Sea Bream with Spicy Cucumber Salad

Most people associate cucumber with summer, but add some spicy Asian taste and it can warm up any winter evening. This recipe is delicious and a perfect low GI, low fat protein dinner. (If you've done one camp or are running lots, add quinoa for a few more carbs).

Ingredients
Sea bream fillet - or the whole fish!
half a cucumber, thinly sliced using a cheese slice
2 tomatoes, quartered
1/2 a birds eye chilli,finely chopped (remove seeds if you don't like things too hot)
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
slug each of fish sauce, rice wine vinegar and soy sauce
juice of one lime
freshly chopped coriander and mint

Squeeze the fish liberally with lemon, wrap in foil and roast in oven at 180-200 for around ten minutes. Meanwhile make the dressing for the cucumber, combining all the ingredients. Adjust for individual taste, pour over cucumber and serve with the fish.

Prawn, chickpea and curried mustard leaves

Ingredients (serves one)

1/2 can of curried mustard leaves (you can get this from the 'world' section of Tesco's Hove)
handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
handful of chick peas
handful of king prawns
extra garlic and chopped chilli to taste

Chop garlic and chilli if adding and saute in a little stock or water with the tomatoes on medium heat. After a few minutes add the curried mustard leaves, and chickpeas and warm. then add the prawns and cook for a further five minutes or until the prawns turn pink.Serve with quinoa.
This is a fantastic 'cheats' recipe which tastes delicious and takes no more than ten minutes to cook.



This is a great, quick dinner that takes minutes to cook and is d

Why you could be sabotaging your diet

If you are always on a diet but never seem to lose any weight, perhaps you are falling into one of these well known traps.....

'I exercise, so surely I must be burning off calories?'
Yes, exercise burns calories but not as many as you think and not to the point that you can eat what you like. How much you burn during any type of exercise varies according to your weight,length of time you work out, plus how hard you work out.
Yet most people unconsciously think exercise allows them to eat whatever they like, thus filling up the deficit they have just created, plus some!
Solution: Don't even think about exercise as a way of helping you lose weight. Think instead of changing your diet and you WILL succeed. Less calories in means less weight. And if you're thinking why bother exercising, don't forget that exercise boosts your metabolism and builds muscle to ensure your body looks good. There's no point looking slim if you can't get into a bikini because your body doesn't look good. Plus never underestimate the feel good factor that exists with exercise which is better than any other high, legal or not!


Drinks don't count, right?
And no, we're not even talking alcohol here. It's those drinks you take on board without even thinking about. The type where you get to the end of the day and if someone asked you to write down what you'd had, you wouldn't even mention because you've forget ten them or think that liquid can't possibly cause weight gain - or prevent weight loss. Think again.
A glass of orange juice, 200cals, a small semi skimmed latte, 100calories, a yoghurt fruit smoothie, 300 calories.
'So what?', you might think but if your aim is to cut 500 calories a day, one of these could contribute to half of that. Besides it's not just the calorie effect of that one drink that can have an affect.
If you keep not just that. drinking things that are sweet, you will always crave sweet. Fruit juices send your blood sugars soaring, then will leave you feeling tired so you reach for yet more sugary fixes.
Solution: Drink water and get used to it. Lots of people say they don't like water but it is because your taste buds are hardwired for the 'sweet tastes' of lactose in milk, sugars in fruit juices. When you get used to water everything else takes mega sweet.

Every magazine feature I read says olive oil is good for me
This is true as it is a fantastic source of essential fatty acids. But what's good for one person is not good for another if your aim is weightloss. Just one teeny, tiny teaspoon of olive oil is 42calories. Next time you cook with it,or use it in a dressing measure out how much you use. Oil has the amazing capacity to look like hardly anything when you put it in a pan but it's usually about a tablespoon or more. That's around 130calories right there.
Solution: Try different dressings that don't use oil such as yoghurt and mustard with lemon juice. Use different cooking methods, such as poaching or steaming. Even assuming you only cook with olive oil once a day that still saves you 910 calories a week. Do that for 6 months and that could equate to half a stone weight loss.

