Eat yourself healthy with Scallops and Chilli

Eat yourself beautiful and healthy. This is good for the skin, hair and nails. Scallops are rich in minerals that mop up toxins from your body. They also slow down the oxidation of fatty acid, preserving the elasticity of the skin.

Seared Scallops with Minted Pea Puree

Serves:4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Marinating time: 1hour

Who would think that whilst scuba diving I would have the opportunity to catch our dinner, which would turn out to be one of the healthiest foods you could eat.  We were on a dive trip off the coast of Cornwall last August on the “Wave Chieftan 3”, a film crew boat that also serves as a dive boat on occasion. Our Captain Nigel had loads of great stories to tell and after informing us that the week before Brad Pitt was on board filming his new movie, (I’ll be looking out for the release of that) we had some options for our next dive.  Scuba diving offers lots of variety and I didn’t know quite was in store for this trip.  After our first dive whilst fishing for supper (Mackerel and White Bait) we were given the opportunity to dive for Scallops.  Hmm, ok I thought, this sound interesting, a first for me and after a discussion with the rest of the dive crew we all agreed.  We took two catch bags and collected the most amazing haul of Scallops. It was truly amazing not only to catch the Scallops in the first place but also to be in a position to eat them at their absolute freshest.  At our friends house he showed us how to cook them with the recipe below, which was scrumptious but also very healthy. Hope you enjoy

    Juice of half an orange

    2 tbsp soy sauce

    1tbsp good quality honey (Manuka if possible)

    1tbsp olive oil

    1tbsp rice vinegar

    Sea salt and ground black pepper

    12 large scallops without the coral, prepared, rinsed and dried

    1 long red chilli, seeded and finely chopped

    2tbsp chopped fresh coriander

    4 thin lime wedges for decoration

For the puree

    225g Petit Pois

    vegetable stock

    1tbsp extra-virgin olive

    3tbsp chopped fresh mint

Mix together the orange juice, soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar and olive oil in a large shallow dish. Season with salt and pepper then add the scallops and turn to coat them in the marinade

Cover and allow to marinade in the fridge for up to 1hr (no longer or the scallops will start to cook in the juice.

To make the pea puree, place the peas in a pan and cover with vegetable stock. Bring to the boil and cook for 2-3 minutes until tender. Drain the peas, reserving 6tbsp of the stock for later.

Return the peas and the reserved stock to the pan and warm through. Mash the peas with a potato masher to make a coarse puree. Stir in the olive oil and mint, then season with pepper.

Heat a large griddle pan over a high heat. Griddle the scallops for one minute each side until seared. Divide the puree between 4 plates and top with the scallops. Scatter overt the chilli and coriander and service with lime wedges for squeezing over.

On yer bike

Lets face it after Christmas everyone wants to get fit and what easier way than hitting the road with a cycling workout, this is one of the quickest ways to lose weight and feel better about yourself – and it’s fun too. Whether you’re looking to lose those extra Christmas pounds, just improve your fitness or just looking to get a little bit of exercise back into your life, a cycling workout can be just the ticket for you.

My training regularly sees me burning 3000 calories from 25+ miles however, if you have a few miles to travel to work or school in the mornings this is an easy way to kill two birds with one stone and gradually lose that weight.

Remember though that whilst you might feel fine, underneath it is always possible that there could be a number of problems that have gone undetected until now that could be subsequently triggered by picking up the pace with your exercise program, so always consult a doctor before conducting a new physical activity.

Firstly, your fitness with cycling program should begin with a few stretches or even a light jog, to make sure your muscles are warmed up for physical activity. After that, climb on board your bike and get cycling. Always take it slow at first, whilst we all think we are budding Lance Armstrong’s remember he trained more hours that most people work.

A good idea is to take it slowly to start with – On your first day, cycle a block or cycle to work at a medium pace. Don’t try to race there – you will tire yourself out and you’ll be in no state to hit the office. Likewise it’s important to ease yourself into an exercise program, particularly if you haven’t been overly active for a few years or you’re looking to shift excess weight. After a couple of weeks boost your intensity and your distance on your cycling regime to build up your fitness levels and to get you moving and burning calories and fat. Ultimately keep going up in intensity as your body learns to handle more in order to leave you with the perfect introduction to a fitness for cycling program.

Cycling for fitness reasons can be both fun and practical, and it can also help shift excess weight in no time at all. Try it today, after visiting your GP for a health check, and see what wonders can lie in store for you after beginning a more active, healthier lifestyle with a view to losing weight and feeling great. Let me know how you get on.

Losing Weight 2012

When you go on a diet and decide you want to lose some weight, most people think "I'll stop eating so much, maybe do a bit of exercise and be my ideal weight in just a few days". Sadly, these people end up disappointed and usually heavier than when they started.

Dieting is not just a physical process but a mental one too.
If you do not have the mental processes right then your diet will be a struggle and possibly fail. By having the right mental approach and being in control of your brain you can turbocharge your way to your ideal weight.

So how do you get in control of your brain then?

Before I reveal that, you need to know that you are made up of two parts.
You have your conscious mind, which is your ego - the part that chatters on all day.
Then you have your sub-conscious, which is the part that grows your hair, your nails, pumps blood around your body and so on.

This is a very powerful thing to know, because most people fail in their diets because they do not have the sub-conscious mind working with them, and so it sabotages their efforts.
Consciously you want to lose weight, but sub-consciously you enjoy the extra weight for various reasons, e.g. security, lack of attention from the opposite sex, etc.

The first step in making any change is awareness. This means you become aware of the way your brain works and how you think about yourself and weight loss.

For example, lots of people will say, "I'm struggling to lose weight" or "I hatedieting" or something along those lines.

The words you use program your sub-conscious mind. When you say things like this you are giving a strong message to your subconscious mind which takes it all on board.

The same if you say, "Why can't I lose weight?" or "Why am I always eating so much?" or anything like this your sub-conscious mind will give you the answers and tell you why! And how will that make you feel - not so good I imagine!

Being in control of your mind means being in control of what it says to you - it doesn't operate on its own doing what it wants, it operates in a pattern that it has learnt over the years from you. And the nice thing is, this habit - you can change it!

So the first step is to become aware of what you say to yourself when you talk about your dieting and weight. What do you say? Think about this now ...

Is it positive and encouraging? Or is it not?

Over the next week, listen to how you talk to yourself about your weight, your appearance and your diet.

Now you are more aware of what you are saying to yourself about dieting andlosing weight, you can start to reprogram yourself and get rid of those patterns.
When you hear yourself say something that is discouraging or negative about yourself stop yourself immediately and change it into something positive and encouraging - something that makes you feel good.

When you start doing this you will soon notice that your diet becomes so much easier and the weight disappears!