Tipped

OMG the peas are so tasty, that and the mayo or dressing. You have to make sure you munch an apple or some fruit straight away after - thats how I save myself from heading to the sandwich shop to fill up.

Well Joel, if anything your pockets will definitely be lighter = (£5.40 x5)x 3 = £81. Youch. Their carrot and orange juice is also rather delish if you like that kind of thing. But you have my support on your mission. I must confess that I also harbour a secret addiction to the Original Superfood salad from Leon. After a lengthy spell of market research, I can now proudly say that I have mastered a home version of it here in East Dulwich, although perhaps lately I am starting to develop a strange resemblance to a piece of broccoli by consuming so many greens....

Maybe we need to start a recipe sharing service as all of us foodies probably do some masterpieces in the kitchen - like the superfood salad a la Nicola P. Do share!

yup that sounds like a plan - I've been developing my own raw / super food salad over the past few weeks, its pretty good

Following popular demand, here's the Stolen Superfood Salad receipe:
1 cup broccoli, cut into small pieces
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 avocado, cut into small cubes
1/4 cucumber cut into small cubes
1/2 packet feta cheese, crumbled
handful of toasted seeds (I'm partial to the Food Doctor mix)
Small handful of chopped parsley and mint
Dressing: Whisk together 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons good olive oil, salt and pepper

Cook broccoli al dente, throw in peas at last minute. Drain and rinse under cold water.
Mix everything together in a large bowl. Voila!
Quantities can be varied according to taste.
Note: Salad keeps well for a few days without dressing and avocado (simply add these before serving), so good for packed lunches/picnics etc..

This is still a work in progress but I'm loving it

1 cup mixed sprouts (Mung bean, green and brown lentils, aduki bean, chickpea) - I get them from waitrose
1 carrot
some fennel
some red onion
2 beetroots
1/3 of a packet of Feta
some little gem lettuce

There's no cooking really - chop up the carrot, fennel, onion, beetroots and lettuce. Wash the sprouts and chuck them in, then chop upthe feta and chuck that it - mix it all up and add whatever dressing you fancy (I always make it at work so I just by ready made dressing)

ZOMG!! - the seeds and celery remix!

I just bought a big tub of mixed seeds and some celery and I think now my salad is complete - awesome.

I follow the same model of eating or paleo diet featured by Bryan Appleyard in the Sunday Times. If you remove refined carbs, potatoes, rice and things like quinoa, despite its healthy reputation, I think you'll find that you can eat pretty large salads without negative consequences and drop weight. I'd not eat the same food from the same place every day. The rule should be variation. There's an argument that legumes might be best avoided, and I tend to, but not entirely.

I need to read the piece in the ST again but if you're exercising, or just generally moving about don't you need carbs at some point?

There's plenty of carbs in fresh fruit and veg. But your body is designed to burn fat rather than sugar, so they say. But dense carbs--bread, spuds, rice, pasta, turn almost immediately to sugar, rushing the system and causing an aggressive insulin response. My own experience is that this just gets worse as you get older. Much of our culture pushes us toward eating whole-grain type carbs on the understanding these are healthy. The paleo folks argue that's not the case, and these "agricultural" foods don't work well for us. The Sunday Times article highlights the approach of Art De Vany, who does not really describe it as a diet, more a way of living, including a high-intensity "complex" exercise.

I'm defo gonna have to read that article properly - for all y'all reading who haven't seen the article its here http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/diet_and_fitness/article4523487.ece

"Breakfast: I tend to eat last night’s leftovers: turkey with jarlsberg cheese and fruit, bacon with red grapes, omelettes with rosemary, olives and spring onions"
Urggh...Doesn't sound like much fun. Personally, I think if you deny yourself things, you're more likely to binge on them at some point. Or just be quite miserable. And a pain in restaurants. But that's just my humble opinion :)
The 80/20 rule works well for me - if you stick to eating healthy 80% of the time healthy, then you can allow yourself some "treats". And incorporate activity into your daily life (doesn't have to be the gym either). Easy!

turkey and jarlsberg? I'd have that every day - I defo hear you on the binge thing - when you fall off the wagon, you fall hard if you've abstained from treats and stuff.

Ok Tim, I'm going to mix it up, but not until I finish my Leon experiment. And what exactly am I supposed to do about beer?

Nicola P, I may indeed be quite miserable, but I hope I'm trending in the right direction ;-). For people who have a real weight problem, the information about refined carbs could be life-saving. The more I've learnt about public health advice, particularly as characterised by Gary Taubes in his book The Diet Delusion, the more understandable our modern obesity epidemic is, and the more sympathy I have for those who are afflicted.

Joel B,you promise to buy me one when I'm next in London, I'll say nothing.

I weighed in today to check progress, good news down 5 pounds. The Leon Superfood Salad Diet works! Full disclosure...

I didn’t actually eat the Leon salad every day as I said I would, but I did eat A Superfood salad most days, just one that I made at home. I had a couple different versions, one of which was so good I’m going to eat it again next week, got from The Acorn House Cookbook - http://www.acornhouserestaurant.com/. I’ll get that recipe up soon.

