HEALTHY BREAKFAST & LUNCH IDEAS: What We Eat in a Week for My Husband's Weight Loss & My Pregnancy

foreign [Music] foreign [Music] good morning this is a video many of you have asked me for it's uh just not necessarily just for pregnant woman because this is what I also cook for my husband Guido who is always trying to sort of lose weight or just get a bit more energy in his day and so it kind of works for both of us I cook the same meal for both of us pretty much so no matter what age you're at or whether you are pregnant or not ever going to think about pregnancy hopefully this should still be something that's motivational and just encourages you to eat a clean delicious and very satisfying home cooked meals it's kind of because I'm nine months pregnant uh then I'm clearly more motivated to nourish my body and and feed this feed this this baby uh all the wonderful things nutrients and and everything everything to get it started off in life with a it's got a clean Slater a new metabolism and a new uh rapport with food and so I find it quite exciting to just fill my body with with really wholesome things but I have to say I was looking at I was just writing out the menu of what we what we generally eat or what I've been cooking over the last nine months and it's kind of what I always do anyway I mean I've just tried to cut out sugar but then I wouldn't normally unless it was to baked goods and desserts I don't add sugar to to other dishes we don't eat a high fat diet really um I it's not it's not a it's not a super skinny uh Invasion diet it certainly I need really rich flavors and I and I want my husband to get excited about what I'm cooking I don't want him to look and say what's that rabbit food so and then I have I have quite a big appetite I mean I'm always thinking about food I've always been that way when I was a toddler I think they had there to keep a lock on the fridge because I would just crawl to the fridge open and stare up and like ah you know it just it's always made me happy uh to think about food and I know that this is a bit of a quirk because my mother certainly I remember growing up she would always have that question oh what are we going to have for dinner and my sister feels the same way she said how can you be bothered to think about uh making something or cooking something for breakfast or or or going through so much trouble just for lunch but I think it's worth it because it food not to sort of sound like some crazy evangelist but you know it's true when when you eat something really delicious and healthy and it's just exactly what your body needs uh you it's like this this Head Start It kind of catapults you into your day with vitality and and you feel light and and I think no matter who you are what gender what age there's none of us could say that oh we don't need more energy we would all love more energy and I think that food really has the has the power to give you that and and it just changes it changes even your mood how you are with people don't you think I mean I know that when I'm eating well I have more patience with people I feel more calm Within Myself I have less anxiety and so yes food is just really magical and um yeah let's let's no I feel like I've talked it up so much you're gonna say well you're not eating anything that crazy I mean it's just stuff that you're probably preparing for yourselves anyway I know a lot of you you like to cook with vegetables like I do fortunately we use so much of what we grow in the vegetable garden here on the farm and it's very Italy is in itself already a very seasonal Cuisine and a seasonal culture where people really believe in in living off the land just very excited about eating quite healthy because this is it's only nine months it's like just such a small such a small amount of time and and I get to give this this baby this child like the maximum in nourishment and and it feels like such an honor to do that so but even if you're not doing it for a baby even if you're doing it for yourself I mean that's that's true that's still a fair exciting thing because you see the effects you feel the effects uh days later or even a month or you just start your skin starts feeling better and you start feeling like you can well whatever you might have I don't know I know it's a bit unsavory but you might have just better bowel movements you're not constipated you you and that changes someone's mood I mean when you feel really regular let's say uh it just puts you in a better mood and that makes sense because you're literally not blocked so let's begin with breakfast as those of you who know me well know I used to run uh every well not every morning most mornings before breakfast or I would at least do some sort of exercise go for a big long walk and I don't do I haven't done that since I've uh I haven't haven't exercised before breakfast since I've been pregnant because I just have very low blood pressure so I didn't want to if I was spinning out if I needed uh something in my stomach before I exercised so I find that I need less of a heavy breakfast like before as before I was having yogurt fruit and some homemade muesli now I don't need that music I don't need those carbs because I don't I don't I'm not as hungry also because as the baby gets higher or rather yeah higher there's less room and as as some women will know you just everything's sort of cramped up all the way the organs in your stomach and everything so there's