Sunday 31 May 2015

What I eat in Day (Round 2)

Hello Lovelies,
Today’s blog post will be another “What I eat in a day” post as there was positive feedback from the last one I did. Plus I like reading other people’s food diaries too. So let’s get right into it.
Before I start I should say that I never show anything I drink because I only drink water really, maybe a tea from time to time but generally I drink 2-3 liters of water a day. On a bad day just 2 liters and on a really good day I am probably just about getting in 3 liters.
So first of BREAKFAST!
Two scrambled eggs with fresh spinach, a piece of rye bread with low-fat cream cheese and some tomatoes.
Pretty simple, but delicious.

POST-WORKOUT SNACK
Then followed a mid-morning workout with my mum (I believe this day was legday yay) followed by a post-workout snack. I can’t really be bothered to use protein anymore. I do from time to time and don’t think protein powder is “bad” but I rather stick to “real” food. So our post-workout snack was 100g low-fat natural yogurt with mixed berries.

Next up was LUNCH!
We all made our own wraps for lunch this day. Yay for finger food. Mine was a whole grain wrap with mustard, turkey slices, fresh spinach leaves, red pepper, tomatoes and some feta cheese on top.  I then I attempted to roll it into one of those pretty looking wraps – let’s just say thank god I took a picture before I rolled it because after wasn’t so pretty.

AFTERNOON SNACK ATTACK
At around 4.30pm I was feeling pretty hungry so I thought why not make some oatmeal. Breakfast works at any time of the day. I added a banana and cinnamon to my oatmeal this day and it was delicious, kinda tasted like banana bread. And because a lot of you ask (well there is always someone) I used 1dl oats, 1dl almond milk and 1dl water to cook my oatmeal.

Finally DINNER
To end the whole day we had a family meal all together which consisted of beef steaks, brown rice and steamed vegetables.
 All in all, a successful day of eating I would say!

I hope this post is useful for some of you and you can use it as a point of reference. Or maybe you are just curious to see what I eat. OR you don’t care at all.
Let me know in the comments below and have a fantastic day!
Love,

Wednesday 27 May 2015

London Food Adventures

Hello lovelies,
So a week and a bit ago I spent a long weekend in London and I love it! I had missed London so much, and it was just an all-round wonderful time. I met up with friends, it was sunny, I went shopping, had desperately needed catch ups and enjoyed some delicious food. Now because I don't want to bore you with too much personal talk, I thought I would share the amazing places I wined & dined at instead. A breakfast-, lunch-, juice-, cupcake- and drinks-place is what I have to offer for you in this post!

So let's start with Breakfast.
Sunday morning I met up with my good friend Alison for Breakfast in Covent Garden at this place called Le Pain Quotidien. We were both late, because that’s what happens when the tube in London goes on strike. But once we finally both got there nearly half an hour late we had a lovely little table in the SUN. I know London and sun? Crazy. It was finally time for food. The menu is filled with loads of different breakfast options, from waffles to porridge, eggs and croissants - when it comes to breakfast, this was a good breakfast menu. I ended up going for scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and a side of fruit salad. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I hear the coffee is delicious too, I believe Alison can confirm. We spend a few hours eating, chatting and letting London wake up around us in the sun. It was fantastic.

Next up is Lunch.
Friday Lunch was spent with my best friend, Caro. We met in Switzerland but she now lives half way across the world in Vancouver. And because she missed this specific place we used to go to in Zurich, we just went to it in London instead. It's called Tibits by Hiltl and is located just off Regents Street in the Regent Street Food Quarter. It's a vegetarian place, and I know what you're thinking.. vegetarian really? So just salads and stuff?! NO this place has made it its mission to re-define vegetarian food and the result is delicious. I think there is a menu to order from but we always get the buffet. I mean who doesn't love a buffet? From hummus and guca, to pasta salads and spicy curries they have loads of delicious vegetarian creations and you just pile it all up on your plate and pay by weight. (For any Swiss people reading this, its soo much cheaper in London, worth it ;)) We even went back for dessert and enjoyed a delicious passion fruit cheesecake which was divine.