I also changed what I eat for breakfast. I used to eat a bowl of dorset cereals tasty, toasted spelt barley & oat flakes. You can read all about it here - http://www.dorsetcereals.co.uk. I loved it, and I think it’s probably really good for you, but I think it is just too high in carbohydrates for losing weight (57.9g per 100g) of which 26.2g are sugars...I was also hungry 2 hours later. For the past 2 weeks I’ve been eating 2 boiled eggs, a handful of cheery tomatoes and a small piece of cheese, don’t have any stats on this, but think it might be better. Tim P., any thoughts on this?

Dinners were a mixed bag really, mostly lean meat/fish and veg, slight smaller portions than usual. The only carbohydrate was 2 pieces of Nan on 2 different nights out for curry (see my Tips), and drank on average 2 beers or 2 glasses of wine per night...or was it 3? I’m pretty sure most nutrition experts would advise one to drink less, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.

Exercise was pretty typical for me, 2 – 4 days a week, mix of Spin classes, yoga and weights.

For more info on what I’m basically trying to follow, check out Tim P.’s excellent blog - http://knackeredhack.com/

Joel B, thanks for that. I can't advise because we all are different, but suspect that your new breakfast may be better than cereal. I don't eat a lot of cheese these days, but those I follow recommend the lower in saturated fat the better. I eat grapefruit for breakfast, pineapple or melon, a handful of walnuts and some flax seed oil. But I think an egg or two is probably fine, from my understanding. On the beer and wine, I'd be more cautious, not so much for carb content, just that I would not drink daily. I think you want to avoid routine exposure to toxins. With alcohol the problems are well documented, but what you want to fear is that what today is a stable, under control phenomenon will later cascade out of control. It's those cascades that are a feature of complex systems that we want to be prepared for. It's the inverse of a viral business strategy. You keep dripping information hoping that you get picked up and promoted by a big node. A power law is at work. Suddenly you're Google. You want to avoid that with disease. Also, from a position of entrepreneur, or even ordinary information worker, you need to maintain or develop your cognitive abilities to their optimum if you're to take advantage of and recognize all opportunities as they present themselves and navigate safely the implosions the scale-free nature of the web and the modern economy implies will be routine. A cliche, but never truer: it's a jungle out there.

I think that's a fair point about drinking, think I need to take that advice, will be sure and report back when I have.

On the breakfast bit, my sense is I'd feel hungry if I only ate some fruit and a handful of nuts. Do you eat again prior to lunch time?

My experience and understanding is that as you wean yourself off refined carbs, the body adjusts and becomes better at burning fat as a fuel source, which is what it is designed to burn. But I would think the eggs you're eating, and in my case the nuts, digest more slowly and fill you up, so both would suspend appetite better than cereal, which is digested quickly into sugar. I'll eat an apple mid morning, the less sweet a variety the better. BTW, walnuts are best, I learn, in terms of their balance of Omega 3s.

Tim - What about plain yogurt for breakfast (with berries/fruit), walnuts and flaxseed? Would that suffice? Where do you get your calcium?

I've been having natural yoghurt and a punnet of blueberries for breakfast for the past month and I love it.

Amy B

I still have a question about whether my calcium intake is sufficient. I do eat sheep's yoghurt from time to time and have not entirely excluded milk from beverages. I drink a lot of redbush tea, allegedly rich in calcium, and my diet is now very rich in leafy green veg. However, my understanding is that what is just as important is retaining calcium in the metabolic process. Fruits and vegetables help prevent calcium loss by maintaining the pH balance in the body. Some of these questions are best answered by books on the paleo approach like Loren Cordain's The Paleo Diet. I'm anxious not to offer advice, just describe my own explorations of these approaches, which are working for me, on balance. But it is controversial and easily misunderstood too. On Bryan Appleyard's blog there is a debate about the viability of this diet in terms of agriculture, inspired by Monty Don trying and rejecting it, and I think this would be an interesting area of research. But what is clear is that an increasing proportion of the population is suffering from obesity, and as science writer Gary Taubes has asked, something must have changed recently. The answer he has reached about mainstream dietary advice favouring low-fat/high-carb from 1977 onwards is very compelling.

Tim

Hello folks - here's another salad recipe to try out. This is somewhat a copy of those lovely colourful salads you find in Vietnamese restaurants. Also works well as a side dish for grilled chicken.

Salad:
1 carrot, shredded
1/4 red cabbage, shredded
1/4 red onion, finely sliced
1/4 red chilli, finely chopped (you can add less if you don't like too much heat)
handful mint leaves, chopped
handful mixed sprouts

Dressing:
1 lime, juiced
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp fish sauce

Topping:
small handful toasted and chopped peanuts
small handful crispy tofu (I used Caldron marinated tofu - just stir fry lightly)

Mix all salad ingredients together with dressing. Top with the peanuts and tofu. Pretend you're somewhere hot and sunny.

Ah this sounds really good, will try for sure next week.

Quick update on the Leon Superfood Salad Diet, I'm down another 6 lbs from the last update, though I'm mostly making my own now and only eating Leon once or twice per week.

I tried Nicola P.'s salad (above) today. Tasty, but was starving 2 hours later. Think it'll be good for my weight loss program, but suggest you make this one extra large.