even though my appetite is still my eyes are still saying ah I want the same portion I'd normally have I I literally can't eat uh as the same portions that I I was consuming before I always have a natural yogurt no sugar you want to be careful with natural yogurt because a lot of people just see um that it's creamy natural that they have these marketing words on it and actually a lot of Greek yogurt is just has cream in it and so you really I always check the ingredients because it to check also that it might be vanilla flavored and then it's got preservatives and sugar and and uh and some yoga yeah it's super creamy but it's not you don't have to go for the low fat my sister who you all know well not all of you but some of you know is a is a natural path and nutritionist and and she she'd already done her degree and was in her line of work and then she went back to University another degree in Health Science because just to cure her own ailments that that no doctors could work out what to do with her and and they couldn't really fix her and so she wanted to understand her body better herself and she did that and really focused on the gut and digestion and so I I have such a wonderful resource in her because we we both grew up with my mother it was always cooking Greek food and very with plant-based food really and always putting making sure there was protein in every meal my mother's prerequisites are always there has to be has to be vegetables and there has to be protein uh however my sister has added on top of that just explaining to me why why some foods uh are more beneficial than others so I yeah that's something I look for with yogurt is look out for cream and sugar and flavoring and just get you can get a full fat yogurt my sister says because it keeps you Fuller for longer there's no need to get the low-fat yogurt but uh but just to make sure there's no sugar forgive me also I'm not here saying I know everything and this is how you should eat no I'm just saying this is what works for me and I feel full of energy and I feel like it it really keeps me feeling clean and and uh and vital but but you just just use this as a as a as a bit of entertainment it's just I'm not I'm not by no means telling you how to how to eat or that this is going to work for everyone but with fruit uh Shannon my sister has said that not all fruits are created equal uh it's good especially in pregnancy to stay away from those really high sugar fruits the really sweet fruits obviously it's natural sugar so it's not that bad but I I see like a lot on the forums like a lot of pregnant women see saying oh I'm just overdosing on watermelon but watermelon is super high in in sugar and uh also a lot of people seem to they do these smoothies and they put mango in mango super high in sugar uh even bananas are very high in sugar although um you know if you eat in moderation uh nothing's bad for you but a lot of people tend to go nuts particularly when it's been so hot in in many parts of the world on watermelon and these very and grapes as well grapes are another high high sugar fruit and the thing is is that when you're hot or you're thirsty you can just sit there and because it's fruit you tell yourself oh I can just eat this whole watermelon or I can just eat this giant giant bowl of grapes and uh and and my sister is just saying that that it's not always the best and I can feel it already in myself because I have such a sweet tooth if I start my day or in fact at any time of the day if I'm if I'm getting accustomed to that Sugar Spike even if it's a natural sugar Spike then I form habits very quickly so my body will just the next day at that exact time expect that Spike and and that's what I try to get away from like obviously it doesn't matter so much if you have some natural sugar in your in your body but my problem is that then I can't do without it then I can't I don't feel like I have energy unless I have that same high level of sweetness and so my sister says the best one is kiwi fruit because kiwi fruit it's still sweet and delicious but it's just not as high as uh as watermelon or mango or grapes and uh and and even figs oh my gosh because we have these giant victories on the farm here and uh you know I've cooked with them I've made cakes with them and they're delicious but they're so sweet and if I were to have them in my breakfast every morning I just it would just be too much so I've been trying to avoid that and go for kiwi sometimes if I've got a big day then I'll add a banana because I know that the banana will sort of release its energy slowly and it really keeps me going I I tend to have bananas when they're almost black so they are that means that they're quite sweet but uh other than that I'll have what other fruits do I have I can't remember but um I I think well it depends what's really what's really what we've got on the um on the property at the moment we've got Kaki which is I think it's khaki in Italian but it's um Persimmons uh in English and they're full of antioxidants they are very sweet as well so just we have a little bit of those so I have my natural yogurt kiwi fruit some other fruits like two types of fruit and then I will have nuts and seeds with the nuts I try to stay away from cashews peanuts pecans they're all super high in fat and not as good for you as walnuts and almonds and pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds so I try to also to get in there a little