Fat to Fit- Basics about Intermittent Fasting!

A random picture of my tomato vines!

I don’t much know or care about these ‘they-s’ we always refer to, but they say that in winter you make your summer body. It could be ‘you’ who can agree or disagree, but I am going with it for the simple reason that soon the warming protection of an over the top jacket is going to go, and we would end up with a flabby arm in a sleeveless dress, showing unflatteringly. So here is our ‘Lets Lose Weight Together’ winter series to get you up and tidy for the coming seasons!

Now if someone isn’t familiar with our earlier series, than a link is embossed for you to check it out. That series did pretty well on my blog, and if emails are to be believed, many came forward to tell me how it helped them achieve a good weight. That time, a couple of years ago, natural sciences told us that 2-hour-eating pattern was the healthiest way to life!! But as Darwin stated, evolution happened in the sector of natural sciences; and scientists claim that they have found a better solution of weight loss in the form of intermittent fasting. Now I am as confused as you are, but more and more I read about IF, I become more and more certain that it must be a healthy pattern of eating. Now let’s give it to our ancestors, in the name of religion, they did devise this healthy alternative lifestyle in the way of Ramadan, where you fast for most hours with just a small period of time allotted to feasting. But the non inclusion of water is still a problem, and that gets eliminated in the Intermittent fasting pattern of eating. Similarly, in our Hindu tradition, especially in Bengal, we have ‘uposh’ till the time we offer our prayers to Ma Durga, which is exactly what we do in Intermittent fasting. We fast till 11 am, and then start eating and continue eating till 9 pm. The only way ‘uposh’ is different to our fast is that, we don’t start our day eating deep fried dough and potato curry!

So, I have decided to test this scientifically proven method of eating and write about my journey for the others to get benefited from. I start today, that is the 12^th of February, with a 12 hour fasting to 12 hour eating window. I have always had little meals, which lately weren’t so little which obviously led me to gain a couple of kgs. My idea is to lose just about 3 to 4 kgs, following this way of eating, and then be able to maintain this for the rest of my life! But then again, you never know because losing and gaining weight is so much a part of the recent lifestyle, that we are prisoners of. Yet, I am confident that by Holi, when the sweaters go away, I should not feel too bad about looking in the mirror, especially since I have not exercised seriously since the smog hit Delhi.

My eating pattern would look a lot like so-

Waking up at 6.30 – 7 am to 500 ml of lemon and ginger steeped water.

By 7.30, to have a cup of coffee, that I am not too happy of having on an empty stomach, but really, I cant do with out it anyways. I don’t add any sugar or milk to it.

8 am – a brisk walk for 30 minutes, followed by some fresh veggies shopping for the day. I try to buy things, to be eaten just in that day.

9 am- I will break my fast with a bowl of fruits

By 10, a fibre -rich breakfast

1 pm, a fibre rich balanced lunch which should have all components of nutrition, including carbohydrates.

4 pm – 100 gms of fruits once again

6 pm tea and a handful of roasted Bengal gram, or chana chapta jor garam

8 pm – dinner which will not include carbohydrates, but is large portions of vegetables and lean protein.

By 9 pm, I stop eating, only to have a cup of warm cinnamon water before bed time, about `10.30 types.

By 11, I should snooze!

Now, this is wat I am going to be following, and by no means I am a nutritionist who can try devise meal charts for people apart from family. Yet, if you so wish to follow me on this journey, then please do write in a comment to encourage me to go further up on the road! But before you do, you need to know of these pointers-

• 1.       I do this 12 hour fasting for a week, and then I would gradually increase the time to hit a ratio of 16:8 hours!
• 2.       For the first 2 days, I will have some sort of carbohydrates in the night, and then would I try to eliminate it and see how much I feel hungry the next morning. Again, all this pattern of eating should definitely include my comfort. And so, I will take it as it goes, and write about it the next week.
• 3.       Sugar, I can eliminate, and so I will. But I would continue having some processed stuff, especially wine, because I can’t dine without wine! And no point trying.. HIC! HIC!

So, here you go. Extremely candid confessions made. Now lets see, how we fare on this pattern of eating. Cheers!!

P.S. - no recipes this time.. 

PICNIC 101- Chocolaty Oats and Apples Muffins!

The sky is clean, smells crisp; the westerly winds blow into the face just the way I would have liked. Yes, I stay in the capital of India, and yes, we do get these pristine mornings, sometime. But when we do, I waste no time in getting my feisty handsome foursome out in the sun, feeling the green under his limbs. This is undoubtedly the best time in the year to be in Gurgaon. And no weekend should go without a nice picnic, out in the sun.

