healthy extras

Chicken Tikka Pizza

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A super easy cheat’s pizza ready in less than 20 minutes! This is syn free when using the wrap as healthy extra B choice and the cheese as part of healthy extra A choice. You can add any of your favourite Free Food toppings, I’ve used Haloodies Chicken Tikka slices for this pizza as they are pre-cooked already making this even easier! You can find the syn values for Haloodies products here. The chicken tikka is available in most supermarkets in the halal chilled food section.

I cut these into slices of 8 making it perfect for tasters sessions for Slimming World groups or any other party.

You can get the pizza seasoning from Aldi, I’ve recently picked it up from my local Aldi for a bargain 29p!!! If you can’t find the pizza seasoning then you can use mixed herbs instead as it works quite well too.

I know cottage cheese may sound weird on a pizza but believe me it does not taste like it once cooked. The cottage cheese gives the pizza a lovely effect, it looks like mozarella cheese once cooked!

Serves: 1

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 20 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Chicken Tikka Pizza

Chicken Tikka Pizza

Ingredients

  • 1 Weight Watchers white wrap
  • 20g light cheddar cheese
  • Tomato puree
  • Pizza seasoning or mixed herbs
  • Mushrooms
  • Haloodies chicken tikka slices
  • Cottage cheese
  • Spinach
  • Cherry tomatoes

Method

Spread tomato puree all over the wrap and sprinkle some of the pizza seasoning. Add all of your favourite toppings and a dollop some of the cottage cheese around the pizza before sprinkling the cheddar cheese on.

Bake in a pre heated oven on gas mark 6 for around 12-15 minutes till the cheese is melted and golden.

 

Breakfast

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Some people eat breakfast whilst others cannot eat anything first thing in the morning, not me though! I can eat anytime! Breakfast is one of my favourite meals of the day, having a good breakfast  sets me up for the rest of the day. I do find on the days I just grab a piece of fruit or have nothing to eat because I am in a rush, those are the days I tend to go overboard with my syns.

If you don’t enjoy eating breakfast, you don’t have to force yourself to eat it. Maybe just grabbing a piece of fruit may be enough for you.

My breakfast tends to be the same most days. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that the majority of the time my breakfast consists of half a pot of Alpro Plain with Coconut ‘yogurt’ mixed with 1tbsp of sweetener, layered with crushed Weetabix and fruit. Raspberries are my favourite fruit for this breakfast, sometimes I add chopped mango or kiwi and drizzle some passion fruit on top. This is my all time favourite breakfast! I have recently started having chocolate Weetabix and oh em gee it is soooo good. You can have the chocolate Weetabix as a healthy extra B choice which is a bonus! But I tend to just syn my breakfast and use my healthy extra B choice later on in the day on Slimming World hifi bars. You can prepare this breakfast the night before as you do with overnight oats or make it in the morning.

Alpro with Weetabix

Alpro with Weetabix

I do love overnight oats but don’t make it as often as I don’t like to use my healthy extra B choice first thing in the morning! If I do overnight Weetabix that is fine for me as I only ever use 1 Weetabix which is half a B choice or just 3 syns each for the plain Weetabix.

If I have the time, I do enjoy a Slimming Word friendly cooked breakfast. I have fried eggs, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and vegetarian sausages. This is a great way of saving your healthy extra B choice for later in the day and it is a completely FREE breakfast depending on what type of sausages you use.

Another breakfast that I enjoy eating is scrambled eggs! Get the recipe for perfectly scrambled eggs every time here

Scrambled eggs with mushrooms & beans

Scrambled eggs with mushrooms & beans

Eggs are just good in any way really, I do always have boiled eggs ready in the fridge to snack on throughout the day or breakfasts when I am in a rush.

On the odd occasions I do have porridge – sometimes just cooked simply in half water half milk mixture and topped with fruit or I do baked oats. Recipe here for baked oats. Bear in mind not all porridge sachets can be used as a healthy extra B choice, do check your food optimising book or the Slimming World app for all the up to date healthy extras. This one below is a B choice and it is lovely.

Big Bowl Porridge

Big Bowl Porridge

What is your favourite breakfast? Do share in the comments below what you enjoy eating for breakfast.

 

 

Asda Shopping Haul

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I don’t tend to stick to one supermarket when shopping but one of my favourite has to be Asda. I am more likely to pick up what I use most in an Asda rather than any other supermarket, so it is always my first choice followed by Aldi then Tesco!

I went to Asda this morning to pick up my essentials and this is what it looks like!

