by Heather

If I knew hummus was so easy to make, I would never have bought it from the supermarket. My husband just made tortilla wraps from lunch. When saw what was on the table I was VERY skeptical. I decided not to criticise the food right away but I was seriously thinking, "Gosh, why is he starving me!"

Anyway, here's the recipe:

Serves: 2 to 4. 

Preparation time: 15 minutes.

THE ROASTED VEGETABLES

Ingredients

• 1 yellow pepper
  
• 1 red pepper
• 2 medium-sized carrots

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius
2. Cut the peppers in half, peel the carrots and chop lengthways into fours 
   
3. Sprinkle with salt and pepper
4. Drizzle olive oil on top and throw a sprig of fresh thyme
5. Place in the oven for 10 minutes then switch on the grill for 5 to 10 minutes.

THE HUMMUS

Ingredients

• 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained
  
• 1–2 cloves of garlic, peeled
  
• 2 tablespoons tahini (pureed sesame seeds)
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 6 tablespoons water
  
• The juice of ½ a lemon
  
• A large pinch of salt
  
• A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
  
• A sprinkle of ground cumin
  
• 8 small tortilla

Method

1. Place everything except the tortillas, extra virgin olive oil and the cumin into a food processor
2. Blend until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
3. Serve in a bowl.
4. Optional: drizzled a little extra virgin olive oil onto the hummus.
5. Optional: sprinkle cumin on top.
6. Add roasted vegetables and wrap!

We were hungry so we had four wraps each. We also added celery sticks. I had just returned from a 5 km jog so I need the four wraps! 

Whatever your lifestyle, continue to track your weight using the Fat Creep™ app on iPhone, iPad or Android  to ensure your weight stays within a desirable range.  

Click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy.

by Heather 

Saturated means the fat has a full set of hydrogen bonds.

Some fat is needed in a healthy diet but it turns out your body can manufacture all the saturated fat it needs.

What’s wrong with saturated fats then?

Consuming too much saturated fat increases cholesterol and low density lipoproteins, LDLs. LDLs are composed primarily of cholesterol and have very little protein.

What is the recommended daily intake of saturated fats?

• For an average man: no more than 30g
• For an average woman: no more than 20g
  

What foods are high in saturated fats?

• Fatty cuts of meat including sausages and bacon
  
• Milk, cream and cheese, especially hard cheese
  
• Biscuits, cakes, pastries
  
• Butter, lard and margarine
  
• Fats that are solid at room temperature, e.g. coconut oil, palm oil and cocoa butter

You should eat as few of the above foods as you possibly can. Of course some of the above are a lot more benign than others, some milk with your cereal will do you a lot less harm than a regular fatty sausage and bacon breakfast.

Some would add egg yolks to the above list but eggs have so much goodness in them, not least because they’re great for hair, that I don’t want to add them to the above.

All foods contain a mixture of fats. For instance, beef is high in saturated fats but it actually contains more monounsaturated fats (the good type) than saturated fats.

Read these tips on how to eat less fat.

Whatever your lifestyle, continue to track your weight using the Fat Creep™ app on iPhone, iPad or Android  to ensure your weight stays within a desirable range.  

Click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy.

by Heather 

There are some medical conditions that make it difficult to lose weight, I actually have one of them. The most common medical conditions that could hold back or stall weight loss are:

• Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, PCOS – hormonal imbalance can prevent weight loss from occurring even if you eat very well and exercise regularly.
• Diabetes – fear of suffering a sharp fall in blood sugar levels stops many diabetes sufferers from working out? 
  
• Heart conditions – fear of suffering heart failure stops many with a heart condition from exercising.
  

The solution?

PCOS

Even if you can’t see the results of your hard work on your scale, you will be fitter and definitely healthier if you exercise regularly. Importantly, at times your body will respond and your weight will fall. You might even notice an improvement in the regularity of your menstrual cycle.

Diabetes

The fear of fluctuations in blood sugar is very real. Before you start on an exercise programme speak to your doctor about what safety measures you can take. One obvious thing you can do is to take a friend along on any long jogs or cycles.

Heart conditions

Just like with the diabetes, speak to your doctor. Having a heart condition doesn’t mean you can’t exercise, quite the contrary, your heart needs some exercise to keep it strong and healthy.

Importantly, some people use their medical condition as an excuse not to bother, I certainly know I’ve done this at times, don’t do that. Take whatever precautions are necessary and get out there. 

Whatever your lifestyle, continue to track your weight using the Fat Creep™ app on iPhone, iPad or Android  to ensure your weight stays within a desirable range.  

Click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy.

by Heather 

Unsaturated fats come in two varieties: monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Omega-3 fats found in oily fish are polyunsaturated fats

Some fat is needed in a healthy diet but it turns out your body can manufacture all the saturated fat it needs.

