Fiji Sevens and men’s rugby coach, Ben Ryan, put it aptly this week: “Now is the time.” He was referring to the surprisingly unfitness of his team after returning to camp last week, and the dietary sacrifices the players must make if they are to stand any chance of Olympic gold at Rio. Even our top athletes sometimes forget the importance of what we put in our body and its ramifications on our health, but at the highest echelons of Olympian sportsmanship, diet is critical. The sacrifices may seem harsh right now, but in just over 40 days, the fitness of our athletes will mean the difference between Olympic Gold and just a wishful dream. With our Rugby Seven’s team, the current world rugby champions, in such top form, the chance to be recognised as Olympians — yes Olympians — in this 3000-year-old ancient sporting competition is history in the making. And a special diet is what Ben Ryan has called for to maximise team captain Osea Kolinisau and his teammates’ chance to the join ranks of sportsmen and women who have competed in the Olympic Games since ancient times.
One of the fastest ways that athletes can trim down and lose that excess body fat is to remove carbohydrates from the diet. And in the case of the Fijian athletes, this means roti, rice, noodles, chips, bread, cream buns, meat pie, custard pie, upside down cake, cassava cake, samosa, cereal, dalo, tapioca and even sweet potato. Have I left any of your favourites out? Yes, the dietary sacrifice is enormous for a rugby player, but is also a reflection of the modern Fijian diet – we eat too many carbs. Back in the day, it was normal to have a diet rich in root crop vegetables, as most of the family lived very active lives on the land and sea as they battled, farmed, fished and foraged for their food. The Fijian ancestors basically burned off more carbs than they consumed because they didn’t have all of our naughty favourite foods back then. There is a strong case to suggest that is it our excess of sugar and carbohydrates in other foods that is why society is getting fatter – and more sick. So what is it that carb-rich foods do to our bodies when we don’t burn them off?
Why carbs can make us fat
We need to eat carbohydrates as fuel and energy for our body, but what happens when we eat more than our lifestyle needs? Our body ends up storing excess carbohydrates as fat, and that this is the primary cause of weight gain and related ills. It is a primordial code in the human body that tells it to store excess fuel for leaner times. The problem is that for most of us, we live in less leaner times than our ancient ancestor with food available just about anytime. And in our modern lifestyles, we don’t have to travel mountainous terrain or cross surging rivers to catch our food; we just walk down to the shop.
Refined carbohydrates raise blood sugar, so our body produces extra insulin to bring blood sugar down. Insulin is a fat storage hormone. With more circulating insulin in our bloodstream, our body converts the carbohydrates to fat and stores them – on your buttocks, thighs, abdomen and hips. When we eat less carbs, the body first goes for carbs to burn for fuel, but after it burns the small amount of carbohydrates eaten, it then accesses and burns stored body fat, which leads to weight loss.
Secret spices that aid weight loss
In addition to eliminating most carbs from the diet to an effort to burn fat, athletes can also add some age-old herbs and spices that have properties that increase metabolism, meaning the body will work faster to burn calories. Ironically, many of these ingredients are not endemic to the native Fijian diet but learning to include them may just help our athletes to reach their target a bit faster. At the top of the list is cayenne pepper, cinnamon, black pepper, garlic, ginger, green tea, oatmeal and walnuts but there are many more that dieticians and ancient physicians claim to help with weight loss. Each ingredient influences the chemicals in our body and inhibit or prevent the body from storing the excess carbs as fat. In an absolute wonder of human engineering, specific herbs and spices are like chemical doctors that go about fixing the bad things we do to our bodies by eating an unhealthy diet and do little exercise.
