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My Week in Food: Niki Rein
After growing up on American 'frankenfoods' in the 80s, where opening a package was the sound of nearly every meal, using food as medicine to help heal the hormonal disruption became a passion of mine.
I spent so many years feeling frustrated and victimised by severe symptoms of PCOS and other hormonal issues but then finally came to realise that these 'problems' brought me to my passion of wellness. I am grateful for what I have learned along the way and the many, many different eating styles..from low fat with high fibre in my teens, vegan with a lot of booze in my early twenties, cleanse after cleanse, a vegetarian diet that made me feel virtuous but look like a blimp, to paleo and now, finally, feeling my best on a nutritional ketosis diet, blended with paleo.
My daily macronutrient consumption is about 75% fat (saturated and unsaturated) and the rest protein and carbohydrates. I eat a very clean and simple diet but I don't eat all that frequently in the day because fat is so satiating keeping my insulin levels stable. Now, after over six years of being paleo and over a year of staying mostly in ketosis , my hormones are more balanced than ever (I now have my regular periods without any help for the first time in my LIFE!).
I lead a very busy, active life so grab food when I can, and while I’m a bold believer that calories don’t matter when you’re eating the right foods, I generally go over 2000 a day. Grassfed and pasture-raised animals are also a hugely important factor for me in terms of eating meat. Here’s a look at My Week in Food...
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Monday
Breakfast: Smart coffee- organic fairtrade coffee, blended with grass-fed butter and coconut oil. I love starting my day with a 'fat bomb'. This breakfast beverage was made popular by Dave Asprey from the Bulletproof Executive, and it’s my go-to for switching my brain on and giving me an energy hit. The high fat content in the butter and coconut oil stabilises my blood sugar through until about 2pm or 3pm when I have my next meal. The fact that I am not hungry until then works very well for my busy schedule.
Lunch: I wasn't hungry until 2:30pm so grabbed a handful of raw cashews and a Radiance green juice from the studio.
Dinner: Homemade raw kale salad with tahini and lemon dressing and baked red snapper. I love to cook easy and simple foods. One of my de-stressors after a long day is chopping veg, so big salads are often on the menu at home.
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Tuesday
Breakfast: My other 'fat bomb' breakfast of choice is what I like to call fat porridge. This is coconut oil and almond butter stirred together with some cinnamon and sprinkled with a small handful of cashews. It sounds gross and doesn't look great but I think it’s delicious and also keeps me going through my busy day of teaching and meetings.
Lunch: Pama Crackers (raw sauerkraut and seeds) with a green juice from Joe & the Juice.
Dinner: Homemade turbot with tapenade butter and sautéed spiced kale. I recently moved to Chiswick and found an amazing fishmonger so stocked my freezer up on amazing line-caught local fish. This was my first go with turbot; both my husband I loved it!
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Wednesday
Breakfast: Beef bone broth . I feel so good when I have this first thing in the morning. I swear you can feel its healing powers. It's great for re-mineralising the body, repairing the gut as well as improving the quality if your skin, hair and nails, due to its high collagen content. I try to have this 3-4 times a week (this week I lagged!).
Lunch: I worked from home today so I sipped on a lot of herbal teas and then made a quickly thrown together mackerel salad. Just fish with leaves, avocado (of course!), pine nuts and avocado oil and lemon dressing, with a dollop of tapenade.
Post lunch I had a glass of almond milk (Rude Health's Ultimate Almond Milk is the best tasting sugar-free option.)
Dinner: I took a break from my home office to do a barrecore class and came home quite late, so had an antipasti plate. I then had a bath and a cup of lemon ginger tea to wind down before falling asleep early.
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Thursday
Breakfast: A smart coffee and a spoonful of cashew butter. I love nut butter so will eat it by spoonful just because it tastes good!
Brunch: Had brunch with a friend - black americano and smoked salmon and avocado.
Dinner: I was at home with my husband so made a bigger dinner this evening. Baked kale chips, sweet potatoes fries and Piri Piri chicken (Daylesford spices are always just right). We also opened a bottle of South African red wine.
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Friday
Breakfast: Smart coffee.
Lunch: I was on the run so had a Kale and Chicken Cesar Salad from Leon, this is great grab and go ‘go-to’ option for me.
Dinner: I quickly steamed some cod and threw a salad together with olives and everything else I had in the fridge while I sipped a mug of bone broth. I had some more dark chocolate and mint and fennel tea for dessert.
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Saturday
Breakfast: Fat porridge before I was off to the airport for a trip to see my family and friends in LA and Seattle!
Lunch: Ate a Pret salad on the flight - crayfish with leaves, avocado and a bag of their kale crisps was perfect. I never eat plane food but did have a glass of red wine and some dark chocolate from Montezuma to celebrate the beginning of my short holiday.
Dinner: A meal with friends in LA at an organic and locally sourced eatery called M Street. I had an amazing mussel soup and portion of cabbage with a side of California guacamole...seriously good. We also had sangria. Dinner with long time friends makes the happiest meals.
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Sunday
Breakfast: I woke up with terrible jetlag so went for a run and then had a coffee at a nearby coffee shop followed by some of my favourite crunchy California almonds.
Lunch: I went for a luxurious lunch with friends where the staff prepared carpaccio in front of us. I also had a fillet mignon with herbed butter and a side of steamed spinach, along with a couple glasses of big California Cabernet Sauvignon.
Dinner: Was at a friends house where the guys barbecued whole chickens over a can of cider beer which added a ton of flavour. We had salad and spiced broccoli on the side. I was lucky that this whole group was gluten and grain free.
To experience a barrecore class, either in studio or online, purchase our Recharge & Reset Box for just £24.95 inc. P&P (worth a whopping £65)