5:2 eating plan

This is often referred to as a 5:2 fast, but it isn’t really a fast. For 2 days a week, you eat about 500 calories, 25% of your normal intake (600 for men). I watched a Horizon documentary on this last year, and then read an article in last week’s Sunday Times, and decided to give it a go.

The theory is remarkably simple – no special foods or additives, no counting carbs, up to me how I spread the calories. Now, I know me. I know that I do NOT function well without breakfast, and that I tend to be a grazer. So I wasn’t prepared to go with only tea or water all day and have a 500 cal dinner. Instead, I ate this:
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Breakfast = 100g cottage cheese with a handful of blueberries (110 cal)

Morning snack = 2 crackerbread with a dairylea triangle (80 cal)

Lunch = tin of chicken noodle soup with a large salad of little gem, cherry tomatoes and cumber (160 cal)

Afternoon snack = radishes and sugar snaps ( 30 cal)

Dinner = soufflé omelette of one egg, 2 egg whites, mushrooms and spinach, with steamed courgettes (120 cal)

Now, I was expecting to feel hungry.  The odd tummy rumble didn’t bother me.  To be honest, the fact that this is only for one day. tomorrow I can eat what I like, got me through any odd feelings of hunger.  I didn’t experience any headaches – I switched my usual 7 or 8 cups of tea a day for black tea or herbal tea.  And it was a day when I didn’t have anything else planned.

So…..so far so good!  I will be trying this for a month at least before I give any verdict.  But the scale was down this morning, let’s see if that’s still the case by next week.

Photohunt spicy

St Georges Market, in downtown Belfast is a great place to find all sorts of interesting foodstuffs.  Here’s one of the spice stalls.

an array of spices for sale

My kids always tease me about ordering the “most random thing on the menu”.  As I surveyed my morning’s purchases – roast dulse, dopiaza sauce, feta stuffed peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, pistachio and sour cherry biscotti  and a bottle of sarsaparilla cordial – it did strike me as being particularly “random”, even by my standards!  Well worth a wander any time you’re passing by.

Chorizo bean stew

I might blog a few recipes this year! This one is based on a Nigel Slater recipe. I do love Nigel – he has a relaxed approach and an obvious passion for food which is infectious. This is a wonderful hearty soup/ stew, using mostly store cupboard ingredients.

Cut a chorizo sausage into chunks,and brown in a saucepan with an onion and some garlic.

Peel some carrot and parsnip, and cut into chunks. Add these to the pan.

Add a tin of tomatoes, and a tin of beans. I used borlotti beans tonight, but cannelini, butter, or chickpeas would be just as good. Add one canful of water. Stir it all together and season – pepper, salt, some basil or oregano, and a few dried chili flakes. And the zest of an orange.

Simmer with the lid half on for at least 45 minutes. Serve in a bowl garnished with parsley, accompanied by a hunk of crusty bread to mop up all the paprika-y goodness.

Enjoy!