So many of you have been asking me for more recipes, things have been very busy (oh never heard that before) but no excuses. Here you have an extremely simple, fast and versatile daytime meal that can be transported and eaten either hot or cold...




First of all let me tell anyone reading this that the best source of chicken for both convenience and nutrition is that from GoldStandard, the ready cooked, steamed chicken breasts they do are really the best option for healthy living (unless you happen to own a free range chicken farm, in which case lucky you!). Unlike supermarket chicken they contain zero preservatives and you can tell straight away that no extra water has been added, I don’t eat any other chicken myself and urge all my clients to do the same. You can buy them online directly for the GoldStandard website.


Secondly I’m all about convenience, although the title here makes it seem as if we’re creating a delicate, fine-dining experience – it literally takes 3 minutes to prepare (yes I am serious).


 Shopping list: Chicken breast (GoldStandard recommended), pesto sauce (no added sugar), Quinoa, Chickpeas, Bulgar Wheat & Rice Waitrose Love Life 250g (available from Waitrose, in pre-cooked packets). Note: If you can’t get this exact product you can of course use wholegrain rice or quinoa cooked yourself, even wholemeal pasta, I’m listing this option as it’s just so easy. 
 
Preparation:
Chop your desired amount of chicken breast (for me a portion is 150g), add two teaspoons of pesto sauce and your desired amount of quinoa/rice/bulgar wheat mix (for most of my meals I use 100g which give your roughly 30g of carbohydrates, follow your diet plan to get the right amount of protein and carbohydrates) and mix together.
 
Now for the best part… This meal can either be eaten cold or heated up (microwave for 2 mins). Delicious, healthy, versatile and guilt-free. This recipe is also available in downloadable PDF format in my DIET > RECIPES > DAYTIME section.

JB

Save yourself time and money with GoldStandard
steam cooked chicken
 
When I design diet plans for clients I usually point them in the direction of Iceland or one of the supermarket chains to get ready-cooked chicken. Most people don’t have the time and energy to cook up kilos of chicken multiple times a week (if you do, great – you have more time than most people, enjoy it!). They want something ready-to-go and in this age of instant gratification and limited time, it’s a no-brainer.


I recently tried the new product from GoldStandard nutrition, steam cooked chicken. The chicken comes in individually steamed breasts, skin removed and no E-numbers, preservatives or water
injections. It comes in a 2.5kg pack of frozen, pre-cooked breasts and wait for it, the price…£19.00 for a pack (this drops down to £17.00 if you purchase 4).


I found it difficult to find uncooked chicken for this price, let alone cooked. Simply pop out a few breasts the night before, leave in the fridge and in the morning they are ready to rock. As if this wasn’t enough I can tell you from my own experience (eating a very measured diet, every meal weighed and calculated) that 140g of this stuff will leave you as full as 180g of the supermarket options, which, let’s be honest, are pumped full of water. It’s worth adding this into the equation when calculating the value of this product.


I for one will never go back to Iceland for my chicken and I encourage any of my clients and members of this site to give GoldStandard a try. You will thank me.

Use this link to try them for yourself

When fat loss is your goal the idea is simple: eat less than you use each
day. As a techie this can be easily expressed is an "IF" statement:


IF: ENERGY IN  <  ENERGY OUT, THEN: FAT LOSS


It’s staggeringly simple to follow, if you burn more energy that you get from
the food you eat then you will have to use fat stores to make up the difference.
Now there are a couple of subtleties to this that will help.




1. Don’t go overboard: It’s too easy to get yourself caught in a mind-set
that the more you restrict your calories the faster you will lose fat. It’s not
really that simple, you don’t just burn fat you burn fat and muscle
tissue. It goes without saying that it’s preferable to burn less muscle and more
fat, well if you jump in the deep end and starve yourself you will burn far more
muscle. The rule-of-thumb is to have a calorie deficit of 500 Kcals/Day, but
essentially the smaller your calorie deficit the more proportion of fat in
relation to muscle will be burned. So go slow, don’t starve – it’s a marathon,
not a sprint.


2. Once a week "carb up". This means increasing your intake of carbs so that
you are eating more than you need – just for one day in the week. The logic here
is that by eating a constant calorie deficit you will be causing your body to go
into "starvation mode" meaning elevated levels of cortisol (bad) and a higher
propensity to store fat from food, potential insulin sensitivity and more muscle
loss. By re-feeding once per week you will avoid this scenario. This doesn’t
mean a day filled with ice-cream and alcohol, try and get your extra calories
from clean food!