Rugby team no carb diet
In a special 16-page cookbook I have prepared for the men’s rugby team, includes many of these fat-burning ingredients and are packed with flavour to compensate for the sacrifice. For breakfast, the boys are currently enjoying rolled oats with the occasional bacon and eggs, but for their new diet I have added one of the most rewarding breakfast dishes — skillet eggs. Like an entire meal in one, cast iron pans are filled with a variety of sautéed vegetables and meats or seafood, topped with a few sunny side up eggs and melted cheese. My love of skillet eggs was renewed on a visit last year to Governor’s Café in Knolly St, Suva. With any combination of your favourite ingredients, sauce, chilli and eggs — it is a breakfast made in heaven and perfect for our athletes. For lunch it has been grilled meats or seafood with a salad, but with most Fijian cooks only knowing a handful of salad dressings, I’ve given the team 25 different recipes to add to a boring bowl of lettuce, cucumber and tomato. Dinner has been much of the same, so to spice up their evening meal I’ve added spice rubs and marinades to their grilled proteins, with delicious alternatives to starch including an oven baked cauliflower rice. One of this week’s delicious dishes is an Asian braised lamb shank infused with loads of herbs and spices, served with blanched Asian greens and a cauliflower puree. Over the coming weeks I will publish the contents of the Fijian Rugby Team recipe book for anyone interested in following our team’s Olympic effort to trim done, but remember rigorous exercise is also an important part of the regime. No pain, no gain.
Now is the time for our rugby team and other Olympic sports people to make the serious change in diet and sacrifice all the foods that may hold them back. As Ben Ryan has reminded his team, now is the time, but who says it can’t be a delicious journey to Rio.
6 Recipes to follow –
* Asian style lamb shanks with cauliflower puree
Servings: 10 Prep Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 3 hours
10 large lamb shanks
4 onions, diced
1 whole garlic, cloves finely chopped
2-3 red chilli large, chopped
4 Tablespoon fresh ginger, julienne
3 Tablespoon ground coriander
16 whole star anise
6 cinnamon sticks
2 cups fresh tamarind puree
6 Tablespoon light soy sauce
3 Tablespoon brown sugar
3 Tablespoon honey
8 tomatoes, chopped chunky
9 cups beef or chicken stock
coriander leaves to garnish
extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil
* Cauliflower puree
12 cups cauliflower florets, chopped
6 spring onions, sliced
2 cup cows or coconut milk
1 cup chicken stock
4 Tablespoons Rewa butter
* Asian greens
4 bunch Chinese green vegetable (baby bok choy, choy sum), quartered lengthways
6 teaspoon light soy sauce
6 teaspoon Chinese sesame oil
1. Heat a drizzle of olive or coconut oil in a large fry pan over medium heat. Add the shanks and cook until browned all over, about 6 minutes. Remove from pan and wipe the pan clean.
2. Add another drizzle of oil to a fry pan and cook onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, chili, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, and ground coriander. Cook for a further 1-minute. Add tamarind, soy sauce, sugar and tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes to let the tomatoes break down. Add stock and bring to a rapid simmer.
3. In a large pot or bratt pan, place the browned lamb shanks and sauce and cover tightly with a lid or tinfoil. Cook for 2 ½ – 3 hours until the meat is soft and falling off the bone.
4. Remove lamb shanks from the sauce and keep warm. Reduce over high heat to half of its volume. Season with salt and pepper if necessary (it may already be salty enough from the soy sauce).
5. While the sauce is reducing make the cauliflower puree. Heat butter in a pot over medium heat. Add spring onions and cauliflower and cook until cauliflower begins to soften a little, about 5 minutes. Add milk and stock and bring to a rapid boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until the liquid has reduced by about half and the cauliflower is very soft.
6. Use a stick blender to puree the cauliflower and season to taste with salt and pepper. If it seems too runny, return to a medium heat and stir continuously until it thickens.
7. Place bok choy in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for a few minutes until bright green and just wilted, about 1 minute. Drain and drizzle over soy sauce and sesame oil.
n Oven roasted cauliflower rice
When rice has been eliminated from the diet, this recipe is a great alternative.
