Recipe | Turkey burgers

I have been craving burgers for a while now, and I think Pinterest is probably to blame! So, instead of making someone, or going out and spending £10 on one, I decided to have a go at making some healthy ones myself. I’ve seen a bunch of recipes around the interweb for turkey burgers, so mine is a bit of a mishmash of all of those, I just sort of winged it based on what I’ve been pinning!

Turkey is also quite a cheap meat to buy, and very high in protein, meaning you get a lot of bang for your buck. 500g was £2.59, an onion is about 10p, and an egg is about 15p depending what you buy. That makes a total of £2.84, or 36p per burger. So yeh, a definite budget meal!

Makes 8.

Ingredients: 500g turkey mince//red onion//1.5 tsp garlic powder//1 tsp hot chilli powder//0.5 tsp black pepper//1 tsp Italian herbs//sprinkle of salt//egg

Chop up your onion finely and place in a bowl.

Break up your turkey mince and add it to the bowl. Then add your herbs and spices.

Break an egg into a cup and beat well.

Add the beaten egg to the turkey and spices, and combine well with your hands.

Form the mixture into eight burger shaped pieces and lay on a baking tray. Pop them in the fridge to firm up for about 30 mins.

Heat up a frying pan with a couple of sprays of oil, and cook your burgers in batches. I did four at a time. They need about 5 mins on each side, but the thicker/thinner you make them, the different your cooking time.

Serve up with your favourite side, maybe a bun, maybe a salad, or my personal favourite, sweet potato fries!

These also keep really well in the fridge, and a great for snacking on (oops), and also reheating. They could also be made into meatball shapes and put into tomato sauces for a sort of bolognese. Ooh the possibilities!

The nutritional stats on these are pretty good too:

Per burger: 146kcal//3 carbs//7 fat//20 protein//8 sodium//1 sugar

Any other good burger recipes out there for me?

Thoughts on cravings

As I’m sure you all know, I am a self confessed sugar addict. 100% addicted to the white stuff. Often in the evening and throughout the day I’ll get a craving for a big bar of Cadburys, or Galaxy, or biscuits, just something sugary. Often I think it’s because I’m hungry. But, I heard an interesting thing on Jillian Michael’s podcast a couple of weeks ago and it really got me thinking.

She was discussing weight loss, calorie deficit, and exercising making you feel hungry, and she said,

‘Ask yourself, when you’re hungry or craving something, could you eat a steak? Could you eat some salmon, some chicken, a spinach salad? Because if you couldn’t, you’re not hungry’.

I found this to be really interesting, as often I will be sat there thinking I’m hungry, when actually I’m just craving sugar, I’m not hungry at all, as I know all I want is chocolate to get my fix.

She also discussed treats, and how everything has a consequence. So yes, whilst it’s fine to have treats in moderation, they all have a consequence on your body. I don’t suppose I’ve ever really thought about it in that way, I often find myself thinking, oh it’s just a one off, diet and sugar detox can start tomorrow, but as always, they never do! Don’t get me wrong, I think treats are good, the whole 80/20 rule, but sometimes I don’t quite keep the 80/20 balance.

I think getting myself to think in this way will really change my eating habits. So from now on, whenever I think I’m hungry, I’m going to picture a spinach salad. And if I’m still hungry, I’ll eat. If not, maybe I’ll shed a few pounds!

What are your thoughts on listening to your bodies hunger and cravings?

Image source

Another juice detox

Last week I did another 5 day juice detox, following Jason Vale’s 5 in 5 plan using his app. As I’ve posted previously, my family and I have had some good successes previously. I decided to do another 5 in 5, as after three weeks working away from home and indulging on an almost daily basis I can definitely see the difference in the scales too. Two of my other buddies decided to do it for the same five days too, so we had a bit of a back up support for each other.

The first time I did the 5 in 5 I stuck to the plan almost religiously, bar a couple of hiccups. The following few times I did it I wasn’t quite so strict with myself, and still lost some weight. This time round I decided I was going to be pretty strict, exercise, but eat when I felt I needed it.

Monday I stuck to juice all day until the evening where I had to have a couple of slices of small low carb toast after my evening run. I felt good throughout the day though.