Asda Shopping Haul

Asda Shopping Haul

My favourite fruit includes raspberries, banana and pear. I am obsessed with clementines at the moment though, I’ve lost count on how many I have in a day! I picked up a melon and some strawberries and apples to vary my fruit a bit.

We eat a lot of pasta in our house. We go through a lot in a week and I tend to buy a big bag. We never run out of pasta in our house!

Passata is an absolutely essential store cupboard item for us slimmers. I use it to make pasta sauces and curries.

Eggs is another food item that I buy often! I usually make 5 or 6 boiled eggs in the morning so I can snack on them whenever I am hungry throughout the day. That amount usually lasts me a couple of days unless my youngest daughter and hubby decide to have some too! I’ve seen Asda and other supermarkets sell a couple of boiled eggs with some spinach leaves for £1 or so, I wouldn’t pay that much for it. You can get a box of 6 free range eggs for less than £1 and make your own in minutes!

I always buy packet salads for convenience as I am the only one that eats them at home and add cherry tomatoes, jalapeños and any other pickles I have in my fridge to it.

I bought leeks and celery today as I intend on making a soup with it in the next couple of days, or I might make a Homity Pie with the leeks! I am not too sure yet.

Kia Ora is our family favourite sugar free cordial, we don’t like any other brand.

It is the first time I bought best of both milk, it was on offer for £1 instead of £1.50 so why not? You can have 300ml as a healthy extra A choice. It is supposed to taste like semi skimmed milk but has a lot less fat in it. I also bought the Low Low cheese for the first time. Not sure if it a healthy extra choice but it is handy for my girls to sprinkle on their pasta!

I bought the teas for my members at groups. I am not a fan of tea, I prefer coffee. I like to offer my members a variety of drinks to choose from to enjoy in group.

We love baked beans in our house and it has to be Branston. I only buy Heinz baked beans if it’s the chilli ones.

Lastly on my shopping is the halal turkey slices. Perfect protein rich snack to enjoy anytime or as part of a meal.

What are your essentials? Comment below with your favourite items x

Top Tips to help you stay on track

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Losing weight can be challenging for many of us, we all have our own daily trials to overcome as well as trying our very best to eat well too. Luckily with Slimming World you can eat generous amount of food! For many slimmers who have not yet found a Slimming World group, they may be out there still struggling with and battling their weight loss demons. If you think you’ve tried EVERYTHING and Slimming World is just another ‘diet’ you’d be so wrong. If you want to maintain a weight loss forever then understand this; Slimming World is a lifestyle change, not a ‘diet’.

I hate that word – DIET. To me it sounds like I have to give up eating real food, be confined to no social life and be miserable for the sake of losing a few lbs that might give me temporary happiness until all the weight lost (and usually more on top of that) piles back on again. It’s like a vicious circle, a yo-yo of ups and downs.

I am so glad I found Slimming World when I did. If I can lose weight, so can you. Trust me!

I’ve compiled some top tips I have picked up along the way from my own experience and I have added some from my members as well in hope this can help you too. The best way to get the support to your weight loss journey will be by going along to a SW group, and not just weighing and going! You can do that at home yourself! You’re not paying just to get weighed at a group, you’re paying for the support and help from a room full of people who are on the same mission as you – to lose weight. I hope you find the tips below useful, if you have any of your own you would like to share or add to this list, please comment below.

1 Batch cook, then you always have a Free or low-Syn meal to hand!

Be organised. Make Monday’s lunch on Sunday night and freeze home-made soups/spag bol/chilli/curries for when you need something filling but don’t have time to cook from scratch.

2 Measure your Healthy Extras – ALWAYS!

It is so easy to guesstimate the amount of cereal you have or the milk you put in your tea/coffee. Just 50ml (that is two dashes) extra in your tea or coffee every day could add 10.5 syns per week! An extra 25g of porridge oats can add an extra 31.5 syns per week!

3 Plan for your ‘danger’ time of day and find something Free or low-Syn that will satisfy your craving

Mine is once I’ve got the kids to bed and I have some time in the evening to chill out. I like to save my syns for then so that I can enjoy them without being disrupted! A little of what you fancy is fine so you do not feel deprived and binge – that is what Syns are for!

4 Include at least 1/3 Speed foods to every meal

Speed foods are absolutely vital for your slimming success. The more speed foods you have, the better your weight losses on the scales. Slimming World do recommend us to have at least 1/3 speed foods with every meal, if you can have more, even better! Sometimes it might not make any sense to add any speed foods to a certain meal, for example a free food soup. You don’t have to eat some speed food to make up for it, unless you are hungry! There is no point in adding extra calories when you don’t need it.

