Buckwheat with Leeks and Brussels Sprouts and Weightlossophy tip #4: Eat before You Get Hungry

Buckwheat is a healthy and delicious side dish for meat, poultry, fish or veggies. Plus one more weight loss tip that you’ll love!

Yesterday I published the first 3 guiding principles that helped me lose 55 pounds over 7 months. Here is the fourth tip from my Weightlossophy, followed by the buckwheat recipe.

Eat Before You Get Hungry

  This sounds really cool, does not it? For me it was a crucial component. 

  Most of the weight loss books tell you to eat only when you are hungry and to stop eating before you get full. It takes the digestive system 15-20 minutes to send the “I’m full” signal to the brain, so if stop eating when you feel full it means that for the last 15-20 minutes you’ve been overeating.  

  Exactly because of this delay “I’m full” signal, I find this nutritionists’ advice absolutely useless. I primarily eat not because I’m hungry, but because I love eating, one of my most favorite activities in the world.  So it is hard for me to stop eating even when I’m exploding. But to stop eating when I am hungry?! No way! When I’m hungry I just eat anything available, and since it usually takes some time to prepare the healthier option, I often end up eating something less healthy as long as it’s ready. I also eat fast, and portion control is practically impossible. 

  So I decided to eat before I get hungry. This way I have a better control over what I eat. I can eat slowly and enjoy the food more. And since I feel full to begin with, it’ not as difficult to stop eating. The best thing for me is to niggle regularly on fruits, vegetables, nuts and berries between the main meals and to have very small portions during the meals. As long as I keep count of my snacks, I am not in danger of overeating this way. And I always  know that the next snack is coming up very soon, so I don’t feel deprived.  

  One more benefit of eating small amounts continuously: your digestive system gets a more regular supply of food, so it’s also a good way to prevent insulin spikes and waves of tiredness after large meals.

And here is the small meal of the day (the third day of my spring detox)

Buckwheat with Leeks and Brussels Sprouts

Source 

Improvised

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 1/4 cup buckwheat groats (160 cal)

- 1/2 cup water

- 3 oz brussels sprouts (35 cal)

- 2 oz leeks (35 cal)

- 1 oz bell pepper (10 cal)

- 2 garlic cloves (10 cal)

- 1 tsp canola oil (40 cal)

- basil leaves, salt and pepper taste

Total 190 cal, 1 serving

Instructions

1. In a small sauce pan bring the buckwheat with 1/2 cup of water to a boil, add 1 minced garlic clove and salt to taste, and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Do not overcook. You can skip garlic, I just love it and add it to everything. Buckwheat is wonderful with butter. I did not add butter today, because I am on a detox diet, but if you are not, just place some butter over the warm buckwheat, let it melt a little and mix.

2. While your buckwheat is cooking wash the vegetables. Crush the reaming garlic, chop the leeks and the pepper, and half the brussels sprouts. In a small frying pan preheat 1 tsp of canola oil. Add the garlic and the leeks. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add the brussels sprouts. If you need more liquids add a little water or chicken broth. After 5 more minutes season with chopped basil, salt and pepper, stir well and cook 2-3 more minutes. Your veggies should be ready just in time for the buckwheat.

Afterthoughts

- I eat buckwheat simply because it’s very tasty. But just for this post, I did a quick online search on the health properties of buckwheat. So here they are: buckwheat helps adjust metabolism, decreases cholesterol and blood pressure, improves blood circulation and protects against breast cancer. 

- Try to buy unprocessed buckwheat. The one you get in the supermarkets is usually precooked, and as soon as you add a little water it gets too soft and loses all texture, almost all flavor, and probably most of the nutrients. The best bet is to buy buckwheat from Eastern European stores.