Fat to Fit- Intermittent Fasting, My Foot!!

Its amazing when u eat all you crave, drink like a fish, and yet see fat melting out. That is the feeling that I want returned to me. Who wouldn’t, tell me? Am sure most of you are reading me right now, looking for exactly that. Even if I can not tell you how this would return back to us, especially us in the 30s, I can tell you how it won’t. It wont return with Intermittent Fasting for sure.

As I had mentioned in the earlier article, I braved the meal plan for 5 days. I lost a kg, yes. And then I lost another trying to nurse myself back to being me. And that next week wasn’t all that fun. What happened was that I was acutely gaseous and developed gastric indigestion, wherein my body kind of repelled food. I have not been prone to stomach gas or flu in the past, so it was extremely uncomfortable, and more so as the week after, I had planned a vacation to Goa. So, in my current lifestyle, wherein I wake up early and sleep by 10.30 pm, I couldn’t follow the meal plan of skipping breakfast. When I was in college, I used to most of the days, skip breakfast, and my body metabolised it very nicely; but now it’s a decade older, and used to the pattern of smaller meals in the day. No point trying to change its rhythm with newer discoveries of the day. Stick to the basic, is all my advice going to be.

So, once again, lets try what we had done earlier on! Simple meal plan with fewer, smaller meals. This week its gonna be this-

Early morning – 500 ml lukewarm water followed with a bowl full of fresh fruits.

A cup of black coffee

Intense activity                 (exercise)

Breakfast- a healthy combination of whole carbs with vegetables/egg. Eg-1 whole wheat veg sandwich or a roti-egg roll or oats upma with a lot of veggies and curd.

Mid-morning- Green tea with a healthy snack. Eg- 1 cream cracker biscuit or roasted chana or 5 pcs of soaked almond.  

Lunch- would be a good mix of vegetables (cooked and/or raw) with whole carbohydrates. Eg- salad with ‘1 or 2 roti or boiled daliya’ and 1 - 2 bowl veg with 1/2 bowl curd/dal. If I choose to eat non veg, then I will cancel the carb and take 100 gms chicken/fish with 1-2 katori veg and salad.

Evening- earl grey tea with 2 cream cracker biscuits or green tea with a small bowl roasted channa

Dinner- same as lunch just that I will try to go skimpy on the carbs. Eg-1 wheat chapatti with 1 or 2 bowl veg and Salad; or 50gms chicken/ fish with 1 or 2 bowl veg and salad.

Bedtime if hungry- 1 cup toned milk.

So I am aiming at following this diet for the next two weeks. It’s doable, in fact very easy too. And I have done it earlier last year to have some great results!

So here is a compilation of all my lip smacking snacks, that I could eat for breakfast or evening tea.

Protein rich stuffed Dhokla- http://antaras-zouqh.blogspot.in/2012/05/fast-furious-and-simple-sandwiched.html

Old fashioned yeasted Dhokla- http://antaras-zouqh.blogspot.in/2014/11/dhokla-old-fashioned-way.html

And one of the best- steamed idly with this sambhar chutney- http://antaras-zouqh.blogspot.in/2017/02/sambhar-in-chutney.html

This time, I would surely catch up next week with you guys, because with this meal plan, I can’t, not have the desired result as I seek.

Cheers!!

Skinny Nutty Laddus!!

Clean & Deliciously tackling the festival calories, with Skinny Laddus.

Holi is right around the corner. And I am determined to show you a way to enjoy this festival of colours in the cleanest and purest form ever. By no means am I going to tell you to not play colours with your near and dear ones. But why not colour this season yellow with turmeric powder. For a geela surprise, stain your friend a deep crimson with fresh beetroot grated. I can go on and on about these clean procedures, but it's food that’s on my mind, and it food I want to write about.