Tuesday daytime I snacked on a banana before another 3 mile run. I was up at 5.30 for yoga in the morning, so by the time my first juice rolled around at 10am I was hungry! Tuesday evening my sugar levels felt so low, I couldn’t resist a kitkat chunky, oops. Not strict in the 5in5, but part of the 80/20 rule maybe??

Wednesday I had a couple of macarons at work a colleague bought back for me from Paris. They were so disappointing I wish I hadn’t bothered! In the evening I was feeling a little sick so I had two more slices of bread with a little salted butter. All I could think about whilst I was making it was crisps, salty crisps! I don’t think it helped that someone on my floor at work made sweet popcorn in the afternoon, absolute torture!!

Thursday I was good all day at work, a banana before my run club where I did a pretty hard session. I juiced the rest of the day, because I knew what lied ahead for my evening – bake club! I sampled a small piece of each cake, to make a total of four – brownie, lemon and blueberry drizzle, carrot and walnut, and an Anzac. I felt so bloated afterwards and all the sugar made me feel absolutely buzzing, I couldn’t sleep for hours!

Friday I took the remainder of my cake into work and when I saw everyone else tucking into it I couldn’t help but have a piece. It kept me so full!! In the afternoon I had slumped big time and a colleague offered me a small M&S sausage roll. Real proper food never tasted so good. I felt really guilty by the evening though and ended up going out for a 5 mile run. After my run I ended up having a small bowl of cereal and a couple of slices of toast – ooops!

Saturday The big weigh in. Even with eating in the evenings and a lot on Friday, I still managed to lose 5lbs, which I’m really pleased with. On Saturday I went out for the morning shopping, indulged in a slice of lemon drizzle as I had a voucher. For lunch I had a small bowl of marmite pasta, post to come, and then in the evening I had left over roasted chicken in red wine, plus some popcorn. I felt so uncomfortably full by the evening, I think I tried to go back to normal portion sizes, oops! I was surprised I couldn’t finish all the popcorn, which normally I think I could have polished off!

Summary The week of juicing really made me realise quite how reliant on sugar I am. I really, really want to kick my sugar habit but I’m a bit scared about how difficult it’s going to be! I’m intrigued by the Whole30 a lot of people have been doing, I think that actually eating food and filling and fuelling my body so I’m never given the opportunity to be hungry would make it easier kick the sugar habit. What do you think, any opinions on this?

Juicing | a catch up

As you may know, back in November I attempted Jason Vale’s 5 in 5 juice plan. You can read my catch up for days one, two, three, four, five, and a summary. Since the first five days finished, I have continued to juice on and off. For the first couple of weeks I juiced throughout the days and then ate dinner in the evenings. However, as it got closer to my birthday and there were more and more social engagements to attend, my juicing has become less. Whilst juicing I’ve had so many people come up to me and ask me if I’ve lost weight and to say that I’m looking well. I have to say, I do feel well when I juice. When my juicing slipped, the week before my birthday, as well as having some out of control hormones, I felt more bloated, my skin felt worse, I didn’t sleep so well, had less energy, and I was grumpy! I think it’s probably an increase of sugar and refined processed food and carbs and a lack of good veggies that’s made me feel so blerugh.

So, I’m back on the juice wagon. I won’t be doing it full time, just for two out of three meals. I will continue to juice at breakfast, and then juice for either lunch or dinner. I think eating a lunch is better for you and juicing in the evening, as your body has longer to digest it before bed, but it’ll be as it fits round my schedule. As we all know, Christmas is a busy time for people full of dinners and parties, but if I continue to juice and exercise around this, I think I’ll be helping my body to feel and look it’s best.

5 in 5 | the review

Sorry it’s a bit later than planned, but here’s my overall review of 5 in 5. For those who don’t know, 5 in 5 is a juice detox plan created by the Juicemaster, Jason Vale, designed to help people lose 5lbs in 5days.

If you read my daily recaps you’ll know I found the first day really hard. I attempted to give up coffee, which didn’t last, and I made it to 5pm before caving and having some mash potato. After that first day I found the following days two and three easier, I kept drinking coffee which definitely helped. I didn’t even drink the prescribed four juices a day, I found I was a bit sick after the third one and just stuck to tea (and a cheeky bovril) throughout the evenings. Day four I had some food in the evening and day five was a complete failure, my head just wasn’t in it that day, and sometimes life is too short!

