Beetroot and Kale Soup | Kale and Almond Crumble | Jumpstart2015

Beetroot and Kale Soup with a Kale and Almond Crumble – virtuous!

So, are you really, really fed up of healthy eating now? Have you fallen off the wagon? Or, are you still ‘being good?’

If you started a new healthy eating regime at the beginning of the year, you could be 22 days in, which is amazing, if you’ve stuck to the plan.

Happily, I’m still in the ‘being good’ category. Since the start of the new year, and with the support of some of my fellow bloggers following the #JumpStart 2015 plan, I’m ten pounds down and feeling much lighter and brighter.

Here’s the general idea:

A freshly made smoothie or juice for breakfast and lunch – I have tweaked this to include protein instead at breakfast time, with a whole piece of fruit and a handful of nuts, with the occasional smoothie when time has been tight.
Drink more water
No alcohol (this is optional) I’ve managed this bar one tiny glass of wine
Eat more soups – as per this recipe post – lots of beetroot and healthy kale!
A normal meal in the evening – I haven’t been eating carbs, gluten, wheat or sugar. I have been including white potatoes and sweet potatoes, plenty of veg and lean protein – meat and fish.

The whole plan is about health and not calorie counting. It is about increasing the quantity of fruit, vegetables and whole food that we eat.

Beet And Kale Soup

Changing bad habits

Working from home, writing, blogging, cooking and photographing food pretty much every day has meant that some very sloppy habits have begun to settle in. Constant picking, eating leftovers, gobbling up cake. An addiction to decaf syrupy lattes hasn’t helped things either. I’m tired, not simply because I am up throughout the night feeding my baby, but because I am fueling myself with completely the wrong type of food during the day whilst at home. Stay-at-home snacking, I call it. Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been trying really hard to change some of my habits.

21 days in and I am feeling dramatically different. I’m still tired because of disrupted sleep patterns, but I am sharper and more focused for most of the day! I have completely stopped snacking on bad stuff. I no longer automatically reach for the biscuit tin. I’ve swapped lattes for herbal or fruit tea. For a sweet kick, I’ve been eating a banana, or a few dates and a handful of nuts. I am drinking plenty more water. I’m eating lots of nutrient-packed soup. I’m not missing wheat or gluten, I am managing extremely well without bread or pasta and will be trying to eat brown rice and brown rice noodles from now on.

So far, so good. The weight is coming off. In the most part, it’s about re-training my body and mind to make more nutritious food choices. It is do-able.

Kale and Almond Crumble

The recipe below, made in my Froothie Optimum 9400 power blender is pretty amazing, too, even if you don’t like kale. The kale blends in and gets mixed up, so there’s hardly any flavour there at all.The natural sweetness of the beetroot provides a comforting kick.

If you don’t like beetroot, simply swap it out for another root vegetable, or try dicing some butternut squash.

The kale and almond crumble is also a very useful thing to make in batches, as it adds an extra boost of nutrients with ground almonds and fresh kale. It also adds texture to your soup, though you can sprinkle the crumble onto poached eggs at breakfast time or over your fish or lean protein for dinner, too.

I’ve also discovered that my seven-month old baby loves beetroot! He can’t get enough of it.

Kale and Almond Crumble

Kale and Almond Crumble made in the Optimum 9400

Join Us!

It’s not too late to join in with Jump Start 2015, we’ll all be carrying on beyond the end of the month and there is now a whole host of recipes for you to try, including soups, smoothies and healthy snacks. Take a look at these posts and look up the hashtag #JumpStart2015 for more inspiration. Share your experiences too in the comments box below!