Festivals in India are deliciously decadent. Every corner of this big country has a delicacy especially made for Holi. Neighbours take packets of mithai and visit your apartment. You too have to return the favour. But how about if you can add a healthy twist to this favour? What if you tell people, especially the ones who are struggling with weight issues that they can have this laddu without worrying about calories? Won’t there be a perfect smile on their face, a big thank you to your soul? Just to take that pleasureful thought in, I devised this healthy, yet decadent homemade sweet, that I lovingly named Skinny Nutty Laddus. It’s the technique that is important, and not substitution of ingredients. As I told you earlier, I am not a big fan of counting calories, but a bigger fan of devising such techniques that eliminate calories with ingenious processes. These laddus are made of real ghee/butter, nuts, sugar and condensed milk. It’s made of pure substances, yet you would see how I take out calories off the final product by following simple steps. I am doing all this to just make you understand that going sugar free doesn’t mean to start using chemicalized sweeteners. Ghee and butter are not your enemies. But if you can follow moderation, then enjoy these pleasureful decadence. After all we live just 1 life.

Before I get in with the recipe, let me jot down a few pointers about 3 basic ingredients I have used in this recipe. This would allow you to understand this revolutionary recipe, a bit better. :-P

• First on the list had to be besan or chickpea flour. This is a flour made out of garbanzo/chickpea which is notoriously lumpy in nature. It is actually a good source of plant based protein, and contains a fair amount of minerals and fibres. The sifting process does eliminate some fibres off the recipe, but hey- this is still much healthier than a piece of cake, frosted or not. Now this flour has a tendency of soaking in a lot of liquid. Like the ghee it soaked up in the video below. But if you can cook it to the right temperature and provide another source of liquid in that temperature, it would render out that ghee that it soaked earlier. So now you know, it is one of the best flours to use in a skinny recipe like this. And after the condensed milk was added, it rendered out a considerable amount of fat off itself.

• Nut butters are the second most important ingredient. It’s the good fat in the nut which emulsifies with the fibres and create nut butter. Mostly, you can make walnut and cashewnut butters without adding any additional fat as these nuts are full of essential oils. In the recipe I have used half of walnut and other half of peanut butter. Walnuts are bitter, so decide on your own combination of nut butters. But having said that, walnuts are undoubtedly the healthiest nut of the family. So choose wisely.

• Condensed milk too makes to the list. I used Amul’s tinned condensed milk. This article hasn’t been sponsored by amul at all, but I still mentioned the company’s name as it is one of the cleanest products on shelf. The ingredient list contains just 2 things, milk solids and sugar. And you just need these 2 for the recipe. Also the little tin of 200 gms, is easy to open and can be recycled. So it’s a win win for me.

Enough of gyaan. Hopefully you all feel much enlightened. Now to the recipe---

A step by step tutorial is uploaded on my channel in YOUTUBE. Do click here to see!

Ingredients

1 and ¼ cups of Chickpea Flour or Besan

2 Tbsp of ghee

2 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter

¼ cups of Walnuts butter

¼ cups of Peanut butter

¼ tsp of Cardamom Powder

A pinch of salt

200 gms tin of Sweetened Condensed Milk

Step by step tutorial is uploaded on my channel in YOUTUBE. Do click here to see!

Cheers!!

LLWT-4 Tackling Festival Calories

Let’s Lose Weight Together Part 4 (LLWT-4)

Apologies are expected. I write after about 2 months while on the quest to complete a series of articles titled – Lets Loose Weight Together. The delay is unnatural and uncalled for at the same time. But as you read on, you would know the circumstances were such that I was completely zoned out.

As an update to my weight goals, I am 3 kgs lighter than since I started. Now another 3 kgs to go but it would need to wait till next year. I contracted dengue earlier this month, and after a 4 day visit to the hospital and many more days of rest at home, I am very happy in my skin as of now. I have continued eating clean as mentioned at the start of the LLWT series. But this article is aimed at something else entirely. I started writing it in October, to chronicle how to maintain weight during festive season where festive eating is at its height. For all who have not read the earlier posts, I strongly suggest you read and start to slowly incorporate your diet in the sketch I mentioned below. This is the right time for you to start so that the Christmas season with all its buttery goodness leaves a great taste on your palette but no calories on your tummy.

