The delicious way to drop TWO dress sizes
Eating outdoors is one of the great joys of summer and many seasonal delicacies are perfect for healthy al fresco meals. Even better, the fresh vegetables and salads, berries, wholegrains, lean meats and seafood we love to serve at summer picnics or buffets are also great for our waistlines.
that’s why today, as we continue our exclusive WW series to help you shed a stone by autumn, we’re focusing on tempting recipes for outdoor eating. these will enable you to savour the best summer produce while shedding unwanted corona pounds. if you stick to the WW way of eating, you could lose up to 2lb a week, which could see you dropping two dress sizes in just two months.
‘the flexibility of WW’s myWW programme means you can enjoy celebrations, or long summer lunches with friends without sabotaging your weight-loss plan,’ says Julia Westgarth, head of programme at WW, formerly known as Weight Watchers.
Because no food is forbidden, you can choose how to spend your daily SmartPoints Budget — and you can also use your weekly rollover points if a big occasion is on the horizon.
Tailored to your lifestyle
WE all have different tastes and lifestyles which is why myWW offers you the choice of three colour plans — green, Blue and Purple — which reflect the kind of foods you enjoy. if you stay within your SmartPoints allowance, you’ll lose the same amount of weight on all of them.
Fruit and vegetables are ZeroPoint on all colours — meaning you can tuck into strawberries, raspberries or peaches and serve yourself generously with asparagus, garden peas and Mediterranean-style vegetables without weighing or tracking them.
However, the dressings you might be tempted to add are almost certainly not ZeroPoint rated, so make sure you include these when totting up your daily Budget. Or look for ways to make your own using healthier ingredients, such as 0% fat fromage frais or reduced-fat soured cream.
You could play it safe by taking your own reduced-fat mayonnaise or salad dressing to a picnic — or take a healthy WW dish to share.
You’ll find many inspiring suggestions here — from the light and tangy greek Salad Skewers (only 2
SmartPoints on all plans) to Prawn Summer Rolls with dipping sauce (also 2 SmartPoints on all plans. And you’re bound to impress your lunch guests if you produce a bowl of Mojito Granita (4 SmartPoints on all plans) for dessert.
All of our suggestions are simple and straightforward to prepare — the luscious Strawberry Cheesecake Sundaes only take five minutes to rustle up, for instance. After all, who wants to toil over a hot kitchen stove when the weather’s glorious outside?
But it’s also wise to avoid getting carried away by a large and tantalising spread which can tempt you to try ‘just a bit’ of everything.
‘It’s all too easy to nibble constantly at a picnic that’s sitting in front of you or to keep nipping back to the buffet,’ warns Julia Westgarth.
‘But if you sit a little distance away from the food you’ll have to make an effort to go back for more. This will also give you a moment to ask yourself if that’s really what you want to do.’
And since you’re heading outdoors, try walking or cycling to the picnic — and pack a frisbee or a bat and tennis ball for a game of rounders afterwards.