I enjoyed the majority of the juices, some were definitely nicer than others, and after the first day I decided not to add any avocado to my juices, which definitely improved them. I don’t know what I did wrong but the avocado in that first juice was almost enough to put me off the whole week! I probably would have been put off if I hadn’t have spent all the money on fruit and veg!!! I think I spent about £40 in total for the five days of juices, so about £8 a day. But I didn’t use up all the stuff in my fridge, so this week I’ve spent about £11 which should last me.

So as I alluded to above, I will be continuing to juice again this week. I have a few social engagements like lunches and dinners, so I will be juicing around these. I won’t be quite as strict as the first week, but on my meals out I will plan on eating healthy choices and trying not to undo all the work of the juices. I also didn’t really do any exercise last week, so I think eating a little more proper food will give me the energy to exercise, something that’s really important to me.

So did I lose 5 in 5? Yes! I actually lost 5lbs after 3 full days of juicing, and I lost an inch off my waist. However, after my weekend of indulgences with friends I’ve probably undone all the good of the juice diet! I am keen to get under a certain number on the scale, and I’m not too far off, so I plan on a combination of juices, healthy meals, and exercise to get below that number.

5 in 5 | day five

Today has been a bit of a disaster. I completely fell off the juice wagon. I had juice no 1 as normal, and then I had a doughnut (free at work), then soup (that’s not bad, it was a vegetable broth), then two more doughnuts, and then snacks from M&S. I did go spinning tonight though, so maybe I can minus one doughnut from the count??

So I’m going to say I did a four day detox, which to be honest, even for me, is a pretty big achievement!

So far I’m unsure of my plans for a future of juicing. I have a pretty busy week of social engagements, but I think I am going to juice more. I’m really surprised I lasted as long as I did. I’ll be interested to see what the scales say tomorrow, what with falling off the juice wagon today, but I’ve been weighing myself daily (bad habit, I know), so I know what I lost this morning too. One day won’t make a big difference to my overall weightloss, but I loved seeing the numbers go down!

I’ll post a more indepth recap of my juice detox tomorrow, and let you know a final update!det

5 in 5 | day four

7.43am. Woke up and weighed myself again. Very pleased with the result. Ny stomach feels less bloated but it’s noy as flat as I expected. I did have a bit of a tyre to lose though. When I put on weight it all goes to my belly and gets wobbly! It has gone down an inch though. Not looking forward to today’s first juice but I’ll be brave and give it a go! Can’t believe I’m over halfway through the detox week. Already thinking about if I could try it again. Hmmm. I have to say so far I think it would be easier in the summer when it’s not so darn cold!

8am. First sip of coffee of the day. So delicious. I’m going to try and not have many cups of hot java today, and see if tomorrow I can go cold turkey. We’ll see what happens! !

2.50pm. As expected juice no 1 wasn’t very nice. It was drinkable though. I think the first juice on day one was the absolute worse!! I went to run club at 12.15pm. I felt pretty weak, and was overtaken by some people who I’m normally quite a bit faster than. I don’t think I’ll be trying any more exercise until the weekend!! I had my second juice around 1.15pm, with orange and carrot. This one is pretty nice, doesn’t taste too much like veggies! I’m still sipping on it now. I’ve only had one coffee this morning, so I’m doing well! After running in the rain I did really want a warm soup, or big fat jacket potato, but I was good!

7.45pm. Fallen off the band wagon this evening. Had an eventful day, so cheered myself uo with some proper food. Soup, mini instant mash, and ny emergency kitkat. I’m sure the scales will show it tomorrow but for now I feel better for having proper food. I’m curious to see what the scales will say. Soup was 160cals and the mash was 200 as was the kitkat. 560 calories, and two juices today. Not the end of the world! Think I’m going to have an early night and hopefully feel better tomorrow.

5 in 5 | day three

7.20am. Still didn’t make it to the gym this morning. Ooops! Had a good night’s sleep despite cutting up chilli again and my fingers burning! Have a bit of a headache but I suspect that will be dehydration, I often get headaches in the morning throughout winter when the heating is on.