 

Next up a little Juice stop.
After walking around London shopping for hours we popped into this magical place called Kingly Court. It's a hidden food court just off Carnaby Street and when you walk in it does feel a little magical because it's so unexpected. Within this court there are loads of delicious food places but the one I was heading for was the Detox Kitchen. The Detox Kitchen in Kingly Court is just a little deli, which is perfect to just pop in and pick up a juice. Which is exactly what I did. I got a Cocao Almond drink which was delicious and perfect to keep us going for a bit longer. As we were really heading to another wonderful place further into Soho.


Next stop Cupcakes.
The place we were heading for was Hummingbird Bakery in Soho. This bakery is famous for their divine cupcakes but they also make incredible cakes and other sweet treats. We we're there on a Friday which meant I could use a thing I had read on another blog. I had read that there is a secret passcode and that if you used it you could get a second cupcake free. I told Caro about this and I am pretty sure she thought I was a little crazy but I mean it was Friday we were there I had to try right? I chose a red velvet cupcake went to the checkout and said the code 'Treat a Friend' and got a second red velvet cupcake for free!  IT WORKED. This works every Friday in any of the London Hummingbird Bakery shops - you're welcome ;) We enjoyed our delicious red velvet cupcakes on a little patch of green in London, Soho Square.

Last but not least, Drinks.
Saturday evening I was meeting my lovely friend Kirstie and her sister, Natalie for drinks. We decided to meet at Covent Garden 'early' so that we would still find a place to enjoy a drink, so we met up at 6pm. Which was way too late. It had been a sunny Saturday and people must have started day drinking at noon because all the bars and restaurants were exploding in Covent Garden. We walked around a little and were actually heading to a different place when we saw Mabel's Covent Garden with a free table in the window. The table was reserved but the time on it was an hour ago, which meant we could have it - lucky us. The cocktail menu was filled with loads of exciting drinks and we ended up going for two round because there were just too many cool sounding drinks to choose from. The first round I had a Rum Punch and the second round I had a Strawberry & Rhubarb Cosmopolitan which was delicious - highly recommended. And the whole atmosphere in this bar was fantastic even though we had just stumbled in without knowing the place at all. It's definitely one to keep in mind, Mabel's Covent Garden.

And that my lovely friends is it. I hope I didn't bore you too much, and I promise you there will be a new recipe, workout or food diary very soon. ;)
Have you ever been to London? If so comment with your favourite place to eat in London! I would love to know.
Love,

Monday 25 May 2015

Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hello there,
A week or two ago I wanted to try to make healthy chocolate chip muffins. I just kinda threw together some ingredients and it really worked! Instantly I thought I had to blog this recipe for you because I think you’ll really enjoy these. I then realized I hadn’t really measured any of the ingredients so I had to try to figure out how I had made them work so well. I re-made them yesterday and I think the second time round they are even better!

All you will need (for 9 muffins):
2 eggs
100g oats flour (could substitute with other healthy flour)
50g ground almonds
100g unsweetened apple sauce
1tsp vanilla extract (and a little more if you like it really vanilla-ry)
1 tbsp of coconut oil
100g dark chocolate (I used 81% from Lidl)
Roughly 5 tbsp of agave syrup (could substitute with honey or other liquid sweetener)


Process:
Pre-heat your oven at 180 degrees C.

Combined eggs and sweetener in a bowl and whisk some air into them. 

Add the vanilla extract, apple sauce and coconut oil and whisk again. At this point you can stick your finger in and see if you think it needs some more sweetener.
Combined the dry ingredients in another bowl: oat flour, ground almonds and baking powder, then slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until it looks like a smooth dough.
 
Chop your chocolate into chocolate chip chunks and then add them to the dough mixture. 100g is a lot of chocolate but I like to making sure there are a lot of chunks in each muffin.

Place muffin cups on a baking tray and add the dough evenly in to all 9 muffin shapes.
Bake for roughly 15 minutes.

TADAAAA that’s it, you’ve just made delicious healthy muffins. Enjoy them while they are still a little warm as that is when the chocolate is slightly melted.