Now picnics could be organised in a lot of ways than one. A casual beer and wine with barbecue on the side ought to be my favourite. Followed closely by a cook-earlier-serve-later-kinds. And the potluck, ah that takes the cake! So, the series starting now should keep you covered for each picnic event that you plan with your family and friends. In fact, I would also squeeze in a fantastic romantic brunch for 2, out on the terrace, with sun brimming in. It would be a hassle free, completely cook ahead, yet hot kind of romantic brunch, that could be served with a light champagne cocktail.

But to kickstart the series, here is my go to healthy snack for kids and adults alike. This is perfect to be taken on a long drive out of home. Its filling, yet full of good things which makes sure you are on the track for the new year resolution you so solemnly took. Alternately, if you have leftovers, you can simply pack it in the tiffin boxes for your kids to take to school, during the week. It is my very tried and tested recipe for some chocolaty apple and oat muffins. This much of ingredients make 12 big muffins.

INGREDIENTS

2 apples, peeled and sliced

1 cup of oats

1 egg

¼ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup curd, homemade works well

½ cup honey

2 tbsp. of your favourite jam, I used homemade strawberryjam that I made last year. Read about it by clicking here!

½ cup hot water

¼ cup cocoa powder

Vanilla extract

Salt

¼ cup sugar

2 tbsp vinegar

Upto 2/3 cups of whole-wheat flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

Chocolate chips or nuts, which are optional, but highly recommended.

METHOD

Trust me when I say that it can’t get any easier than this. We basically just blend everything together and bake. That is, it!!!!

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c and get that going. Line your muffin pans with paper cups and keep it ready. I at times like to spray the cups with some vegetable oil so that nothing sticks to the paper.

Now the fun begins. Get the best blender you can lay your hands on and start blending the apples, oats, jam, egg, curd and oil to a nice homogeneous paste. I used my robust Hamilton beach smoothie maker, trust me it never fails me. If you don’t have a fancy blender, then just do the blending in a mixer grinder, starting always with the oats. Make a fine powder and then add all the wet ingredients to make a paste.

While that is mixing, mix in a measuring jug ¼ cup pure unsweetened cocoa powder with hot water, stir vigorously and keep it aside to bloom. This step really helps in building a darker stronger chocolate flavour. Add the sugar to the hot mix as well, it would help dissolve the grains.

Now in a nice big bowl, whisk 1/3 cup of whole-wheat flour with baking powder, soda and salt and keep it ready. If you are adding chocolate chips or nuts, then coat the additions in flour at this stage, and keep it ready.

Just to break up the method, you have 3 separate elements of the muffins ready. You have a blended mix of oats and apples, a jug full of chocolate goodness and dry flour coated nuts and chips. Now comes the assembly.

Let the chocolate mix cool a little before adding in the vinegar and vanilla. Pour it in the blender along with the apples and oats, and blend again. Once its thoroughly mixed, pour it on the dry mix and combine well. The batter should be in a spoon dropping consistency, adjust with the extra 1/3 cup of whole-wheat flour, if the need be.

At this time, just lick the batter to taste for the sweetness. If you use tart apples, you may need to adjust sugar accordingly. But for me, the Kashmiri apples pack a lot of natural sweetness, and the half cup of honey takes care of the rest.

Now pour onto the ready muffin tin and bake for 15 -20 minutes, till a toothpick inserted in the centre, comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy a scrumptious snack which is easy to carry, and yet satisfyingly moist and fluffy for a healthy bite!

Cheers!!

Facebook live with Veggie Smileys!!

So from now on wards, every week Zouqh is going live on Facebook with a new recipe. If you haven’t already liked our page, then don’t forget to do so right away!! We did our very first live video on Sunday. It was a moderate success, but there is always a scope of improvement. Comment like and share if you have a suggestion. I am always eager to hear your thoughts!!

This week, we made my toddler’s favourite snack- smileys. For any mother the above plate is blasphemous and she would cringe at the thought of giving this to her toddler to eat for Sunday lunch. But believe it or not, I did give this to my toddler on Sunday, and yet we were a happy duo. He was happy because he loves to have tasty finger food. I was happy because each and every component was made at home, and provided a balance nutrition to my child. The fish fingers were marinated and coated in a bread crumb mixture at home, and then stored in freezer bags. Sometimes I deep fry them, and sometimes I bake them. In any case it provides a healthy protein in my fussy toddler’s plate.

