Tag: weight

Carrot, Ginger and Cumin Soup (Slow Cooker)

Serves 4

Setting Low

Time 5-7 hours

WW Pro Points 1

Ingredients

  •  1 TBSP olive oil
  • 500g carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp of lazy garlic (or two cloves)
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp of easy ginger
  • 1 litre of vegetable stock
  • Salt and pepper

Method:

  1. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan.  Sauté the carrots and onion for 3-4 minutes, add the garlic, cumin and ginger and cook for another minute.
  2. Add the vegetable stock, bring to a boil and transfer to the slow cooker.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook on low for 5-7 hours or until the carrots are tender.
  3. Blend till smooth using a hand blender.
  4. Optional:  you can add a bit of cream at the end to make it smoother but you would need to add this to your daily WW points.

For more slow cooker inspiration click here.

The Secret to My Weight Loss (or not)!

I started a diet a while back and was a bit reluctant to share which one until I worked out if it was a fad or not.  I’m still undecided.  It was going great guns and I lost 7lbs in 10 days but then I had a weekend away with friends and all hell broke loose around here so in honesty I’ve gained 5 back.  So, not that impressive really.

I’m no stranger to low carb diets and am aware of the pitfalls (bad breath, loss of muscle tone, insufficient nutrients, etc) but I don’t have a huge amount to lose (10lbs), I was limited on time and I’m impatient so I thought I would give it a go.  I’m not sure if I would recommend the diet to people who have a lot to lose.  I’ll leave it to you to decide if it’s for you.

So, what is the diet I hear you ask?  It’s the Dukan diet.  Basically, it has 4 stages.  You can work out how long you are in each stage here.  Here is a brief summary of each.

1) The Attack Phase

A quick blast where you only eat protein for 2-10 days where you eat only meat, fish, poultry, eggs, non-fat dairy products and loads of water.

2) The Cruise Phase

You can now have vegetables but alternate between, pure protein days and protein + vegetables.

3) The Consolidation Phase (I didn’t make it this far!)

The time to stabilize the weight loss and you can gradually add in fruit, bread, cheese and can have two celebration meals a week.

4) The Stabilization Phase

For the rest of your life, Thursdays (or another day you choose) will be a pure protein day.

I’m off on holiday next Friday so going to give it another quick blast.  Probably a bit pointless as I will be eating and drinking myself silly!

I’ll keep you posted.

Photo Credit