and stronger in the repair of the muscle fibres - so give them the best chance of getting stronger without injury by stretching after exercise.

- Keep hydrated throughout the day. Keep a water bottle with you at all times, especially at work. Government guidelines suggest that we should consume 6-8 glasses of water every day, so get drinking!

- If you must stretch, dorsiflex at the the ankles. Stretches where you raise your toes instead of lowering them will be best for avoiding calf cramps. Excessive plantarflexion of the foot in the morning just constricts your calf muscles. So, bring your toes towards you instead of pointing them.


- Eat a banana every day. They're a great source of potassium. Avocados, apricots and fish are some alternatives for you to try and get in regularly.

Happy stretching and eating!

Short Circuit! ...you can do at home

Here's a great workout to try at home:

Warm Up
- March on the spot
- Jog on the spot
- Jog with high knees, then kick-back heel to bottom

Main work-out
- Jumping jacks (1 min)
- Squats (3 sets of 8, up to 1min rest in between)
- Lunges (3 sets of 8, up to 1min rest in between)
- Press-ups (3 sets of 8, up to 1min rest in between) Try an alternative
- Crunches (3 sets of 8, up to 1min rest in between)
- Criss-cross crunches (3 sets of 8, up to 1min rest in between) This works the love handles!

Cool Down

- Jog on the spot, reduce into a march
- Stretches: hamstring, quads, glutes, shoulder, tricep, abs.

This workout can take anything from 30mins to 1 hr depending on your rest times.

Happy Exercising!