A couple of weeks ago I started my latest dietary program called Metabolic Balance. I was a little apprehensive about it as I mentioned in my first post about it here.
I successfully navigated Phase One without dying. Although by the third morning I did think that was a possibility. If anyone doesn’t believe that food can affect mood, then I challenge you to just eat vegetables and ZERO fat or protein (yes I know that many vegetables contain protein, but I mean eggs, dairy, meat, legumes, nuts, seeds, etc.) See how you feel by day 3. Then have some protein.
For me, it was like night and day. Within 30 mins I was feeling brighter, my headache had receded to a manageable level and I no longer felt nauseated. By the end of that day, I was even feeling happy.
The next two weeks I settled into Phase Two – the strict conversion phase. Phase Two is where the Metabolic Balance Rules come in. There’s eight of them but they aren’t too difficult to follow most of the time.
I also had my personalised meal plan. My plan includes a lot of things I very much like, and a few that I don’t. There’s a fair amount of variety, which allows me to be creative.
One of the things I am grateful for – something I became more conscious of after starting my gratitude practice – is my ability to cook. My parents encouraged me when I was young to bake and cook. By the time I was 7, I could make a chocolate cake from my kids cookbook (Mum or Dad would put it in the oven and take it out) and by the time I was 11 or 12, I could do simple dinners. I made a god awful mess when I did it, but it’s a skill I am grateful to have. (I do make less mess now, not that the Knight thinks so!)
That skill has allowed me to be quite confident in coming up with creative ways to prepare the ingredients in my plan.
One of the meals I am particularly proud of (and have made more than once!) is a butternut pumpkin (squash if you’re American) and blackberry tart. Sounds a bit weird – but it’s super tasty! You could add a bit of maple syrup or honey if you wanted it sweeter, but I’m not allowed them, and I found it sweet enough as is. I’m sure you could substitute other berries, but I would go for sweet ones like blueberries or strawberries.
I hadn’t actually planned on this becoming a recipe post, but sometimes you get unexpected bonuses in life!
Butternut Pumpkin and Blackberry Tart
Ingredients:
- 40g nuts and/or seeds
- 2 tsp coconut oil (I omitted this in the first 2 weeks, but it’s better with it)
- cinnamon to taste
- 80g butternut pumpkin
- 100g frozen blackberries (can use fresh, but reduce cooking time)
- 1/2 tsp spice mix (I recommend my turmeric drink mix)
Method:
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
- Grind the nuts and seeds in a coffee/spice grinder. You could also use commercial nut meal if you don’t have a way to grind nuts.
- Add 1 tsp of the coconut oil and cinnamon and enough water to make a soft sticky dough.
- Line a small flan or pie dish with baking paper and press the dough into the bottom and up the sides. This is not a dough that will roll out – you’ll have to get your hands dirty.
- Bake in the oven for 8 mins. I didn’t bother with weights as the ‘pastry’ won’t rise.
- While the base is in the oven, boil the pumpkin until it can be easily mashed with a fork (if you cut it very small, this will take less time). Drain the water, but reserve some in case your pumpkin mash is too thick.
- Mash the pumpkin with the spice mix and the rest of the coconut oil, add some of the reserved liquid if required to make the mash quite runny. You don’t want soup, but it needs to be sloppy.
- Place blackberries in the tart base, spoon pumpkin mash over the top and give it a gentle squashing. Sprinkle with a little more cinnamon.
- Bake for another 10 mins.
Tip: You can pre-boil the pumpkin use it cold, just add a few minutes to the cooking time.
Serve on its own, or with a blob of cream or yogurt.
Enjoy!