bit of a little bit of protein in the nuts and and just to add a little bit of crunch and that I find really delicious do you know what else I found I don't know if it's available in your country but in this one Supermarket initially in Florence actually um I found puffed quinoa and that's great because obviously quinoa is a a protein and uh and so I just sprinkle a little a bit of that puffed quinoa on top and it creates a bit more texture and uh and it's better than eating because most let's be honest most cereals have honey and sugar and uh and then also just I don't need sometimes you can just feel like you need to eat more for breakfast but you don't you don't really need that much a particular well in my case because I'm because I'm pregnant um I'm not going to be doing crazy amounts of exercise uh that will leave me ravenous by breakfast time I have already spoken about how I don't have any caffeine and again this is just me because I know what caffeine does to my body so I can only assume that you could have a similar effect on the on the baby uh I know that if I have a coffee in the morning it can stay with me all night until midnight so probably it's not like that for you so it's fine but then again there are a lot of studies that link uh coffee or caffeine with anxiety and even miscarriage during pregnancy and I just thought that's if there's anything I can do to eliminate anxiety and and of course miscarriage which happens to so many women uh then it's not such a big sacrifice to cut out coffee I even when we were just starting to try and conceive I was I cut out a caffeine as well because again I just I just read it's just better for your hormones and it's better for your it's better to keep everything balanced and and again to give you more energy because calf caffeine is an artificial High you feel more awake but you're not actually awake it's robbing actually the good energy from you and making you feel more drained in the long run even though it gives you that little boost in the morning so yes I have to say since I've I've cut out coffee even though I just loved it uh I've I've definitely felt like I wake up and leap out of bed and think yeah I'm ready to start the day and it's so lovely that that's just a natural thing now and I don't have to rely on some kind of substance to get me there uh I have a lot of water in fact I start my day drinking warm water and I I cut up a lot of fresh ginger and when I boil that and make a just a homemade tea you know with with uh with lots of fresh ginger and I and I drink that tea constantly throughout the day or when it was so hot over 40 degrees I was just drinking room temperature water they say you shouldn't drink super cold water so it's just drinking lots and lots of water and in fact I'm really thirsty now just talking about it so excuse me one moment I get to water okay that's better where were we so I think it's unfortunate and also to change things up I like to make different breakfasts throughout the week just to keep things exciting for my husband but also for me because you don't want to even if you love something if you have it every single day you get tired of it and and uh and so I once a week as I've shown many times before I make us Crepes which I just do with I know the traditional recipe is using milk but I actually just use some yogurt with water and I water it down and you think oh that's not going to be very nice but actually you don't need much to make crepes really delicious they don't need sugar and you certainly don't need so much fat in the in the dairy component so I just add a bit of sugar-free yogurt and water and eggs and a little bit of cinnamon and some inclusion free flour make them very very thin so that they're light pancakes I think it's like they're delicious in theory and then you eat them afterwards and you feel bloated and heavy and like you can't start your day because you've had this so much sugar so much carbohydrates so I like crabs because they're lighter and I can just make two each and they're just delicious and they get you feeling like it's special so I usually make those on a Sunday morning and then I just top them with some fruit which I've sauteed in a little bit of butter and orange juice and cinnamon and maybe some vanilla Essence and yeah I changed the fruit sometimes I'll do it with blueberries sometimes I'll do it with the fresh the fresh blackberries which we picked uh just down by The Vineyards uh other times I will just depends what's in in season uh but yeah it's it's not hard to make that really delicious without honey or sugar or anything like that um and yes they're fried and I fry them in now and some coconut oil or if I don't have any of that I can use a little bit of butter but it's not so bad I think you have to allow yourself to have something that feels a bit special on the weekend uh just to just make life beautiful because there's no point in just eating only rabbit food and and yes you've got lots of energy and maybe your your perfect weight and all the rest of it but you're not you're not stimulated by by your week's menu and it's nice to have rituals isn't it by the way a lot of these things I talk about I've got recipes and I've made already videos about them so for example not this uh sort of adapted one with the yogurt and the sugar-free but if you want just a classic crepe uh recipe I'll put a link to the video that I actually filmed when I was uh staying