Unfortunately, when entertaining guests, the food you serve is usually chockers full of calories – and the frequency of these meals increase at certain times of the year.
Here are a couple of hints we find helps us when preparing for “the masses” of family and friends.

Replace fat with flavor – use extra herbs and peppers in pizzas and other areas where you’d usually use a lot of cheese – for instance – pizzas. Lasagne can have less cheese if you just add a little extra herbs. Also, more white sauce (with less/no cheese), to enable the pasta sheets get enough moisture during the baking to go soft. Only use cheese on the top layer rather than every second.
Use ‘low-fat’ salad dressings – you’ll find a lot of these premade in the supermarket. They do make a big difference.

If you want to make creamy soups, substitute the cream for puree’d potato!

Your guests won’t notice the subtle differences but you’ll notice the difference on your waist!

If you’ve ever heard of water or juice fasting as a way to detox – don’t do it… our bodies aren’t made to handle just water or just juice – we need solids, nutrients, minerals, vitamins, enzymes etc too. The whole “your digestive system will shut down, giving you more energy” crap – where are you getting the energy while your cells are eating at your muscles? It’s bollocks and dangerous. Your will die after 1 month on having just water… so you know you’re still doing yourself damage if you’re only doing it for a week…

Your digestive system IS the source of energy – sure adrenaline can give you short bursts of energy but overall you can get plenty of energy from raw foods (hence I’m trying out the raw-foods detox diet).. I can still lightly steam my veggies if I want, have grilled fish, a steak once or so a week. Honestly – you will be doing yourself more harm than good trying to fast on just water. Your liver and kidneys will be effected – and not in a good way.

What can I say – after doing some serious research I’ve decided to try a semi-vegan raw foods detox diet for the next 2 months. It basically consists of eating as much fruit, veggies and brown rice as I want… and fish.. but occasionally allowing nuts, seeds and a rare-medium rare meat (that has NO chemicals).. obviously I wouldn’t be having rare chicken or pork (since where I live the pigs are bred without hormones etc so I could easily pick up worms).. but beef, venison and alike would be fine. This will be interesting. I started yesterday and have since been having the key tell-tale signs that my detox is working – aptly known as semi-diarrhea.

This is a great low fat daily detox that I’m doing. It’s logical, safe, but still requires some will power.. brown rice is quite tasty, keeps you full a fair bit longer than white rice, and mixed together with fish, fruit, veggies and some beef … and maybe some oysters too for the extra iron, you’re set for eating healthy, detoxifying your body of processed crap and even cleansing your colon without an enema!

Hi there! This is our Low Fat Daily blog that we’ve dedicated to sharing great low fat ideas, tips and recipes! There’s a misconception that low fat foods have to be low in taste too but that’s really not the case. There are heaps of healthier alternatives where you can cook what you want, but with less fat in the method!

This has been talked about for months and I’ve finally found a company I trust enough to get a trial version of their product online… it’s actually a lot better than the other Acai Berry products – you get a full dose, not half… so you can lose weight faster from the more potent dose! I’m very impressed to say the least. I’ve only been on it a week and it’s even lifted my mood – so it’s got more benefits than just a kick start to losing weight!
When I first heard about the health properties available in acai berry I was initially a bit skeptical. I have tried a few organic supplements in the past and had experienced only minimal weight loss results… but it’s been a few months of research and I’m convinced Acai Berry’s decent enough to try.

However after reading through Pure Acai Berry’s accreditations, trials and other customer success stories, I decided to give it a try.

Here’s a testimonial/confession of one of the people who’s tried it for real:
3 months on I have lost over 2 stone and feel incredible.

Working as a temp for an administrative firm, my hours were often unsociable. Getting home at 7.30pm to 8pm every night, I simply wasn’t motivated enough to cook, so most of the time I would simply shove a ready meal into the oven and settle in the front of the TV.

In a year I had put on 3 stone, and felt awful. I was constantly tired, and found myself struggling to concentrate at work. That was when I first started to try weight loss supplements. Yet after wasting over £100 on 3 different dietary pills and losing only 3lbs, I was nearly at breaking point.

Despite doing everything they said: eating more fruit and vegetables, reducing my carbohydrate intake and exercising more, nothing really changed. Luckily, I heard about Pure Acai Berry from my friend Michelle at work. After taking these supplements for a week she had lost 6lbs, had noticed a significant improvement in her complexion and she said she felt a lot more energetic.

I did a little research and was really impressed with what Pure Acai Berry had to offer, so I gave it a try. The results were incredible. Every week I lost on average 3-5lbs and the difference it made to me as a whole was instant.

I have always had a problem with ache, but after trying Pure Acai Berry for 2 weeks I noticed a significant difference in my appearance. My complexion was smoother, I felt healthier and to be honest I felt completely re-energised. Going to the swimming baths was no longer a problem, if anything I was eager to go.

One of the best elements to acai was its freedom from side effects. It was refreshing to be able to take this supplement and I know that I could safely go to work without having to worry about any embarrassing accidents.

It has been 3 months now and my weight loss is still going strong. In fact, after visiting my GP he told me my cholesterols levels had returned to normal, which was great news for me as in April I was at the point of being put on medication.

I have still got over a stone to go, but with acai berry I am confident that I can reach my target weight loss. It is certainly a supplement I would recommend to friends.

For more information about Pure Acai Berry, CLICK HERE

Well it’s not new year … but I feel it is because right now I’ve started a new weightloss venture that is actually working for me – so it’s like a fresh start, a new year…

 Acai Berry - everyone’s heard of it… and now YOU can get a trial piece of it cheap.. I found the best version of it.. some companies push it but it’s not in it’s full form – this is PURE Acai Berry so you get more bang for your buck!
If you’re serious about weightloss, now’s the time to talk to your family about it. There’s no need to rave on and on about it all the time. But sit down with them, or mention it in passing, that you’re trying to lose weight and will need to change your eating habits. If you’re the one who does the shopping, just warning them that all those yummy naughty foods won’t be coming in the next cart. If you’re not the one who’s shopping, it’s a good idea to let the shopper know that you need them to buy you certain foods and to avoid certain other foods.  Also, when having dessert – maybe try to push that others eat what you’re eating. Trust me, it’s hard to sit there eating grapes and other fruits (as much as I love grapes) while everyone else is sitting there eating away at ice cream or pudding or cake.

STAY AWAY: from white bread. Nutritionists (my mother inclusive) have been nagging for people on a weightloss plan to stay off white bread and get onto wholemeal. If you like white bread too much, try multi-grain for part of the transition. Also stay away from refined sugar and meals full of sugar.

Try not to have too many carbs at night because your body doesn’t need them and won’t burn them of by the time you go to bed. Although the body does burn calories while you sleep, it won’t start with the bread.

Get plenty of sleep. I don’t mean oversleep. But if your body (not an alarm clock or the kids or someone boiling a kettle) wakes you up because it’s had enough sleep, it’s time to get up!

My birthday’s tomorrow, let’s see how well I go with my diet haha. It’s still not an excuse for letting the tastebuds fly lol.  Seafood dinner at night (can never get enough seafood) and some tennis during the day to even it out. By the way – if you’re going to exercise, make sure you enjoy what you’re doing. If you like swimming, squash, tennis, rowing etc, do it!