Contents

Cover

About the Book

About the Author

Title Page

Introduction

Start the day right

(breakfasts & brunches)

Fruity kale smoothie

Mango and carrot smoothie

Orange stewed rhubarb with cinnamon yoghurt

Boiled eggs with veggie dippers

Baked spinach and tomato eggs

Piperade

Huevos rancheros

Cheat’s breakfast quiches

Smoked salmon and chives scrambled eggs

Spinach and mushrooms with poached eggs

Cheat’s skinny English breakfast

Powerstart smoothies

Healthkick smoothie

Herby French toast

Fruity chia seed ‘porridge’

Cheat’s low-calorie granola

Cheat’s blueberry muffins

Full English breakfast salad

Egg, tomato and mushroom crumpet stacks

Cheat’s breakfast burritos

All-day breakfast omelette

Cheat’s sweet potato ‘toast’ with smashed avocado with alternative toppings

Go light

(light meals & lunches)

Fresh mussel and tomato soup

Aromatic Thai prawn broth

Squash and butterbean soup

Tuscan bean and vegetable soup with cavolo nero

Indian spiced lentil soup with tarka garnish

Tofu kebabs with garlic pak choi

Thai crab cakes with bean sprout salad

Chicory, pear and chickpea salad

Vietnamese chicken salad

Thai chicken lettuce ‘parcels’

Quick summer chicken with minted peas

Griddled chicken and squash salad

Barbecued California salad with grilled shrimp

Cheat’s cauliflower ‘rice’ salad

Cheat’s falafels with garlic yoghurt skordalia

Cheat’s chicken burgers with tzatziki

Spicy chicken noodle soup

Sushi and Japanese salad

Cheat’s loaded potato skins with variation

Chilli baked sweet potatoes

Fruity quinoa salad with roasted vegetables

Cheat’s quick ‘n’ easy pizzas

Cheat’s beans on toast

Cheat’s tuna melt ‘toasties’

Cheat’s crispy chicken nuggets

Cheat’s chicken Caesar salad

Cheat’s hamburgers

Cheat’s steak ‘sandwich’

Cheat’s crunchy fish fingers

Cheesy chicken quesadillas with variation

Meals in minutes

(main meals & suppers)

Chicken shawarma with cheat’s aubergine fries

Chicken cacciatore with smashed butterbeans

Chicken and spinach towers

Turkey and clementine stir-fry

Thai green curried chicken tray bake

Grilled fish with Puy lentils

Lemon chicken souvlaki with greens

Cheat’s lentil and vegetable cottage pie

Spiced dhal with roasted vegetables

Cheat’s ‘rice’ with Mexican griddled prawns

Cheat’s chicken lasagne

Cheat’s chicken tikka masala

Cheat’s ‘pasta’ with soy and garlic chicken drumsticks

Cheat’s tandoori chicken with chana dhal

Cheat’s fish and chips

Chicken pasta bake

Chicken saltimbocca with lemony smashed pesto potatoes

Thai green prawn and coconut curry

Shrimp scampi

Crispy baked salmon and spinach

Japanese griddled tuna steaks and brown rice

Cheat’s sweet and sour pork

Spicy stir-fried quinoa

Cheat’s spaghetti bolognese

Cheat’s chilli con carne

Cheat’s pad Thai

Cheat’s seafood risotto

Cheat’s macaroni cheese

Skinny lasagne stacks

Treat yourself

(snacks & desserts)

Cheat’s butternut squash ‘fries’

Roasted vegetable wedges with tzatziki

Cheat’s buffalo wings

Cheat’s hummus

Prawn, mango and avocado wraps

Italian tricolore kebabs

Passionfruit mini pavlovas

Affogato

Frozen yoghurt strawberries

Strawberry and lemon curd meringue mess

Fruit kebabs with chocolate sauce

Peachy chocolate filo parcels

Oaty banana muffins

Cheat’s tiramisu

Cheat’s low-fat carrot cake

Cheat’s brownies

Cheat’s espresso chocolate mousse

Cheat’s apple crumble

Copyright

About the Book

All your favourite meals – made healthier!

‘Cheat’ your way to keeping the weight off, while still indulging in your favourite dishes, with our simple twist on tasty recipes.

Dig in for:

• Breakfasts and brunches, from Huevos Rancheros to Blueberry Muffins

• Tempting light meals and lunches including Thai Crab Cakes, and Cheat’s Chicken Burgers

• Satisfying suppers such as Pad Thai and Chilli Con Carne

• And even tasty treats like Butternut Squash and Brownies!

With our easy-to-follow Green, Amber and Red food lists, and concise and accurate nutritional information, including calories, for each recipe, losing weight has never been easier!

About the Author

Heather Thomas is a health and cookery writer and editor who has worked with all the major slimming organisations in the UK, including Slimming Magazine, Slimming Clubs, Weight Watchers, Slimming World, Rosemary Conley, LighterLife, Scottish Slimmers, Unislim, Cambridge Weight Plan and Tesco Diets. She is the author of The Avocado Cookbook (Ebury, 2016) and The Chickpea Cookbook (Ebury, 2017), The Sweet Potato Cookbook (Ebury, 2017), The Hot Sauce Cookbook (Ebury, 2018).