in France with my parents for a bit many several years ago one of the other things I have for breakfast is I love a good poached egg of course I love it on a thick crusty piece of sourdough toasted so all the yolk just soaks into it but uh again I I feel like that's a heavier breakfast that I don't need while I'm pregnant and then also if you if it's not a weekend maybe you don't need you don't need the bread or if you're just trying to lose weight or or or cut down on carbs but you do need something to soak up all of that egg yolk right so I love to serve it with avocado which is very good for pregnant women it's a good fat I like to just slice it up and then on top I like to uh put some sauteed uh I'm thinking in Italian tomatoes and I just saute them in a little olive oil and I'll with some basil so that it just brings out the sweetness and some and some sea salt and and I find that that's a just a delicious combination poached egg roasted or sauteed tomatoes and avocado yum and uh not always put over fresh herbs on top it gives it that that nice especially because you've got they're quite Rich right the egg and the avocados so I think you need a little bit of freshness uh fugudos I'll often do a piece of toast for him because he uh well he is Italian and so he needs uh to see a very blatant carb element uh in in most meals uh and and that's something that I will make at least once a week as well uh with Poached Eggs they're super simple just just boil your water and then put some vinegar in it and it just helps the the eggs sort of come together and you don't even need to do that whole whirlpool thing I find anyway if you've got enough vinegar in there it just sort of coagulates and and comes together and then you just want to take it out with a slotted spoon and then just I leave it on some paper towel and I and I always just sort of just touch it a little bit to see if it's tender you don't want to cook the yolk maybe you do but generally you don't and then you can always put it back in but it's always best to take it out just a little bit early because sometimes it sort of still keeps cooking if it's quite hot inside another breakfast we often have is a green smoothie now that I'm in the final stretch of my pregnancy I'm trying to kind of stay away from bananas which are very high in natural sugar however I do love a spinach and banana smoothie I've been drinking this simple combination for about a decade and I think there's no need to go complicating it with adding chocolate flavoring and protein powders and milk or frozen mango which is high in sugar bananas are already very sweet and when frozen they create a natural creaminess that I find I don't need to create with an almond or coconut milk I just use water so that it's super hydrating and lots of ice to make it very thick sometimes I'll add cacao nibs on top for texture it's so filling and so delicious and spinach is exceptionally good for pregnant women as is hydration with all that water foreign [Music] lunch lunch is uh very important uh I I feel like lunch shouldn't make you feel like you're gonna pass out in a food coma uh because you've still got work to do in the afternoon but you want it to be something that still has a lot of flavor so that you're not just so that when you you sort of working or running after children or doing whatever you're doing mid morning uh you can look forward to something if I have friends over particularly if they're vegan or vegetarian or just on a bit of a health kick I'll do these chickpea and vegetable fritters or patties I grate onion and zucchini and carrot so that it all binds really well you won't sort of get that nice texture that that combines together if you if you just chop them you need to grate them and then I fry them all in a pan to get rid of the excess liquid and give the vegetables lots of flavor foreign [Music] and add a generous amount of lemon juice or lime juice I also like to put in some lime zest and chop some fresh mint or any kind of herbs then when the vegetables are cooked you just want to mix them with the lime zest and herbs and also the mashed chickpeas with the lime juice and just make sure you get in there with your hands so it all comes together and is fully Amalgamated you could add eggs at this point which helps the patties to become more manageable in the pan and really stick together but I made these without eggs then I coat them in chickpea flour which generally I don't use because it's a bit stodgy but in this case it's perfect to create a nice dry outer edge I fry these in a very shallow amount of coconut oil because you don't want to be heating olive oil for so long at a high heat and then I mash some avocado with olive oil lime juice salt and pepper and then I make another little sauce with natural yogurt some tahini salt pepper some honey a freshly chopped mint and some more lime zest I'd chop and roast some sweet potato and serve these as a side of delicious crispy roasted wedges and then I layered the guacamole with the fritters and obviously being pregnant I can't eat raw salmon but it does go very well on top Corazon [Music] [Music] so satisfying and the Patties or fritters will last in the fridge for quite a while to snack onto their a little bit of work but totally worth it and you can just make a big batch and eat them in different ways throughout the week it's true I I do love a salad so you may not look forward to salads but there are ways