To me, intuitive eating is all about establishing a connection to our bodies and listening to the symptoms that our bodies send us on a daily base.  This stems from the realization that our bodies are absolute supercomputers. Our heart never skips a beat, blood is continuously pumped through our veins  and there is probably no smarter machine out there than our fabulous bodies. They also know exactly what they need in terms of food and they actually tell us as well, we just need to learn to listen to the symptoms. Now that’s what I call an intuitive connection!

How to Eat Intuitively

Do you recognize feeling bloated, low in energy, knackered or down after eating? These are all symptoms of your body being out of balance or not reacting well towards a specific product or food category.

If you feel supercharged, light and energetic after a meal, chances are that your body absolutely loves what you just ate and would like you to have more of that. 

In order to establish an intuitive connection with your body you need to become more aware of what you feed it with everyday. In my practice I like to use a food diary for this with my clients. A food diary is a great tool to connect the dots, understand patterns in your diet and act as an accountability partner for you. 

Especially if you deal with low energy throughout the day or struggle with your gut health it can be super insightful to write down when you felt a certain shift. These observations can really help you to create more consciousness around your diet and what kind of foods your body reacts well to what it does not like. 

Rating Your Hunger

Another great exercise to eat more intuitively is to rate your hunger. You can do this by rating your hunger before and after every meal using the following range from 1 to 8:

1. Feeling starved, dizzy, weak
2. Very hungry, stomach growling
3. Quite hungry, stomach growling starts 
4. The hunger is slowly rising
5. Neither hungry nor full, contentment 
6. A bit full, pleasant. 
7. Somewhat uncomfortably full, feeling of fullness
8. Very full, nausea and even stomach ache

So if we have a look at what this all means:

• If you constantly enter a 1 or 2 before your meal, you’re probably likely to overeat and end up at a 7 or 8 after the meal 
• If you don’t really feel hunger, so around 7 or 8 before the meal, you might be eating too much in between, so skips those snacks
• Ideally we want to feel relatively hungry, somewhere between a 3 and 4, when starting our meal and pleasant and content, somewhere between a 5 and 6 when finishing it. 

This really is that sweet spot where our body is able to absorb nutrients and food the best. Try and remember this feeling and eat or stop whenever you experience the same feeling again.

Have Fun

Give these exercises a try and have fun doing so. Remember to not be too strict with your own yourself, it’s completely ok to not write down what you ate or how you felt every single day. None of us are perfect and Rome wasn’t built in a day;)

Putting this into practice

If you’d like to find out what healthy eating and establishing an intuitive connection with your body could mean for you, the Eat Well, Feel Good Introduction to Nutrition Course could be helpful with that. I created a fun, easy and short course for those who are looking to understand what healthy eating is all about. The course consists of 6 modules and 22 videos. I devoted an entire chapter in the course to intuitive eating as this is really one of the cornerstones of feeling great, inside and out. The course is perfect for you if you’re looking to gain some general knowledge about good nutrition that you can easily put into practice. I’m sharing lots of handy tips & tricks with you, including a food diary template, lots of delicious recipes and print outs to make your life around shopping and eating much more fun and easy. Head to the Online Course section to find out more!

Last night I made a super delicious whole roasted cauliflower with tumeric and coconut with friends which I wanted to share with you. The recipe is from Anna Jones’s fantastic new book: The Modern Cook’s Year.

We comcbined the roasted cauliflower with some potatoes and a fresh and tasty tomato & olive salad, which made a perfect combination of warming and fresh.

Turmeric & Coconut Roasted Cauliflower

There is something grand and celebratory about roasting a vegetable whole. It becomes a centrepiece, which is something I think people look for in vegetable-centred cooking. The food I make most nights celebrates vegetables in some way, but cooking them whole like this takes a cauliflower one step further: Golden and crackled, its colour intensified, in all its glory as nature intended.

