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About
Downsizing Deliciously
Downsizing Deliciously came out of my quest to lose a lot of weight without giving up eating amazing food. With the prospect of years without gallons of olive oil and butter, or lashings of double cream and chocolate – 8 stone does not magically disappear in a few months – I set about creating recipes that would delight my taste buds as much as all the things that made me fat.
I turned to the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and North Africa for inspiration: it’s my favourite food, and the blast of spices and flavours gets my taste buds so enraptured that I don’t hear a peep out of them for hours on the subject of chocolate brownies.
And it’s working: so far I have lost nearly three stone. And the reason it’s working is that I started basing my recipes – and my eating – on foods that were Low Calorie Dense (LCD).
What is Low Calorie Dense (LCD)?
Low Calorie Dense
LCD is not a banned substance that makes you think you can fly – it’s much more exciting than that. It means food that has a lot of volume per calorie so you can eat loads and still lose weight. When I discovered it, it was like learning how to turn straw into gold.
To be specific about things, it applies to food with lots of water or fibre – often both – and not too much fat.
It’s the opposite of what most of us live on – food that packs the maximum calories into the smallest possible space: Nutella, salami, nuts, biscuits, cheese, chocolate, crisps; foods eaten in the blink of an eyelid, which leave you hungry and make you fat.
To be specific about things, it applies to food with lots of water or fibre – often both – and not too much fat.
It’s the opposite of what most of us live on – food that packs the maximum calories into the smallest possible space: Nutella, salami, nuts, biscuits, cheese, chocolate, crisps; foods eaten in the blink of an eyelid, which leave you hungry and make you fat.
“If you tried to lift the number of pumpkins you can eat for the same calories in a kilo of chocolate, you would do yourself a mischief."
A Few Details
A kilo of bagels has fourteen times more calories than a kilo of tomatoes; a kilo of biscuits has four times more calories than a kilo of lentils. If you tried to
pick up the number of pumpkins with the same calories as a kilo of chocolate,
you'd do yourself a mischief.
So eating more LCD food and a lot less of everything else automatically
reduces calorie consumption whilst at the same time filling you up.
And as a bonus, it's low fat, has no refined carbohydrate, is packed to the
gunnels with nutrients... vitamins... antioxidants, and all the fibre will have
your microbiome dancing a jig.
pick up the number of pumpkins with the same calories as a kilo of chocolate,
you'd do yourself a mischief.
So eating more LCD food and a lot less of everything else automatically
reduces calorie consumption whilst at the same time filling you up.
And as a bonus, it's low fat, has no refined carbohydrate, is packed to the
gunnels with nutrients... vitamins... antioxidants, and all the fibre will have
your microbiome dancing a jig.
LCD Foods
Low-calorie-dense food includes fruit, vegetables, pulses, eggs, fish, and very lean meat – which gives me a wonderful food-palette to work with.
There are a few exceptions on the list of vegetables: potatoes and sweet potatoes barely make it onto the list; avocados don’t even come close, but are very good for you. As are nuts and seeds, and various oils. So I use them – along with other calorie-dense ingredients – but I add them with a teaspoon instead of a shovel.
Some LCD lists contain whole grains as well. I don’t include them in my eat-as-much-as-I-like foods, but I do use them in recipes, particularly whole-grain barley and spelt, which have fantastic flavour and lots of fibre.
N.B. Fatless yogurt also counts as LCD, but I do not want to ruin my life eating something that tastes like nutritional chalk.
There are a few exceptions on the list of vegetables: potatoes and sweet potatoes barely make it onto the list; avocados don’t even come close, but are very good for you. As are nuts and seeds, and various oils. So I use them – along with other calorie-dense ingredients – but I add them with a teaspoon instead of a shovel.
Some LCD lists contain whole grains as well. I don’t include them in my eat-as-much-as-I-like foods, but I do use them in recipes, particularly whole-grain barley and spelt, which have fantastic flavour and lots of fibre.
N.B. Fatless yogurt also counts as LCD, but I do not want to ruin my life eating something that tastes like nutritional chalk.
Vegetables
Eggs
Fruits
Pulses
Fish & Shellfish
Very Lean Meat
“It is a tragic fact that the people who live for food are the ones most likely to get fat, but to do something about it means giving up all the things that make life worth living."
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