The smileys in question had carrots, green leaves and potatoes together. It was extremely tasty and my toddler finished all of these on Sunday. I saw he enjoyed feeding himself at intervals. I kept these neatly stacked in a see through glass jar. He would play, and come to grab one from the jar, eat as a snack, and back to his cars to play. It’s a sheer joy to see him feed himself, and it’s a nice feeling to be away from the chore of mandatorily sitting to feed him a meal. I let him enjoy his day, his way. And that let us both enjoy the holiday a bit better!!

I have posted the videos on my YouTube channel as well as on my FB page. Please feel free to like comment and share! Cheers!!

Ingredients

2 medium carrot and 2 medium potatoes boiled and smashed to bits

Salt to taste

1 cup Cornflour, to make a dough

Pepper to taste

Flavourings fresh or dried herbs to taste- I used chopped leaves of parsley, onion and garlic from my garden.

1 tbsp of oil

Tools required

A rolling pin to evenly roll out the dough

A chopstick with a round bottom to make eyes of the smileys

A round cookie cutter, or a jar lid.

A table spoon to make the smile.

Mayonnaise 101 - the What, How & Why

Clean & Delicious Part 5 - Why you should never buy mayonnaise from markets. 

What do you mean by eating clean? ‘Clean’ and ‘calories’ are 2 different words with different meanings. Eating clean doesn’t mean cutting calories out of your daily food intake. Eating clean is trying to put in as much of raw nutrients in your meals, as you could afford to. Obviously a home grown salad with a hung curd dressing is an epitome of eating clean. But I am being ‘me’ in accepting that I can’t eat salad regularly as a meal. I love my roti and daliya far too much to let go completely. Even rice for that matter. I need it just once or twice a week, but I do need it.. So as I look at it- eating clean is an ambition that everyone needs to put forth for themselves, understanding their bodies and mind correctly.

I will take me as a case study; and write about the changes I have done in my life to achieve the clean eating goal. I am not saying that I am any expert in this field. But friends in general have always marvelled at the fact that you make ‘healthy’ so easy to understand that you should educate others on the same. I am just following that line of thought, hoping someone else gets benefitted from my blogging. After all, what use is knowledge if you can’t pass it on to others?

   

Rule 1- understand your body.

The first important task is to understand your own body. It’s a bit of a difficult process, but can be easily achieved by some thorough observation. How often do u get unwell? What is the most common problem? Ask a few of these relevant questions, and think about the answers. My biggest health problem has undoubtedly being BP related. Contrary to all my family members who have a problem of high Blood Pressure, I have extreme low BP, which at times effects my body a bit too much and leaves me weak and energy less. My shift from a seas side of Mumbai to the barren lands of Gurgaon hasn’t helped the situation at all. As my atmospheric salt levels have dropped, my body faces a salt imbalance which triggers such low blood pressure very often. So salt, sugar and caffeine are extremely important for my consumption. That’s why I cook with sugar, though low in quantity, but I don’t treat it as an enemy at all.

Rule 2 – making an accurate lifestyle assessment.

Understand your weaknesses. And make it a part of your lifestyle. These 2 statements are the most important things to remember. Don’t try to cut out something from your diet, it doesn’t help at all. Alternatively, try and find a balance with that ingredient in your diet. Negotiate with your taste buds. And keep that negotiation alive. If you like to indulge in sweets, then don’t restrain. Eat it right in the morning as your breakfast. And have nothing along with it. Find the balance where your body in itself rejects that ingredient of your choice. And trust me, it does take practice, but it isn’t impossible at all.

Rule 3 – restrict grocery shopping.

I am a spendthrift in a supermarket. Come with me to one of these places and you will see me going nuts at the jarred sauces, condiments, fresh fruits, vegetables, meats etc etc etc. I love to splurge every week on grocery. And with the advent of the more recent mobile apps, grocery shopping/browsing is the perfect time pass. I think mostly I was browsing the Big Basket app on my mobile, when the team called me to write about my experience on the site. Obviously I have been using the app for more than a few years, and I love it. The convenience of getting my grocery delivered at doorstep with trained professionals handling and portioning it, I ask what is there not to like? But while shopping for groceries, you as a consumer need to be careful. Read the ingredient list of any of those jarred or packaged products you are buying. A bottle of mayonnaise should contain just three pasteurized ingredients, as opposed to so many on the list below. All the words that sound a bit unknown to you, are bad for you. And going clean, would be to eliminate these chemical stabilizers and preservatives from your diet wholly and fully. I have done it. Even with a family and a start up to look after. I think you can too…

