“This year I made three resolutions: write to more magazines, eat better and exercise more,” says Paige Turner. “So far I’ve managed one, but as for the others, I’m already fed up of yoga and yogurt. Can you help?”
The new year is filled with promise: namely the promises we make and then break. We’re too busy to hit the gym or dice the contents of the fridge ready for the week ahead. If only we could do it all at once.
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Turns out, you can. Step one, healthy eating: get ready for courgetti (courgette spaghetti, or zoodles if you’re across the pond). The spiraliser is a must-have gadget to shred your veg into ribbons that replace carb-heavy pasta or just make vegetables fun enough that you don’t hate eating them. Mine has a top handle you crank to twirl out vegetable streamers.
Now, the exercise. The upper body workout of the spiraliser alone is not enough. I tried weighting it to make a spiraliser dumb-bell, and adding resistance to its shaft. These plans didn’t bust many calories other than food lost to spillage. Then inspiration struck. I blew the dust off last year’s promise: an under-desk exerciser. I could cycle for my supper.
An accident that left my kitchen covered in the wrong sort of oil proved it’s trickier than it sounds. I needed a way to transfer power from pedal to peeler, stepping down the difference in radius. A large cardboard disc proved too flimsy, an old LP too brittle, but balsa wood was just right. I zip tied a pedal to one side and the spiraliser handle to the other.
After loading my dinner, I pedalled furiously, but the carrot only twirled in place. Lying on its side, without gravity to assist, my spiraliser couldn’t get purchase. A swift solution: a spring around the spiraliser crankshaft encouraged my veg towards the blades. Success!
Next, I’ll add gears so I work harder for my meal. Perhaps they could change according to the calorie content of the shreddable edible.
Does my device give a better workout than jogging to the shops for the pre-prepared stuff? Who’s to say, but running to the hardware store three times in a day must have helped.
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