7.57am. Weighed myself and am 4lbs lighter than Monday morning. Already worried about if the weight will actually stay off. Feeling good about myself though and decide to wear a skinny dress. Feeling slight hunger pangs, but probably nothing a coffee won’t fix until 10am.

9.55am. I’m cold and hungry. Got myself a hot water bottle, a coffee, and my juice. I’m all set!

10.35. Juice all finished, my quickest time yet to finish one I think. Really looking forward to my smoothie at 1pm. Yum. As much as tea and coffee is filling a hot food void, I wouldn’t mind some warm soup. Or a pie. Pie would be good.

11.55am. Hungry now. And feeling a bit sick. I still want a pie and now I want it with mash potato. Or sausage, mash, and gravy. Some stodge basically.

12.45pm. The guy next to me is eating crunchy ryvita. I want to punch him.

1.10pm. Oh my gosh this fruity smoothie juice is absolutely delicious. I already can’t wait for batch no 2 at 4pm. Yummy!

2pm. My smoothie was over far too soon. Roll on two hours for the next one. It was delicious!

2.25pm. Discovered a fellow juicer at work. She said I was naughty for still drinking coffee. Ooops!

3.10pm. Think I’ve crashed. Juice no 2 might have had a bit too much natural sugar in. I’m so sleeepy!

3.37pm. Starving and my belly is grumbling. Feel like I should try and exercise tonight but don’t know if I’ll have the energy.

4.25pm. My juice was over too quickly. Wah. So yummy. Think I’ve already said that though!

5.18pm. Still at work. Doesn’t look like any exercise is going to happen!!!

9.55pm. Had Megan round this evening for coffee and had my emergency banana. I’d quite like to eat some food. Not because I’m particularly hungry, I just want something warm in my tummy that isn’t tea. I bought some bovril after work, nice for the first cup, too much by a second mug. I’m fantasising about what my first proper meal is going to be. Saturday morning hmmmm. I’m going shopping Saturday so maybe I’ll just juice until I meet my friend Saturday for food and have a proper treat.

So far I don’t really feel like I’ve had any terrible detox symptoms. I’m a bit headachey and my tummy rumbles sometimes but it hasn’t been anywhere near as bad as I was expecting. Maybe because I’ve still been drinking coffee or maybe my diet wasn’t that processed before, I don’t know.

5 in 5 | day two

7.10am. Woke up and once again not sure I feel like a gym session. Get up ans decide today is going to be fuelled by juice and more importantly coffee.

7.35am. Weigh myself and pleased to see I’ve already lost some weight. Although I’m not surprised! Plus it’s no more than a normal daily fluctuation for me. Really enjoying my coffee.

8am. I love coffee.

9am. I’m pretty hungry. Gulping down water and a lemon and ginger tea. Thinking about it I haven’t eaten since 5.30pm last night. That’s a long time to go without food. Eurgh.

10.25am. Still haven’t had my first juice. A combination of being busy and drinking coffee has helped me forget about being hungry!

11.25am. This juice isn’t too bad, I didn’t put the avocado in it so no minging bits floating around! Although there are some bits of brocolli floating around. Don’t feel that hungry so far.

11.35am. Hungry now.

12.45pm. Meant to be having a juice at 1 but meeting a friend for ‘lunch’. Having a hot tea now (blueberry and echinaeca) to hopefully keep me going and then will have juice about 2. Don’t feel as bad as yesterday so far. Think it helps I’ve been having coffee.

2pm. Not really hungry. Had another coffee over ‘lunch’. Get my juice out and try a few sips, it’s not that bad.

3.05pm. Still drinking my juice. Had to count 1000 envelopes into piles of 25. Found it really hard to concentrate. Eyes feel a bit fuzzy like I’m tired, I have a slight headache I think from dehydration but don’t really feel hungry.

3.17pm. The more I drink my juice the more sick I feel. Not sure why.

4.44pm. Still nursing juice no 2. I’m way behind on juices. Not feeling that hungry so far. I do fancy some more instant mash though. Or something warm and comforting. Juice diets should be done in the summer only.