Throughout the Pujo and Diwali season, I possessed high metabolism rate which helped me burn out my cheat luxury effortlessly. This past season, I gorged on everything deep fried, sweet and alcoholic. But still was able to meet you at more or less the same weight as before. I am writing this article today, so that everyone feeling guilty of Diwali gorging can take a few leaves out of this tip jar, and better equip themselves for the coming Christmas- New Year season.

Eating is life for me, so letting go by a day without food is a wastage I can’t really imagine. But at the same time, being fit and healthy ensures that we can eat on our favorite cheat food till time immemorial. My goal is to not get an hourglass figure, but to attain a healthy weight in ratio to my height. By BMI calculation I am in the upper healthy range, and another reduction of 3 kgs will ensure I fall in the right weight to height category. When I started this series of article, I didn’t think I would carry on for so many weeks. But life is such, especially for an entrepreneur. We face delays in every aspect, and learn to live with it for future.

So here are some tips and tricks that I used to get past the post Diwali leftover weeks, with flying colors.

1. Dinners become the most important meals in the festive season. During Durga Pujo, a lot of my friends visited us at pandals to gorge on these yummy Bengali street food. Diwali celebratory parties with innocent card games and yum food were always served for dinners. So eating healthy for dinner is a bit far-fetched at that time. But we can overcome this by going to a party with a full tummy. This way you gorge less of those deep fried starters or farsaan. I have made a habit of having a cream cracker biscuits and/or roasted channa with tea in the evening. These low calorie snacks fill u up for a long time and hence you actually just taste and move on to the next dish effortlessly.
2. Another thing I do most often is to have a cup of vegetable soup before going out to eat. This helps fill me up with nutritious fibers which is good for my body. I always make a batch of vegetable soup by just boiling a collection of vegetable in a pressure cooker with salt and pepper and blend it to fine puree. I add some aromatic herbs at times to make it interesting to the palette.
3. I start each day with a big bowl of freshly cut fruits. This helps in detoxifying my body immensely. The heavy dose of fibers right in the morning cleanses last night’s filth effortlessly, and creates a path for a better nutritious day ahead.

To be honest, I eat very healthy, but I drink very filthy. So if you are anything like me, then these next tips would help you even better. It did to me, and being honest about this helped me curb my drinking from almost alternate days to once or twice a week only, that too alternate weeks at times. And that my friends, I feel is a triumph of a sort.

1. Make it a rule to never indulge in fried snack while drinking. This helps a lot. Alcohol makes you hungry. The best way forward is to enjoy a drink along with your dinner, or have a drink after the dinner. This helps in getting rid of the intense craving to reach for the bag of chips or other naughty snacks.
2. Roasted chana is a tasteless protein based snack. But it is one of the healthiest things to have with a peg of whiskey. Mix it with some salsa and it becomes a Mexican appetizer. Mix it with kuchumber salad, and it becomes an Indian salad. Stick to salads like these that appeal to our taste buds more than anything. A lettuce or sprout salad may not look or feel appetizing with your favorite drink.
3. Try to limit intake of sugary additive to your drinks. It affects the body most. Sugar and alcohol react together to make a concoction of intoxication that really is not good for a human body. Try tonic water with your drinks, but the best is still to go clean with ice and water. Another great substitute is to have flavored water mixed with 30 ml of vodka or gin. Flavored water is nothing but water that is kept in a glass jar overnight with cut fruits and herbs of choice. If you have an orange in the water, then it sweetens the drink greatly. So find a mix that suits you and stick with it for this festive season.
4. I know no one is going to like this one, but really a glass of water needs to go in your body for every peg of drink you take. I have a tip for you on this one. So in a party drink a glass of water before you start drinking. Obviously you are not going to stop at just one drink when it’s your friend’s farewell. So after 2 drinks, drink another glass of water. Do the math, u got 1 glass of water for each drink, and you enjoyed the drinks like u r supposed to as well.
5. Lastly, be prepared that there would be 2 days that you would not be able to exercise. And there would be those days that the table is full of pies and tarts of every sort. Guilt should not be a part of any celebration. Live that day responsibly, work a bit hard the other day by pushing for extra 10 minutes of exercise. Trust me, it works.