Heather has worked with many top chefs, nutritionists and women’s health organisations and charities, and has contributed to health and food magazines in the UK and the United States. She practises what she preaches and eats a very healthy diet and stays slim and fit.

Introduction

The key to losing weight effectively is an eating plan that’s simple to follow, enjoyable, sustainable, never leaves you feeling hungry and allows you to make your own choices about what you eat. In this book we take the hard work and stress out of dieting – there’s no calorie counting and you decide what you want to eat. The quick and easy recipes enable you to eat a healthy diet with delicious food and good-sized portions that leave you feeling full for longer. You can navigate your way through the day without worrying about calories and quantities – there’s no number crunching and it’s easy to stay on course.

Traffic light colour-coded food lists

We have three colour-coded food lists (green, amber and red) to help you make the right choices.

• By choosing freely from the green list, you can stop worrying about what you’re eating and proceed at your own pace, enjoying a wide range of healthy, nutritious foods. It’s all about making smart choices.

• All the foods on the amber list can be eaten in moderation – not freely like the green foods. Amber foods tend to be higher in fat and calories but are still nutritious.

• Foods on the red list should be regarded with extreme caution and only eaten occasionally, if at all, as treats in very small quantities.

This healthy ‘traffic lights’ approach is easy to follow and it really works, and it’s reflected in the recipes in this book. Just pick and mix your breakfasts/brunches, lunches, suppers, snacks and desserts – there’s such a wide range that you’re spoilt for choice. There are even special cheat’s low-calorie slimming versions of many of your favourite dishes and take-out foods. You really can enjoy eating the foods you love but in a healthy, sustainable way.

Slimming success

If you want to be successful at losing unwanted pounds and maintaining a healthy weight long term, you need to learn new healthy eating habits and make them an intrinsic part of your lifestyle. It’s not difficult – it’s common sense.

1 Eat a healthy diet

You need to eat a varied diet with all the nutrients that are essential for good health, including lean protein (which includes vegetable protein from whole grains, pulses, beans, nuts); carbohydrates that are not over-refined and high in sugar (starchy vegetables, whole grains, brown rice, wholewheat pasta); vitamins and minerals; and, yes, even fat. Always opt for ‘healthy’ fats – monounsaturated olive oil, nuts, seeds and vegetable oils (in moderation on the amber list) rather than animal full-fat dairy products like cream and butter (red list). Most importantly, choose healthy foods you enjoy.

2 Eat 3-a-day

You should eat breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. If you go without food and miss meals, you’ll crave it even more, your metabolism will slow, you’ll have less energy and your health will suffer, so don’t be tempted to skip breakfast or go without lunch.

3 Healthy snack attack

By eating regular healthy meals that fill you up you are less likely to feel hungry and be tempted to snack on foods that tend to be high in fat and sugar to give you a quick fix. But if you are still hungry, don’t worry – you can choose a wide range of healthy options from the nutritious foods that can be eaten freely on the green list (see here) instead of filling up on unhealthy, high-calorie snacks and desserts. We also have delicious recipes for snacks (see here).

4 Eat less sugar and fat

Effective weight loss and maintenance are determined by the choices you make, so be smart and take control. Sugar is ‘empty’ calories and contributes nothing to your health and wellbeing. It’s easy to reduce your intake: just choose sugarless or low-sugar foods and drinks and use natural plant-derived sweeteners, such as stevia. Learn which foods contain hidden sugar, including baked beans, ketchup, fruit yoghurts, fresh and canned soups, bread, breakfast cereals, smoothies and alcohol.

Fat (and that includes oils as well as the visible fat on meat and in dairy products, such as milk and cheese) has more calories than any other nutrient, so always make the smart choice and opt for healthy vegetable fats (nuts, avocados, seeds) and oils (e.g. olive and sunflower), oily fish and low-fat dairy foods. Remove the skin from chicken and all visible fat from meat.

5 Fill up with fibre

The dietary fibre in food makes you feel fuller for longer as well as playing an important role in promoting a healthy gut and digestive system. Eating high-fibre, low-GI (glycaemic index) foods (vegetables, fruit, beans, pulses, whole grains) that release energy slowly will reduce hunger pangs between meals, making you less likely to snack. GI ratings are given for all our recipes. Eat at least five portions of fruit and/or vegetables from the green list every day to boost your health and increase the fibre in your diet.

6 Treat yourself

Identify your trigger foods. We all have favourites that are hard to eat in moderation, especially when we need to spoil ourselves. You don’t have to give them up – just enjoy them as an occasional treat to help you stay on track. When you reach a weight loss goal, a ‘treat’ will reward and motivate you.

