This blog is to encourage and educate young people to live a healthy lifestyle and a balanced eating habit. This will help avoid obesity and sicknesses that comes with leading an unhealthy lifestyle. Many young people in my home town of King William's Town have lost their lives due to unhealthy living which is alcohol abuse and smoking. Most people hold the view that in order to be healthy one must have the financial means to do so whereas you have to just avoid simple things oily foods and junk.

I am not going to dwell much on how to exercise or to change your diet but I am going to tell you about our experience, difficulties we face every day, and the challenges we face.  We are people, we have our imperfections, some of us love meat, we eat junk food and we sleep a lot, sometimes we forget to drink water every day but instead we tend to drink much cool drinks with acid or drink too much coffee.  Sometimes we go to the gym and sometimes we lose interest and go back to our normal life, as I have mentioned before that we eat junkies, it is not easy to change your eating diet, and for an example changing from junkies to green stuff is not an easy job.

Things to do in order live a healthy lifestyle and diet to use:
 
Breakfast

What You’ll Need:

1 small Granny Smith apple
½ banana, sliced (or ¼ cup banana chips)
1 tablespoon mixed dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, and/or dates)
1/4 cup almonds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup almond milk

What to Do:

1. Slice apple, remove core, and dice into ½-inch pieces. Place in a cereal bowl.
2. place the banana slices on top of the apple. Add dried fruit and almonds.
3. Pour cold almond milk over the top, and sprinkle with cinnamon and ginger.

 

What You'll Need:

• 1 large (or 2 small) sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small link (about 3 oz) chorizo, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
• 3 large cloves garlic, finely minced
• 15 large brussels sprouts, trimmed and sliced into thin shreds
• 10 roasted chestnuts, crumbled 1/2 cup (or about 3-4 oz.) goat cheese, crumbled 4 eggs, fried (sunny side up)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

*Note: Brussels sprouts should be stemmed and the outer layer of leaves should be removed. 

What to Do: 

1.      Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2.      Place diced sweet potato in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir to coat sweet potato evenly with oil and salt.

3.      Place on a baking sheet and roast for 30-35 minutes (flipping once with a spatula halfway through) until tender all the way through and crispy on the outside. Set aside.

4.      Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.

5.      Add diced chorizo and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6.      Add diced onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.

7.      Add garlic and cook for two minutes longer, then add shredded brussels sprouts and crumbled chesnuts, and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brussels sprouts have softened and begun to turn golden.

8.      Remove from heat and toss with roasted sweet potatoes.

9.      Divide the hash between four plates, and sprinkle each with goat cheese. Top with a fried egg, and eat while hot.

Lunches

What you’ll need

·     tablespoons nonfat plain yogurt

·                                 3 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise

·                                 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

·                                 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

·                                 1/8 teaspoon salt

·                                 8 hard-boiled eggs (see Tip)

·                                 1 ripe avocado, cubed

·                                 2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

·                                 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

What to do

1.       Combine yogurt, mayonnaise, garlic powder, pepper and salt in a medium bowl.

Halve eggs and discard 4 of the yolks (or save for another use). Add whites and the remaining 4 yolks to the bowl and mash to desired consistency. Gently stir in avocado, bacon and blue cheese

What you'll need

·                                 1/2 cup shredded cooked chicken

·                                 1/4 cup shredded carrots

·                                 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce

·                                 2 teaspoons light ranch dressing

·                                 1 small whole-wheat sandwich bun

·                                 1 leaf romaine lettuce

What to do

   1.Combine chicken, carrots and barbecue sauce in a bowl. Spread ranch dressing on the bun. Top with the chicken mixture and lettuce.

Dinners

What you'll need

• 1 (16-oz.) package smoked sausage 
• 1 medium-size green bell pepper, chopped 
• 1 small onion, chopped 
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 cup chicken broth 
• 2 (3.5-oz.) bags quick-cooking brown rice 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper 

Garnish: chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

1. Cut sausage into 1/2-inch slices. Sauté in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove sausage slices, and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 Tbsp. drippings in skillet.

2. Add bell pepper, onion, and garlic to skillet, and sauté over medium-high heat 4 minutes or until tender. Add chicken broth, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet, and bring to a boil. Remove rice from cooking bag; add rice, sausage, salt, and pepper to skillet. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook 5 minutes or until rice is tender. Garnish, if desired.

What you'll need

·                               3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

·                               1 sm onion, thinly sliced

·                               3 cloves garlic, minced

·                               2 lb tomatoes, peeled and chopped (about 6 tomatoes 

·                               1 1/4 tsp salt

·                               12 oz linguine

·                               16 fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces

·                               1/4 C grated parmesan

Preparations

1.Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 10 minutes. Add garlic  and cook 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and salt and bring to a simmer. Cook until sauce begins to thicken, about 10 minutes.

2.Perpare pasta per package directions while sauce cooks, under-cooking slightly. drain pasta well and add to simmering sauce. Cook until sauce has thickened and pasta is done, about 2 minutes. Add basil and remaining 1 tablespoon oil and toss to combine. Serve topped with cheese. 

On my next post I will be focussing on tips on how to exercise and more, thank you for your time. Caution: it is important to consult a medical practitioner before taking these diets.