Whole roasted cauliflower is something that has been finding its way on to restaurant menus the last couple of years, partly due to the cauliflower renaissance spearheaded by vegetable magician Yotam Ottolenghi. Burnished and browned, a whole cauliflower is such a pleasing thing to put in the middle of the table, with a sharp knife for everyone to cut brave wedges for themselves and uncover the buttery clean white inside, a sharp contrast to the crisp and highly flavoured outside.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients for 4 persons

• 1 large cauliflower
• 600g new potatoies
• 4 tbsps coconut oil
• 3 tsp fresh grated ginger
• 2 green chili peppers
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 2 tsp ground turmeric
• 400ml coconut milk
• 1 organic lemon

Toppings:

• Greek yoghurt or coconut yoghurt
• Cilantro
• handful of crushed almonds

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Fill and boil the kettle.
2. Using a pair of scissors cut the large leaves and stalks away from the cauliflower. (You can leave the little leaves close to the florets­, they will go nice and crispy when roasted.) Turn the cauliflower upside down and, using a small paring knife, carefully cut a hollow in the middle of the stalk, so that it cooks evenly. Take a pan big enough to hold the cauliflower, half fill it with water from the kettle and bring it to a boil. Season the water with salt, then immerse the cauliflower and simmer for 6 minutes. Drain the water away, put the lid back on and leave the cauliflower to steam in the residual heat for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the potatoes into 2cm pieces, leaving the skin on.
3. Take an ovenproof dish or pan (that can go on the hob as well) large enough to take the cauliflower. Spoon in the coconut oil, and grate the ginger into the oil. Finely chop the chillies, discarding the seeds if you wish, then add them to the pan. Add the garlic, then place over medium heat and let the spices and aromatics cook for a few minutes, until fragrant. Stir in the mustard seeds and continue cooking until the garlic has softened, then add the turmeric and a big pinch of salt.
4. Pour the coconut milk into the spice mixture, stir well and season with a little black pepper. When the milk starts to bubble gently, turn off the heat, place the drained cauliflower in the dish, then baste it with the coconut-spice mixture. Throw the lemon halves into the side of the dish too, then scatter the potatoes around; they will sit in the coconut milk.
5. Bake the cauliflower, basting it occasionally with the spiced sauce in the dish, for 40 to 45 minutes. You want it to catch a little on top. To test if the cauliflower is cooked, insert a small sharp knife into the middle – it should be really tender (the potatoes and cauliflower should have soaked up most of the sauce). Once it’s perfect, take it out of the oven and transfer to a serving dish, then squeeze over the roasted lemons. Serve in the middle of the table, with little bowls of yoghurt, almonds and coriander for sprinkling on top.

ENJOY!

Nutrition Coaching: What is that? And how does it work? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

I have developed the Naela method to guide my clients through a 3- or 6 months trajectory. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

These are 5 practical steps to kickstart a lifetime of healthy eating that is fun & enjoyable:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

• Nourish⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• Activate⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• Enjoy⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• Love ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• Allow⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Nourish

It all starts with Nourish!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Once you realize that food really is medicine, you unlock the door to your ideal health, beauty and well-being. When coaching clients, I focus on foods that nourish you, make you feel energized, fit and strong. They’ll make your skin glow, your hair shine and your nails grow, because that is what nature can do for us! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

There are so many foods out there that can work wonders for you when you fill up your plate with them. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Next to nutrition, we will also work with lifestyle related habits that will help you nourish your body and achieve ideal health. A healthy lifestyle is more than just a healthy diet. Both science and common sense have shown us the importance of sleep, relaxation, movement and support.

Activate

Knowledge is power. However, without action you won’t receive any results. Throughout the program, I’ll be your accountability partner, keeping you motivated and enthusiastic. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Willpower and motivation are driving factors in your health journey. Together, we’ll find your intrinsic motivation, triggering certain behaviors that naturally feel good to you and do good to your body. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Food alone is not the answer, we will also have a close look at your workout regime and the foods that you can eat to boost your workout and metabolism even more. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

My approach is one step at a time, in order to help you cultivate new habits that you can actually stick to. The Naela Method focuses on sustainability rather than short successes. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Dividing the advice up into chewable pieces, you will be able to easily incorporate the tips and tricks into your life, one bite at the time.

