Healthy salad that keeps you full

This salad is perfect, because it keeps you full for long, tastes great and can also be used as a sidedish for your "lean protein". If refrigerated in an airtight container, it maintains it's goodie  freshness for days! 

You will need: 

½ head of cabbage
2 large red bell peppers
150 gr sugar snap peas
2-3 carrots
1 handful parsley 
1-2 apples
100 gr. almonds
Oliveoil (I use 1 tablespoon)
1½ tsk curry 

What to do: 


Chop up vegetables roughly. Chop the parsley finely. Chop the almonds in half, and fry them in a little bit of oliveoil and the curry on a low to medium hot pan. Be careful they don't burn. Let them cool of on kitchen towel to drain the fat. Toss them in the salad and your done!


This salad can be eaten with a light vinagrette dressing or even some pesto. 

5 healthy snacks on-the-go

If you get hungry between meals, you are most likely to eat something unhealthy like a chocolate bar or something else sugary. I know I am! That's why I always stock up my cupboard and fridge with thing I can snack on, also on the go. Bring your own healthy snacks with you in your bag, so you don't get tempted to eat something that you will regret later. Here are my favorite ones!

1. Sugar snap peas 

I love these because they are sweet, crispy and easy to bring in your bag. if people around you are eating chips, crunch away on this healthy alternative. Besides tasting good, sugar snap peas have a lot of vitamins in them especially vitamin K and B6, which strengten your bones- They also contain vitamin C which protects the immunsystem, and folate which inproves your hearts health. How can you go wrong with that! A portion of 150 grams contain 66 kcal.



2. Almonds 

I simply love the taste of almonds. They remind me of marcipan (obviously because marcipan is made from almonds) Studies have shown, that almonds may inprove insulin sensitivity and decrease LDL-cholesterol levels. Like the sugar snap peas, almonds also strengten your bones and lower the risk of heart disease, they contain vitamin E which should also inprove your skin. I don't overindulge on them though, because of the high kcal. 100 grams contain over 500 kcal. However, it is great to have a couple a day, I also use them to sprinkle over some low fat yoghurt. 

3. Rice cakes 

Rice cakes are a good alternative for popcorn, because they have that "popped" flavour :-) I like to eat them just as they are, but sometimes I top them with a low fat cheese spread. You can basically put anything on there, like cottage cheese, or a slice of delimeat. You can get them in a variety of flavours, just watch out for the salt and sugar levels. 1 plain rice cake contains 26 kcal. 

4. Apples

Apples are one of my favourite fruits. I love the crispy sweetness they have. In addition, they should help prevent many different kinds of cancer. The one benefit I am most happy about, is that they supposedly contribute to weightloss! Try to get the organic kind, that way you don't eat any unwanted chemicals. 1 apple  contains around 54 kcal. 

5. Grapes 

If I am sugarcraving, I like to eat a few grapes. Not too many though, because even though they only contain natural sugars, they do contain quite a lot. However, I'm pretty sure it's better than eating a candybar! Raisins or other dried fruit can do the same trick. You can also freeze the grapes, that makes for a great really tasty snack, as the grapes almost taste like gummibears when they are frozen! A serving of 50 grams contain 31 kcal. 

Introduction of me: Getting started and finding the motivation

If you are anything like me, getting started with the healthy lifestyle can be a bit of a challenge. I'm an expert in putting off things, "tomorrow, tomorrow...." is a word that I have said one million times. We all know if our lifestyle could be healthier, I know I did. Finding the motivation can be hard. For me, I have had struggled with my weight since I was about 16 years old. Granted, it hasn't helped that I have hormonal inbalances, but    in all reality that isn't an excuse.

Last year, I suffered from a herniated disc in my lower back, that sent me to bedrest for a good six months. I still struggle with daily pain, and I can really feel the extra weight on my back so much more now. I know that I really need to loose weight instantly, if I am going to get my life back and be more painfree. All in all I need to loose around 80 lbs. Thats A LOT and can seem like a mountain too huge to climb but I am taking one step at a time and eventually I know will reach the top.

You have to find the motivation within yourself to get started. Everyone else can tell you that you need to loose weight or be more healthy, but unless you truely find the motivation within yourself, you are going to fail. I, like so many others, have lost weight before and gained it all again. When you fall "off the wagon", you can feel like it was all for nothing and "what's the point now". That's what happened to me many times. Even celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, who has a personal chef and trainer has struggled keeping the weight off.

It really is all about an over all lifestyle change. The extreme diets do NOT work, because you deprive yourself from eating normally and at the end of it all you just feel like eating a bucket of icecream topped with chocolate bars and peanutbutter. My goal is, to find the balance to maintain a healthy lifestyle for the rest of my life. I know my body will thank me and so will yours. Think about your life and health now. Are you happy with it? Try to really think about it. Picture yourself one year from now. Will you be happy if things stay the same? Then picture your life if you were healthier. Eating right, you've lost weight, have more energy, maybe got rid of some healthproblems... How does it feel? It is possible!! Let's support each other in making a change. It can start today. 

xoxo Sofie