I hope these are of some help to you. If you read this far, then do put in a comment to let me know how your season went. I am always more than happy to hear from you guys!

And before I leave, here is a sneak peak of all the holiday baking that should land up on your table this month. i would be sharing 1 recipe each week to pull you through your holiday entertaining with flying colours. Cheers!

HOME-MADE WW BUN WITH PORK AND CHICKEN PATTY, SERVED WITH ARUGULA SALAD.

GARDEN FRESH ZUCCHINI STIR FRIED AND SERVED ALONG BALSAMIC GLAZED ONIONS 

CRISPY POTATOES WITH GARDEN THYME

HOT CROSS BUNS STUFFED WITH MOMS GUAVA JELLY

Depression Vs One Pot Penne, Indianized!!

So now that Indians have agreed on being the most depressed and the most addicted to chocolate, it is time to change that. Change because I feel a chocolate with its dark colour and addictive quality gets me more depressed, and oppressed, and stressed; and all pressed at the same time, every time (hee hee, yes I can’t stop saying this sentence again and again!). I hear you when you say cocoa has power to solve anything and everything, but this wonderfully vibrant pot of pasta have powers bordering supernatural which can cure even a broken heart. And I say so with a lot of conviction because a friend indeed with a broken heart was mended with this very pasta dish. Infact that was the birth of this recipe, a birth I cherish the most after my toddler’s. So this had be the star of the anti-depressant series that we are working on.

Now to talk about the recipe a bit, you will notice that it is quite an Indianized version of our Italian favourite pasta. If we have our own version of spicy Indo-Chinese cuisine, then we rather have a delicious version of Indo-Italian cuisine too. And this my friends, is my ode to the great new cuisine I am giving birth to. The idea is simple; the fusion is made to ensure we use ingredients that are easily available to us in our own kitchens. And obviously, the Indianized version appeals better to our palette. Its fast, it’s easy and its perfect for breakfast, brunch, lunch, snacks and/or dinner. I have kept the recipe completely veg, but if you want a non veg version, just thrown in some bacon or sausages in it.  

A cup more liquid than this!

Ingredients

500 gms Durum/whole wheat pasta

2 small onions sliced

2 medium capsicum

3 big cloves of garlic peeled and chopped

A big pinch of roasted red pepper flakes

A bigger pinch of dried oregano

A handful of coriander leaves chopped

A handful of olives, chopped

3 big tomatoes, puréed

A splash of red wine vinegar

A splash of apple cider vinegar

A splash of balsamic vinegar

A splash of basic tomato ketchup

A splash of extra virgin olive oil

Salt, sugar and pepper to taste

And enough water to submerge the pasta in.

For the Process as to how to make it, Click here- http://www.smartindianwomen.com

More from the series-

• Depression Vs Sandwiched French Toast!!
• Depression Vs Strawberry Oats Bars!!

Social Media & Antara!!

Social media is the only thing that is constant these days. And its a wonderful platform to meet and connect with individuals of similar interest. Now that I am busy writing this series upon depression, these social mediums suddenly gained more importance in my eye than ever. Its actually a great way to meet and interact with new people, controlling all the information that you would like to give or take. Blogging helps too, but Microblogging through your twitter Instagram and Facebook profiles are far easier and better. So, if you havent already, do subscribe onto my profiles to get many foodie updates. Feeling doubtful? Then check what all happened up there while you were not following me (and doubting me.. Sob* Sob*)...

To start with, lets start with this picture where I finished a whole handi of delectable biryani with the serving spoon.... Really I was that hungry!!!

And then the biggest #breakfaststories over a plate of Mushroom and cheese omlette and a potato hash tikki. 

And then the cheesy quesadilla or 

This spicy pickle of Bhut Jhalokia, which very sadly is missing out of my kitchen and I am desperately trying to find another one.... 

So you get the point right? There is a lot happening up there. Do LIKE, SUBSCRIBE and FOLLOW me on -

Twitter- AntaraZandC

Instagram- AntaraZandC

Facebook- Zouqh, the Taste of Being.