Recipes for a Sugar Reset

What I'm Eating to Ditch the Sugar and Up My Protein & Fibre

Hello to all! A bit of a different one this week, but I had so many messages about my lifestyle shift piece that I wanted to follow up by sharing some practical ideas in the form of recipes.

Now it goes entirely without saying that I am NOT a nutrition expert. More accurately, I am a slowly repenting nutrition hooligan. I try not to think too deeply about the pillage of my temple over the years, but in the spirit of new leaf turning, I wanted to pass on the meals that I’ve been making to break my sugar habit and support my muscles (it’s this midlife moment when sarcopenia begins to set in).

If you are strictly looking to lose weight, these recipes will probably be a bit woolly because I’m not charting macros or calories, mostly because diet maths makes me personally unhinged. You might be a different kind of person (I’m sure with your own version of crazy 😂), but I’m here for the broad strokes, long term shifts rather than anything draconian and potentially unsustainable.

Initially, after cutting out refined sugar, as I mentioned in my essay here, I felt horrendous and lethargic. That sludgy listlessness has now passed and my sugar cravings have almost disappeared. I’m definitely looking back on my previous nutrition intake with slight incredulity (I feel the same way about both the amount of alcohol I used to drink and cigarettes I used to smoke, there is no puritan like a reformed sinner). Though there’s no point crying over spilt chocolate milkshake.

I also found I ate a lot volume-wise for the first two weeks as I readjusted to the sugar drop - again weight loss isn’t my objective so a tip in the scales I don’t stand on doesn’t put me off. As far as I can see this is a bit of a drawn-out process and it’s only now a month in that my appetite has recalibrated. So just to underline, at the beginning of a shift, the impact aesthetically on your body could be unpredictable. Also… muscle building can mean getting bigger. It’s just a reminder that healthy eating doesn’t necessarily mean losing pounds or shrinking. With the housekeeping dealt with, let’s get to it!

The Smashes

You’ll likely have seen some version of these online and quite honestly, they look regurgitated. But they’re also so delicious, full of protein and fibre and also offer a good balance between low fat and high protein. Which is - at least as far I’ve learnt - the name of the game. Apologies to any veggies or vegans here, most of these recipes include some kind of animal protein.

The premise is all the same - a protein source + either yoghurt, whizzed up cottage cheese or sweet potato to bind and a bunch of veg topped with seeds, nuts or avo. It’s definitely possible to interchange the ingredients between all the smash recipes and you can eat them alone, with rice cakes, in a wrap (see below for homemade options) or packed into a pitta bread for an easy lunch/dinner on the go.

*Egg Smash:

2 boiled eggs

150g cottage cheese

Gherkins

Chives

Tomatoes

Pickled red onions

Seeds to top

Not to offend your intelligence here, but this is how I do it.

Boil two eggs for six minutes. Whizz the cottage cheese in a blender. Chop gherkins, chives and tomatoes. Mash all the above together and top with picked red onions (see below) and seeds.

*Shredded Chicken:

Chicken breast

2 tbsp 0% yoghurt

Finely sliced red onions

Red Peppers

Cucumber

Coriander

Top with pickled onions, seeds, crushed nuts as your preference dictates

To shred your chicken, you can either boil a pot of water, pop your breasts in and then simmer with a lid on for 30 minutes or you can buy a rotisserie chicken ready to go. Then either shred in a stand mixer set on low for about 15 seconds or else go old school and use two forks to pull it apart as you would do pulled pork.

Mix all the ingredients together, varying the amount of 0% yogurt depending on the texture you prefer.

*Tuna Smash:

Tuna in spring water

Sliced spring onions

1 medium sweet potato

Sliced celery

½ avocado

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp lemon juice

Bake your sweet potato until soft. Mash and mix with all the other ingredients - or you can choose to have your avo sliced on top.