Hanger. And a change of diet. And Chilli.

I posted a while ago that Ive been visiting the amazing Hutch Fitness for personal training sessions. Ive been upping my cardio and training at home as well as training with Chris twice a week. Ive also completely changed the way I eat. As someone who has spent years struggling with a balance between eating right and exercise, I thought I knew how to listen to my body. But I really lost sight of what was good for me recently. Something that completely floored me, was when I produced a food diary to Chris at one of the first sessions we had, he told me I was chronically under eating. It made sense. I had been struggling with feeling hungry a lot. I had hated exercise because it made me shaky and weak. I had spells of crankiness and feeling hangry, and by 7pm when it came to dinner, I was ravenous and over ate completely.

So Ive been eating a much bigger breakfast and lunch, snacking more often on the right things, and eating a small dinner. And Ive never felt better! I'm actually shocked at how much easier it is to exercise because I'm not on the verge of a hypoglycemic coma. I'm feeling much fuller when it comes to any meal because I'm snacking and having protein & veg shakes in between meals, and I'm never over eating. I've been grazing on the following between meals:
- Fruit
- Oat cakes and hummus
- Green drinks with protein (hemp & spirulina)
- Natasha's living foods raw onion and kelp crackers (these are made with sprouted flax seeds and veg and are nutritional powerhouses and they taste incredible)

Ive been having a big meal at lunchtime which takes a lot of getting used to but its brilliant to have a big feed to look forward to during the day and means I have zero afternoon slump. For dinner, I'll make a large portion of food, eat a small amount and bring a 'dinner' sized portion in for my lunch the next day. 

One of my favourite things to eat is chilli. Before I give you the recipe I have to say I have lost a couple of inches on my new eat lots and exercise lots diet. This is really helping me keep on track - it was very demotivating at first to have lost nothing!

5 reasons chilli is the absolute shit.

1. Chilli is incredibly filling so you dont need a huge portion to fill you up and is low-GI so it slowly releases energy

2. Chilli is seriously spicy and the one I make is packed with cayenee pepper. Here's why you need to start putting cayenne pepper in everything: http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20110427/cayenne-pepper-may-burn-calories-curb-appetite

3. Chilli is full of protein, and if youre working out youre going to need that protein to recover and build new muscle

4. You can jam pack a chilli with loads of different types of veg so its nutritionally dense

5. It tastes absolutely decadent.

My recipe for chilli (this is cobbled together from a few different online recipes, my other half's recipe and a bit of trial and error. This one is amazing.

The World's Most Amazing Chilli

Ingredients:
1-1.5lbs of mince (I use quorn)
1 large white onion
1 red pepper
1 stick celery (optional)
5 cloves garlic
1 tin sweetcorn
1 large jar tomato passata
1 tin kidney beans / 1 tin refried beans (or both if youre feeling saucy)
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp coriander
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf (remove before serving)
250mls good full bodied red wine
1 pint vegetable (or beef) stock
3 drops liquid smoke (optional - but this lends a beautiful smokey kick)
2 tbsps hot sauce
1 tsp tabasco
Salt and pepper
Juice of 1 - 2 limes
Fresh corriander to serve

1. Fry the garlic onion and pepper for 5 mins, then add the mince. Cook for a further 5 mins until the mince defrosts
2. Add the passata, beans, and all other ingredients. Cover and lower the heat for one hour.
3. Pour into bowls, serve with some salsa, guacamole, tortilla chips, or rice etc. I have it on its own with home made corn tortilla chips and salsa.
4. Rejoice in flavour country.