We have no-nonsense recipes to help you lose 10 pounds in two weeks that includes tucking into your favourite Indian dish
We share nutritionist Fiona Kirk's guide to the Fast Lane Diet that doesn't involve starving yourself on fruit juices or restricting your meals to boring salads
CURRIES rarely feature in today’s popular faddy diets.
But no-nonsense nutritionist Fiona Kirk promises that tucking into your favourite Indian dish can help you lose an incredible TEN POUNDS in just TWO WEEKS.
Today, The Sun on Sunday brings you Fiona’s guide to the Fast Lane Diet, a sensible and practical method for getting the figure you want.
There is no starving yourself on fruit juices or restricting your evening meals to salad.
Instead, Fiona, right, recommends a hearty breakfast, getting out of the house and work and making good decisions about what you eat during the day.
She even encourages you to “love your curries” as they help burn calories, and enjoy healthy fats such as cheese, cream and peanuts.
Sharing some of her delicious recipes from her new book exclusively with you, Fiona said: “Changing your diet and lifestyle will not only help you lose fat on a daily basis, it will also give you more energy and a sharper brain. And you can make a monumental difference in just 14 days.
“It is important to replace sugary cereals with a protein-rich breakfast as this will help you avoid snacking before lunchtime.
“If you do feel the need for something, I recommend fruit or yoghurt instead of crisps and fizzy drinks.
“It’s also vital that you get out and exercise on a regular basis, drink lots of water and get plenty of sleep at night.
“If Sun on Sunday readers follow my advice they can look forward to being a great deal happier with what they see in the mirror in record time.”
Here, Fiona reveals her top ten diet tips and guides you through five yummy recipes. You should seek professional advice before changing your diet or exercise regime.
Lentil and bean salad
IN A BOWL, MIX TOGETHER:
50g cooked puy lentils
50g tinned kidney beans
20g natural cottage cheese
20g raisins; 10g dried apricots, chopped
10g fresh cashew nuts, chopped
½ tbsp top quality mayonnaise
½ tbsp natural yoghurt
A dash of lime juice and pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Serve on a bunch of crisp watercress.
Light chicken broth
THERE is not much I can say about this chicken soup other than that it feeds much, much more than the soul.
My best friend and trusted soup guru, Jean, threw this one together one evening when she had a few chicken thighs that were nearing their use-by date and the rest is now history.
Trust me, you could live on this soup for two weeks and never get bored with it.
YOU NEED:
2 chicken thighs, skin on
1 tbsp olive or avocado oil
2 stalks celery, peeled and finely sliced
1 small onion, peeled and finely sliced
1 small carrot, peeled and finely diced
600ml chicken stock
40g brown rice
1 tsp horseradish sauce
Generous bunch of parsley, stalks removed and leaves very finely chopped
Sea salt and black pepper
METHOD: Roast the chicken pieces in a medium to hot oven until the skins are crisp and the flesh is cooked through while you make the soup.
Warm the oil in a soup pot, add the celery, onion and carrot and sauté gently until the vegetables are tender (about 15 minutes).
Add the stock and bring slowly to the boil. Reduce the heat, add the rice and simmer, covered until the rice is cooked (around 20 minutes).
Skin the chicken pieces and shred/chop the flesh before adding to the soup with the horseradish sauce and parsley.
Stir well and season to taste.
TIP: As rice soaks up a lot of liquid, you will probably have to add more stock or water to achieve the light, brothy experience if you are not supping this soup immediately and have refrigerated or frozen it for future use.
Fiona's top 10 tips for a healthier you
- Go to work on an egg – the high protein and fat content of eggs fills us up for longer than a starch-rich early morning meal and makes saying “no” to mid-morning sugary snacks a breeze.
- Snack on nuts, seeds and fruit – just one handful of nuts and seeds plus one piece of fruit offers an impressive arsenal of vitamins, minerals and plant chemicals that keep blood sugar levels under control, energy levels high and encourage the fat-burning enzymes to get to work.
- Drink water before meals and snacks – a large glass around 20 minutes before we eat puts the brakes on hunger so we eat less at one sitting.
- Bin fizzy diet drinks – artificial sugars enhance activity within the brain’s “pleasure centre” and promote sugar cravings, so lose them. If you want a bit of fizz, go for juices or smoothies topped up with sparkling water and the odd glass of extra-dry champagne, prosecco or cava – it’s almost sugar-free.
- Lunch on lentils and beans – the kind of starch provided by these nourishing little gems creates what is known as a “second meal effect”, where blood sugar levels remain steady for hours afterwards, prompting us to eat less at our next meal and cut down on daily calorie consumption.
- Add a little fabulous fat – fats don’t make us sick and fat, they boost our health, balance our hormones, sharpen our brain, keep our bones strong, fill us up, prompt the release of stored body fat and pack a delicious punch. Try fish, butter, cream and cheese, plus nut and seed oils.
- Love your curries – spices and pungent herbs increase body heat, turn up the pace at which we burn calories and keep the weight-controlling hormones working with us, rather than against us.