Enjoy

Food holds much more significance than just energy or calories. It is a way to connect, celebrate, discover, relax, nourish and enjoy. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

I want to help you find that enjoyment of preparing food and eating the right foods that make you feel good. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

I am a firm believer of positive nutrition, the principle of adding in instead of crowding out. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Once you found this perfect combination of foods that actually work for your body, there is no need to restrict yourself.

Love

Throughout the program, we will explore your relationship to food.

Together we’ll identify any limiting beliefs that keep you from realizing your goals. We will dive into your thoughts, influences and emotions around food in order to create change.

My aim for you is to have a healthy and guilt-free relationship with food, in which you permit yourself to enjoy in moderation and lead a lifestyle that makes you feel fantastic. 

Allow

This last step of the Naela Method is all about acceptance, balance and allowance. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

If you make conscious choices about what you consume 80% of the time, then it is perfectly fine to enjoy a little for the remaining 20% of the time – that is the mantra that my clients and me live by. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Nobody is perfect and if you really want to create a sustainable lifestyle, eating and living perfectly healthy 100% of the time simply won’t be possible. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

I will teach you to intuitively listen to your body and it’s needs as our bodies are true supercomputers, smarter than any machine out there and capable of so much. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

This program is all about allowing some positivity into your diet, which will automatically cut out any unnecessary cravings, kilo’s, thoughts or behavioural patterns.

This one’s a winner! It’s super simple, delicious and the perfect soup to strengthen your immune system, pick you up and provide you with some comfortable warmth on cold and rainy days. 

The soup is anti-inflammatory and immune boosting, containing seasonal veggies which your body will favour right now and is easily made. I like making bigger batches of this one so that I can treat myself to a comforting leftover lunch the next day.

Ingredients:

What you’ll need for 2: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

• 1 big sweet potato, cut in 4 and sliced⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 2 carrots⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 2 organic chicken fillets (optional to use veggie chicken)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 1/3 cup of quinoa, rinsed⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• thumbsized piece of ginger, thinly sliced ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• juice of 1/2 lemon⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 2 tbsp. tamari or soy sauce⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 2 handfuls of cilantro, coarsely chopped⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• salt & pepper⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

optional but very nice to have: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

• 1 jar of organic chicken broth (for extra minerals and iron) 👌⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Method:

Bring chicken, quinoa, garlic, ginger, and 5 cups water (or 4 cups of water and 1 jar of chicken broth) to a boil in a large saucepan. Add a big pinch of salt. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered and stirring occasionally, until your quinoa is done and the chicken is firm, 10–12 minutes.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Add sweet potatoes to the pan and cook over medium-low heat, still uncovered and stirring occasionally, until soup is thickened and potatoes and rice are tender, 15–20 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to a bowl and shred with 2 forks, then return to the pot. Stir in lemon juice and soy sauce; taste soup and season with salt if needed.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Divide soup among bowls. Top with cilantro and lots of black pepper.⠀

Enjoy!

I’m a huge fan of the hawaiian inspired Poke Bowls!  They can make a great base for lunch and dinner and contain lots ‘n lots of veggies, healthy fats and lean protein.

You can choose to opt for vegan options with tofu or tempeh, vegtarian bowls with hard boiled eggs or the fish based option displayed further on below with either salmon, crayfish or tuna.

I’m showing you how to make two of my favourite Poke Bowls here.

Since we’re all about veggies, let’s start off with a beautiful Vegan Protein Packed Poke Bowl!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pack of tempeh
• 1 handful of tauge
• 1 handful of fresh spinach
• 1 carrot, cut into thin stalks
• 1/4 cucumber, cut into thin stalks
• 50g of cooked buckwheat noodles OR kelp noodles
• 1/2 avocado
• 1 handful edamame beans⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 1 tbsp kimchi
• sesame seeds for seasoning
• mint & cilantro for seasoning (optional)

Tempeh Marinade:

• 1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp sriracha sauce
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Start with heating your oven to 200 degrees celsius. Make the marinade combining all ingredients in a deep plate, cut the tempeh into chunky stalks and put the stalks in the marinate for approx. 15 minutes.

