The following are in no particular order… I do suggest though for you to be able to sustain them, introduce one thing at a time and once you have mastered it move on to the next thing.

Let me know how you go in the comments below.

1. Eliminate Gluten from your diet. Gluten is in most grains and is undigestible in the form we usually consume it in. Read more about why some grains are hard to digest here.
2. Stop wasting time doing crunches, your precious gym time would be better off spent lifting heavy weights. Or try these abdominal exercises… otherwise don’t waste too much of your time ‘crunching’.
3. Eat protein first thing in the morning. If you are one of my clients you know I advocate eating meat, preferably red meat first thing, but making the switch from cereal to anything protein is a great start, your blood sugar levels and therefore your stomach fat will appreciate it. How much protein is in things?
4. If you are doing more than 1-2 days each week of ‘cardio’ training (especially aerobics classes) STOP and try lifting weights instead. In other words do what you are NOT good at if you want your body to respond and shed fat.
5. Plan to have 2 really bad meals each week (preferably keep them gluten free). This will stimulate your blood sugar and keep you motivated to stay on track, especially since you know you can actually relax and eat what you want at certain times.

……Enjoy the journey

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• Click here for a free fat loss coaching call from Kate
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I’m always hearing from clients that they don’t have time to prepare food in advance, or sometimes they just lack the inspiration.

Being organised with your food is CRUCIAL to you getting the health results you so desire. If you leave your next meal unplanned, well… need i say more, as you know its often a case of having no discipline once you are already hungry and it can be a downward spiral from there. This is normal but its also preventable. So below are some tips to get you organised and inspired so you can GET RESULTS! plus keep reading below for an example week of my food preparation…

Tips for being organised with your food:

1. Plan what you are eating/feeding yourself and or your family for the week, before you shop for your food. This takes only a few minutes. Keep it simple, you can always add variety by changing the seasonings and sauces that accompanying things (I understand some of you have to feed fussy eaters, I have one myself, this is not an excuse).
2. Buy groceries when you are not hungry – and of course after you have planned, even roughly, what you are cooking for the next 5-7 days.
3. Only cook 2-3 times each week – Each time you cook allow at least 1-2 hours and cook 2-3 different meals at the same time (making the portions large enough for several servings ie. dinner, lunches and snacks the next day).

Example Menu ideas for bulk cooking:

This is what I do. For example I usually only cook on a Wednesday and Sunday, each of these days I cook enough to last the following few days. Very rarely do I reheat things. (I don’t have a microwave, if you need to reheat things google ‘microwave dangers’ first – instead try using a little boiling water on the stove, or cook it from frozen rather than defrosting in the microwave.)

1. Oven roasted Meats – Use 2-3 different pieces of meat, Eg, Lamb, Chicken, Fish. These can be either traditional full roasts or casseroles (I prefer roasted meat as its easier to eat cold without needing to be reheated). Always throw a tray of veges in the oven at the same time. Try pumpkin, sweet potato or carrots, in fact most veges taste great when roasted. A meat free option would be Frittata (egg based for those non cooks). A fast alternative to meat which can be cooked in the oven.
2. Slow cook – meat and veges/Soup/Curry – Either meat and veges without much fluid (water to make sauce/soup) or with lots of fluid and then make a soup out of the fluid at the end after you pull the cooked meat out.
3. Rissoles made using various mince – Roll mince into balls using any rissole recipe you like (grain free of course), and simply pan fry in a little coconut oil. Recipe here.
4. Chopped or whole raw veges – Good for any accompaniment, but best warmed or steamed on the night of use.
5. Optional Extras – Try rice, rice noodles or extra vegetables for those fussy eaters or for more carbs.

Click here for more recipe ideas and a fantastic health resource ‘Nourished Magazine’

Now have your say… Feel free to comment below to ad your own cooking and organising food tips, everyone can benefit from your ideas. Thanks!

Get in touch with Kate:

• Click here for a free fat loss coaching call from Kate
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Do you stress about how you shouldn’t have eaten that chocolate/cake/cheese/whatever…???

Well stop stressing!

Yes its true, what you’ve heard about stress making you fat, is in fact true to a point. Excessive levels of the hormone cortisol, (produced by your adrenal glands), circulating for more than a few hours each day through your blood stream will in a lot of cases cause you to fill up the fat cells on your stomach. However I’m here to tell you to eat your bad food and don’t stress about it (obviously within reason). Stressing over what you have eaten causes these hormones to circulate throughout your body and to state the obvious ruins any benefit you got from enjoying the food you have just eaten. I’m not saying you can eat what you want when you want and throw all the rules out the window, but what I do want to make clear is that if you are going to eat a bad meal, you are only doing yourself harm by thinking about how bad it was and punishing yourself for having eaten it for the hours and days that follow.

~ Trust me I spent years after having a baby punishing myself for being fat and eating wrongly sometimes, and it certainly did not contribute to me losing any weight, it just stressed me more.

A good rule to follow when you are trying to lose weight, (I’m saying weight but I mean body fat girls, get off the scales, they are not your friend!), is to have a bad (cheat) meal 2 times each week. Whenever you like.. Thats right, whatever you like, whenever you like. (If you go gluten free your stomach will of course love you, not to mention you will get thinner faster, as gluten is hard to digest and upsets your digestion even if you have not been diagnosed as celiac).

I like my cheat meal to be dinner time or deserts as I have more time and effort to put into preparing these, but you choose whatever time of the week and day suits you best.

So enjoy your food, there’s enough to stress about in life already, stop counting calories, eat plenty of natural foods (meat and veges) and nourish your body 🙂

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This simple recipe is to help those with ideas for no fuss meals you can make with very little preparation and cooking time and still have left overs provided you cook enough.

Use any meat – I used Venison (before you think gross, they are absolutely delicious)

Ingredients:

• 500g of mince meat (remember not to refreeze mince once thawed out, it has to be used immediately)
• 1 egg
• Sea Salt and White Pepper

Below the ingredients are optional, to give them more taste, if you have the time when preparing:

• 1/2 cup Almond meal (flour made from almonds)
• 1 tbsp powdered organic vegetable stock
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 carrot (grated)
• 1 zucchini (grated)

Method:

I use a food processor to mince the garlic, onion, carrot and zucchini (adding the egg for the last few seconds) then mix this with the mince with your hands and roll into balls of roughly the same size, for equal cooking time.

Cook on a med-high heat in coconut oil in a frying pan. Turn when you notice juice starting to pool on top of the uncooked side. Approx 4-5 minutes each side, depending upon size of course. If in doubt use a lower heat.

Enjoy.

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