Boring mornings = breakfast ?

If you fancy a change and a health start to the morning why not try one of these simple and fast recipes and get your day starting with a BANG!

After looking on the change4life website I have been inspired to have a interesting breakfast which has helped to kick start my 5 a day in to my diet with minimal efforts. One of my favourite breakfast recipes on there is as followed.

Porridge - with yogurt and fruit

Porridge is very satisfying and good for you - especially when served with fruit.

What’s more, porridge oats are very economical to buy, and much better for you than sugar-coated cereal. A great way to start your day!

Serves: 4

Preparation time:5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 150g porridge oats
• 100g of summer or forest fruit
• 900ml (1½ pints) cold water
• 8 tablespoons low-fat natural yogurt

What to do

Put the porridge oats and water into a non-stick saucepan. Heat and stir until boiling, then reduce the heat and simmer gently, stirring often, for 5 minutes.

Share the porridge between 4 serving bowls and top each portion with 2 tablespoons of yogurt. Spoon the berries on top, then serve.

Tip 1: Try to remember to take the frozen fruit out of the freezer the night before, so that it has thawed out in time for breakfast.

Tip 2: Try spooning some canned pineapple in natural juice over the yogurt instead of using berries

Not a lover of porridge??

Not worries how about a smoothie?

 

This is the perfect recipe when you have only a few moments to spare. It can be whizzed together in seconds to make a speedy meal-in-a-glass.

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 small banana
• 100g strawberries, stalks removed
• 1 x 170g pot low-fat strawberry or vanilla yogurt
• 600ml (1 pint) chilled semi-skimmed milk.

 

What to do

Slice the banana and strawberries into a blender.

Add the yogurt and milk. Blend together for 15-20 seconds, then pour into 4 glasses.

Tip 1: Instead of using fresh strawberries, use frozen fruit, such as frozen summer berries or forest fruits. You can add them to the blender frozen, to give you an icy-cold smoothie.

Tip 2: If you don’t have a traditional blender, use a hand-held stick blender instead.

Enjoy

Change 4 Life Campange

Change4life is a campaign that has be launched within England and Wales, to help promote a health life style and tackle the uprising of obesity.

 

As a Welsh citizen I have used the welsh version of the website. It comes in both Welsh and English (so there is no excuse not to have a little look). On the website you can get a FREE personal health assessment - which gives you a break down on the 5 main areas they are trying to promote.

• Diet
• 5 a day
• Snacks
• Exercise
• Alcohol consumption
• Fibre swap

Once you have completed the assessment your results are scored on a traffic light system GREEN ,YELLOW, RED. It gives advice on what you are doing well in, what you need a little improvement with and what you need to change.

If that hasn't sealed the deal with you yet, you may like to know that not just adults can benefit from this campaign , children and families are also able to participate. The website is bright and user friendly - which I think will benefit the children as it can be see as fun.

Along with tips and tricks to change and maintain a good life style, the website has recipes and meal ideas included. It helps you to have a variety of breakfast, lunch and tea options, which can not only be health food options but a great way to entertain your children thought holidays.

The recipes are straight forward and basic cooking ideas, which can benefit single parents or parent who need a little help on how to prepare quality, fresh meals. Even busy working parents who have little time to cook.

I challenge you to change 4 life

England : http://www.nhs.uk/Change4Life/Pages/change-for-life.aspx
Wales : http://change4lifewales.org.uk/?lang=en

Be honest

Lesson number two is to be honest with yourself...

This will  mean being honest on the following to things:

how active you are and the quality of your diet?

The easiest way to do this is by keeping a diary of calories and exercise. Or even keep a spread sheet on your computer. I recommend doing it for at least a week - the more weeks to record the better you will understand your body and its life style trends. It helps show you the current lifestyle you live and then life style you can live with a little help. It will help you to estimate the calories you will need. This will allow you to work out expenditure scales. Then you will be able to not only lose weight , keep a healthy weight or if you are looking to put weight on healthy this will aid you.

Your mind has to physiologically accept that u want to change and has to changed with your body. It is estimated in order to do something you will think and try to do it 8 times before coming successful as far as weight is concerned. If it doesn't work the first time , try again!!

If you live a less active life than others, be honest. Do little thing before you join the gym or fitness classes . Park further away from entrances to work or shops. If you are going to a local shop walk.

Remember if you cheat on the basic you will never get the results. It takes 6 weeks of hard work to see the benefits .

Happy eating :) 

Shed the pounds - the easy way!

Is it me? Or as soon as spring hits, every newspaper or magazine takes the joy of telling you how "big" we are, how "fat " we may seem or need to "loose a few extra pounds"?

Well Winter is officially over here in the UK no matter how hard it may be to believe . But no matter if you are from Britain, America , China or even Auz. We all want that summer slender body - in time for summer.

I am about to show the tips and techniques used by myself to get into shape for summer. Without stick diets and weight loss routines.

Keep posted on lucysworldhealth.blogger.com for support and hint n trips

                Lesson Number One  - you are what you eat !

Know your food groups and portion ratio. Its not as complicated as it sounds. There are 5 food groups which are Carbohydrates, Protein, Minerals, Vitamins and Fat. Its quality of your diet not quantity.

Carbohydrates = Fuel for your body.

Starchy carbohydrates are found in potatoes, pasta and rice. Carbs can be categories into other groups but we want starchy ones. Cornbread and maize also have a high starch content.

Imaging a plate and one third of it should be a starch carb !!!! Superior of all Carbs, is the wholegrain family - the usually contain more fibre than others (which is good also for bowl movement) and has sources or vitamins and minerals

Protein = The doctor ( growth and repair of your body)

They also hold high vitamin and mineral values such as zinc, iron and b vitamins. Protein is not only within meat but also other foods such as Fish (high in Omega 3)  nuts and eggs.

Try and eat at least 2 portions of fish a week as it has no fat content. Reduce nuts and eggs as they have a high level of fat within them.Meet should be lean cut.

Milk and cheese are too good sources of protein - high in calcium . But like eggs and nuts have high fat content. To enjoy a high level of dairy in a health diet - use semi skimmed milk or milk with 1% fat ratio. Law fat yogurts and cheese if possible and cottage cheese. I love this stuff and you can eat buckets of it !!

Vitamins and Minerals = Miracle workers

GO! GO! GO!  the smallest amount of calories and the main  responsibility for the health complexion , Releasing the energy efficiently, reducing stoke and heart attack.

Five a day is all it takes to see the benefits. A banana , apple , orange or similar size piece of fruit accounts for your one a day. Things such as grapes could be the same size as one portion for example 5 - 7 cherry tomatoes =  A portion.

Fats or Sugars = naughty but nice

These are what makes us pile the weight on ( providing we do not burn them off!) Chocolate, Cakes , chips, burgers, sausages, bacon etc. All the guilty pleasure foods. These are known as saturated fats. This is also responsible for heart disease on obesity through out our world.

Some people eat the fat from bacon or use lard to cook with. Here you are simply adding 100% fat which will store immediately. Our body uses energy systems are first being carbohydrates.

Use low cooking fats or spreads when cooking. That's one less thing to add to your calorie diary.