- Make coffee count – caffeine raises our metabolic rate and drives the body to use more stored fat to generate energy (particularly before early morning exercise) so whenever possible, have a small, dark, rich cup of coffee (no milk or sugar) first thing then exercise outdoors for 30 to 45 minutes.
- Get more sleep – less than seven to eight hours of restful sleep per night has been shown over time to set the stage for hormone imbalances which compromise weight loss. So for as many nights as you possibly can, have a hot bath or shower and get to bed 60 to 90 minutes earlier than usual. Don’t watch TV, check emails or catch up with your Facebook friends – make the bedroom as dark and as quiet as possible and make sleep a priority.
- Top up your vitamin D – ongoing vitamin D deficiency increases the possibility of insulin resistance, weight gain and a greater risk of type 2 diabetes. The best way to ensure good levels is to regularly get outdoors in sunlight between 11am and 2pm. So get out there whenever the weather and work allows and/or consider a supplement.
Stuffed avocado
HALVE, stone and scoop the flesh out of a small avocado, dice and place in a bowl. Mix with one of the following combinations, season and put the lot back in the avocado shells . . .
Fresh prawns or crabmeat, sliced radish, chopped tomato, natural yoghurt and toasted pine nuts.
Tinned salmon, chopped boiled egg, sliced mixed olives, sliced cucumber, natural yoghurt, lemon juice and smoked paprika powder.
Cottage cheese, grated courgette, grated apple, mango chutney and toasted flaked almonds.
Chicken, chickpea and aubergine curry
YOU can make this as spicy or as mild as you like. The almond and coconut milk makes for a particularly tasty curry and I urge you to make the salsa if you have time.
YOU NEED:
1 ripe mango, peeled, stoned and diced
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp finely chopped mint
Sea salt
Fresh lemon juice
500ml unsweetened almond milk
400ml can coconut milk
200g white basmati rice
Fresh ginger, peeled and grated or minced
1 tbsp light olive oil
450g fresh, skinless chicken breasts cut into chunks
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 large or 2 small aubergines, wiped and cut into chunks
225g button mushrooms, cleaned and halved
6-8 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed
2 tsp curry powder
2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
½ tsp chilli flakes
2 tbsp no-added-sugar almond butter
240g tin chickpeas, drained
2 good handfuls of roughly chopped coriander leaves
2 good handfuls of roughly chopped basil leaves
METHOD: (For the salsa) Mix the mango, sugar, mint, a pinch of salt and a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice in a bowl, cover and set aside.
(For the rice) Pour 240ml of the almond milk and slightly less than half of the coconut milk in a medium-sized pan, bring just to the boil and turn the heat to the lowest possible setting.
Add the rice, a good pinch of salt and 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger.
Stir well, cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and cook for ten minutes then turn the heat off and let the rice sit for another 20 minutes – don’t remove the lid at any stage.
(For the curry) Warm the olive oil in a large, shallow pan and sauté the chicken pieces until lightly browned and just cooked through, before removing them to a dish and setting aside.
Add the coconut oil to the pan, warm through then sauté the aubergine, mushrooms, tomatoes, 2 tsp grated fresh ginger and garlic over medium heat for five to ten minutes.
Return the chicken and its juices to the pan and continue to sauté for another few minutes, stirring carefully so as not to break up the vegetables.
Mix the curry powder, Thai curry paste, chilli flakes and almond butter into a cupful of the remaining almond milk and coconut milk and stir well until very smooth.
Add this mix to the pan followed by the chickpeas.
Stir well, bring slowly to the boil then turn the heat to low and simmer for five minutes or until your rice is cooked and you are almost ready to serve.
Just before serving, add the basil and coriander to the curry and stir, remove the lid from the rice and fork through to separate the grains.
Serve with the salsa. Good quality mango chutney also works well.
TIP: Swap the chicken for veal, turkey, lean lamb, firm white fish, fresh prawns or tofu.
Fresh fruit with crunchy yoghurt
WHEN you choose this as your first meal of the day, it is going to deliver an excellent balance of protein, fat and carbohydrate, make your tastebuds sing and keep you firing on all cylinders until lunchtime.
YOU NEED:
Grains and flaked grains of choice (oats, millet, spelt, quinoa, buckwheat, rye etc)
Nuts and seeds of choice
Manuka honey
Natural dairy or non-dairy yoghurt
Fruits of choice
Powdered cinnamon or grated nutmeg
METHOD: If you are making your own crunchy mix, preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2-3.
Mix your chosen grains, nuts and seeds in a bowl, add a couple of tablespoons of runny honey and stir well until everything is coated.
Transfer the mix to a shallow baking tray and roast in the oven for five minutes.
Remove from the oven, give the whole lot a good stir with a fork and return to the oven for another five minutes.
Remove from the oven and let the mix cool completely before transferring to an airtight container.
To serve, stir a couple of tablespoons of your homemade or ready-prepared crunchy mix into three or four tablespoons of yoghurt.
Next, layer it into a bowl, glass or transportable container with whole, sliced or diced fruit and top with powdered cinnamon or grated nutmeg.
- Fiona Kirk’s New 2 Weeks In The Fast Lane Diet is available in paperback (£7.19), eBook (£4.99) and as an interactive iBook (£6.99). See .