What is the recommend daily intake of saturated fats?

25-35% of your calories per day should come from fats and it is better for these to be unsaturated rather than saturated fats

Are unsaturated fats better than saturated fats?

Eating more unsaturated fats and fewer saturated fats can help to lower cholesterol. However, note that they contain the same number of calories per unit.

What are the benefits of unsaturated fats?

• Polyunsaturated fats have been shown to reduce symptoms related to joint problems, e.g. arthritis 
  
• Polyunsaturated fats can help rapid recovery from skin diseases and help to maintain healthy skin overall
  
• Monounsaturated fats are known to improve the brain’s function as well as growth & development 

What foods are high in monounsaturated fats?

• Oily fish, e.g. mackerel, salmon, fresh tuna
• Avocados
• Nuts and seeds, especially almonds and peanuts
• The following oils: olive, canola and peanut oil

What foods are high in polyunsaturated fats?

• The following oils: sunflower, sesame, corn, safflower, soybean oil and flaxseed.
  
• Sunflower seeds
  
• Flaxseeds
  
• Soybeans 
  
• Oily fish, e.g. mackerel, salmon, fresh tuna, trout, sardines, anchovies and herring
  

Read these tips on how to eat less fat.

Whatever your lifestyle, continue to track your weight using the Fat Creep™ app on iPhone, iPad or Android  to ensure your weight stays within a desirable range.  

Click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy.

by Heather 

If you ask your mechanic how you can improve the fuel efficiency of your car he’ll probably tell you something about accelerating and decelerating gently, idling your car less, changing your oil and oil filters regularly and getting regular maintenance; what he won’t tell you is that losing some weight could save you quite a bit too!

The more weight your car carries, the more fuel it uses up to get it moving.

This is particularly a problem in the US where federal regulations require cars to go 54.5 miles for every gallon by 2025. Manufacturers are improving fuel efficiency by reducing the gizmos that come with the car, e.g. some are replacing the paperback manual with a USB instead etc. 

Unfortunately, you can only reduce the content of a car by so much; one thing cannot be removed from the equation, the driver. With people getting heavier any effort to make cars lighter is eliminated: a zero sum game.

Cars.com and allstate.com linked up to produce the following infographic:

Whatever your lifestyle, continue to track your weight using the Fat Creep™ app on iPhone, iPad or Android  to ensure your weight stays within a desirable range.  

Click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy.

by Heather 

I’ve noticed the price of food going steadily up. Even where the price looks the same the package is smaller, a smart little trick that manufacturers and supermarkets think we won’t notice. Lean meats, fresh fruit and vegetables food are more pricey than other varieties.

If you can afford the latest electronic gadgets, good food shouldn’t be unaffordable, that said there are many shopping tricks you can use.

1. Some fruit is much cheaper, go for that.

Berries, e.g. blueberries, strawberries and even grapes tend to be more expensive. Apples, oranges, tangerines and pears are much cheaper.

2. Frozen vegetables are cheaper but you don’t necessarily compromise on quality.

Apparently fresh vegetables can lose up to 45% of their nutrients by the time they reach the table. Importantly, if you’re buying from a supermarket that food isn’t as fresh as you might think. Picking, sorting, transporting and shelving means your “fresh vegetables” might have been picked 1 to 2 weeks earlier.

The nutrient content of anything that’s been harvested falls from that minute onwards. Frozen food is harvested, blanched and frozen immediately.

Examples of foods you can easily obtain frozen without compromising on taste include peas, edamame, corn, green beans, broccoli and spinach.

Carrots taste much better fresh and they’re generally not too expensive so I prefer to buy them fresh.

3. Shop at farmers’ markets

The food is fresh and cheaper because the middleman, the supermarket, has been cut out.

4. Don’t buy anything in a can or carton

Want a tomato sauce for a pasta? Then make it! It’s so easy. Here’s a recipe for you. Soups take a little longer to make but again, it’s much cheaper to make them than buy them.

5. Cut vegetables up yourself

This will save you a few pennies/cents. Even choosing the green beans that have been snipped at the end instead of the unsnipped variety leads to a large mark up on the product. The same applies to salads and other vegetables.

You CAN eat better for less, all you need to do is create a strategy for how you’ll do this.

You might also like:
Are You Too Broke To Exercise? Here are 2 Solutions.

Whatever your lifestyle, continue to track your weight using the Fat Creep™ app on iPhone, iPad or Android  to ensure your weight stays within a desirable range.  