7 Don’t obsess about your weight

Getting stressed about your weight and how slowly you’re losing it is self-defeating. Successful weight loss takes time. If you crash diet and lose weight too fast, you’re more likely to put it on again and there may be risks to your health. Eat the green foods and just relax and take it nice and easy. Weigh yourself once a week and record your weight loss in a diary. This will motivate you to eat healthily and keep on making the right choices. Weight can fluctuate on a daily basis due to hormonal changes and fluid retention in your body, so be smart and don’t get on the scales every day.

8 Plan ahead

This can save you time and give you more control over the food you eat. By keeping a food diary or downloading an app onto your phone it’s easier to track your eating habits, weight loss and which foods work for you. Plan your weekly meals in advance by writing a shopping list and doing one big shop or buying online instead of making several visits to the supermarket, where it’s tempting to add less healthy foods to your trolley (cart). If you spend less time thinking about food, you have more to focus on other things in your life.

9 Speed up your weight loss with exercise

Start exercising to burn fat and tone your body. Ideally, you need to exercise for at least 30 minutes four or five times a week. Choose an activity you enjoy and make it part of your way of life, so you’re more likely to stick to it and it won’t be just a passing fad. Walk or jog in the park, go for a cycle or a swim, join your local gym or dance class, whatever works for you. You can keep a record and measure the steps you take by downloading an app to your phone.

10 Stay slim

When you reach your goal, use our green and amber recipes to maintain your ideal weight. They’re so simple to make and taste so good that you’ll want to make them part of your everyday eating plan. By adopting a healthier diet in the long term you’ll be more in control of what you eat and less likely to regain the pounds you’ve lost. Portion control is central to maintaining a healthy weight and it’s so easy to do – you don’t have to weigh everything obsessively. Just think of a plate and divide it into healthy food categories and portions – our user-friendly example shows you how.

Smart cook

If you enjoy cooking from scratch and make it quick and easy, you’ll make smart choices and be more in control of what you eat. You don’t want to spend longer than you need to in the kitchen where the fridge and store cupboards offer tempting treats, so be savvy and follow the helpful guidelines set out below. You don’t need specialist skills or know-how, just simple cooking methods and techniques. Instead of frying and roasting food in butter and oil, get used to cooking without the unwanted extra fat and calories – it’s not difficult and it tastes just as good. All you need is low-cal spray oil – you can buy a one-calorie per spray brand in your local supermarket.

• Baking and roasting: When roasting or baking vegetables, chicken, meat and fish, just spray lightly with oil; 2–3 quick squirts will do the trick.

• Grilling (broiling): This is a healthy way to cook, especially when you’re in a hurry. It uses hardly any oil and it’s very fast. Use a conventional overhead grill, a ridged griddle pan, a barbecue or even buy a specially designed ‘health grill’ to channel fat away from the food into a drip tray.

• Stir-frying: One of the healthiest as well as the quickest way to cook. A whole meal can be cooked in a wok or deep frying pan in minimal oil. Use a branded one-calorie per spray oil or fill a misting oil sprayer with olive oil and keep it beside the hob.

• Steaming: This is the healthiest way to cook vegetables. It preserves their nutrients, colour, texture, crunchiness and flavour. Nothing is added, and the nutritional goodness is not leached into the cooking water, as happens when they are boiled.

• Poaching: To prevent chicken, salmon and white fish drying out and to keep them moist and tasty, you can poach them in water or stock in a pan on the hob or in a covered dish in the oven. No oil is needed.

• Healthy flavourings: Use herbs, spices, balsamic vinegar, lemon and lime, mustard and low-fat sauces to add depth and flavour without the calories.

• Menu planning: Plan your menus in advance and choose quick and easy dishes, so you don’t spend more time than is necessary in the kitchen.

• Stock up: Always keep a selection of healthy foods and staples on the green foods list (see here) in your fridge, freezer and store cupboards, to avoid unnecessary shopping expeditions and temptation.

• Refresh your fridge: Keep a range of healthy, low-calorie foods you enjoy eating and like to cook. Throw away foods that are past their use-by date and any high-calorie ones on the red foods list (see here).

• Top up the freezer: Keep a selection of frozen healthy green foods, e.g. frozen berries, prawns, chicken breasts and sliced wholegrain bread for toasting (eat one slice at a time and use the defrost button on the toaster rather than having a whole loaf out on the counter). Label and freeze individual portions of healthy casseroles, soups, pasta sauces, etc., and reheat for quick meals.

• Ready meals: It’s best to be in control of what you eat and prepare meals from scratch, but there will always be times when you can’t cook, so keep a few healthy ready meals in the freezer. If you can quickly reheat a complete meal of less than 400–450 kcals per serving and eat it with salad or vegetables, you’ll have a standby option. Always be sure to check the labels on ready meals carefully before buying, especially for fat content – ideally, they should be no higher than 5 per cent.

Eat yourself slim

The best way to eat yourself slim is to choose healthy, high-fibre, low-calorie foods you enjoy and which will fill you up, so you don’t get hungry in between meals. There are lots of green foods you can eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks. They will:

• Stop you feeling hungry

• Help to fill you up

• Help you lose weight

• Make you feel more energised.

green