I'm doing exactly what the diet says
So, you're following the diet to the letter. Exactly. Not one foot wrong. And still you're not losing weight. Why? More often than not it's down to portion size. Just because something is healthy, too much of anything whether it's fruit, rice cakes or WeightWatcher's bars can scupper a diet.
Solution: Weighing things out is a pain in the butt but it is the only way to 'get your eye in' as it were. Weigh out the things you have most often, whether it's quinoa, oats, whatever and that will probably be the only time you need to do it. Or, if you know that hunger in the morning tends to make you pour out a big portion of muesli, weigh out seven portions and bag them ready for the week ahead.

here a nibble, there a nibble everywhere a nibble, nibble
You can do brilliantly eating the right portions and exactly the right meals. Then you fall down by over snacking.
Eating a few mini snack meals through the day is good but only if they are the right type of snacks. Two oat cakes with cottage cheese, apple with yoghurt. These are all great slow release GI foods mixed with protein that are high in satiety. When you go wrong is suddenly having a few too many nibbles of nuts, or those two oat cakes or rice cakes turn into five or more. The average oat cake has 50 calories, so that's a 250 calorie snack but the likelihood is you've discounted it in your mind and not even considered it food. Think about only taking out snacks pre-packaged in the exact amounts. If you're at home, then pre-package your snacks for the day and then get put the rest on a top shelf which requires you to stand on a ladder to get to them. AT least then if you eat them you are conscious of your snacking not just doing it habitually.

Steamed fish with Spicy Noodle Vegetable Salad

It's that picnic time of year when the sun shines and the temptation to just grab the old standards, hummous, French bread, a slab of brie, crisps and a cold glass of Rose kicks in. But therein lies disaster if you're following the Fitbitch way.
Obviously once in a while is fine but think laterally of all the other delicious things you can eat on the beach or the parks if you just put a little bit more thought into it. Like this delicious salad dish which you can make for dinner and then keep some spare for lunch the next day. It's packed full of protein, healthy Omega 3s plus low GI carbohydrate in the form of buckwheat noodles much better than rice noodles or pasta.
If you don't fancy fish, serve it with thin slices of beef or chicken.
Calories: 232, Protein: 26g Fat: 19 Fat: 6

Ingredients
Serves one
White fish fillet, (I used haddock but sea bream or sea bass works much better)
5p piece amount of buckwheat noodles
Herb salad (Infinity foods one is delicious!)
1 carrot cut into batons
2inch piece of cucumber, cut into batons
1dsp of mixed seeds

For the dressing
Fish sauce
Rice wine vinegar
Lime juice, squeezed
Orange juice, squeezed
Birds Eye chilli, chopped finely
1inch piece of ginger, sliced finely

Roast the fish in a piece of foil paper with a squeeze of fresh juice. Meanwhile make the buckwheat noodles and the dressing. All you need to do for the dressing is mix according to taste. Keeping tasting regularly until you get the right mix of sweet and sour. I like lots of chilli so use a whole one, too much for some!
Once the fish is done combine all the salad ingredients, dress and place the fish on top. (Note - add the salad leaves for lunch on the day all they will end up soggy).

Vegetable Frittata

Don't forget that you need to be sticking to low fat protein in the evening with low GI carbs. Think green or white veggies (except potatoes!) no orange or red starchy ones. A fritata is the perfect choice, easy and simple to make and you can just add a startchy veg to it for partners or children.
Ingredients (to serve 3)
6 eggs
Bunch of asparagus spears, lightly steamed (they still want to have 'bite')
1 inch piece of feta cheese, crumbled (alternatively, you can use smoked salmon, smoked haddock etc)
3 tomatoes, sliced
50g of garden peas
6 olives sliced
handful of parsley, mint and basil chopped
dash of skimmed milk
1 spray of sunflower oil
(you can use any mixture of veggies - note in here I've used courgette but asparagus are now in season and go well with peas)

Start by prewarming the oven, 200. Whisk the eggs with the milk and some salt and pepper. Set aside and lightlhy saute the asparagus, then add the egg mixture. Ensure it is on a medium heat and let the egg being to set. You should see it begin to brown around the edges. Then add the garden peas, tomatoes, feta and herbs.
Let it set a little more (if you smell burning you have the heat on too high)before popping into the oven (best to use a pan with oven proof handle!).
Keep your eye on the tortilla and the heat of the oven should begin to 'set' the rest of the mixture, which you can check by inserting a skewer into the middle.
Finish off by flashing under the grill, making sure to turn it for a delicious, browning.
Serve with a green side salad dressed with balsamic. You can also try a healthy version of garlic aioli by adding one crushed garlic clove to fat free Greek yoghurt with a dash of lemon.

What is your best homemade Fitbitch recipe?

Pearl Barley and pepper salad with poached egg and spicy split pea pate

The Fitbitch eating plan is not a prescriptive diet. It's about following the principles of low GI carbs with low fat protein. It is about experimenting with recipes and learning to enjoy food rather than food becoming something that you fear or that you think about with dread.
Over the camps we've heard of some fantastic recipes being tried and here is your chance to share them, and at the same time getting the chance to win a 20% discount off the next camp starting in June.
Add your recipes below to the comments including all the ingredients and amounts - the winner will be announed Friday 4th June.