Meanwhile cook your noodles according to the description on the package and move along to cutting and preparing all vegetables.

Once the oven is preheated, layer a baking tray with parchment sheet and put the tempeh stalks on the tray. Bake the tempeh for 10 minutes.

Continue with layering out all vegetables in a deep bowl. Once done, add the tempeh to your bowl and sprinkle with some sesame seeds, mint and cilantro.

I like to eat this bowl with a splash of lemon, tamari and good quality olive oil. Enjoy!

Moving on to the pescetarian option: Here’s my take on a simple, low carb and veggie-loaded poke bowl including salmon and crayfish.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

You’ll need: ⠀

• 1 organic wild salmon fillet⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 1 handful crayfish (optional)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 1/2 broccoli, steamed⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 1 handful edamame beans⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 1 carrot, sliced⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 1 handful cherry tomatoes, halved⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 1/4 cucumber, sliced⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 1/2 avocado⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 2 handfuls of spinach⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• some sprouts for toppings⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 3 tbsp olive oil ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 2 tbsp tamari ⠀⠀
• 1/2 lemon⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• Pepper & Salt to season ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Method

Start with marinating your salmon in 1 EL tamari and 1 EL olive oil. Set aside for approx. 20 minutes. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Meanwhile, steam the broccoli until tender but still crispy and cut the cherry tomatoes in half, slice the carrot and avocado. 

Start layering the veggies into a deep plate or bowl, starting with the spinach and then adding the broccoli, edamame, tomatoes, carrots and avocado. Add the marinated salmon and sprinkle with a dressing of 2 tbsps olive oil, 1 tbsp tamari, the juice of half a lemon, pepper & salt. Top off with some sprouts. Et voila, enjoy!

Smoothies are a fantastic way to get some extra portions of fruit and vegetables into your diet. They are a great way to start your day or serve as a nutritious and delicious snack in between.

Have you tried this power smoothie already? This one is a keeper because it contains all three essential macronutrients.

You’ll need: ⠀⠀⠀⠀

• 1 ripe banana⠀
• 75g fresh raspberries ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 1 handful fresh spinach⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 100g frozen wild blueberries ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 2 dates⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 50g cooked white beans⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 200ml almond milk⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 1/2 lemon juice⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
• 1 tbsp olive oil⠀⠀

The sweet taste of the berries, banana and dates overpowers the beans, oil and spinach, making this one a real treat!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
In case this post leaves you wondering – What the heck are macronutrients and why do I need them? – then I might just have something in store for you: I’m creating an online course which will open it’s doors in January 2021. The course will help you create a solid foundation in healthy nutrition and will really help you understand what food can do for you. It is packed with practical tips & tricks and lots of handy lists and recipes to use in your everyday life. Send me a DM if you’re interested in more info and enjoy the smoothie!:)

Factcheck: Did you know that 95% (!!) of the people who go on a strict diet gain all those lost kilos and even more once they go off the diet? 

Yes you read that correctly! Diets, fasts and all sorts of quick fixes don’t work in the long run unfortunately and that is why I want to encourage you to look for long lasting solutions to change your lifestyle for good. I’m here to help you turn things around so that you don’t feel like you need to constantly restrict yourself. 

I invite you to clean up your attitude towards food, towards your body, towards health. Its not a quick fix, not something that happens overnight, not something that a powder can do for you but consistent work. It’s about educating yourself, stepping up for yourself and doing the work each and every single day.

My blog is here to support you with all the knowledge, motivation and inspiration you need in order to create a healthy balance for yourself that feels great!

Things that cleaning up your lifestyle center around: 

• Clean Up your Drinks: There is a lot of confusion and misconception when it comes to healthy drinks.