11.15pm. What a busy evening! Went to the supermarket after work to pick up more juicing ingredients and that’s all I walked away with. Success! At home I had juice number three which I nursed for an hour between 6 and 7. Meanwhile I kept busy making more chilli jam and some sloe gin and vodka. Pretty sure I made the gin and vodka wrong! Then I rushed out to quilt club, managed a couple more squares on my quilt and resisted alk offers of biscuits. Normally I scoff them down. I wasn’t even tempted. Who have I become? On the way home about 10 I had my sos banana which was delicious. I finished making my juices ready for tomorrow, one is like a smoothie yum! Decided to have my last juice from today tomorrow instead and only juice one recipe for tomorrow.

Feeling great today, think all the coffee and being so busy helped! Onwards to half way tomorrow!

5 in 5 | day one

7am. Woke up and thought about making a coffee. Realised I probably shouldn’t have coffee on the detox and felt a little sad.
7.45am. Decided as per the Juicemaster to have hot water and lemon. I used to drink that a lot and enjoy it. Not sure if it was the lemons or my freshly brushed teeth bit it didn’t taste like I remembered. Worried I was going to have a whole week of rank food.
8.30am. On my way to work and feel hungry. Is it psychological? I normally eat breakfast at my desk about this time, so maybe ny body is just usef to eating food. Still thinking about coffee and whether to include it in the detox or not. Can’t have my first juice until 10am. It could be a long hour and half.
8.45am. Decided to go and buy some brightly coloured straws to make drinking the juice more exciting and fun. Wonder if it will work?
9.15am. First tea of the day. Does the trick of filling whole.

10am. Getting pretty hungry now. Go to get first juice from fridge. All the avocado has separated and looks rank.
10.30am. Juice tastes ok, I like the lime in it. Can’t really taste the cucumber. Don’t like the bits in it. Bleugh.
11am. Just about finished the juice. The bits of avocado were truly offputting floating around. Eurgh.
11.10am. Onto my next herbal tea. Turkish apple yum. I think drinking a lot of will help hungry pains. I have a headache but don’t know if that’s related as I’ve been staring at spreadsheets since 9am.
11.45am. I have a headache, struggling to concentrate. Don’t feel hungry though. Think I’m going to have a coffee.
12.10pm. I have coffee. All is right in the world.
12.50pm. Coffee made me feel loads better. Currently not even feeling hungry. Meant to have next juice in ten mins but might wait until 1.30pm.

1.45pm. The second juice is much nicer. No bits this time. I actually feel quite full so far. Still headachey though. I also got a peppermint tea as something warm to keep me going.
2.55pm. Stomach is rumbling. Feel a bit sick with hunger. Hoping yet another herbal tea will help.
3.30pm. Bladder constantly feels full and I’ve been to the bathroom a lot today!

4.25pm. Sipping slowly on juice no 3. It does feel a bit like all I’ve done today is drink. I’m not missing chewing yet, although the person next to me had some ready salted crisps earlier which looked incredible. And I’m not a crisp person!
5.30pm. On the way home from work I felt really sick. Not hungry as such, just sick. Almost like I had stitch too. So I decided instead of my sos banana I’d have a mini pot of instant mash. It’s warm and comforting. Totally off detox but only 250cals. It tasted wonderful!
5.40pm. Feeling remorse at eating the mash potato. I couldn’t even last a whole day juicing! Experiencing mild heart burn. What has this detox done to me? It hasn’t even been 12 hours. I just couldn’t face any more of that awful bitty avocado juice and attempting to make conversation with a hairdresser for three hours. If I could have gone straight home to bed instead I probably could have lasted juicing. Probably.

7.25pm. In the hairdressers and I feel great. No hunger, no headache and had an hilarious chat with the hairdresser. Just feel a little thirsty. No longer regretting my mash potato.
9.30pm. My tummy is rumbling again, think I’ll have a final tea before bed. Only managed three of the four juices with an emergency mash potato instead! Tomorrow and Wednesday are meant to be the worst days as you really detox. I’m going to attempt the gym tomorrow morning and tomorrow night I’m going out to quilt club (yes, I’m that cool!), so hopefully it will be an easier day.