Give this recipe a try if you like the sound of it and don’t forget to use the hashtag #debbieariella when you upload your delicious creations.
Wishing you a wonderful bank holiday Monday!
Love,

Wednesday 20 May 2015

Why Potatoes are NOT the enemy

Hello lovelies,
Today I wanted to talk about something a little different; Potatoes.
On the weekend I met up with my lovely friend Kirstie (@kirstie290) and she was telling me how she has been really good lately with cutting out those nasty processed carbs (white carbs). She was saying how she hadn’t had any bread or potatoes in weeks. This little comment got me thinking (thanks Kirstie!). Potatoes have a really bad reputation even though they are NOT a white “bad” carb. Yes they are a white vegetable but so is cauliflower and it doesn’t get any bad rep for making you fat.

So let me try to clear up some of those rumors that give Potatoes a bad name in the diet industry.

First of carbohydrates are not all bad. Carbs are actually the primary fuel our bodies burn to let us be active. Plus it’s the ONLY fuel source used by our brains. So if you skip all your carbs your brain won’t have anything to work with.
 Having said that, there are some carbs that will add inches to your waist faster than others. These are often known as “bad” carbs, white carbs or just simple carbs. The reason these carbs are not as healthy for you, is because they have been processed. All the good stuff has been taken out and loads of additives have been added to make them last longer. Also their simple structure (hence the name simple carbs) makes it easier for your body to break them down. This might seem like an advantage at first, but it really isn’t. This means your blood sugar levels spike and fall again giving you those nasty sugar cravings. AND as if that wasn’t enough, simple carbs will not keep you as satisfied meaning you’ll eat more of them to try to feel satisfied.
 An example of these carbs are white bread, white rice, white pasta, baked good etc.
Now let’s compare some of those with our lovely Potatoes.

Potatoes per 100g           White Rice per 100g        White Pasta per 100g     White Bread per 100g
 Calories 77                      Calories 130                     Calories 371                   Calories 361
Fat 0.1g                           Fat 0.3g                             Fat 1.5g                          Fat 1.7g
Carbs 17g                        Carbs 28g                         Carbs 75g                       Carbs 73g
Protein 2g                        Protein 2.7g                      Protein 13g                     Protein 13g 

I know it’s a lot of number but I will try to explain them. Firstly all these amounts are based on 100g of the food. This does not mean that 100g is the portion size or anything, but 100g is often the amount used to compare different foods and their nutritional value. The main numbers you want to compare above are the Carbs and the calories. All of these products are relatively low in both fat and protein which is why they are known as ‘carbs’. (Little side note, the reason the pasta and bread are higher in protein is because they are made with eggs, which are a form of protein).
As you can see the potatoes are MUCH lower in calories and carbs compared to their fellow white carbohydrates. This means you could eat nearly twice the amount of potatoes compared to rice and nearly three times as much potato than pasta or bread. How amazing is that?

However, before you go adding potatoes to every meal of yours there is one thing you need to be aware of when it comes to potatoes. It’s all about HOW they are prepared. Because deep frying them, adding cream and mashing them or adding loads of cheese and baking them won’t make them any healthier than the above bad carbs.

Try cutting them into wedges and baking them with loads of spices and a bit of olive oil. Or boil them, let them cool and make a little potato salad with some oil olive and mustard. Or make mash potatoes and add a little low fat milk or water if you think it needs some liquid.

I think I have written enough about potatoes for one day. I hope this was a little eye opener for some of you and that maybe next time you won’t skip your potatoes.
Do you like potatoes? And most importantly HOW do you like your potatoes?
Let me know in the comments below ;)
Love,

Sunday 17 May 2015

Very Berry Breakfast Smoothie

Hello lovelies,
I thought I would share a breakfast smoothie I like to make in the morning, especially in the summer.
It’s a very berry smoothie made from raspberries & blueberries!
It’s vegan, super refreshing and filled with complex carbs which will keep you full for long. I find this is one of the most important aspects of a breakfast. So let’s get right into it!

All you will need:
1 frozen banana (freeze without the peal)
2 Handful of raspberries
 2 Handful of blueberries
Half a glass of almond milk (any other milk of your choice)
Half a glass of cold water (maybe a little less)
3 tbsp of oats
Blend all the ingredients in a blender and voila you’ve got yourself a delicious very berry breakfast smoothie!
Do you enjoy smoothies? Which are your favourite? Let me know in the comments below!
And don’t forget to use the hashtag #debbieariella if you recreate this smoothie so I can see all your delicious creations J
Have a wonderful day.
Love,