Good Food For Good

Every now and then I meet someone who is so cool that I need everyone to know about them IMMEDIATELY.

Richa Gupta is one of those people.

One of my clients met Richa at a food fair and played matchmaker between us.  Her company, Good Food for Good, makes healthy sauces and when I learned that she does a Butter Chicken curry that is only 80 calories per serving (as opposed to 200 +) and includes hemp protein, I was about to storm her warehouse to get my hands on some.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to because Richa invited me to come and check it out. This is a quick video about the day we met and why I was so impressed with what she is doing to make the world healthier.

 

Wondering what to do with all that healthy delicious?  Here are some ideas from Richa’s site:

Massala Cauliflower Steak

 

Ingredients:

  1. 1 head Cauliflower, sliced into two steaks
  2. 2 tbsp olive oil
  3. 1/ 2 tsp sea salt
  4. 1 jar Good Food For Good Tikka Masala Sauce

Method:

Heat the oven to 400 degrees, on a sheet pan place the two steaks and rub them with oil and salt. Bake for about 20-30 minutes till fork tender and brown on edges

If cooking on stove top, take a heavy bottom skillet and pour 1tbsp of oil. Once pan is hot, add the steak and cook on each side till it turns brown about 5 minutes if the cauliflower is still not fork tender, lower the heat, cover the pan and cook for another 10 minutes.

Once the steaks are done, plate them and drizzle with warm tikka masala sauce and garnish with pommegrante seeds and cashews.

Delicious! Serve with basmati rice and salad or a warm naan.

Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

  • 4 Sweet Potatoes, washed and brushed
  • 1.5 cups cooked black beans
  • 1 jar Good Food For Good Ancho Chile Enchilada Sauce or if you like spicy try the Chile de Arbol Taco Sauce.
  • 2 ripe Avocados
  • 1/2 cup chopped pepper
  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 1/8 cup chopped cilantro
  • 1/8 cup diced deseeded tomato
  • Fresh lime juice

Method:

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degree F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Poke several holes into each sweet potato and place on the baking sheet and roast for 40-45 minutes.
  • Bake sweet potatoes at 400 degrees for 30 – 35 minutes till they are fork tender.After baking let the potatoes cool for 5-10 minutes.
  • While the potatoes are roasting, prepare guacamole and black beans.
  • Black Bean Sauce: In a shallow pan pour all the Enchilada sauce and black beans with 1/4 cup of water and cook for 5-7 minutes.
  • Guacamole: Prepare guacamole by dicing the Avocado, add onions, tomato, salt to taste and lime juice.
  • Assemble sweet potato: Slice each potato in half lengthwise like a hot dog bun leaving the bottom intact. Pour the saucy black beans in the middle and top it with fresh guacamole.
  • Garnish with chopped pepper and cilantro.

Did you like this post? Want more healthy recipes and features on other people doing cool, healthy stuff? Leave a comment and let me know!

can you get fit in a way that is good, fast and cheap?

Most of you know my friend Joe from his incredible before and after pics and the story of his incredible 80lb weight loss.

What you don’t know is that Joe and I originally met as theatre artists about fifteen years ago.

I was producing my first show and described the set I wanted – a cross between Miss Saigon helicopters and Phantom of the Opera crashing chandeliers but I had no budget and needed it by the end of the week.

Joe sat me down and told me I could have a set that was good, fast or cheap – I could pick two of those but couldn’t have all three.

Since then, I’ve learned that this rule applies to pretty much everything. And in this video, I’m telling you which are the most important TWO things to pick when you are trying to get fit:


Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

When Food = Happiness

Last week I challenged you to think of how to make yourself happy NOW.

At exactly the weight you are at.

But sometimes it seems like the fastest route to happiness involves a bottle opener and hell-yes-I’ll-have-fries-with-that.

If that sounds familiar, you want to watch this Two Minute Tune Up:

…Any of that resonate? If so, leave me a comment below!