Coffee & Tea: Coffee is widely discussed and truth be told – it offers great benefits but also has its downsides. Nutritional science is not 100% pro or con coffee yet. While it can be a fantastic energizer and does contain some beneficial antioxidants, it can also cause anxiety, disrupt sleep and is often paired with unhealthy sugars, syrups or milk. Like with many things in nutrition, moderation seems to be key here. Try and keep it to a max of no more than 3 cups of coffee a day and even better: switch it up a little with some green or white tea or a cup of matcha. For everybody wondering what the heck matcha is and what kind of benefits green and white tea have to offer – I’ve written an article explaining why these teas are actually great for us and how to use and drink them.

Smoothies & Juices: Smoothies are a great way of loading up on many many different veggies and fruit. In fact, smoothies are a better choice than juices when it comes to getting in as many nutrients as possible. And that is because all the goodies, the fibre, vitamins and other nutrients will be more available in a smoothie than a juice which often ends up being sugary water rather than the healthy quick fix we often hope for. So save your money on expensive juices, get a good blender and stock up your fruit & veggie drawer!

• Clean Up Your Diet:

Try and focus on wholefoods, which are not processed, do not come with an ingredient list and cook from scratch. Like that you remain in control over what enters your body. Ideally we want to opt for a plate that consists of 60% coloful veggies, 20% lean protein, 10% healthy fats and 10%  complex carbodhydrates. In case this leaves you wondering – What the heck are healthy fats and complex carbohydrates and why do I need them? – then I might just have something in store for you: I’ve created an online course in which I help you create a solid foundation in healthy nutrition and understand what food can do for you. It is packed with practical tips & tricks and lots of handy lists and recipes to use in your everyday life. Find more information about the course, prices and modules here.

• Clean Up your Pantry, Storage:

A well stocked storage cabinet can be of tremenduous help when wanted to eat healthy on a small budget and without spending too much time in the kitchen.  I listed a bunch of products that I always have at hand in this post. They come in especially handy for creating a quick, delicious and nurturing lunch that will keep you full until dinner. With these staples at hand, whipping up a lunch bowl will take no longer than 5 minutes, you see, preparation is key.

Products that run a long ingredient list or contain things like hydrogenated fats or high fructose corn syrup should end up in the trash straight away. Also, if you’re busy changing your lifestyle for the better, don’t set yourself up for failure by keeping bags of chips, cookies and chocolate in your storage. Clear out your storage regularly and make sure to stock up on the good stuff.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

• Shopping Tips: Stay tuned to find out about my top three supermarket hacks and watch outs

• Easy Prepping Tips: About spending your time in the kitchen a little more efficiently – More info will follow soon

• Food Swaps: What you really should be munching and snacking on instead.. stay tuned!

• Supplements: Some general rules and watch outs when buying vitamins, minerals and other supplements, more about this soon

We all know the feeling – sweet cravings that can sometimes become so present that we can’t think about anything else.

 A recipe that I give to every sweet tooth are my Chocolate Bliss Balls. 

Bliss Balls are a healthy and filling snack in between. They satisfy the sweet appetite, are a good source of fats from the nuts and proteins and from the chia seeds. They are made quickly and what’s more is you can make them in batches and even keep them in the fridge for weeks.

What do you need:

– A food processor or mixer

– A freezer

 Preparation time: approx. 10 minutes

Ingredients for 12 balls:

• 200g dates
• 50g chia seeds
• 50g hemp seed
• 100g almonds
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon of almond butter
• 1 tablespoon of coconut oil

Put the nuts in a mixer and chop them small. Add the dates, chia seed, hemp seed and coconut oil and mix well, then add the almond butter and cocoa and mix for about 2 minutes until a thick mass forms. If necessary, you can add a little more water to the mixture.

Roll the dough into small balls, the balls can be the size of a golf ball.

Optionally you can roll some balls through cocoa powder, others through grated coconut or thinly chopped nuts, for example.

