Who doesn’t love a juicy cheeseburger or a stack of American-style pancakes brimming with syrup?
But these take-away foods – tacos, pizza, pasta, and so on – have been demonized by the fitness industry, and experts blame them for the country’s obesity epidemic.
However, in a revolutionary new book, one of the UK’s most popular and glamorous fitness trainers turns that idea on its head. Courtney Black – known as the Home Workout Queen for keeping so many fit with her high-intensity workouts during lockdown – says you can do yourself something good; that all of the above foods can even be good for you (whisper it), and depriving yourself of the things you enjoy is the quickest route to fitness failure.
Courtney is only 1.70 m tall, but her influence skyrocketed with the launch of her app on March 11, 2020 (time!) With the mantra “What doesn’t challenge you doesn’t change you”. Their belief is that if you grapple with take-away recipes, you will find balanced meals – it is often the way they are prepared and the quality of the ingredients that make them unhealthy. So she sets out to prove that by recreating classic takeaways in her kitchen, she can make them better for us, with fewer calories and without the ultra-processed junk.
Courtney Black (pictured), one of the UK’s most popular fitness trainers, gave advice on how to prepare favorite dishes at home with fewer calories and without the ultra-processed junk
Courtney’s “fakeaways,” as she calls them, are impressive. Their Five Girls Burger, for example, has 495 calories (28.6 g of carbs) compared to the 968 calories (40 g of carbs) of a regular double cheeseburger, and more protein – 63.5 g compared to 52 g.
Here, Courtney shares her favorite recipes and explains why you have your (fake) cake and can eat it. . .
FIRST, BANISH ALL THE UNHELPED “BAD FOOD” MYTHS
Not so long ago food was my sworn enemy. As a teenager with an ambition to become a professional dancer, I grew up obsessed with dieting and comparing myself with others. Even when I gave up my dance ambitions to work for a London accounting firm, my body image was still distorted.
It wasn’t until I started studying nutrition and fitness training that I realized that food is neither “good” nor “bad” and that you don’t need dietary restrictions to live a happy life.
The fact is that our bodies cannot function without energy. Whether walking to shopping, doing sports, writing a presentation or breathing, everything costs energy, which is why it is so important that we eat enough to strengthen ourselves.
Trendy diets are not only bad for your social life, they are bad for sleep and mood. Too little or too much food can affect our sleep. It is a doom-loop. When we sleep poorly, our body has little energy and we replace it with calories, which is why we overeat more often when we are tired.
The word “hangry” (irritable from hunger) comes from a place of truth – we cannot focus or perform well if we do not eat enough. We don’t allow ourselves to be as happy as we can be. I suffered for years from being rude and distant to so many people, but it was because of my malnutrition.
Here are some other myths that it is high time we dispelled. . .
Courtney (pictured) said that eating after a certain amount of time means you are more likely to gain weight is one of the biggest diet myths
MYTH ONE: EATING LATE AT NIGHT WILL GET UP THE POUND
One of the biggest nutritional myths is that after a certain amount of time, when you eat, you are more likely to gain weight. A 490-calorie meal at 5 p.m. is still the same 490-calorie meal at 8 p.m., 9 p.m., or later. What makes you gain weight is when you have consumed 2,000 calories and then add an additional 490 calories at 9 p.m. when you have already burned 2,000 calories and are unlikely to burn any more before bed.
But having a fakeaway late is fine! We have to give up the idea that after a certain period of time we cannot eat anymore as this creates an obsessive fear that prevents many women from enjoying food.
FAKEAWAY BURGER VS TAKEAWAY BURGER: THE STATS
Fakeaway Five Girls Burger:
Carbohydrates 28.6 g
Calories 495
Fat 40.1g
Protein 63.5g
Double CheeseBurger to take away:
Carbohydrates 40g
Calories 968
Fat 69g
Protein 52g
MYTH TWO: AN UNHEALTHY MEAL CLEANS YOUR GOALS
This is a big topic for a lot of my followers – and once you stop telling yourself this, it will change the way you think. Reaching weight goals is not about avoiding high-calorie foods at every meal or snack. If we allow ourselves to enjoy a takeaway burger or brownie, it doesn’t mean we “failed” that day.
Yes, we may have consumed more calories than we wanted in one session, but it’s only one meal. Instead of saying, “I ate one unhealthy thing so I may consume all the other unhealthy things in the house for ruining my meal plans for the day,” take a second to remind yourself that you can it doesn’t follow the other. Balance your healthy choices with your unhealthy ones and you will be poised for long-term success.
