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Eating bread and staying lean typically don’t go hand in hand.

One of the major problems is that most breads are full of very processed and quickly digested flour.

The high carbohydrate content combined with a negligible amount of fibre and you have a blood sugar surge almost guaranteed.

This can be a good thing if you have just smashed or are about to have an intense workout. Otherwise it is more than likely to just add a bit more to your waistline.

No instead of going into a rant about how bad bread can be, I’m going to offer you an alternative that will tick off a lot more boxes nutritionally.

In Craig Ballantyne’s new book, Simple Nutrition, he talks about having flax bread which sounded really good. Flax seeds, flax meal etc is a great source of fibre, omega 3′s and protein so anything that is made with flax as a main ingredient is going to be pretty good for you.

So off I trot to the local supermarket and bakery and then health store and then home empty handed. Turns out getting this wonderful Flax Bread isn’t as easy here in Hobart as it may be up in Toronto. So with a little research and trial and error I came up with the following recipe to make your very own flax meal bread.

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Flax Meal
• 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
• 2 Teaspoons Stevia
• 5 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1/3 Cup Oil

With regard to the ‘exact’ ingredients you use, obviously the higher the quality, the better the end product will be. This will vary depending on your location and availability of different brands or products.

To start with put the flax meal, baking powder and stevia into a large mixing bowl and combine well. Then in a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. (So you are probably whisking them, but I prefer to be all tough on the eggs and give them a beating!) Add the water and oil to the eggs and give them a quick mix before adding it to the dry ingredients.

Give it all a quick mix together just with the whisk or a wooden spoon. It will go thick pretty quickly so just get it all combined nicely and then pour it into a lined pan. A square or rectangle pan about 25cm or 10 inches will be perfect. You will need to flatten the mix out to the edges with your hand or a spoon but in a pan this size it should be about 2cm thick all around.

Bake for 20 minutes @ 190 degrees, fan forced. The mix should be ‘browning’ on top, risen a little and spring back up when touched.

Just like any bread, this tastes better freshly baked! From this recipe I get 8 slices. So out of the pan I cut it into four even squares. From each square I then slice in half to make two, well, slices! (Hopefully the pics make more sense of this!)

In Craig’s book he recommends toasting and topping with almond butter. This works well, as does peanut butter. Just make sure the topping is somewhat healthy and you aren’t undoing all of your good work! Because it is quite heavy, one slice will be more than enough and I’d recommend having it with a cup of your favourite tea as well.

Enjoy!

Some foods are good for you health.

Some foods are good for your waistline.

The following is a list of foods that are good for neither.

These foods either contain trans fats, are high in animal saturated fats, are highly processed, are highly refined or are full of sugar (or a combination of these…yuk!)

If you want to lose belly fat, you definitely need to avoid these foods.

* Anything that has been deep fried (yes, this includes Mars Bars!)

* Margarine (Can you name the ingredients in maragrine?)

* Non lean cuts of meat (Pork, Porterhouse)

mmm pork...

* Lollies (Sugar in different shapes is still sugar)

* Chocolate (Some 70% or higher cocoa is OK)

* Cookies, Cakes and biscuits (Danger. All calories, no fibre, no nutirents)

* Soft Drink and Cordial (Liquid sugar goes straight to the waistline)

* Pies (Fatty pastry with fatty ‘meat’ = Bad News)

cold meat pie anyone?

* Donuts (You know they’re bad)

* Croissants (Just because they are European doesn’t make them healthy!)

* Alfredo Sauces (Cream, butter and some flavour. Generally added to pasta for a double kick)

* Potato and Corn Chips (Refined, fried with added salt. Not even closed to a healthy choice)

* Hot Dogs (What’s really in a hot dog? Who knows, but it’s not pretty)

* Take Away Burgers (Cheap, fatty and nasty ‘meat’, normally with added cheese and bacon!)

* Pretend Peanut Butter (Anything but the natural type)

* Flavoured Full Fat Milk (Too much sugar, especially when combined with the fat content)

* Processed Lunch Meats (Pretend Ham, chicken, turkey)

* Salami (See hot dog.)