that you can make your salads feel really appealing and uh and and a lot of you always comment you say oh your salads look so so yummy and they are aguido really loves them he never complains if I say we're having salad he doesn't groan or anything he says Ah delicious because uh salads are I mean really can be can be quite tasty and but I'm very particular about how a salad is I mean when I I order salads in restaurants and sometimes I just think oh this is perhaps not if you're somewhere I don't know like New York or L.A or Sydney that does salads in a very fancy way but a lot of salads if you get them even even in Italy actually if you just get a basic salad it's just a bit sad uh however not the case uh with the salads that I have been making for us uh this this past summer spring summer so the thing I always think about is that I want protein I like to include protein because it I need it just to give me to get me through the afternoon because if you don't have protein that's when you're going to crash around 3 4 P.M and go searching for biscuit chocolate cookies and things like that or just salty something chips so just just things that are bad for you junk food however if you have protein as forgive me because I'm just telling many of you what you already know so I'm not I'm not trying to not trying to teach you anything new I'm just saying this is uh how I feel about uh putting protein in in in in every lunch and dinner and uh the protein I usually get from legumes I usually use either chickpeas or lentils or uh cannellini beans the white beans small fish sardines and marinated anchovies they usually they say you should tend to stay away from some fish for the Mercury particularly if you're if you're pregnant so I try not to have too much tuna sometimes I can't help it but tuna isn't supposed to be so good but um but salmon once a week and then there's also of course cheese and uh I like to use feta cheese because I think white cheeses my sister says are the best but then of course if Guido had his way he would just have mozzarella in every as the cheese choice however it's not really very good for you mozzarella not as good for you as feta so of course me with my Greek background and I just adore feta and it's still creamy and it's just just better for you so also another source of protein I use boiled eggs and boiled eggs just you think oh can I be bothered boiling an egg if you've just come into the kitchen you're trying to make a quick lunch eggs boil so quickly and it's they're so good because you can just cut them up and then they create this real creaminess for your salad so Guido loves them we say I won't have it on a day that I've had eggs in the morning for breakfast like Crepes or poached eggs but that's certainly a good protein Source although I tend to have a giant supply of legumes chickpeas and lentils and beans are just always in my pantry and I find it so easy you just open up the can rinse it because some of it can can sort of have seeped into the food so I always always rinse it and then you just throw them in and they're perfect you don't have to cook them they're ready to go then leafy greens are so good for pregnant women and so good for all of us they just help digestion they keep you clean and uh they are not everyone's favorite but but lettuce or kale or spinach chard I I just uh always try to include dark leafy greens they say are just so so important for us unfortunately we grow well not fortunately I mean it was a it was a strategic thing as we grow lots of different types of lettuce in our vegetable garden for this reason so we can pretty much consume it every single day one of the things my sister says too is that in for her focus on the gut and digestion you want to make sure that you're drinking a lot in between meals but not drinking a lot of water at the meal I think because it dilutes the digestive juices and then also if you can start with salad so if I if I at dinner time or something if I surf or if I serve two courses I'll start with a very simple classic salad just let us a little bit of sea salt uh olive oil and that's it perhaps a little bit of balsamic yeah if you start with the the lettuce it It prepares your gut and the digestive juices start going and that way you can break down something heavier that's coming like meat uh or bread or whatever so that's something that uh I try to do however back to the salads so I like to add my leafy greens protein element and then as I've said before a lot of the time I will just lightly saute some vegetables that are just easier to digest if they're cooked so for example uh raw onion I can't really digest so well and it's just sweeter and more delicious and soft and full of flavor when you just fry it in the pan with a little bit of olive oil so I'll often do that or capsicum as well capsicum can be Guido finds out how to digest raw so I'll often uh just fry those up together and and then garlic as well I I mean raw garlic I I'm not really uh so good at I I just don't enjoy the experience of it and and uh and I find that when you're just frying it up or roasting it it becomes sweet and a lot more palatable a lot more digestible and you don't have to worry about garlic breath either so uh that's something then I like to add a fat in which comes from either feta cheese or avocado I've been trying to eat a lot of avocados because uh they're just so good for is a good fat to have for for the pregnancy so in