I’ve never been so inspired by a book! I’m not a big reader. I love reading short snippets of information that get to the point quickly so I can get on with my life. If I start a book and stick to it, it really has to capture me intellectually and emotionally and Born to Run by Christopher McDougall did just that.

Born To Run - By Christopher McDougall

I would like to address the book review from two different perspectives:

1.What the book is about

2. What the book meant to me personally

What the book is about

Born to run is about a journalist who is overwhelmed by the knowledge, skill and technique of a particular tribesmen who just seem to run without limitations. The journalist doesn’t stop until he discovers what it is about these tribesmen that make them ultra-runners. The book is about the authors journey. He learns skills from various individuals he meets a long the way. He touches everything from anthropology to science. The book delves into running techniques, shoes and even dietary details of these tribesmen. The author also lets us in on some interesting history about famous athletes and their running challenges. He does not stop at technique but also provides details about running shoes and how it is all a marketing scam. These interesting details are all wrapped around a story which boils down to one race where the author successfully realizes the what the key is to being a successful ultra runner.

If I could share three interesting things from the book it would be these:

1. Women may not be as fast as men but they actually have better stamina for lenghty races

2. Chia seeds: A tablespoon full has the same amount of protein as a piece of salmon. More on this in another post coming soon.

3. Trainers are not really helping your run better it is just a marketing gimmick.

Personal perspective

I love running. A couple of years back I used to run every day. After work I’d put on my trainers, my wind breaker, mp3 player, and just run. It wasn’t about fitness, it wasn’t about fitting size 10 jeans, looking slim, coming first in a marathon. None of that. It was about freedom and the feel good factor, that when running I felt free, my thoughts just run wild, I would enjoy looking at things, new buildings, new vegetation in spring. I was blessed to be close enough to the Gozitan countryside where I could run, up and down hills, and into valleys and even along beaches. Time didn’t matter. Actually sometimes my mum used to phone me just to make sure I hadn’t died of exhaustion.

This book brought all this back to me and got me asking myself why I don’t run anymore. The answer is simple: Time and Place. I’m no longer living close to the countryside and I enjoy nothing about cars, buses, exhaust, skyscrapers and traffic lights. I also have trouble making time for myself time to run without having to think of time.

You should read this book if:

• You are interested in running
• You are an athlete
• You are a coach or personal trainer
• You like anthropology
• You like reading informative, historical information.
• You love an interesting read.

I never need an excuse to make pancakes but today being Pancake Tuesday was a great excuse. As we know I’m not a big fan of sugar or white flour so I came up with a healthy oatmeal and protein powder pancake recipe. This recipe has no sugar and the pancakes are really filling.

1 cup of oats
1 scoop of vanilla protein (I use PhD Nutrition Pharma Whey Vanilla Creme) *
1 teaspoon of cinamon
1 teaspoon of baking powder
3 egg whites
2 teaspoons of honey
1/4 cup of skimmed milk

This quantity made 5 pancakes of about 4 inches diameter. My suggestion is to double the mixture and put them in the freezer. All you would need to do then is pop them onto a baking tray or into the toaster to defrost and enjoy again at a later date. We only ate one each so the rest have gone into the freezer for later

Put all the ingredients into a bowl. I used the container that came with my handheld blender

Mix with a spoon before blitzing the mixture into a finer pulp

Pour a decent amount into a small non stick skillet. Wait until you see bubbles in the pancake before flipping it over. I like to keep the cooked pancakes in a warm oven on while I’m cooking all my pancakes.

*No protein powder? Don’t worry. Just add a teaspoon of vanilla essence to the mixture. The protein powder gives the pancake more ‘protein’ for people who include protein powder in their daily diet

Happy Pancake Tuesday!

I absolutely love turkey, took me a while to find it locally and then a little  while to master cooking it just right but nowadays it is part of our weekly diet and we eat turkey breast at least twice a week.

Tonight we ate braised Turkey breast with fresh veg.

Ingredients

• 1 onion (cut into strips)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 a low sodium chicken stock cube ( can be excluded)
• 2 turkey breasts
• 1 carrot (cut into strips)
• 1 zucchini (cut into strips
• 1 cup of tomato in pulp
• 2 tsps of cumin powder
• pepper
• 2-3 cups of water
• broccoli

Serves 2

Prep: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

In a large frying pan, start off by frying your onion and garlic lightly in some water or a bit of olive oil. Then push the onions aside, add a little water and add the turkey breasts to the pan, let the flesh turn white and flip it over. Make sure there is enough water in the pan so your turkey doesn’t get stuck. Grate your chicken stock cube over the turkey, add your carrot and zucchini and add some more water. Add the tomato pulp and sprinkle the cumin powder over eveything. All your ingredients need to be just covered in liquid. Let the juices reduce for about 5-10 minutes on high heat. Make sure your turkey doesn’t get stuck to the bottom of the pan. Season with pepper.

In the last 10 minutes of cooking, add broccoli to the top of the pan and cover with a lid. This will stream your broccoli and finalize the cooking of your turkey.

If you have been following my recipes you will see that I have created a cardomon based muffin, however this recipe mixture actually comes from a much simpler recipe, which is ideal from breakfast or a snack.