* Sausages (They’re cheap for a reason)

Do what you can to avoid these foods. There are so many great tasting, healthy options out there that don’t really take any more effort to make and are just as enjoyable. Over time the less you eat from this list the healthier and leaner you will be.

Recommended Reading: Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, Low Carbs and all of the Carb BS

As you probably know I am not a big fan of making massive dietary overhauls in one step. Instead I favour the approach of making small, consistent improvements. I think this is a better approach because it leads to much greater sustainability and long term success.

The chances of succeeding when you try to chance long term habits overnight are very slim. If instead you replace the old, bad habits with new, healthier ones over time, you will be able to sustain these new habits just like you did the old ones. The main difference being that you will be healthier and leaner as a reward for the effort.

“What are the 8 C’s?” I hear you asking. Well they are 8 foods that have no health benefits, packed with sugar, fat (or both) and will lead to extra kilos and extra inches on the waistline.

Alright, you’ve waited long enough, here they are.

1. Cereal. Any processed breakfast type cereal has to go. If you want, go for whole rolled oats instead.
2. Colas. Without being brand specific (none of them are good for you) opt for green tea, black tea or flavoured teas.
3. Cakes. If this needs explaining we’re in trouble.
4. Cookies. See cakes.
5. Candy. Basically sugar in different shapes. And the ‘sugar free’ versions are packed with modified alcohols.
6. Crackers. Not only are they a poor quality, processed food, chances are you will add some cheese, dips etc to them.
7. Cream. Throw ice cream in here as well. They are a sure fire way to pack on the pounds.
8. Chocolate. Sure one piece of 80% cocoa chocolate might be alright, but every otherwise chocolate isn’t your friend!

All I want you to do is reconsider your intake of the 8 C’s. If all you were to do this week was to drop the 8C’s, increase your green vegetable intake and read this, then you would be doing better than 95% of the population.

What other ‘C’ foods can you think of that should be avoided? Leave a comment below.

Eating out can be a large part of people’s lives. Today’s lifestyle of entertaining clients, social gatherings and traveling means that you will have some huge barriers to overcome to maintain your healthy, lean body lifestyle when eating out.

To make life easier for you I have put together a list of some easy-to-implement tips to keep your diet on track even when you aren’t in charge of the food preparation.

1. Keep the liquid calories to zero. This means no soda (soft drinks), juices or alcohol. For maximum benefit stick to water and green tea.
2. Minimise starchy carbs. Go for salads instead of potatoes, rice or potatoes.
3. Avoid the fry up! Anything deep fried is going to be full of unhealthy fats and calories that will take forever to burn off back in the gym.
4. Say no to desert. Whist there are some balanced, nutritious deserts available, 99% of the time you will have to make them yourself. At the restaurant  they will be full of sugar and saturated fats which won’t help your waistline.
5. Be smart with portion control. Eating out doesn’t always have to be about getting the best value for money! Getting the all you can eat buffet will cost you more time and effort in the long run. Be sensible and don’t be afraid to leave some food on the plate.

So putting this all into practice means that you will be having a moderate sized (lean protein/meat based) main accompanied by a glass or two of water. Always try to get the inevitable side of fries changed over for a serve of salad or vegetables. You want to skip the free bread, garlic bread or herb bread whilst  you are waiting for your meal. This is a surefire way to add processed calories to your diet and inches to your waistline.

If we have a look at the improvements you have made with meal selection, you will see how much of a positive impact it will have on your body.

Option A – The regular menu

• Garlic Bread
• Burger or pasta dish
• Chips / Fries
• Soft Drink (soda), beer or other sugary / alcoholic drink.

If you care about your health and your body, a much smarter alternative would be:

• Lean meat or chicken dish
• Salad or vegetables, or both
• Water and green tea.

These small changes will result in a saving of between 400 and 800 calories every time you eat out. Even more if you tend to have more drinks or upsize all the options. You will also be eliminating almost all of the bad fats and processed carbs along the way.

It doesn’t have to be hard, and you don’t have to go without. Just a few small changes applied frequently will make a massive difference in the long run.

What tips or strategies do you use? Share with us by leaving a comment below.