Click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy.

by Heather 

This is definitely one thing you do not need to buy in a bottle. To make your own you will need:

• 1 tablespoon of oil or a bit of water
  
• Seasoning (salt pepper and some dry mixed herbs)
  
• 1 Onion
  
• 2 chopped medium-sized tomatoes 
  
• A small or medium-sized carrot chopped
  
• A hand full of fresh herbs, e.g. basil or parsely

Optional

• A handful of mushrooms
  
• Chopped bacon or chopped ham or one chopped sausage
  

Recipe

• Sweat the onions in a bit of oil (or water) with the carrots. Add the seasoning. 
  
• If you’ll have mushrooms in your sauce, add them in with the onions and carrots.
  
• Add the tomatoes then cover the pot up until the tomatoes become 'mushy' and soft.
  
• If you want chopped bacon or ham in your sauce add them in when the tomatoes are soft.
  
• When the sauce looks like it’s ready, throw in the fresh basil or parsley.
  
• Finally, pour the sauce over your boiled pasta and it’s good to eat.
  

This should taste way better than anything you can get out of a can or bottle.

Whatever your lifestyle, continue to track your weight using the Fat Creep™ app on iPhone, iPad or Android  to ensure your weight stays within a desirable range.  

Click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy.

by Heather 

Very random but for as long as I can keep it up, I have decided to tweet everything that I eat on @FatCreepTM including the calories in it. At first, I thought I would only track the calories in meat and carbs but after calculating the calories in my morning tea, I’ll track everything!

A teaspoon of honey carries 11 to 12 grams, that’s 34 to 37 kcal, plus c.30 ml of semi-skimmed milk that brings it up to 50 kcal just in my morning tea!

This is definitely one thing I can compromise on sometimes. I love tea with milk and honey but obviously when I have a herbal tea it contains no calories.

There are probably many like me out there that don’t think about the calories in their morning tea. They weigh the bagel, the bread or the egg and ignore the tea.

The reason I switched to tea in the first place was because I loved to start the day with a 12 oz mocha, 170 kcal. A 16 oz mocha is 220 kcal. And for all you latte lovers, a skinny 12 oz latte is 90 kcal and a 16 oz is 110 kcal. That’s before you add any sugar or cream if you do!

The 50 kcal in my tea looks pretty good in comparison. However, 50 kcal per day equals 350 kcal a week or 3,500 (a pound of weight) every ten weeks. If I could successfully substitute my honey-milk-tea with a herbal tea I would lose 5 pounds over the year with that one change!

The moral of the story: next time you’re about to order a drink in a café or restaurant, don’t forget that it has calories too. If you’re tracking calories it has to be included

Whatever your lifestyle, continue to track your weight using the Fat Creep™ app on iPhone, iPad or Android  to ensure your weight stays within a desirable range.  

Click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy.

by Heather 

I’m sure you’ve heard a friend or two complain about the cost of gym membership being prohibitive. It’s true, gyms are expensive, more so if money is already tight. Here are two solutions.

1. Don’t join a gym!

I’m not a gym member. I exercise outside and in my living room. I haven’t been a gym member since January 2012 and that hasn’t been a problem for my maintaining a stable weight.

On very cold days I wear three layers on my top half, a head scarf and even gloves to jog outside. And unless there’s snow or it’s raining cycling is tolerable even during winter.

For resistance training get a DVD or find a fitness channel and record your favourite fitness trainer. I recorded a few work outs on my TV so I haven’t spent a dime on DVDs.

2. Join a gym in a low income area

If you live in a ‘posh’ area the gyms will cost more, look at prices in neighbouring, lower income areas, you might be surprised. I know a gym near me that’s HALF the price of another gym just five minutes away.

How about getting a treadmill?

If you thinking buying a treadmill or exercise bike will, in the long run, be more cost-efficient than gym membership, make sure this is actually true.

I once bought a very expensive treadmill convinced I’d use it daily. As it turned out, I used it daily for about a week and then hardly ever after that. By the time I sold it 18 months later I’d used it less than 15 times! That’s ridiculous, I hear you say, I know but when I bought it I was 100% sure it would be given good use.

You’d think I learnt my lesson after that time but oh no, it took a few more similarly expensive experiments before I learnt my lesson. Now, I only own weights, a mat and a rubber balls. They were cheap so their lack of use doesn’t bother me too much.

Whatever your lifestyle, continue to track your weight using the Fat Creep™ app on iPhone, iPad or Android  to ensure your weight stays within a desirable range.  

Click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide to Sexy.

by Heather

It's that time of the year when we start looking at our lives with a view to bettering ourselves. Getting into shape is normally at the top of most people's lists; to help you with that goal I have created a free ebook:

The Quick Guide to Sexy ~ Easy Ways to Lose Weight Without Dieting.

I know, I did it, look at me before: belly hanging and thighs chafing - I was still pretty though. And me now: toned tummy and even more toned arms. 

Click for your free ebook: The Quick Guide To Sexy.