Myth three: lose weight faster with fasting
Many people talk about not eating before noon or following an extremely low-calorie diet to speed weight loss.
There is nothing wrong with fasting if done responsibly, and there is nothing wrong with eating at certain times – but neither will make you lose weight any faster. It’s about how many calories you burned and how many you burned.
And that applies regardless of whether you skipped breakfast or not.
MYTH FOUR: CUT CALORIES DOWN TO THE BONE IS BEST
You don’t have to cut your calorie intake to insane minimums to lose weight. It is unhealthy and unlikely that you will complete an exercise routine with such a small amount of food. You won’t lose weight any faster either if you eat meal replacement bars.
There are no quick fixes and it is more likely that when you get back to normal, you will pile it up again. Moderation – and indulgence – are key, not self-sacrifice or punishment.
SPICY DRUNK NOODLES
Pictured: Spicy drunken noodles
FOR 2
- 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- Juice of 1 lime
- 100g dried egg noodles
- 1 tbsp olive oil with garlic
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced
- 1 carrot, peeled and cut into wide matches
- 1 red chilli, finely chopped
- 250g chicken breast mini fillets
- 50g bean sprouts
- 200g pak choi, roots removed and leaves sliced
- 3 spring onions, finely chopped
- ½ bunch of fresh coriander leaves, torn off
1. For the sauce, put ketchup, oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice and 1 tbsp water in a bowl and stir. Put aside.
2. Cook the pasta in a saucepan with boiling water according to the package instructions, drain and set aside.
3. Pour the oil into a large non-stick pan (or wok) over high heat and add the onion, red pepper, carrot, and red chilli. Fry for 3 minutes until tender.
4. Add the chicken and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes until the chicken is almost cooked. Add the bean sprouts, pak choi and noodles to the pan and fry for 2 minutes.
5. Pour the sauce over it and reduce the heat a little. This will stop the ingredients from frying and allow the sauce to coat everything. Mix well.
6. Serve with spring onions and fresh coriander leaves.
COURTNEY’S FAMOUS FLUFFY PROTEIN PANCAKES
Pictured: Courtney’s Famously Fluffy Protein Pancakes, served with honey
SERVED 1
- 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder
- 1 banana
- 1 free range egg
- 20g of oats
- ½ tbsp baking powder
- Splash of milk (almond or oat)
- Low calorie cooking spray
TO SERVE
- 50g blueberries
- 1 teaspoon honey
1. Mix all ingredients (except cooking spray and serving ingredients) in a food processor. The mixture should be fairly thick and not runny.
2. Heat your pan over medium heat so the pancakes cook more slowly and don’t burn.
3. Spray your pan with the cooking spray.
4. Add a spoon or ladle of the mixture to the pan. The mixture should make about six pancakes. So pour in slowly and see how big they need to be.
5. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side. Serve with blueberries and honey.
Pictured: Five Girls Burger
FIVE GIRLS BURGERS
FOR 2
- 400g extra lean ground beef
- 1 ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon mustard powder
- ½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- Low calorie cooking spray
- 2 reduced fat bacon medallions
- 2 sesame burger buns, sliced
- 2 reduced-fat cheese slices
- Sauce of your choice
TO SERVE
- 1 small gemstone salad
- sea-salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
The famous fast food joint burger is delicious, but if you want a much healthier version to make at home, it’s here.
1. Put the ground beef, garlic powder, mustard and Worcestershire sauce, along with a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper, in a mixing bowl and mix with your hands.
2. Divide the mixture into four equal portions and shape them into balls. Place each ball between two non-stick parchment paper and press on with the palm of your hand and shape into thin meatballs, about the size of your burger buns.
3. Preheat the grill to high.
4. Lightly oil a frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and fry the bacon medallions until crispy. Remove and set aside.
5. Put the burger patties in the pan and fry over high heat. Let sit for 2-3 minutes before turning.
6. In a second pan, carefully toast the sliced rolls until golden brown.
7. Once your burgers are ready, place two of the patties on a baking sheet (these will be your top patties) and place a piece of bacon and a slice of cheese on top of each. Grill for about a minute until the cheese melts.
8. Place the sauce of your choice on the bottom of the buns, top a simple patty, and then the bacon and cheeseburger, along with some lettuce leaves.
CUSTOMIZED by Alison Roberts of Fit Foods And Fakeaways: 100 Healthy And Delicious Recipes, by Courtney Black (£ 14.99, Harper Thorsons), out September 16. © Courtney Black 2021. Order a copy for £ 13.49 (offer expires September 6th). 2021. UK P&P free on orders over £ 20) visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193.
