So here’s the amazing news – I’m down 3lbs in 4 days and I haven’t felt hungry or deprived once on my 40 Day Delicious Diet and in large part this is thanks to berries.
My delicious berry parfait for breakfast fills me up, satiates my sweet tooth and makes me smile – it’s just so pretty. Okay, so I know the first few days of weight loss on any diet is mainly water but boy is it a good way to get motivated. 4 days marks a tenth of the way, yes I really do break things down all the time!
Last night Rémy and I went to see Hamilton – what a wonderful show – I had seen it in New Yorkbut it was particularly exciting to share the experience again with Rémy. I was good amongst the temptations of the concession stand and didn’t touch the candies instead I opted for a large coffee and Rémy bought some peanuts which we both ate during the second half.
A few friends have been asking for details about my 40 Day Delicious Diet so in addition to the daily posts I thought I’d go over the key points:
1. Three Lean Luxury meals a day – a Breakfast Tray Fit for a Lady, a Lean Luncheon and a Winner Winner Healthy Dinner. These meals are low carb, high protein, full fat and must be really delicious and satisfying.
2. Get Active with a minimum of a 1 mile jog, a hike up to the top of Griffith Park, a Soul Cycle spin class or a weight lifting exercise tape – anything to get my heart rate up and the body moving.
3. Wash away the pounds – Drink lots and lots of water, tea and coffee and no booze.
So how do I choose which foods to eat and what to avoid? I’m not a nutritionist but I do read a lot around the subject and try to make healthy educated choices. I’m not vegan, vegetarian, pescatrian, Paleo, zero sugar or non-dairy. In fact, as I look at this first week of food I see it’s very dairy rich. Milk, cream, butter and yogurt are my friends it seems. This is what works for me, it’s definitely not for everyone. My friend Claudia for example can’t eat dairy so she would have to find her key building blocks. The building blocks that I stock the fridge with so that I know I can make something delicious are eggs, smoked salmon, berries, full fat Greek yogurt, romaine lettuce hearts, chicken breasts – and yes butter and coconut oil for my daily craving buster Butter Coffee.
Berries for Breakfast, lunch and sometimes Tea
I have been told by some I should avoid fruit on a low carb diet – and yes fruit is packed full of sugar and I won’t be eating a lot of bananas anytime soon. However, not all fruit is created equal and there are thankfully some fruits, in particular, berries that are rich in antioxidants, high in fiber and have other miracle working properties like metabolism boosting flavonoids.
Raspberries for example contain anthocyanins that increase insulin and lower blood sugar levels, warding off diabetes. Blackberries are rich in antioxidants and like raspberries high in fiber so filling and will help ward off hunger. A cup of blackberries is a great way to get a shot of vitamin C to help lower cholesterol levels and stay heart healthy. Strawberries reduce blood sugar and insulin levels after meals. A key antioxidant in strawberries blocks the activity of an enzyme responsible for breaking starch into simple sugar, which means fewer simple sugars are released into the blood stream, lowering the blood sugar and the corresponding insulin response.
Breakfast Tray Fit for a Lady
Blackberry parfait.
I squished half of the blackberries and layered this with organic Greek yogurt from Straus Family Creamery.
Lean Luncheon
Butter Coffee – I was baking a cake for tea and feeling full from my Butter Coffee that I had around 11.30am.
Winner Winner – perhaps not so healthy dinner – which was in fact Tea
Teatime with cake and cookies is probably one of my favorite things -today I baked a Victoria Sandwich Strawberry cake using Ottolenghi’s recipe from SWEET. This meal is definitely not to be eaten a lot but as an extra treat and given that it turned into supper it’s not the end of the world. The cake is made without any baking soda or baking powder – the eggs do the work. There’s a lot of air in both the cake and the whipped cream – and plus there are berries – so it’s definitely not low carb but it’s also not the end of the world.
In the words of Oscar Wilde “Everything in moderation, including moderation.”
I ended up eating:
1 slice of pizza
Caesar salad with chicken breast
1 slice of Victoria sponge cake with whipped cream and strawberries
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