Buddha bowls are everywhere and for a good reason! They are healthy, nourishing, delicious and usually satisfy your hunger for quite some time compared to rather skinny salads.
Here’s a wintery take with some nice and grounding root vegetables, plant based proteins and good fats.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 small quarter of a hokkaido squash
• 1/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 cooked beetroot
• 1 big handful of mushrooms (I use oyster mushrooms & porcini)
• 1/4 cucumber
• 1 big carrot
• 1 small can of chickpeas
• 1 small head of romaine lettuce
• olive oil
• chilli powder

Optional, but very nice:

• 1/2 avocado
• 1 tbsp sauerkraut

Dressing:

• 2 tbsps extra virgen olive oil
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• pepper & salt to season

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degress celsius and line a baking try with parchment sheet. Cut your pumpkin into chunky slices, place them on the baking try and sprinkle with olive oil, pepper and salt. Rinse the can of chickpeas thoroughly and add them to the baking tray as well, along with some olive oil, pepper, salt and chili powder. Once the oven is preheated, bake the pumpkin and chickpeas for approx. 20 minutes, checking up on them regularly.

Meanwhile, rinse and cook the quinoa according to the description on the package. Slice the beetroot into thin sticks and using a spiralizer, create beautiful long, spaghetti like spirals from the carrot and cucumber. Don’t worry if you don’t have a spiralizer at home, you can also use a knife and cut the veggies into thin stripes.

Start layering your salad leaves on a deep bowl, add the veggies and quinoa. Once done, also layer the pumpkin and chickpeas on top.

Mix your dressing made from olive oil, apple cider vinegar and lemon and generously sprinkle it over your bowl.

Enjoy!

Tip: Once you’re at it anyway: why not make a bigger batch of oven roasted pumpkin and chickpeas which you can reuse in other meals? This will save you lots of time later on and create a filling and nourishing base to work with.

Do you often find yourself lacking the time and inspiration to make a healthy and tasty breakfast?

Then I’ve got the perfect breakfast idea for you! An easy, super tasty and nutritious Chia Pudding that is literally made within 2 minutes.

The ancient saying: Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper really does the trick with many clients that I speak with. And here’s why:

Our metabolism is at its strongest in the mornings, this is when we’re able to burn all those carbs and when our body is in need of a lot of energy to get us through the day.

This chia pudding contains healthy fats, protein and the good kind of carbs to staiblize your blood sugars and set the stage for a productive and energetic day. What’s more is this dish will definitely keep you full until lunch. Dig in!

Prepping

You might have heard this before: Prepping is key for eating healthily. But when I say prepping I don’t necessarily mean spending hours and hours of your valuable time in the kitchen.

This overnight chia pudding is a great example: On the night before all you need to do is mix the chia seeds with some plantbased milk and a dollop of yogurt. That’s it! Leave this to sit in the fridge overnight and the next morning you just simply top it off with berries, seeds and just maybe a bit of nutbutter.

Now what I love about this recipe is that you can easily prepare nice and big batches of this, leaving you readily prepped breakfast for 2-3 days in a row.

Chia

Chia seeds have countless health benefits:

• They have a Massive Amount of Nutrients With Very Few Calories
• They Are Loaded With Antioxidants.
• Almost All the Carbs in Them Are Fiber, which is Great for our Gut and for Stable Energy & Feeling Satisfied
• Chia Seeds Are High in Quality Protein
• The High Fiber and Protein Content in Chia Seeds May Help You Lose Weight
• Chia Seeds Are High in Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Believe Me – Those are the Good Kind of Fats!

Need I say more? Didn’t think so. Let’s get right into it.

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsps chia seed
• 250 ml coconut milk
• bit of vanilla
• 1 handful of shredded coconut
• 2 tbsps coconut yoghurt
• 1 handful berries (raspberries, blackberries or blueberries) or mango
• 1 dollop of almond butter (optional)

Method:

On the night before: Mix the chia and coconut milk (this should be actual drinking milk, not the one to cook with) and add the vanilla, put it in the fridge and let it soak over night.

In the morning get your bowl out of the fridge and add the yogurt. Top your pudding off with fruit, shredded coconut and optionally a dollop of nut butter.

Enjoy!

This recipe is part of the countless recipes you get in my online course. Read more about it here.