 

So empowered with the insights I got from my strawberry Jam ‘making and using’ recipes, I bring to you another breakfast staple of our homes, Mayonnaise. I am making the actual mayo from scratch. I did it 2 ways, one in a tiny food processor and the other in a bowl with a simple balloon whisk. Both results were remarkably similar but intrinsically different from that jarred stuff we buy from the markets. I have tweaked a classic recipe to suit my requirements better. When the French made mayonnaise, that time they didn’t know of any viral problems affecting poultry. Today we do, so completely uncooked and raw could pose some problems. So in my home I pasteurised the egg yolks, by using oil which was heated to the right temperature, and eggs that were bought really the day I made this sauce.

Ingredients

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup Extra Virgin olive oil

Salt, pepper and sugar to taste

3 egg yolks

A few drops of vinegar

A heaped tbsp. of mustard sauce, I added the Indian variety- ‘Kashundi’

Method

For the YouTube tutorial- Click Here

In a small food processor, or a clean steel whisking bowl, add in the yolks, mustard sauce, and a pinch of salt, sugar and pepper. Blend it well to combine.

Add the vegetable oil to a small saucepan and heat it till the first little fumes permeate out of the surface of the oil. It should be just over the body temperature, but not so much that you can’t stick your finger into it without burning yourself. Pull it off the heat just then and there.

Once off the heat, whisk in the cool EVO to temper the oil and slightly cool it too.

Now slowly drip in the oil on your yolk mix, and whisk vigorously. You need to whisk nice and strong, without letting the hot oil sit on the yolk for over a second. If you do, then you may end up with scrambled eggs- tasty but not mayonnaise. So try to do this in a mixer which would help in emulsification better.

After the first 3 drips of hot oil, now pour in a tsp of white distilled vinegar and whizz away. You will see the emulsification happening instantly. Now you can pour in a bit more oil, without any fear of cooking at all.

Keep a few tasting spoons handy as you would mostly be required to taste as you go. Adjust salt sugar and vinegar upon your taste and keep whizzing till you get a gloopy mayonnaise.

This is my version of a classic French sauce. I made the French visit Kolkata and back. Kashundi is such a refreshing taste in this mayonnaise and adds lots of flavour. If you do another spin on this recipe, let me know in a comment below.

More than a recipe, it’s the technique which is important. We pasteurised our fresh egg yolks to eliminate possibility of any unwanted guests in our finished product. In the process, we actually make sure of giving our bodies the vegetable fat in a form which can be easily digested, rather than trying to digest a genetically modified oil in raw. Though I am not saying it is a healthy or clean habit to consume vegetable oil, but traditionally mayonnaise is made with vegetable oil only. Olive oil may become a bit too strong in flavour. And if you notice, it is 1/3 cup oil to 1 yolk ratio. It’s the emulsification which renders a creamy after product called mayonnaise. Try it once with EVO oil or coconut oil if you may and let me know how that turned out to you. If nothing, then just add a crushed garlic in to your olive oil mayonnaise and it should work as a flavour profile.

This can be refrigerated till 2 weeks in a clean glass jar. So make a batch as and when you need it by simply adding a few ingredients in a blender and whisking it all up together. The vinegar will help retain the freshness for a fortnight.

All of these items can be ordered fresh from Big Basket app. They deliver almost everywhere in India. If you are still not a big basketeer, then become one ASAP.

Cheers!!

This post is brought to you in association with Big Basket. The recipe and picture are IP of the author herself. 

LLWT- 1 with Healthy Sugar Free Muffins!!

Let’s Lose Weight Together Part 1 (LLWT-1)

Sawan ka mahina – the rainy season is here. I don’t like it at all. This is the season my restaurants suffer the most in terms of business. This is the time when water seeps inside electrical equipment, leaving my base kitchen fridge less. The microbes are everywhere, everyone is either sneezing or coughing, or throwing food that was made in the morning, but gave way till the afternoon reached. So, my point being; I hate the season. There is absolutely nothing to like in the muddy water logged city that I live in, while it rains. The incessant traffic jams on the road doesn’t help either. After each shower, there is an addition of a pot hole on every road I travel. And not to mention, the abrupt waterfall and extreme panic of coming home to a flooded living room, just because the rain was too steep, and the drain pipe couldn’t handle the pressure. Sigh… I can continue complaining for another 2 pages.

