Coach Lisa’s Valentine’s Day Dinner-For-One

My ideal Friday night is coming home from work, turning on some music, pouring myself a glass of red wine, and cooking dinner… for myself.

Don’t get me wrong, I love enjoying meals with my friends and significant other, but I also find a lot of satisfaction in cooking and eating alone. Here’s why: Firstly, you get to cook and eat whatever you want. This allows you to tap into your intuitive eating skills and search for the recipe that makes your heart sing and your body happy. Secondly, it gives me the opportunity to practice mindful eating and allows me to truly taste and experience my food without distractions.

Intuitive and mindful eating have been shown to help with weight loss, as well as improving the satisfaction and pleasure we get from any eating experience. Whether you eat alone or not, it’s important to eat mindfully and enjoy each bite of food, especially on a day all about love: Valentine’s Day.

Three-course 8fit meal for Valentine’s Day

Three-course meals aren’t usually found in the 8fit app, but it’s a special occasion. On a normal day, we suggest that you focus on mindfully eating four, 1-course meals. This is because studies show that when people eat less than four meals per day, they tend to eat fewer vegetables during the day and consume too many calories in the evening. All that said, there is no need to worry about this meal putting you far over your recommended caloric intake for the day. Allow yourself this three-course indulgence and show yourself some love this Valentine’s Day.

To get your personalized portions, input your main dish in for dinner and dessert in for snack. This will add the necessary ingredients to your shopping list. When it comes to the salad, use the all greens, additions and dressing you like. You can also add these to your main dish as they’ll give you an extra nutritional boost and barely have any caloric count.

Course 1: Fresh salad

Create your own adventure with this first course. Choose your base, select 2-3 additions and then season your salad with a simple dressing made from the seasonings below. Here are some ideas:

• Base: Lettuce mix, arugula, spinach, kale

• Additions: Tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, brussels sprouts, broccoli

• Seasonings: Lime juice, lemon juice, vinegar

• Herbs and spices: Salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili flakes, or your choice

Course 2: Main dish

Like I said above, your main dish should always make your heart — and taste buds — sing. Choose from one of these 8fit main courses:

1. Oven Potato with Homemade Baked Beans (vegetarian)

2. Lamb Tajine with Cauliflower Couscous

3. Brazilian Fish Stew

4. Pork with Hearty Vegetables (gluten-free)

Course 3: Dessert

Hurray, dessert has arrived.Treat yourself to a delicious, nutritious dessert. You can find each of these recipes in the 8fit app. Plug the recipe in as your snack for the day to get the proper ingredient requirements. Here are your choices:

1. Chocolate, Banana, and Peanut Butter Ice Cream

   (vegan)

2. Goat Cheese Stuffed Fig

3. Hazelnut Mousse

Before you start cooking set the scene and create an environment that makes you happy. Play some nice music, light some candles and set the table with your best cutlery and tableware. Or, if your home is too chaotic or noisy, cook this meal and take it somewhere else like your backyard, balcony or a park.

Bon appétit!