Potatoes are something I’ve avoided so far on fasting days, as they carry a lot of calories. But I fancied fishcakes today, so I thought I’d try replacing some of the potato with pumpkin, as a lighter-but-still-bulky option and see how they worked out. With ratatouille as a side dish, this meal worked out at 380 calories.
Recipe for Haddock and pumpkin fishcakes (serves 2)
240g haddock fillets
200g potato
100g pumpkin flesh (cooked weight)
parsley
salt & pepper
50g fresh breadcrumbs
spray of oil
Total calories per serving: 260
Method: Peel potatoes and boil until tender. Cook the haddock fillets (mine were frozen – I steamed them over the potatoes for 10 minutes or so). Break up the fish and mash the potatoes, combining them with the pumpkin flesh. Stir in the salt, pepper and parsley, then when cool enough to handle, form into four cakes and coat in breadcrumbs. At that point mine looked like this:
If you’re not cooking them straight away, place on parchment paper or foil, cover with cling wrap and keep in the fridge. The cakes are already fully cooked, so just need reheating, which can be done in a frying pan, under the grill/broiler or in the oven. Give the pan you use a light spray of oil to stop the cakes from sticking. I baked mine at 350°F/180°C for about 20 minutes.
With the fishcakes I served ratatouille.
Recipe for Oven-baked ratatouille (serves 2)
400g tomatoes
100g zucchini/courgette
200g eggplant/aubergine
150g onion
2 cloves garlic
spray or two of olive oil
fresh or dried herbs
Total calories per serving: 120
Method: Slice the onion, zucchini and eggplant into chunks, crush the garlic and combine them all in an oven-proof dish. Spray with a little olive oil and roast for 45 minutes at 350°F/180°C. Cut the tomatoes up into large-ish pieces (if they’re big) and add them to the dish with the herbs (if you’re using them – I added thyme and oregano at this point). Cook for another 30 minutes, stirring the vegetables after 15 to mix the tomatoes’ juices through the other vegetables. I stirred in some basil at the end of the cooking time.
After that the ratatouille looks like this:
And the finished dish (which was delicious and satisfyingly filling!):
5:2 food 
Potato is not only high in calories but Epigenetic research reveals that potato interfers with pancreatic function causing low insulin production, the result accelerated fat storage, and not just the fat we see but fat that accumulates in skin pockets, inner thighs, low abdomen, for example and the major internal organs
There are many edibles that provided full bellies for our food strapped ancestors. That doesn’t mean they contribute to health. Some should be relegated to museums but that would dry up sources of wealth. Runway models ate facial tissue to create non caloric full bellies. Cellulose wafers gained populatity, zero calorie artifically flavoured and sweetened. Perhaps flavoured dollar bills will gain favour. mmmmm…