Sprouts

Sprouts are super healthy and a nice addition to a lot of dishes and salads. All seeds can (obviously!) be sprouted but some are toxic and should not be consumed raw. There is also a risk of bacterial growth so be careful with the hygiene (as you would be anyway) and throw them away as soon as they are no longer fresh or if you think they smell or taste strange. You should also ensure that you use seeds that are intended for eating as some of the commercial seeds might be unsuitable to eat.

I have only just started growing my own sprouts recently, but it is so much fun and empowering to grow your own food (I am actually a country girl despite my love affair with London!). I use mungbeans and just grow them in a glass jar.

Here is Sprout People's lovely website with everything you could possibly want to know about sprouting.

Happy sprouting!

Why you should eat non-starchy vegetables

There are 3 macronutrients: Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat.

All vegetables are carbohydrates and carbohydrates turn into glucose. Protein also turns into glucose, but through a much longer process. Fats turn into fatty acids.

Here are two really important facts:

1. Glucose requires insulin to be stored as body fat. 
2. Fatty acids require glycerol-3-phosphate to be stored as body fat. 

In other words: If you avoid eating foods that contains glycerol-3-phosphate and foods that causes your insulin levels to increase, your body is unable to store body fat. As I said, pretty important facts.

You might have heard about glycaemic load (GL). GL is a measurements for how quickly the carbohydrate in a particular food will cause your blood sugar levels to rise, or how aggressive a food is.

Here is another important fact: Starchy vegetables are quite aggressive foods and they also contain glycerol-3-phosphate, that is, the two substances that the body needs to store body fat. That is a really good reason to avoid them, I think.

Let's focus on what we can eat instead: You can eat all the non-starchy vegetables that you want. It is not possible to over-eat non-starchy vegetables because they are so filling and you want to eat so many of them that you are too full for starch and sweeteners (more about those soon).

So, just in case you are still not convinced, here are some of the reasons for eating lots of non-starchy vegetables:

1. you avoid gaining more body fat
2. you heal your body fat metabolism so that it works to keep you slim
3. you reduce the risk of becoming insulin-resistant (type 2 diabetic)

You can read more about the two first points here, more about type 2 diabetes here and you can find a list over non-starchy vegetables in the Food list.

The above is based on Jonathan Bailor's brilliant book "The Smarter Science of Slim: What the Actual Experts Have Proven About Weight Loss, Health, and Fitness" (2012). Here is the link to www.thesmarterscienceofslim.com - it's never too later to reverse the damage to your body.

Seeds

Chia Seed
Good source of dietary fibre, phosphorus and calcium. They are also anti-inflammatory. Try putting a teaspoon chia seeds in a glas of water, leave it for 5 minutes and you will understand why they are so filling.

Flaxseed
Really good and nutritious source of dietary fibre. Help lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels. They are also anti-inflammatory. Whole flax seeds are not digestive, so you should eat them milled. Eat about 30 grams per day.

Pumkin seed
Highly nutritious and good source of dietary fibre but slightly inflammatory.

Sesame seed
Sesame paste - tahin
Nutrient-rich. Good source of dietary fibre. Very good source of copper and manganese. Mildly inflammatory.

Sunflower seed
Nutrient-rich, very good source of vitamin E. Mildly anti-inflammatory.

Watermelon seed
Very good source of magnesium. Also good source of manganese, phosphorus and zinc.

Whey protein powder

There are so many whey protein powders out there that it is impossible to list them. Buy the one you think tastes best. Just ensure that it has less than 10 grams of sugar and at least 30 grams of protein in it per 100 gram.

Buying different tastes in bulk online is preferable as you will be using a lot of it. Personally I use whey powder in my breakfast smoothie and I usually drink a protein shake in the afternoon. If I have been working out I also drink one immediately after. If you have a sugar craving try a banana or strawberry protein shake with some flaxseed in it.