1 head cauliflower
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
¾ teaspoon sea salt
1. Pre-heat oven to 200 Celsius
2. Break the cauliflower in florets, remove the stems.
3. Place florets into food processor, and pulse until cauliflower looks like rice. This takes about 10-15 seconds each pulse
4. Place the cauliflower rice in a large bowl, add the coconut oil and salt. Mix well.
5. On a lined baking tray, spread a single layer and roast until tender, and it begins to get a few brown spots – approx. 25 mins.
6. Serve plain with a little butter, or fry again like fried rice or pilaf
* Memphis rib rub (ideal for pork ribs or chicken wings)
Mix this dry rub recipe and keep in a sealed jar for use at anytime. The mop sauce is a basting liquid that is applied to the meat as you are BBQ or grill.
¼ cup sweet paprika
5 teaspoon ground black pepper
5 teaspoon brown sugar
1 Tablespoon sea salt
2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoon ground cumin
Mop sauce
2 cups apple cider vinegar
½ cup American mustard
1 teaspoon sea salt
1. Combine rub ingredients and marinate meats overnight
2. Prepare the mop sauce
3. Prepare a covered BBQ or oven to 165 Celsius.
4. Cook for approx. 45 mins (chicken) or 60 mins (pork rib)
5. In the last 5-10 minutes, baste meat with the sauce, top with freshly grated parmesan cheese, if desired.
* Chilli bean grilled fish
Chinese style grilled whole fish with spicy and garlic sauce made with Chinese doubanjiang (chilli bean paste), garlic sauce and Sichuan peppercorns
Servings: 2 Prep Time: 1 hour Cook Time: 30 mins
1 whole fresh fish, plate size
10 Shitake mushroom or Fiji oyster mushrooms
1 fresh chilli, sliced
1 onion sliced
1 handful coriander
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon five spice powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon doubanjiang (chilli bean paste)
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 piece ginger, sliced
1 small onion, chopped
2 teaspoons sea salt & black pepper mixed
extra virgin olive oil
1. Clean the fish. Cut several cuts on both sides of the fish and season well with sea salt and pepper
2. Prepare a fry pan and heat up olive oil and add garlic, onions and ginger to stir fry for 2 minutes. Add doubanjiang and Sichuan peppercorn in to stir-fry until the oil becomes red. Turn off the fire. Put the pan aside.
3. Place the fish in the middle of baking tray, and lay vegetables of your choice around the fish.
4. Pour the sauce made in above steps onto both sides of the fish. Marinade for around 1 hour.
5. Sprinkle five spice powder and cumin powder on top.
6. Preheat the oven to 185 Celsius; bake for approx. 30 minutes.
7. Check that fish is fully cooked, garnish with fresh coriander.
n Green Tea Lemon Water – FAT BURNER
The cinnamon helps process carbs more efficiently; the lemon prepares the stomach for digestion and the cayenne pepper aids in burning fat faster.
Serves: 10
10 cup hot water
10 sachets green tea
10 cinnamon stick (
10 tablespoon raw honey
Juice of 5 lemon
5 teaspoon of cayenne
Steep tea and cinnamon stick in hot water for 5-10 minutes
Stir in honey, lemon juice, and cayenne
Drink immediately.
Salad dressings
n Asian Sesame
Whisk 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons grated peeled ginger, 3 tablespoons sesame oil, 1/3 cup olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, and pepper to taste.
* Asian slaw
Whisk 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, 1 teaspoons grated peeled ginger, 3 tablespoons sesame oil, 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, 1 teaspoon oyster sauce, ½ teaspoon grated orange zest
* Miso-Ginger
Blend 1 tablespoon each miso paste and grated peeled ginger, the juice of 2 limes, 1/2 garlic clove, 1 chopped scallion, 1 teaspoon Sriracha chilli and 1/2 teaspoon sugar in a blender. Gradually blend in 1/2 cup olive oil.
n Avocado-Wasabi
Purée half an avocado, 1 1/2 teaspoons wasabi paste, 3 tablespoons each rice vinegar and water, and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt in a blender. Gradually blend in 1/4 cup olive oil.
