A diet resolution you can keep

I am so excited to be in Thailand for this New Year’s Eve. I am with my family on vacation. It’s my favourite place to be in the whole world and I will be watching the fireworks all night long. I’ve been here at this time of year many times before, and one favourite memory I will cherish forever was cooking for Princess Ubolratana at the Shangri-la Hotel. 

My daughter was in her push-chair at only two years old and I presented her to the Princess – along with a copy of my first cookbook. She was so gracious and stunning.

But I know many of us make a commitment this time of year to things we can’t always stick to. Well, after losing 30 kilos and keeping it off for 25 years, I think I have some tips.

I have just written my 10th book on the Paleo diet. I would love you all to try this way of life for a while and see how you feel. The Paleo diet is big now and also known as “the caveman diet”. It shuns processed foods and many carbohydrates, but doesn’t limit you to fruit. The elimination of wheat seems to do the trick. 

The diet is not just for losing weight. It makes people feel great. Wheat was genetically modified in the 1960s in the US. It changed the plant. Now it has made people gluten-free and most people don’t do well with this ingredient in our diet. It promotes the brain to crave more food and bloats us.

Here are some simple rules of what you can and can’t have on the Paleo plan, but keep in mind that there’s a wonderful extra – you can use just 80 per cent of it, which means 20 per cent less “pain” each week with a few cheat meals!

 

Stay away from

Wheat

Potatoes 

Rice (use the 80/20 rule!)

Pulses

Legumes

Dairy

Peanuts

Processed meats

 

EAT these

Any proteins – meats, fish, seafood, chicken – just avoid fatty meats and the skin on fowl

All nuts except peanuts

Oils

Coconut and coconut milk

All fruit and vegetables

Avocado

Coconut flour

 

Here are a couple of New Year’s dishes to celebrate your entry on the Paleo plan.

 

SURF AND TURF

Serves: four

Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes

 

Ingredients:

4 small lobster tails

4 small fillet minion steaks

Crushed black pepper

Rock salt

3 or 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Poached corn on the cob drizzled with olive oil and rock salt to serve

 

Method:

Pepper the steaks and sear in a griddle pan on high heat for one or two minutes. Turn and cook another minute or two. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 375 degrees for 10 minutes. 

Poach the lobster tails in two inches of water for 10 to 12 minutes. Drain to serve.

Add rock salt to the steak, drizzle olive oil on the lobster and serve as in or out of the shell.

 

ACORN SQUASH & NO-CHEESE PESTO

A lower-carb meal that’s both nutritious and filling, it goes great with your favourite pasta sauce, tomatoes with garlic or just olive oil.

 

Serves: four

 

Ingredients:

2 acorn squashes, peeled and halved

4 tablespoons olive oil

 

For the sauce:

80g pine nuts

Large handful fresh basil leaves

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic, peeled

 

Blend the sauce ingredients until smooth. Seed the squash and grate coarsely. 

Heat a large non-stick pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil and cook the squash for three to four minutes, tossing every 30 seconds. 

Add the last olive oil and cook another three to four minutes on medium heat. 

Add the sauce, remove from heat and toss again. 

Serve with a few large basil leaves.

 

 

_ British celebrity chef Daniel Green loves to create healthy recipes that are easy to follow. His column “Make It Today” will share his passion of good food that is low in fat but modern and full of flavour and will run every last Sunday of the month.