⏱️ 30 minutes
Ingredients
Woman
- 150g chicken breast
- 200g broccoli florets
- 150g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 small zucchini (150g), in half-moons
- 1 red bell pepper, in strips
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp Italian herbs
- 1 tsp paprika powder
- Salt and pepper
- 1 lemon, in wedges
- 100g cooked quinoa
Man
- 200g chicken breast
- 250g broccoli florets
- 200g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 large zucchini (200g), in half-moons
- 1 large red bell pepper, in strips
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp Italian herbs
- 1 tsp paprika powder
- Salt and pepper
- 1 lemon, in wedges
- 150g cooked quinoa
How to make it
Preheat the oven to 200°C and line a large baking tray with parchment paper. Cut the chicken breast into thick strips or chunks. Spread all the vegetables and the chicken over the tray. Mix one and a half tablespoons of olive oil with the Italian herbs, paprika, salt and pepper, and spread this over the chicken and vegetables. Drizzle with the rest of the oil and make sure everything is well coated. Slide the tray into the oven for 25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are nicely roasted. Give it a shake halfway through. Meanwhile, make your green salad and eat it. Serve with lemon wedges and the cooked quinoa on the side.
Macros (incl. salad and quinoa)
| Woman | Man | |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 590 kcal | 760 kcal |
| Protein | 46g | 60g |
| Carbs | 46g | 56g |
| Fat | 22g | 30g |
| Fibre | 14g | 16g |
💡 Glucose hack: salad first, then chicken and vegetables, quinoa as the last bite. After eating, walk for 10 minutes or do 30 squats at the kitchen counter while you do the dishes.
Why I keep dinner light
Your body processes food differently as the day goes on. In the morning you're insulin-sensitive, in the evening much less so. That same portion of quinoa causes a bigger blood sugar spike in the evening than at lunch. That's partly down to melatonin, the hormone that rises in the evening to prepare you for sleep. Melatonin slows the release of insulin, so your glucose has a harder time getting into your cells.
Eat heavy right before bed and your blood sugar peaks exactly when your body should be winding down. Studies using continuous glucose monitoring show that a late, large meal keeps your blood sugar raised deep into the night and pushes up your cortisol, your stress hormone. You sleep more restlessly and wake up less refreshed.
What my own CGM showed
I've worn a continuous glucose monitor for a while now, and the pattern keeps repeating. On the evenings I eat light and green, my curve stays flat through the night and my sleep score the next morning is high, consistently above 90%. Eat late and heavy, and I see it reflected, both in my nighttime glucose and in how I feel when I wake up. That's why I keep dinner protein-rich and green, with a sensible portion of complex carbs like quinoa.
Why there's always a salad with it
The green salad beforehand is strategy. The fibres go ahead of the rest of your meal and put a brake on your gut, so the carbs that come after trickle into your blood more slowly. Your spike gets lower and flatter. Veggie first, I call it, and it's one of the simplest things you can do for your evening curve.
Why you move after eating
Ten minutes of walking after dinner does more than you'd think. When your muscles contract, they pull glucose straight out of your blood, completely independent of insulin, through transport proteins called GLUT4. For a moment your muscles become a sponge that soaks up the sugar from your meal before it can form a spike.
Why lemon is a good idea
A few wedges of lemon do more than add flavour. The vitamin C helps you absorb the iron from your food better. The acid supports your digestion and slows the absorption of carbs, which again makes for calmer blood sugar.