Begin as you mean to go on!
67goingon50 helps get you healthy, stay healthy and age gracefully - whatever your years or income. Indulge in delicious, slimming, low-cost dishes to help you through the post-holiday blues.
I am 67, though everyone says I look, move and behave like someone years younger. Pictures (of me and my dishes) will appear in due course but in the meantime check out my Testimonials page.
Think a healthy lifestyle is the preserve of the monied? Not so. My annual income has dropped from five to four figures. I know it is possible to eat well and deliciously, and live a healthy lifestyle without breaking the bank.
We're all on a budget now and all trying to self-medicate through healthy living. 67goingon50.blogspot.com is for you.
67goingon50: Food
I worked for ten years as a chef in high-end dining rooms (hotels, the financial district) so I know what people want to eat. They don't want anything that smacks of self-denial but increasingly worry about building a foundation for good health now and in the future. The bulk of the recipes in 67 Going On 50 meet that criteria. My Turkey Chilli (see Recipes: Mains) is huge on flavour but low in cholesterol, fat and salt. As a bonus, it will feed 6-8 people for a tenner.
Most of the recipes I developed myself. Many are old family favorites; others I created out of greed; still others were inspired by celebrity chefs. All have been adapted to a healthier, less affluent lifestyle.
67goingon50 Offers
- 'Gourmet' food using inexpensive, healthy ingredients
- Pared-down cooking techniques for easier and faster preparation
- 'Double-duty dishes" (DDD's) feeding both meat-eaters and vegetarians from one basic recipe
- 'Skinny' versions of much-loved but calorific 'dirty' favorites, eg garlic bread without butter, flapjacks without butter or honey and icing without icing sugar.
- 'Blow-out' but 'skinnier' dishes for essential breaks from healthy eating
- Tips on healthy eating, diets, exercise, cot-cutting, freezers
I tested my recipes on a variety of human guinea pigs.
I was, for a time, a volunteer chef for a Lottery Funded lunch club in one of the poorest and least healthy areas of London. Many of the people in the group had health issues; a third were vegetarian; some were restricted to halal meat. The recipes had to be healthy, cheap but delicious. And from lunch club comments, I succeeded.
My office provided other willing volunteers (younger and more healthy), as did my block of flats, which houses residents of all ages but mostly 'golden oldies'.
The dishes I created surprised everyone -- but in a good way. People were thrilled that the fabulously tasty dishes cost so little and managed to be healthy, too. My less or no-sugar desserts were a revelation. But my habit of using less salt was sometimes a problem. In some recipes I have suggested minimum and maximum levels of sugar and salt.
67goingon50: A Food Blog for Tougher Times
We're all on a budget now
Living well on a budget is one of the most important things we can do in these difficult times. Nutritious, satisfying food is a necessity for physical health; exercise and a variety of interests help strengthen emotional and mental health. We all want these life essentials without spending money we don't have. 67goingon50 hopes to help you achieve this.
With my Asian background, I know low incomes are no bar to healthy, tasty substantial meals. And having been a chef at a major supermarket, I know how to work with cheaper ingredients, imperfect in appearance, that provide bags of nutrition and flavour.
Self-medication through healthy living
Against the backdrop of a struggling NHS, we are more aware than ever of the need to take personal responsibility for our health.
67goingon50 is aimed as much at the young aiming to grow older healthy, as at the middle-aged and older who want more energy or less medication.
We are fortunate, in England, to have so many older people around us.
Sadly, many seem to suffer from poor health. I wish someone had grabbed them earlier in life and said: Hey, you can have healthier, more energetic 'golden years' with a few changes!
This is what I hope to offer you.
So, if you:
- Love delicious food but not its cost or effect on your health
- Want tv-inspired dishes but find them too expensive
- Worry about your weight, cholesterol, diabetes, heart or joint problems or just general well-being
- Are over 60 and yearn for better health and/or less medication
- Are below 60 (20 upwards) but want your later years to be energetic and physically able
Note: Weekly postings on Wednesdays. Future topics include:
- healthy eating matters
- dieting matters
- exercise matters
- food budgeting matters
- storage matters
This week's recipe: (currently has a glitch in the pages which is being sorted)
The popular Tuna Fried Rice, (see Recipe: Mains) and Orange and Blueberry Platter (See Recipes: Desserts). Perfect for New Year resolutions, they are low-cost, delicious, satisfying and good for you. They are also easy to prepare.
