When I first got Joe’s book I wasn’t keen on any recipe, I flipped through the pages but couldn’t actually set my eyes on anything. It took me a while to sit down and go through it properly, reading carefully the ingredients list to sort of get the idea of what kind of recipes I’ll find in his book.
I’m terrible when it comes to dieting, I only ever once went on some kind of Dukan or South Beach diet and it never actually worked for me as I find it extremely hard to stay on a set meal plan for more than a week, I like to mix up my meals and most diets tend to stick to one scheme. When I found Joe’s Instagram profile I really liked the idea of exercising at home and eating proper, healthy food. In his book, Joe encourages you to “get rid of the sad step” which is the scale, and start eating wholesome healthy meals while exercising. I did some exercise at the end of last year and I realized that gym isn’t for me and I prefer doing my exercises at home which is what you can do when you’re following Joe’s plan.
In the first book you’ll find 7 main chapters:
Chapter 1: Lean in 15 plan
Chapter 2: Getting started
Chapter 3: Reduced-carbohydrate recipes
Chapter 4: Post-workout carbohydrate-refuel recipes
Chapter 5: Snacks and treats
Chapter 6: Burn fat and build lean muscle with HIIT
Chapter 7: Results: my lean winners
In the first bit of this book, Joe explains why it is important to eat more food and that there are no shortcuts to a lean and healthy body. All those miracle diets you see on the telly never actually work. Joe also explains the importance of fats, proteins, and carbs (yes, carbs!) in our diet and why you should listen to your body and never go hungry (I’m guilty of that!).
What I also like was the fact that you don’t need to eat/drink all this dust that will help you burn fat (I’m talking about protein shakes and meal replacements which I find disgusting!). On training days you will eat differently to rest days – on a training day you will have 2 reduced carbs meals, 1 post-workout meal, and 2 snacks (and that sounds like a lot of food to me already as I’m not eating much anyway) and on the rest day you will eat 3 reduced carbs meals and 2 snacks (whoop, whoop!!).
I usually exercise before going to work, 30 minutes of HIIT does the job and it keeps me in shape – I cooked dishes from this book 3 weeks in a row and some of them are brilliant, some are not so much but I guess this depends on your preferences.
Teriyaki Salmon With Courgette Noodles
Ingredients
- 1/2 tablespoon Coconut oil
- 1 Salmon filet; Skinless
- 2 Spring onions; Finely sliced
- Ginger
- 2 tablespoons Light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Honey
- 1/2 tablespoon Rice wine vinegar
- 4 Cherry tomatoes; Halved
- 1 large Courgette; Sliced to make noodles
- 2 teaspoons Sesame Oil
Instructions
1. Heat half the coconut oil in a frying pan over medium to high heat. When the oil is melted and hot, slide in the salmon and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned and almost cooked through.
2. Meanwhile, is together the spring onions, finer, soy sauce, honey and vinegar to make the teriyaki sauce. Pour this over into the pan with the salmon and let it bubble up, then remove the pan from the heat.
3. In another frying pan, heat the remaining coconut oil over high heat. Tumble in the tomatoes and stir fry for 1 minute. Gentle add the courgette noodles and lightly toss for 1 minute just to warm through.
4. Plate up the noodles and tomatoes, then top with the teriyaki salmon. Finish with a drizzle of sesame oil.