Slimming World recipes to boost your energy levels

Delicious recipes to support a more active lifestyle and encourage weight loss without hunger Feel-good feasts to fuel a slimmer new you

WE SHARED healthy, nutritious breakfast ideas yesterday to get the new you off to an energetic start. Today, in part two of our motivating Slimming World series, you’ll find delicious recipes aimed at helping you feel good throughout the day. From nutritious lunches to fuel more active afternoons to evening meals that will send you to bed feeling satisfied so you can enjoy a restful night’s sleep, Slimming World takes an approach to weight loss that avoids any sense of deprivation.

You will also find ideas for sweet treats to keep you motivated without scuppering weight loss plans.

With Slimming World’s Food Optimising eating plan there’s no calorie counting, which means eating foods that satisfy your appetite with the fewest calories per gram.

You are encouraged to fill up on unlimited amounts of Free Food: poultry, lean meat, fish, plain tofu and Quorn, eggs, pasta, grains, fatfree dairy, potatoes and most fruit and vegetables.

But so you never feel deprived, you can enjoy limited amounts of treats which are higher in calories — crisps, cocktails, wine, chocolates, cakes and biscuits. When you first join Slimming World, a daily allowance of these foods is calculated according to your weight and gender.

‘There’s a place for treats in any healthy weight-loss plan,’ explains Slimming World registered nutritionist Alexandra Clark. ‘Depriving yourself only makes you feel like you’re missing out, and can lead to overindulging.

‘An all-or-nothing approach, such as can be found in some other diet plans, can encourage feelings of guilt and shame, which members tell us has, in the past, left them feeling so disheartened they have given up.’

SLIMMING World is all about balance. You are encouraged to enjoy some of what you really fancy, along with great tasting meals where no food is banned or food groups excluded. Planning your day to include something sweet can be a useful strategy to help you stay on track.

‘A good lunch is important too,’ says Alexandra. ‘It helps to aim for meals that will keep you fuller for longer — foods that include slow releasing carbohydrates, full of fibre that will give energy throughout the afternoon and help you avoid the 3pm slump that can make reaching for a snack much more likely.’

A skin-on jacket potato with baked beans is full of fibre, and provides energy that lasts.

‘Including a good protein source will help fill you up,’ adds Alexandra. ‘A chicken or tuna sandwich on wholegrain bread, or a hearty soup that includes beans or lentils, make for tasty, well-balanced meals.’

Going to bed feeling pleasantly, but not uncomfortably, full is a good recipe for a restful night’s sleep. ‘Lying in bed hungry is miserable,’ says Alexandra. ‘It all goes back to avoiding any sense of deprivation, which is so de-motivating.’

Fortunately, with these ultradelicious recipes, which are all super-easy to make, you won’t feel like you’re missing out on anything.