Anything that’s got you a bit stuck in your fitness journey? Leave a comment below so I can answer it in an upcoming blog post!

Heather’s Healthy Lifestyle Makeover

Note from Oonagh:

When I first read Heather’s story, I thought her lifestyle would be hard to improve on!

As you’ll see – she is kind of a straight A student when it comes to fitness.

But then I spotted a few areas that could be tweaked that will give her much better results…

Let me know if you spot them before watching the video! – O


The Stats

Heather

49

Female

5’2″

184lbs

 

Goals:

My fitness goals are focused on endurance cycling. Being able to travel and ride with my boyfriend. Right now I am only able to ride with him on his recovery days. Due to my weight climbing hills is a struggle and huge effort. It would be nice for us to plan a vacation where we can do 100km rides together not worrying about terrain or location. This summer we are going to Portugal and I fear riding won’t be part of my trip due to the hills.

Challenges:

I am a person who works hard, I think in terms of challenges right now its losing weight. Weight loss would increase my overall fitness. In January 2017 I have done Moksha Yoga every day and spent over 10 hours on my bike (on a trainer). I have seen improvements in my strength, my endurance and my performance. No weight loss, very little change in my body and clothes. Its the struggle of working hard with little to no results that is my challenge.

Typical day:

Wake 5:30, Ride my bike for 30mins, Eat breakfast drive to work at 7am, leave work 4pm Yoga at 4:30. Home. Make dinner, eat 7:15pm (due to husbands training schedule) get ready for bed between 9-9:30

Breakfast

Coffee, Muesli Pita with Natural peanut butter and skiff of creamed honey

Lunch:

Salad with olive oil and vinegar, half a chicken breast, 1 slice of homemade sourdough. 1 cup homemade soup. (this is often eaten in stages over a couple of hours)

Snacks:

Daytime Buckin eh oats around 9:30 am 1/3 cup.

Sometimes an orange at some point in the morning or afternoon.

0% greek yogurt with 4 tbsp of homemade granola (chia, flax and wheat germ)

Night 250 ml of almond milk with vega protien and greens powder

Dinner:

Chicken breast, Pork Chop or Cod, basmati rice and broccoli. occasionally we add a salad

 

How happy are you with the state of your health? (scale of 1-10)

3

How happy with how you look?

2

 

Anything else I should know?

Last year I put 2500 km on my bike 2000 of those outside on the road.

I did not see a significant change in my body and my weight remained relatively the same.

I am wearing all the same clothes with really no change in fit.

I have hovered for the past few years between 180 and 190 pounds, with no significant difference regardless of the changes I have made.

I am frustrated, everything I do and have done would result in change for the average person.

I have had blood work done, I have had the celiac test, other than high iron everything is normal.

I don’t need to be a stick just need to be a healthy weight. Right now I am carrying and extra 30-40 pounds and its really difficult.

So….what advice would YOU give Heather?

Oonagh gives Heather a Healthy Lifestyle Makeover!

Resources for Heather:

Online bike training classes she can do from home:

Zwift  (classes you can stream at home to your TV or computer)

Peloton (an app)

Online yoga:

Yoga with Adrienne (a Youtube Channel)

Gaia (a paid streaming service)

Alternative breakfasts

Oonagh’s Favourite Smoothie

1/2 banana

2 cups kale

1 cup almond millk

1/2 cup blueberries

1 scoop Vega with greens

1 tbsp chia or flax seed

Simple scramble breakfast

2 eggs

1 handful of spinach

1 slice of Ezekial sprouted bread

Must reads:

What everyone ought to know about cycling for fitness. (This goes into more detail on how to get the most out of your cycling training and includes a workout for cyclists)

How to not exercise (this will explain more about why it’s so important to take time off!)

 

Leave a comment!

Did any part of Heather’s story resonate with you?

Do you have any tips for Heather that have worked for you?

Want to tell her that you are rooting for her and her upcoming trip?

Leave a comment below! 🙂