terms of raw food I'll often I always put actually cucumbers because we grow so many of them every day this is another dozen uh cucumbers and they're so crisp and and delicious and so healthy for you so I always put cucumber in our salads and I chop up Raw carrot which we both really love and it's very fresh and and sweet for saltiness I almost always add black Kalamata olives which I find are just the best they're lovely and and uh and soft and flavorful sometimes I add Capers and occasionally I will use sun-dried tomatoes uh with the dressing so many people uh do use a dressing with mayonnaise or honey but I try to avoid that because I think if you're using just lovely fresh vegetables you shouldn't really need that much and if you've got the creaminess from avocado or chickpeas or something you shouldn't need so much creaminess to come from the dressing and I mean the dressings I do for us are really simple I'll just do some olive oil and a little bit of salt and maybe some lemon juice or something sometimes like yeah I do add a balsamic because that just gives it that nice sweetness and acidity but not too much because it is very because it has got a lot of sugar and it's not just not so good for pregnant women especially these days so many pregnant women have uh get diagnosed with gestational diabetes part way through sometimes I will just a little cup I'll mix up some olive oil some lemon juice mustard and a just a spoonful of natural yogurt and some salt and that just makes a bit of a different dressing if we don't want to just go for the classic as you know I love hummus I'll I'll put a link to the video that I made on my homemade hummus I have to say though in that recipe I put tahini because it's it's um it's customary in the in the original recipe to put tahini but I don't have tahini on hand most of the time so I will just blend uh lemon juice olive oil salt pepper and chickpeas is that all yeah and then I just sometimes put a little bit of chili flakes through it or uh a Cheto vinegar so and that and that just comes together super quickly I'm going to chop up raw vegetables maybe boil some eggs and we really love that particularly when it's very hot or you just want to kind of snack on something but to be honest it's a very it's quite a filling lunch because you've heard chickpeas are really substantial and once you're having all of those vegetables if you chop them all up and make them look appetizing uh then it's kind of uh I I find it a a lunch that we look forward to rather than something that you say oh let's have this because it's healthy one of my favorite simple dishes in warm or cozy weather is a vegetable frittata the key I find is to roast your onions garlic and other vegetables first while they're cooking whisk your eggs with salt and pepper and fresh or dried herbs and then when the onions and any other vegetables like pumpkin or Peppers or fennel are soft and sweet and roasted I then arrange spinach or chicory or kale or some kind of dark leafy green around the dish I use quite a lot because I really want it to be very nutritious here I'm using cooked chicory from the night before but you can put any of these greens in raw arrange some feta cheese evenly and then pour over the eggs and then if you want you could also put a little mozzarella on top just to make the top go golden and crispy this Cooks so quickly it's so easy and it's perfect for a lunchbox to take to work or just to eat at home when you are feeling like you want something a little bit more comforting than a salad with this extreme heat we've been having for months now and our oversupply of cucumbers and tomatoes I've been making gazpacho almost every week I'll link my recipe and video on screen now so that's definitely a lunch dish that we eat a lot if I'm craving bread then I'll go for a whole wheat gluten-free bread but I toast it in a pan with a little olive oil because let's be honest gluten-free bread needs a little bit of help and I like it when it just sort of goes all nice and crispy on the edges sometimes I'm editing or filming and I need something super fast and I know I'm cooking a very heavy dinner so I'll opt for this light lunch of whole wheat rice crackers with cheese and cucumber black pepper and sea salt foreign thank you so much for watching thank you for liking and subscribing and thank you also to my patrons who support this channel if you enjoyed this I can also do a similar style of video for what I cook for healthy dinners if you'd be interested in that please just let me know in the comments I haven't been able to respond to all your lovely comments and emails and and messages uh just being super encouraging about this upcoming birth but I I truly appreciate it I'm just trying to keep the time that I'm in front of my computer or on my phone to a minimum so that I can rest and and get prepared and excited for this very special time but thank you so much and I shall see you next Friday unless of course I'm giving birth in which case I won't see you but I shall perhaps let you know on Instagram or something like that just so you are up to date but I wish you a beautiful weekend and thanks again [Music]

Channel: Kylie Flavell

Views: 103,162

Keywords: healthy meal ideas, breakfast, lunch, health, what i eat in a week, what I eat in a day, nutrition, plant-based recipes, vegan

Id: q35QZSGbXeg

Length: 40min 2sec (2402 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 30 2022