California: Take 3

Seeing as I've been to California three times in the last 6 months, and am basically living a semi-Transatlantic life, I thought I'd do a little blog on food shopping and the practicalities of living healthily over here.

The US is seen by the outside world as the home and hub of fast food, and I wouldn't disagree. Even in California, where most people are beachbody-conscious and want to keep in shape, there is a fast food joint on every corner. During this trip I was staying at the University of Santa Barbara, in an apartment with 3 boys, so I knew I had to be in charge of my own food while I was there amongst the nacho, guac, and OJ-filled guys.

What is food shopping like in the US compared to the UK?

First of all, everything is bigger - the supermarkets, the tubs and jars of food/spreads and I actually think the prices are higher as well. I was impressed with the freshness and vibrancy of the fruit and vegetables though, and the selection of wholewheat breads was fantastic! I guess with size comes variety.

How did you try and stay healthy? Did you even eat healthily living in a student setting?

The first thing I did was make sure that I had enough fruit and vegetables for the week and healthy snacks to keep me going. I ate a lot of lean meats (turkey and chicken) and cooked from scratch twice, just to give the boys some proper nutrition! When I did go for take-out, say for example a burrito, I tried to make it a little less of a guilty pleasure by having a wholewheat wrap, no cheese, no sour cream and easy on the rice.

As any of my Twitter followers will know, I'm a big coffee drinker, and in the US most coffee places are so obliging that they will customise your drink however you like. So, if I went to get a vanilla latte, I would get it soy, one pump only of syrup only. Or a cappuccino - soy, with natural sweetener, easy on the foam. If you're pro-active, it's not that difficult to stay healthy!

Are the portions in restaurants really as big as people make out?

Yes, or at least to me they are. When we went out to an Italian restaurant my bowl of spaghetti could have easily fed two, and I'm a big eater. What I tend to do when confronted with these big plates of food is divide them in half. I'll eat that much, and if i'm still a little peckish I'll go for a few forkfuls more. That's how I know I'm not eating too much.

Any interesting food discoveries?

I ate pretty similarly to when I'm at home, but I did fall in love with this gluten-free avocado dip, that was garlic-y and just simply delicious. The range of lean cooked chicken and turkey meat to put in sandwiches was great too, especially the Mesquite flavour! Other than that I was busy enjoying the sun rather than trawling around supermarkets.

Yet again, I am in love with California. The US gets a lot of bad rep about its food and portion sizes, and while I can understand why, I think that with some self-discipline the tools are all here to live healthily. Personally, just the sunshine and warmth, and the fact that I'm more active because of it, means I eat better and even a little less. I'm sure I'll be back in the very near future, so until then, this is my California catch-up over and out :)

Nati xXx

Healthy & Hearty Bolognese

Spaghetti Bolognese is a British fave, so I thought I'd share my healthier version! It's quick and easy to make, and very open to your own interpretation in terms of what you want to add to the basic recipe - here I've gone for mushrooms and olives.

Why is it healthier? I use wholewheat pasta and lean turkey mince, thus cutting down on the saturated fat in beef mince, and the empty calories of white carbs!

Apologies for the inexact quantities for some ingredients, as I wasn't measuring as I was cooking! The rough amounts here will make enough for around 3 people. Enjoy! :

Ingredients

- 250g wholewheat spaghetti

- 1 pack of turkey mince meat

- 1 jar of bolognese sauce (you can, of course, make it from scratch but I'm too lazy)

- 1 clove of garlic

- Handful of button mushrooms, sliced

- Handful of black olives, sliced

- A dash of salt and pepper

How t0

1) Begin by frying off your mushrooms on a medium heat in soya butter, or low-cal vegetable oil spray until cooked. Drain off the excess oil/butter and set aside.

2) In a different pan, drizzle a little bit of vegetable oil and gently fry off one crushed clove of garlic. Then add in your turkey meat, and fry until cooked through (no pink bits).

3) Once cooked, add in your bolognese sauce, and perhaps a teaspoon of tomato puree for added flavour, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Add half a cup of water to loosen the sauce, then add your olives and mushrooms. Leave to simmer gently for 10 minutes.

4) Whilst the sauce is cooking, fill a pan with water, sprinkle in some salt and bring to the boil. Once boiling, add in your spaghetti and cook for roughly 10minutes until soft but not completely limp. The key term here is 'al dente', or 'with bite'.

5) Drain off the spaghetti and return it to the pan. Drizzle over a little bit of olive oil so it doesn't not stick together - et voila! Your spaghetti and bolognese is now ready to munched!!

Back soon! Nati xXx