When you’re stuck indoors, it can be all too easy to let food become your focus. After all, it’s one of life’s little pleasures.
But if you’re looking at self-isolation as a chance to reboot and reset, the last thing you want to do is pile on the pounds. Studies show that making small tweaks rather than big ones is the key to keeping the weight off.
Swapping fruit juice for water, eating raw veg instead of crisps and using smaller plates for your meals, for example, will save hundreds of calories a day and allow you to lose weight without having to make any big sacrifices.
Many of us turn to food in stressful situations, or when we’re bored or sad. Rather than mindlessly reaching for a sweet treat or crisps, try to take a minute to work out whether you’re really hungry, or just after comfort.
When you’re stuck indoors, it can be all too easy to let food become your focus. After all, it’s one of life’s little pleasures
Find something that will distract you. A jigsaw or something like knitting which will engage fingers and brain.
What you think of as being an afternoon stomach pang or feeling of fatigue may be your body’s way of signalling thirst. How can you tell? When you feel hungry, try drinking a glass of water (or another no-calorie drink) and see how you feel ten minutes later.
Crucially, the fact that you’re not able to pop to the shops can work in your favour — if you don’t have snacks in the house, you can’t be tempted.
Instead, plan meals like these with a good amount of fibre and protein to fill you up. Serve with half a plate of vegetables or salad.
Schedule in healthy snacks, too. Try rice cakes with a little peanut butter; carrot, cucumber or celery sticks with salsa or houmous; a few almonds; or some plain popcorn — all of these are better than sugary, fattening comfort food.
Sir Muir Gray is a consultant in public health for the NHS and professor of primary healthcare at Oxford University.
A scrumptious and healthy way to kick-start your day. If you thought porridge was boring, think again
Cinnamon porridge with bananas and nuts
A scrumptious and healthy way to kick-start your day. If you thought porridge was boring, think again! Here’s an easy and nutritious way to jazz up a bowl of oats. Add a few chopped dates or a handful of sultanas for an extra energy boost.
Serves 2
- 75g (3oz) porridge oats
- 400ml (14fl oz) milk
- 1 banana, sliced
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp of chopped nuts (eg. almonds, walnuts or pecans)
1. Mix the oats, milk and half the sliced banana in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and cook for four to five minutes, stirring frequently.
2. Stir in the cinnamon. Serve topped with the nuts and remaining banana.
The creamy ‘nutty’ texture of chickpeas goes perfectly with sardines in this recipe
Baked sardines with tomatoes and chickpeas
The creamy ‘nutty’ texture of the chickpeas goes perfectly with the sardines. If you can get fresh fish, remove the backbones first. Or use two tins of sardines.
Serves 2
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 400g (14oz) tinned chopped tomatoes
- 400g (14oz) tinned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- Handful of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 4 fresh sardines, head and backbone removed
- Zest of ½ lemon
1. Preheat oven to 220c (200c fan, gas mark 7). Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the onion for five minutes. Add the garlic and fry for one minute more, then stir in the tomatoes and the chickpeas.
2. Bring the mixture to the boil and simmer for ten minutes. Stir in half the parsley and season to taste.
3. Tip the sauce into a large ovenproof dish, then arrange the sardines in a layer over the sauce. Drizzle with a little oil.
4. Cook in the oven for 12-15 minutes. Scatter over the lemon zest and remaining parsley. Serve with crusty bread and a leafy green salad.
Super-healthy and adaptable, just add your favourite vegetables to this simple soup — leeks, peas and butternut squash work well
Easy vegetable soup
Super-healthy and adaptable, just add your favourite vegetables to this simple soup — leeks, peas and butternut squash work well.
Serves 2
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 celery sticks
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 potato, peeled and chopped
- 500ml (18fl oz) boiling water
- 1 vegetable stock cube
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a low to medium heat and add the chopped onion, stirring occasionally. Roughly chop the celery sticks into 2cm (¾ in) pieces and add to the onion pan.
2. Add the carrots and potato and cook, stirring occasionally, for another five minutes. Add boiling water and crumble in the stock cube. Stir soup, bring to the boil then turn down and leave to simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Check the seasoning. Ladle into bowls. Top with cheese if you like, and serve with slices of wholemeal bread.
Super-simple and packed with protein, this all-in-one paella dish has endless variations
Kidney bean paella
Super-simple and packed with protein, this all-in-one dish has endless variations. For a vegetarian version, use a tin of red kidney beans —or if you want to make it meaty, use chicken and add mushrooms if you like.
Serves 2
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tsp each of smoked paprika and dried thyme
- 150g (5oz) paella or Arborio/risotto rice
- 1 tin of red kidney beans —or 150g (5oz) chicken fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced
- 125g (4oz) frozen green beans
- 500ml (17fl oz) chicken stock, hot
- 50g (2oz) frozen peas
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 200g (7oz) frozen seafood mix, defrosted in fridge
1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion for
five minutes. Add the garlic, paprika, thyme, rice, beans and pepper, then cook for a few minutes. (If using chicken, lightly brown it.)
2. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Season and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring regularly until the rice is almost tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.
3. Stir in peas, lemon juice and parsley. (And add defrosted seafood mix if you have it). Heat through thoroughly and serve.
A great source of protein and vitamins, minestrone is a wonderful way of combining tomatoes and seasonal vegetables
Frozen fish minestrone
A great source of protein and vitamins, minestrone is a wonderful way of combining tomatoes and seasonal vegetables. Here, we’ve added frozen fish to boost the protein content and make it a more substantial main meal. Use fresh or frozen veg.
Serves 2
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 400g (14oz) tinned chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 500ml (18fl oz) vegetable or fish stock
- 50g (2oz) spaghetti, broken into short lengths
- 200g (7oz) vegetables (eg. celery, leeks, carrots, green beans), chopped
- 150g (5oz) defrosted fish, such as haddock, cut into pieces
- 1 tbsp pesto
1. Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and garlic and cook for five minutes until softened.
2. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, stock, spaghetti and some seasoning and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for five to six minutes. Add the vegetables and fish and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Check seasoning and drizzle with pesto or extra olive oil. Serve with a wholemeal roll.
Using really ripe bananas adds natural sweetness to this delicious bread, and using a little honey means it is lower in sugar than most breads and cakes
Healthy banana bread
Using really ripe bananas adds natural sweetness to this delicious bread, and using a little honey means it is lower in sugar than most breads and cakes. The wholewheat flour and walnuts both add extra fibre and iron to this tasty bake.
Makes 10 slices
- 3 ripe bananas
- 3 tbsp honey
- 125g (4oz) self-raising flour
- 150g (5oz) wholemeal flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 eggs
- 150ml (5fl oz) natural yoghurt
- 50ml (2fl oz) light olive or rapeseed oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 50g (2oz) chopped walnuts
1. Heat the oven to 170c (150c fan, gas mark 3). Line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with baking parchment.
2. Mash the bananas and honey together. Mix the flours, cinnamon and baking powder in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the banana and honey mixture, eggs, yoghurt, oil and vanilla extract. Stir into the dry ingredients along with the walnuts, then spoon the batter into the tin. Bake for between one hour and one hour and 15 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Taken from his guides to living well: Sod Sixty, Sod Seventy, Sod Sitting: Get Moving And Sod It! Eat Well — all published by Bloomsbury (bloomsbury.com) at £12.99. © Muir Gray.