But I assume, you aren’t reading to hear my rants about the Gaon I live in!! I guess you are reading to know the secret behind why I started abusing India’s most loved season, under the title ‘Let’s lose weight together.’ If you ever get the connection, let me know too... It might help me to understand why I am so erratic these days. But if you don’t, just continue reading as I am getting to the weight loss journey, starting now.

Thanks to my work, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to lose the extra kilograms that I gained since last year. My biggest problem is that I stress eat a lot, which makes it tremendously difficult to lose the weight. Obviously treading the weight loss path alone is rather difficult. So I had a genius idea to involve each one of you reading this article today, facing similar situations in life to come together, read and get inspired; and inspire me in the process.

A typical day for me starts with an action packed morning, leading to a stressful office day; lounging on to a traffic led evening- where I leave office to pick up my son and head back home. The night time sees me a bit relaxed, with family; either cooking a treat, or drinking a storm. My biggest challenges are these two aforementioned situations. It’s rather easy to reach up for a bottle of wine to unwind from the stressful day. And maybe, I did manage to gain all these extra kgs thanks to this one weakness in me. After consumption of alcohol, our bodies start experiencing a great depth of hunger. To satiate that hunger, we start off on the munching path which just piles on calories after calories in our body, unwanted and unreal. I can’t control my family’s urge to stack up deep fried farsaan in the cupboards. What I need to control is my urge into reaching out on to those snacks every now and then. So before, the issue mounts up to become a problem, let’s snip it in the bud. I am guilty of following this easy rather comforting lifestyle since a few months now. But better late than never. So here is my goal that I want to fix for me today, for the coming week.

Firstly, I am gonna restrict drinking high calorie drinks like wine completely. My voice has been soar for sometime now, and I need to get it back to sing my little guy lullaby. So for the next two weeks, if I drink, it’s either gonna be brandy with hot water, or just water. No wine shall pass through these lips, till my voice is back to normal.

Secondly, no deep fried food for the next two months consciously.

Thirdly, I need to get back into healthy 2 hour eating habit. 3 litres of water each day is not a problem for me at all, but if any of you are skimpy water-drinkers, please note that as well.

Obviously, these are difficult to follow in my life as I have too many distractions around me all the time. But the idea is to start amending any cheat I do with the next meal. So the amends for each chaet on the each goals would be-

Only twice in the week would I drink. And if I consume wine, then just once. Also, 2 glasses of water for each drink. Which would definitely cancel out the negative with a lot of positive.

Deep fried food should be accompanied with a lot of salad, before and after.

If ever I miss eating in the 2 hour mark, I will try not to eat 2 meals at the same time, substituting that meal with a lot of water.

So an ideal meal chart for me for the week would be-

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

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 rasted chana or 5 pcs of soaked almond or this low calorie muffin.  

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- green 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. But 1 of the weekends, I would like a treat of something sweetish that doesn’t harm my body so much. I will try to eat it more as a meal in itself as the mid-morning/evening snack, rather than an after meal dessert. Plus the sweet craving family of mine can’t be deprived of sweets for a whole 2 months, just because I am attempting to eat healthy. I know their urge in indulging into some sweets would lead them to a sweet shop, and that would be a nightmare for me. So here is a simple muffin recipe, which is refined flour free, butter free and most definitely sugar free in the most un-chemical way possible.

Ingredients

 ¾ cup whole wheat Flour

1 egg

½ cup Milk (any kind of Milk would work- coconut, almond, soya etc.)

2 tbsps. Maple Syrup or Honey

1 tbsp. Veg Oil

½ tsp. Vanilla Extract

¼ tsp. Baking Soda

Pinch of salt

2 Medium Bananas, roughly mashed

A handful of Dark Chocolate Chips

Method

It’s a rather easy way to make these super healthy muffins. All you do is combine all dry ingredients together in a bowl- flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl. Add the chocolate chips and coat it well.

In a measuring jug, dump in all the rest of the ingredients- egg, milk, honey, vanilla, oil and crushed banana. Mix well.

Now just combine the wet to the dry, and the batter is ready to be baked in a preheated oven of 180-200 degrees Celsius, for 15 minutes, or as long as it takes for a wooden toothpick inserted in the centre to come out clean. Cool and enjoy this treat for a day.

Basically the idea is to not starve you of your craving. If you crave something sweet, eat this. This batter will make only 6 muffins so it’s perfectly portion controlled.

So a best of luck to me and to you if you are with me in this ride. I starting today, and I have goal of losing 6 kgs within the next 2 months. Cheers!!