Diet saboteurs

Are you always on a diet but never manage to lose any weight? Or perhaps you're on Fitbitch Boot Camp and despite thinking that you're sticking to the diet as the next person, they're shrinking before your eyes while you look the same?
The likelihood is that either your portion sizes are too big, or you are eating something that you think is healthy but isn't.

Diet saboteur: Granola
Reality: Many cereals, particularly those that do a stunning job of packaging themselves as a healthy alternative are full of sugar, hidden or otherwise. Dorset Cereals for instance are packed full of sugar busting dried fruits but worse by far is Granola.
This is made by adding oil and sugar to cereal and then baking it. Most of us would never dream of eating a pile of biscuits for breakfast but that's effectively what you're doing.
Fitbitch Alternative: Make your own granola by soaking oats, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, grated apple, grated carrot and a few finely chopped nuts in apple juice. Then spread on a baking tray and bake very slowly at a low heat for 1-2hrs. Serve with yoghurt.

Diet saboteur: Honey
Fair enough it's not as bad as processed white sugar but it's still sugar. And what makes it worse is that it's perceived as healthy so you tend to overuse it. Just 1 tbsp contains an average of 50 calories. yet if you're the type to use honey, you tend to use it on toast, on your yoghurt and on cereal. That's 150 calories just there. Moreover, it's a high GI food so it will only leave you craving more.
Fitbitch Alternative: Agave nectar - it's still sugary but it releases energy more slowly.

Diet saboteur: Oat Cakes
You hear it all the time in diet features - snack on oat cakes. Yes, they release energy slowly but most people have absolutely no idea how many they eat in a day. Oat cakes usually come in individual 'handy' snack sizes of five. That's 289 calories just eating them plain. Of course it's fine if you can eat with control and just have two. But then if that were the case you probably wouldn't need to be on a diet.
Healthy alternative: Edmame beans or soya beans.

Diet saboteur: Grapes
The reason everyone likes grapes is frankly because they're sweet. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that a 450g pack of red grapes is around 300-400 calories. If you're trying to restrict yourself to 1500 cals or less that's the equivalent of a lunch or dinner. you might think you don't really eat that many grapes but next time you buy some really watch yourself, you'll be surprised how easy it is to scoff them without even noticing.
Healthy alternative: one piece of fruit that you can't overeat

Spicy tuna with autumn salad

Halloween is just around the corner, and suddenly there are pumpkins and squashes everywhere you look. They may be a bugger to peel and cut up but it's well worth it for a comforting, nutritious addition to a salad.

Tuna marinade
Two cloves of garlic, finely grated
1inch of ginger, finely chopped
1 Birds eye chilli or more if you like it very hot
Juice of one lemon and two limes
Fish sauce to taste
Rice wine vinegar to taste

Marinate the tuna steaks for a30mins at least.

Meanwhile, chop the pumpkkin and parboil in salted boiling water to cut down roasting time. Season with lots of salt and pepper and add the juice of two or three lemons and an orange. Put in the oven to roast until cooked through. When cooked, add a teaspoon or two of Dijon mustardto the roasting dish and stir in to give the pumkin a dressing. Leave to cool for a bit and add the leaves and chopped tomatoes. If you add to early or put the pumpkin on top of the leaves they wilt and become soggy.

To cook the tuna steaks, heat a griddle pan until smoking hot. Place the tuna steaks on the pan and leave for 3-5mins depending on thickness. Turn and do the same for the other side. They should be served pink or even red in the middle according to taste - and freshnes of the steak. There's nothing worse than grey, tough dry tuna steaks!
use the leftover marinade as sauce and serve!

Quinoa with rainbow dressing

Just back from Switzerland and to prove it's not all Gruyere and chocolate, this is a lunch I had from a little hippy cafe in the heart of Lausanne. I've made up the recipe from what I deduced from taste but it was delice and easy to make.
Some of you might think, 'not another quinoa recipe' but this grain is fantastic. It's full of nutrients and unlike other grains it contains a high level of protein. it's much lighter and has a lower GI than many other grains such as couscous, bulghar wheat and the like.

Quinoa
1 courgette, sliced
2 carotts, thickly chopped
(I'd also add 1 red pepper chopped plus two cloves of garlic for extra taste)

For the green sauce
Cucumber
Fresh mint
Garlic
Yoghurt

For the red sauce
Roasted tomatoes, skins off
Garlic
Salt and Pepper
pinch of paprika


In an oven dish roast the veggies, using fresh lemon juice in place of oil.
Meanwhile, in a food processor whizz up the cucumber, fresh mint and garlic. Add the yoghurt and seasoning to taste and give it another whizz until you get the taste you're after.
For the red sauce, roast the tomatoes first and then whizz in a food processor. You may want to add some tomoato puree to thicken.
Serve the vegetables on top of the cooked quinoa with the sauce.