Courgette, Pea, Chilli & Mint Salad

Some people just hear the word salad and their brain immediately sends out the message, 'Light meal, not enough, need carbs.' If you're one of those people think of this as Courgette spaghetti instead. It's a light meal but substantial enough for the evening on Fitbitch principles

Ingredients
ONe courgette, sliced into ribbons using cheese cutter
Cup of garden peas
quarter of avocado, diced
two tomatoes, chopped
Fresh mint finely chopped
Half a blood red orange
1 tsp of sunflower seeds

For the dressing
1/2 birds eye chilli
Rice wine vinegar
Orange juice
Fish sauce

Combine all the vegetable ingrdients and mix the dressing according to taste. Pour on and serve.
If you want to make this more substantial, add chicken breast or tuna.

Fish with Coconut, Chilli and Lemongrass Crust

Sometimes you just need to have something a little bit special. More often than not, our brains are hardwired to think that that something special is chocolate, cakes or biscuits. But start thinking of savoury things that are outside the normal things you eat and which seem like a treat too.
This dish is one of those things. It is a little bit high in fat at 19g but that's fine if the rest of you day has been good. And on the plus side it is low in calories and provides a good balance of protein and low GI carbohydrates so it is fine even if you are doing the Fitbitch eating plan although only if you have one camp. Just don't have it more than once a week!

Ingredients
seabass fillet (the fillet in this picture is a firmer fish but can't remember what - any white fish will work)
Juice of one lime
One stalk of lemongrass
1 tbsp of dessicated coconut
1 tsp of sugar
1/2 birds eye chilli, finely chopped
slither of apple

wash and pat dry the fillet. Meanwhile in a mortar and pestle add the chilli, lemongrass, and chilli, all which should be extremely finely chopped. Now add the coconut and firmly pound until the coconut begins to take on a reddish tinge from the chill. Add the sugar and pound again. Next, add the juice of the lime and use your hand to completely combine all the ingredients. Add more lime or a bit of rice wine vinegar if it needs to be wetter. Then press firmly down on to the skin of the fish. Then lay it on a slice of apple placed on foil (this will help keep the flesh moist) and make a parcel. Place in a preheated oven at 180-200F and bake until cooked.
Serve with buckwheat soba noodles, a good low GI food and Morning Glory sauted in a pan with 1tsp of Oyster Sauce. Delicious!
Calories: 456, Carbs: 49 Protein: 23, Fat:19

What is a salad?

So many people are put off eating salads or get bored of eating them because they equate salads with just being lettuce leaves and a bit of tomato. But they can be so much more with a bit of imagination.
Think puy lentil, pea and beetroot, wholegrain pasta salad with tomato and fresh basil, Thai style Green Papaya salad the list is endless. There really is no excuse to give up on weightloss aims simply because you think that you can't stick to eating salads. Here's two ideas to get you started - don't think of them as being the entire dish but add to a green leaf salad.

Buckwheat & Cucumber salad with mint, pomegrante and orange dressing

Ingredients
Buckwheat (40g per large serving)
1/4 Cucumber, chopped
1 apple, diced
Sprig of fresh mint, finely chopped
1 tsp of pumpkin seeds

Dressing
1 tsp Pomegrante molasses
1 tsp of rice wine vinegar
Juice of one orange

Cook the buckwheat, add the cucumber, feta cheese (or cottage cheese), pumpkin seeds and mint. Combine the dressing, pour on and serve!
Calories: 336 Carbs: 68, Protein:12, Fat:6


Wholegrain pasta with leek, tomato and feta
Ingredients
Wholegrain pasta (40g)
two tomatoes
inch of feta cheese (use cottage cheese if on Fitbitch eating plan)
2 baby leeks, chopped
Salt and Pepper to season
Dress with olive oil or orange juice if on FB eating plan.
Note that olive oil on it's own is 90calories per tbsp, 10g from fat.
Calories: 411 Carbs: 35 Protein: 14 Fat: 23

Prawn Dim Sum

If you want something light and full of protein then Prawn Dim Sum are perfect. They're also great if you're trying to watch your weight and have people over for dinner. They'll be impressed and you won't have to cook two separate things. Of course, some might see this as a starter or a nibble but it would work as a meal particularly if you had a side order or Morning Glory (find it in Asian supermarkets) with Oyster Sauce. You might think this sounds impossible to make but it's simple and really fun. I learned how to do it at an excellent Thai cookery course run by a lovely Thai girl called Bookie who runs
Ingredients
Wonton pastry (from Asian store)
1 birds eye chilli, red
10 raw prawns, de shelled and deveined
Water chestnuts, handful
two batons of raw carrot
Coriander root
1 tsp of cornflour