5 Plan meals

All of us know the importance of planning meals. You might not like to plan a whole week in advance, that is ok! You don’t have to. You can plan your food day a day in advance, that way you will be in control and there will be nothing stopping you from a weight loss.

6 Drink plenty of water

You hear that a lot from many people. Water is great for our bodies and some of us are great at keeping hydrated, others not so good. The good news is that if you drink tea/coffee that can count towards your fluid intake, as can sugar free squash. You only need 6-8 glasses a day. No need to go overboard by drinking 3-4 litres a day! It is not necessary. I think I would be forever sat in the toilet if I drank that much!! Drinking water does not aid to weight loss may I add, if you didn’t drink any water you would not gain weight or not lose anything. Fluids are important for good health.

7 Stay to group

Stay to IMAGE Therapy rather than getting weighed and leaving. I can honestly say that every week (even though sometimes I don’t feel like it!) I’m always glad I stay. I always learn something new, get inspiration from the other members and have fun, too! I sometimes hear people say image therapy is boring or the same topics are discussed every week. Well, are you doing anything to make it inspiring? Are you sharing your ideas and supporting others when they need it? If the answer is no, then if a room full of people thought the same as you then group will be boring! You make it as exciting and fun as you want. You need to let the group and your consultant know what help you need (if any) or if you are a superstar at losing weight, then share what works for you with the rest. Sharing is caring!

8 Keep you fridge and food cupboard well stocked with Free snacks like fruit salad, veggie sticks and Free yogurts

So important to make sure you have all the right food in so that when hunger strikes you do not reach for the high syns alternatives.

9 When you buy something with a Syn value, write the Syn value and portion size on the packet

This can stop you reaching for a flapjack or a biscuit (or the whole packet!).

10 Stock up on herbs and spices

These will add so much flavour to all your meals. Whether you buy fresh or dried herbs, your food will not lack in flavour. Just be careful if buying spice mixes as not all are FREE.

11 Don’t take other people’s word for Syn values, always remember to check for yourself

With so many different social media out there, information can sometimes be passed on incorrectly or can be out of date. For your weight loss success, always check syns for yourself. Download the slimming world app or visit the Slimming World mobile website – it’s so useful when you’re out shopping.

12 Don’t think of it as a ‘diet’. It’s a change in eating habits – enjoy it

So many times I get asked the question by new members if I still follow Slimming World! Well, of course! Even if I wasn’t a SW consultant, what I learnt with SW will stay with me for life. I have completely changed the way I cook. If you’ve had a bad day it doesn’t mean you have to make it a bad week – just start fresh the next day.

13 Have a visual reminder of your long term goal and keep it in the kitchen

This can work well for many. For me personally, I put up a picture of myself of how I looked at my largest and every time I opened the snack cupboard or the fridge, I would see the photo of my larger self and that would make me think twice before putting anything in my mouth! Of course sometimes I do not have the will power to stop, I am human and nobody is perfect. But don’t let little setbacks stop you looking at the bigger picture of where you would like to be.

14 Don’t compare yourself with other people’s progress

This is your journey and it will be as unique as you are – follow Food Optimising and you’ll feel amazing in no time! Stay positive, believe in yourself and remember it’s not always about the number on the scales but how you feel on the inside. Some people take the fast route and some people take the slow route – but they both reach the finish line. If you give up you won’t reach your target weight but even if you continue on the slow route you’ll get there eventually.

15 Once you reach your target, don’t think you can go it alone!

Remember when you reach your target weight, coming to SW each week is FREE! Even if you can’t attend every week, try to go to a group at least once a month and stay to IMAGE Therapy to re-inspire you and keep you on track. Make the most of your group and all of the lovely people in it. We’re all going through exactly the same feelings, having the same thoughts, fears and emotions. Support is the best tool on our journey – use it often!

16 Enjoy regular walks

Or any other sort of Body Magic. It will help you feel so much better. Walking is my favourite, I can do it anytime I want and it is FREE!

17 Keep a food diary

Online, diary sheets, photos. Whichever suits you. Keep counting and be honest on the diary – even if you go over your Syns! You are only cheating yourself by not being honest on the food diary.

18 Take your body measurements when you start

What better incentive to keep going than when you check your measurements and you’ve lost inches as well as lbs! I took my measurement when I first started as a member every 2-3 months. It really helped me stay on track especially on the weeks I didn’t see a weight loss on the scales.

These are just some of our tips, do share what works for you in the comments below.