How to eat well for your energy and mood
It’s easy for healthy eating to fall by the wayside when you’re not following your usual routine. Having a few healthy recipes to hand can stop you reaching for the biscuit barrel. Melanie Leyshon shares quick and easy options.
You’ll survive but won’t thrive on a daily diet of sausages, beans and oven chips, highly processed ready meals and Hobnobs. To improve energy levels and mood, you need quick and easy healthy recipes at your fingertips. As the former editor of Healthy Food Guide magazine, I tried hundreds of nutritious, tasty recipes and these are a few that I make time and time again…
BREAKFAST
Start the day with a 300-350 calorie breakfast and you’ll keep going to lunchtime, with just a light mid-morning snack. A bowl of porridge or two Weetabix and a banana are great, but overnight oats, known as Bircher muesli made with oats, fruit and yogurt is a top choice, with no messy porridge pan to wash up.
TRY OVERNIGHT OATS The night before soak 80g porridge oats with a small carton of apple juice, add ground cinnamon to taste and stir in one coarsely grated apple and a tablespoon or two of natural yogurt. Tip into a sealed container and put in the fridge. The following morning, serve with more natural yogurt, sweetened with honey and topped with berries or your favourite fruit. (Serves 2) Or try this bircher (https://www.lovefreshberries.co.uk/recipes/blueberry-bircher-muesli/) with blueberries and nuts, from the Love Fresh Berries website.
HEALTHY SNACKS
Two of our 5-a-day, which is the minimum recommended intake, should be fruit portions. While an apple, banana or pear are perfect, mix it up by having mixed berries or canned fruits. One portion of fresh fruits is 80g and for dried fruits it’s 30g. That’s around 7 fresh strawberries or 2 canned peach halves. Also, keep supplies of frozen red grapes to eat straight from the freezer and energy balls made from dried fruits in the fridge.
EASY ENERGY BALLS This Healthy Food Guide recipe makes 24 balls, which are gluten and dairy free and are only 94 calories each. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper. In a food processor whizz 500g soft pitted dates, 100g cocoa powder and 75g desiccated coconut for 2-3 min. Add 2 tablespoons hot water and whizz again until the mixture comes together. Make small balls about the size of gobstoppers with your hands (can be sticky, so wet your hands). Put 25g desiccated coconut into a bowl and roll each ball to coat. Chill on the baking tray for 20 min. These energy balls keep in the fridge for up to four weeks.
HEALTHY LUNCH
Instead of the normal sandwich you’d get at work, make an open sandwich. Go wholegrain for the toast to boost the fibre and top with a protein and salad ingredients. Mashed avocado with lime, chilli flakes and chopped fresh coriander is a simple but smart choice.
OPEN TUNA SANDWICH In a bowl mash up a can of tuna with a small avocado and a little spring onion and stir in 3 tablespoons natural yogurt, lemon juice and chilli flakes to taste. Use this to top two slices of wholegrain toast and finish with rocket leaves, if you like. This open sandwich is around 321 calories a slice. This Martha Stewart recipe with tuna and capers is another favourite https://www.marthastewart.com/313596/open-faced-tuna-sandwich
LEANER FAST FOOD SUPPER
Making your own burger is a breeze and why not make your coleslaw, too. Buy the leanest mince to keep the fat down and serve with oven-baked sweet potato wedges, which count towards your 5-a-day unlike normal potato fries. Simply cut into wedges, brush with vegetable oil and bake at 180C/Gas 6 for 25 min.
MOROCCAN LAMB BURGERS I’ve made this Healthy Food Guide burger so many times. In a bowl mix together 500g lean lamb mince, 2 teaspoons harissa paste, 2 beaten eggs, 25g dried breadcrumbs and 2 tablespoons chopped mint and shape into four burgers (they freeze uncooked). Make a coleslaw with 1 small sliced red onion, 2 grated carrots and 125g natural yogurt and the zest of one orange and 3 tablespoons juice. Cook the burgers in a frying pan or barbecue for 8-10 min, turning once, until cooked through. Serve the burgers, topped with spoonfuls of the coleslaw, in buns, adding rocket or lettuce. Each serving of burger is 560 calories. If serving with potato wedges, add 190 calories per 200g portion. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/293296994484336993/
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