For the sauce
Dark soy sauce
Rice wine vinegar
juice of one orange

First chop and mince the prawn until it literally resembles a grey glue. sounds horrible I know but the results are nice! Then chop and finely mince the carrot, chilli and water chestnuts as well as coriander root. combine all together using your fingers to ensure it is evenly distributed. Add the cornflour and again combine well. This helps it to cook together.
Next the fun bit! Get the pastry out of the fridge but ensure you keep it covered with a damp cloth, like filo pastry. Making a circle with the thumb and finger of your left hand, place the pastry over the hole and poke into the hole. Then pack the pastry with the prawn mixture, and then nip around the edges using wet fingers to seal. Once you have assembled them all, lightly grease the bottom of a steamer or bamboo steamer, place them in and leave to cook. Should take no more then ten minutes.
Usually this is eaten with garlic that has been fried in oil and then dripped over and a dipping sauce made with sugar. But it tastes just as delicious with this healthy alternative. Pour 4 good tablespoons of dark soy sauce in a pan with half of rice wine vinegar and the juice of one orange. Stir until fully mixed. Decant into a bowl and serve with the Dim Sum. This would make around eight dim sum.
Calories: 234, Carbs:39g Fat:1g Protein: 16.5g

Rainbow sald with mint and toasted sesame

Ingredients
Mixed organic herb lettuce
Tomatoes
Grated raw beetroot
Tomatoes
handful each of chopped fresh mint and basil
Tin of butter beans
1 tsp of toasted sesame seed

Pea, green chilli and coconut soup

ordinarily, I'd say don't touch coconut milk, dessicated or creamed if you are on the Fitbitch Eating Plan (different if you're on maintenance or training for endurance) but as long as you stick to these quantities you should be fine. To be even stricter, just use yoghurt and forgo the coconut.
Ingredients
Frozen peas, 100g
1 onion, chopped
1 potato, finely sliced
1 birds eye green chilli, chopped (or half if you don't like it hot)
25g creamed coconut
2 cloves of garlic
Fresh mint

Saute the chopped onion, garlic and chilli in a pan with water. When it starts to soften add the peas and the potato and coconut and cover with water. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the potato is soft. Whizz up in food processor or with a hand blender. Add salt and pepper to season and chopped mint, whizz again and serve.
If you are one of those people who can't seem to think of soup as a meal unless it has bread with it, try a rice cake broken into pieces on top or a ryvita. It's like a healthy crouton!
Calories: 363, carbs:35, protein:10, fat:20

Quinoa, Tuna Salad

This is a light meal that will perfectly provide good sustenance with a good mix of protein and healthy essential fatty acids found in the avocado. Be careful if you're watching your weight though as avocados can be very calorific if you go overboard.
This is not the kind of thing you'd eat if you were going to go out for a long endurance marathon run the following day - you might think about adding beans.
Ingredients
140g tin of tuna in water
3 tomatoes chopped
1 medium avocado
100g boiled quinoa
Organic salad leaves (if you live in Brighton, get the pack from Infinity foods - delicious!)
Lemon juice to dress

Just combine all togehter and eat!

Calories: 431, Carbs,23.9g, Protein:43.4g Fat:18.4g

Broccolli, chilli stir fry with soba noodles

This is a delicious dinner full of protein, while the soba noodles are an excellent source of Low glycaemic index carbohydrates.
Ingredients
40g Buckwheat soba noodles
2 tomatoes, quartered
handful of stir fry salad leaves
1/2 birds eye chilli
broccolli
1 egg
Dash of tamari sauce
1 tsp of sunflower oil or use a spray

Saute the broccolli florets, tomatoes and chilli in the oil,while the buckwheat noodles are cooking. ONce cooked add the noodles so they are coated with the chilli oil. Push to one side and break an egg into the pan. Let the white begin to set and then begin to stir it around into the noodles and the sardine. Then turn it out and serve with a dash of tamari sauce. You can add 1/2 tin of sardines drained of oil if you want to add more protein and a tsp of seasame oil for flavour.
Contains: 319 calories, 17g protein, 35g carbs, 12.5g fat

Crunchy orange, mint & hazlenut salad

So many people say they can't diet because they hate salads. This is not surprising considering the fact that most people think a salad is a limp piece of iceberg lettuce with a few tomatoes.
Nowadays, you can create so many salads which are not only delicious as an accompaniment but also as a standalone dish. I created this recipe to have with roasted gilthead bream, but you could equally add 1inch piece of feta cheese to make an entire supper.
Ingredients
Celery, chopped
Carrot, grated
Bunch of mint, chopped
Bunch of basil, chopped
1dsp hazlenuts and walnuts, chopped
2tsp pumpkin seeds
One orange, cut into thin slices (blood red orange would work particularly well)
For the dressing
juice of fresh orange
Rice wine vinegar

Combine all the ingredients together, dress and serve. This would also be delicious with green beans and a tuna steak.