• 1 small tub of light yogurt (150g)
• 1 tsp of cardamon powder
• 1 tsp of honey
• 1 tsp of cinamon
• 6 almonds
• 6 raisins

blitz mixture using a hand blender and eat.

This mix also freezes well if you are looking for a healthy frozen yoghurt.

If you are watching the carbs, try pumpkin wedges instead of potato wedges.

• Pumpkin
• Olive oil
• Paprika
• salt
• chives

Peel your pumpkin and cut into wedge shapes. Boil your pumpkin wedges until they are soft but still relatively firm.

Remove from water and place on a baking tray.

Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil over your wedges, sprinkly with some paprika and chives (salt if necessary – according to taste)

Bake in a hot oven for 45-60 minutes… the outside of your pumkin wedges will look wrinkled then crisp.

Try serving with a low fat sour yogurt and garlic and chive dip

Want to freeze your wedges?

After boiling them let them cool.

Once completely cool, sprinkle with herbs and dust lightly with flour (Stress lightly – you do not want clumps of dough mixed in with your wedges!)

Put in plastic bag and freeze.

Prep time: 20 minutes

* Punnet of strawberries
* Oranges
* Orange juice
* nutmeg
* caster sugar
* vanilla essence
* mint

Cut strawberries in quarters and wedge orange segments and cut in cubes. Cover in orange juice. Sprinkle with finely chopped mint. Add a half teaspoon of nutmeg, a couple of drops of vanilla essence and if you want to you can add some caster sugar.

Mix together and refrigerate, serve like a punch.

Mediterranean Rice

• Wholegrain rice
• quarter of an onion
• small tomato
• sundried tomatoes
• 2 olives
• Basil
• (add tuna for protein) optional

Get the rice on the boil as soon as possible – wholegrain rice takes a little longer.I went for 1/2 a cup of rice – MORE than enough! Let cool.

Fry the onion in the fry pan – I use water not oil.  Add olives, chopped tomato, olives and sundried tomato. Add some pepper and I added some fresh basil and pine nuts for smell and crunch!

let that get nice and hot so that your fresh tomato has kinda melted/ is a bit soggy.

Take your now cold rice and mix together with your sauce.

This dish is fool proof. So simple and quick and so healthy.

What you will need

• fresh fish (cleaned)
• onion
• garlic
• lemon
• olives
• sundried tomatoes
• fresh tomatoes
• capers (optional)
• olive oil (wine or water)
• foil

Time needed: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Preheat your oven while you start to make the mixture. Dice an onion and some garlic, place in a small bowl, cut some olives in slices, do the same with the sun dried tomatoes. Mark likes capers – i find them too salty so sometimes I use them sometimes I don’t. Cut up 2 fresh tomatoes into chunky pieces.  Use olive oil (or water or white wine) to make the mixture a little runny. Add lemon juice for more flavour. Season with salt and pepper.

Take your fresh fish and place diagonally on your square of foil. Take your mixture and cover the fish, make sure you get some of the sauce under the fish so it doesnt stick to the foil.  Pull the foil together – closing it all up and leaving no room for breathing.  Place on a tray and into the oven. This should take around 15 minutes; after 10 minutes open up the foil and let the sauce evaporate a bit. Remember Fish does not take long to cook.

Great thing about this dish is you can simpfy or complicate it as much as you want. add and remove ingredient according to your taste.

Serve with a light salad.

• Chicken breast
• Carrots
• Spring bean
• Zucchini
• soya sauce
• honey
• Seasame Seeds

Start by defrosting and preparing the chicken breast as described in my low fat chicken recipe.

Cut chicken into slices and fan on side of the plate.

Cut up your carrots, spring beans and zuchini and stir fry them in water in a hot wok/fry pan for about 5-7 minutes (mushrooms also taste great in this dish)

Place  veggy mix on plate

In a mug or cut add 3 tablespoons of low sodium soya sauce, one teaspoon of honey and one teaspoon of seasame seeds… stir and pour over your chicken.

If you want to add a little more protein you can add a boiled egg to the top of the dish

Serv

If you are looking for something to warm you up on a cold night, this chicken, chickpea and lentil curry stew is a fab quick meal. It is also lower in carbs than say a chicken curry pasta or rice.

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• clove of garlic
• a chicken breast
• tsp of cumin
• tbsp of mild curry
• handful of mushrooms
• spinach
• half a chicken stock cube
• can of tomato puree
• can of lentils
• can of chickpeas

Fry the onion, garlic and chicken breast chopped into cubes. Use the stock cube with some water to moisten the mix and to slow down the cooking. Add chopped mushrooms, and continue cooking slowly. Add the cumin, curry and a little fresh parsley if you have some. Use water or tomato puree to dilute any herbs or spices added. Then add a good two handfuls of shredded spinach and mix until it cooks and reduces into the mixture. Add half a can of tomato puree to add the stew factor. Drain both cans of chickpeas and lentils and add to the mix. This should take no longer than 20 minutes.

Once mixed add everything to a baking dish and put into a hot over for 10 minutes

Sorry no pics actual picture for this one… we ate it all before we could take pictures.. but Im sure you will still appreciate

A dish so good there was none left for the photo!