Judith Wills
After countless reports/surveys over the past 20 or more years concluding that one of the main reasons we as a nation are overweight is because of our penchant for eating out and in particular, eating fast food - how about this?
Earlier this month the latest survey on the subject (from WeightWatchers and YouGov) has decided that the real/new/exciting reason we are fat is home cooking.
Apparently, this is because we dish up large portions and then carry on eating until everything's gone, even if we are full.
Well, aside from the fact that fast food is often served in large portions and that if you've paid good money to eat out, then you are even more likely to eat everything on your plate, I always find quite the opposite.
I find it much, much easier to control what I eat at home than I do when I'm out. I do the shopping, I choose healthy items (tip - shop when you have just eaten, you'll end up with a much healthier, more minimal trolley), cook them in what I hope is a nutritious but delicious way, take pleasure in dishing up a moderate but filling portion and even more pleasure in freezing the leftovers to save money for another time.
It's easy - what's the problem?
Whereas when you eat out, you want to choose something you might not make at home, something that sounds a bit indulgent because you are out, you eat every last expensive morsel, while you're waiting you eat the bread, you imbibe.... lovely. But not exactly slimming. Then factor in the companions who have different ideas from you and want a starter AND a dessert - and you want to be affable so you go along with it.
Every single part of my being says home cooking is the way to go - make eating out a rarity not a regular if you want to lose weight.
lLast night I had a real retro evening meal - a homemade chilli con carne, the recipe for which I'm going to share with you here. It was everything a home meal should be - easy to make, very healthy, not too high in calories and so tasty that my moderate portion was indeed enough, and I have indeed frozen the leftovers. Satisfaction.
Chilli con carne - four (moderate) portions
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 medium green peppers, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 tbsp groundnut or light olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 hot red chilli peppers, finely chopped
- 400g extra lean minced beef
- 1 x 400g chopped tomatoes
- 250ml beef stock
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 200g can cooked red kidney beans, well rinsed
- 1 tbsp hot chilli sauce or to taste
To serve: sliced ripe avocado, low fat natural bio yogurt, basmati rice, green salad.
Just saute the vegetables in a large deep frying pan over a medium heat in the oil for 10 minutes to soften; add the garlic and chilli and stir for a minute, then push veg to the edges, add the broken up meat and turn up the heat a bit, stirring the meat until it is brown. Combine veg and meat. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Taste and add more chilli sauce (eg Tabasco) as you like. Serve with the extras. If feeling indulgent swop the yogurt for reduced fat creme fraiche.
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