Healthy Smoked mackerel pate

Mackerel is full of healthy omega 3 fats, which are good for brain function, good for brain function and nervous system as well as helping regulate hormones. And it is delicious!
That said, you have to be careful and not eat too much if you are watching your weight as it is fairly calorfic compared to white fish. This can make a great lunch time snack, although if you are on the Fitbitch Eating Plan level one, use rice cakes instead of bread.
Ingredients (serves 4)
1 freshly smoked mackerel (www.fish.co.uk serve great ones)
1 fresh lemon
1/2 large tub of zero fat Fage Greek yoghurt
handful of fresh chopped dill
Wasabi or horseradish to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Take the mackerel flesh from the bones, ensuring you discard any loose bones. Combine with the yoghurt, lemon, herbs and seasoning, mixing well. Spoon into ramekins or small glasses and refrigerate for a few hours. Serve with a small rocket and tomato salad and hot toasted bread.
and hormones

How many ways with porridge?

It was perishing out there this morning at a Parkrun event so what better breakfast than porridge? I'm a real fan of porridge and have developed a whole range of different healthy toppings to add some variety. This one is delicious and not overly sweet although you can add agave syrup if you like.
Just chop up some ripe plums and pears and add a little water and cinammon to taste. Stew until the fruit just begins to break down. Don't let it become mush though - it ruins the texture! Add a tsp of agave syrup no more..unless of course you're marathon training. What other porridge toppings have you tried?

Roasted Courgettes with Pinenuts and Cottage cheese

Most people say they fail on their healthy eating habits because they get home from work late or don't have time to cook fresh. I know it can be hard but cooking from scratch really does not take that long. I came home from a yoga class at 9.45pm too starving to go to bed without food. Yet this was made in 10mins and popped in the oven so that by the time I'd had a shower it was ready.
Not great to eat late but with something so light it is fine.

Ingredients
1 large courgette
1 large Beef steak tomato, chopped
2 tbsp of cottage cheese
1/2 red pepper chopped
Handful of fresh basil and fresh mint
1tsp of pine nuts

Slice the courgette in two vertically and cut out the inside. You won't be able to get it all out this way without breaking the skin so do the rest by using a teaspoon and gently scraping out.
Squeeze liberally with lemon juice or even an orange if that's all you have got to hand. Then fill with the chopped up vegetables, herbs and pine nuts. Top with cottage cheese, season and pop in the oven 200 for around 15-20mins.

Spicy Mustard Seed Stir Fry

When you make an attempt to change the way you eat, particularly if you're trying to diet, portions can sometimes seem small. But don't be tempted to pile more on your plate - eat first and you can always add more. If your plate is full to begin with though, you're likely to eat it even if you're not hungry.
This dish is a case in point where it can at first seem like there is not enough - trust me, it's filling enough.

Ingredients
Birds eye chilli, finely chopped (use as much/little as you like)
Garlic, finely chopped
Broccoli, chopped
tomatoes, chopped
2dsp of chick peas
red pepper, chopped
1tsp of mustard seeds
sprinkle of sesame seeds
tamari or soy sauce to taste
orange segment

Saute the chilli, garlic in the juice of the orange - add a bit of water if needed to prevent it burning and becoming acrid. Add the veggies with the tamarai or soy sauce to taste. Cook until softened but the veg should still have bite.
Serve with quinoa if you are on the first four weeks of Fitbitch or with an omelette if you are on the maintenance.

Rainbow breakfast

After you've been exercising in the cold, wintry morning - or you've rolled out of bed - you might feel like all you want to eat is a big mound of baked beans on toast. But it is possible to do healthy, warming brekkies with a hint of summer all year round.
Try this Muesli with natural yoghurt and pineapple, raspberry and cinnammon compote.
To make the compote, heat a tablespoon or so of frozen raspberries and a desert spoon of pineapple (don't go overboard on the pineapple if you're on the four week eating plan - it is sweet!). Add cinnamon to taste and serve over muesli with yoghurt and chopped apple. Delicious!
(excuse the quality of the picture - having problems with my camera!)