Tom’s Daily Plan by Olympic medallist Tom Daley, was published in 2016 by HQ, an imprint of HarperCollins. It’s not just a recipe book, as Tom Daley shares a workout plus morning, lunch time and evening life hacks, including tips for meditation, keeping a food diary, hydration, stretching, sleeping.. and more. Sadly, no knitting patterns though.
Although Tom Daley doesn’t eschew carbohydrates in the book, it’s evident from his vlogs on YouTube, that he does keep a close watch on them and most of the recipes which he has shared in the media, are low carb.
It was a surprise therefore, to see carb counts for the recipes, being quite high, inthe nutritional info section at the back.
Baked breakfast muffins with crispy ‘fried’ bread is low carb, if the bread is omitted. Scrambled eggs Tom’s way are just 1.5g of carbs per serving. Daley suggests adding ham and a scattering of spring onions, plus chia seeds or linseeds. Spinach and eggs are 6,5g per serving. The Ultimate Bacon Butty has 23g carbs per serving, but this could be greatly reduced by using a lower carb bread. Again, if you reduce the carbage of the bread, Mushrooms on Toast could be low carb.
Light lunches next, with Roasted squash soup coming i at 13g per serving.Egg-drop soup is 8g carbs per serving. Rarebit on Rye could be reduced from 20g carbs per serving with lower carb bread, Tom’s Chicken Caesar salad uses sourdough rye bread cubes and comesin at 9g carbs per serving, but could be made even lower carb with a lower carb bread. Grilled salmon salad is 6.5g carbs per serving.
The No-Bread Wrap with tomato, Feta and rocket looks interesting at 2.5g carbs per serving and there are two variations, tuna, red onion and courgette filling and Asian-style salad filling.
On to quick suppers and Baked eggs in peppers has 9g carbs per serving and looks like a really attractive starter, as well. At 8g carbs per serving, Cauliflower and egg has browns is another interesting recipe, which could be a light supper, too. If your way of eating encompasses Puy lentils, Cod and lentils is 9g per serving. Harissa prawns are served on a bed of couscous, which accounts for the 49g carbs per serving. Using cauliflower rice instead, would lower that carb count considerably.
If the bean salad in Fajita-stuffed chicken was subbed with a suitable lower carb salad, the carbage would be lower than 15g carbs per serving. Although the Chicken curry with tomato and coconut is extremely carby at 50g carbs per serving, the Spice paste used, is low carb. Flat-iron chicken with broccoli has 6g carbs per serving. Lance’s Scotch eggs are just 1g of carbs per serving and Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black make them in a video VIDEOS: COOKING WITH TOM DALEY AND DUSTIN LANCE BLACK
Griddled lamb chops with sweet potato mash have 27g carbs per serving, but this could be lowered by using a lower carb mash eg turnip, swede (rutabaga), celeriac (celery root) and incorporating things like fennel, celery or Cheddar cheese.
Weekend feasts..if a low carb recipe is used, there are three low carb crepe fillings: no-cook filling, 5 minute filling and 10 minute filling, which feature ingredients such as mushrooms, spinach, Cheddar, natural yoghurt, shallot, salmon fillets, bell peppers, capers, fresh chives, prawns and cucumber – just not all of them at once.
Thai style curry with tofu has 20g of carbs per serving and any people in the low carb/keto community don’t eat soya. The Curry paste made, is low carb and can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Likewise, from Tom’s fabulous fajitas the marinated chicken and Guacamole are low carb but the salad and wraps aren’t. Again, if the mixed bean accompaniment isn’t served, Chicken and bacon parcels would be far lower in carbs.
For Tom’s Big Barbecue Treat most of the recipes are low carb eg Sweet chilli prawns or pork 3g carbs per serving, The Perfect Chopped Salad 1g carbs per serving, Crispy asparagus 0.8g carbs per serving.
If the mash is omitted, then Steak with Chimichrri sauce with creamy spinach will be much lower carb per serving, than the original 32g carbs oer serving.
Sweets and treats.. basically, none of the recipes are low carb.
Snacks and treats.. Peanut and coconut butter is 2g carbs per tablespoon and the same amount of carbs per tablespoon can be found in Peanut and cashew nut butter.
Verdict: There are about 30 or so recipes out of 80 in the book, which are low carb or can be tweaked to be. There are some good life hacks and an exercise programme, too. It’s not just a recipe book. Can be bought cheaply secondhand and MaisonCool nabbed a copy for £2.54. BUY if interested.