A typical IF meal...

One of the most common questions I get about intermittent fasting is "what on earth do you eat?"  so in response, I will regularly post examples of the meals I eat on my so called 'fasting' days.  The picture on the left was my evening meal last night: Salmon with sun dried tomatoes and sesame seeds with chilli carrots, spinach, cabbage & raw tomatoes.

This is approx 270 calories in total:  200 calories for the salmon and 50 calories for the vegetables and an additional 20 calories for the sundries tomatoes and tiny drop of grapeseed oil.

 This is one of my favourite fast day meals...... Rich with vitamins and minerals from the carrots (shown here steaming in a small amount of water & garlic), spinach and cabbage (added after a few minutes) and a nice portion of protein and essential omega-3 fatty acids from the salmon.  And don't forget the chilli which has its own range of incredible benefits, not least that it increases the metabolism by increasing adrenalin and raising the heart rate, burning calories quicker.  I'll do a special on chillis in due course, it being one of my favourite things in the world, so watch this space!!



Nutrition tip of the day

Spinach in particular is incredibly nutrient dense.   Just one cup contains more than your total daily required amounts of vitamin K and vitamin A, nearly the total requirement of folate and manganese and nearly half  your daily magnesium allowance, which helps to lower blood pressure.  It is packed with antioxidants including vitamin C and beta carotene, which improve heart health by reducing cholesterol.

Spinach is also rich in large quantities of cancer fighting antioxidants.  For example, it contains a carotenoid that causes prostate cancer cells to destroy themselves, and it contains kaempferol which has been shown to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer.  Kaempferol prevents the formation of cancer cells and in addition to spinach, it can be found in tea, red wine, blueberries, apples, onions, broccoli, curly kale and leeks.

Spinach also helps to improve brain function by preventing the harmful effects of oxidation on your brain. Other leafy green vegetables such as curly kale and dark green cabbage (shown here being prepared for tonight's dinner) can also do this.....the darker the green, the better.

A few more nutrients packed into this little green life-giving machine include protein, iron (as Popeye would attest), dietary fibre and calcium!  And the best part???...... spinach is only 40 calories per cup so the perfect way to get the nutritional value you need while on a diet.

I know alot of people have an image of spinach as overcooked green slime.  Well, cooking the hell out of it will only deplete the nutrients and destroy the flavour.  It is best either added to your cooked vegetables right at the end of the cooking process, or eaten raw in salad.