Conscious Eating – Day 41 – My best soup yet! And an incipient revolution in my writing too!

Mon, 4th March 2013

Breakfast:

3 sesame prawn toasts

Small portion of Kung Po King Prawn

Small portion of salt and pepper mushrooms

Medium portion of veggie Chow Mein

Nectar of the Gods…

Satiety Level: Just shy of full

Still surprisingly scrummy Chinese leftovers.

Lunch:

N/A

Dinner:

Medium portion of homemade Thai Hot and Sour Soup

3 slices of homemade cheesy garlic bread

Small portion of veggie Chow Mein

Small portion of Kung Po King Prawn

Small portion of salt and pepper mushrooms

Nectar of the Gods

Satiety Level: Just shy of full

Splendidly tasty garlic bread and a Thai flavour punch to the head!

I had to have this extra piece of garlic bread just to make sure it really was that yummy!

Modest portion=modest satiety level

At the moment, I cannot live without some variation on this dish!

Summary:

A productive day of writing and sorting out some work stuff over the next couple of weeks. I have discovered – thanks to Hilary Mantel (!) – a writing parallel to Paul McKenna’s Four Golden Rules for healthy weightloss. I am eager to get going with some of the writing exercises and practices therein. I’ve got a good hunch about this one!

Made an absolutely fantastic Thai Hot and Sour Soup. Tasted better than such soups I’ve had at Thai restaurants. And it was so, very easy! It’s definitely a keeper and will regularly feature on the menu at home!

Eating Consciously – Day 40 – Whereupon I discover a lovely new way with Warburton’s white rolls!

Sun, 3rd March 2013

 

Breakfast:

N/A

 

Lunch:

2 small toasted buns with Olivio

Small portion of fried mushrooms

Half a fried tomato

Two fried eggs with ketchup and mayonnaise

Medium portion of fruits’n'nuts’berries’n'Greek Yoghurt’n'Manuka Honey

 

Satiety Level: Pleasantly satisfied

Perfect portions. Not a morsel too much or too little!

I think I’m addicted!

 

Dinner:

Medium portion of Kung Po King Prawn

Medium portion of Vegetarian Chow Mein

Small portion of salt and pepper mushrooms

3 pieces of sesame prawn toast

Nuts’n'berries’n'Greek Yoghurt’n'Manuka Honey

 

Satiety Level: Full

Better-than-expected Chinese takeaway.

I KNOW I’m addicted!

 

Summary:

Uneventful day of cleaning. No exercising. Recovering from yesterday’s weight-training. Which probably explains why I slept for 12 hours last night!

My food highlight of the day was the discovery that Warburtons white rolls (other white rolls are available!) popped in the toaster for a couple of minutes and smothered in Olivio (other vegetable oily spreads are available!) are very delish indeed! (And a lot nicer than fried bread.)

Tomorrow I intend to head for the pool again. Breakfast will be Chinese leftovers.  I’ll probably make a soup for dinner. I expect it to be a pretty light food day!

Eating Consciously – Day 39 – Sunbathing fully clothed! I don’t particularly like marmalade, so I’m not sure why I thought I’d like marmalady chicken drumsticks!

Sat, 2nd March 2013

 

Breakfast:

1 cheese&tomato bun

Half a bagel with Philadelphia

 

Satiety Level: Pleasantly satisfied

Early hours breakfast.

 

Lunch:

1 small battered fish from chippy

Very small portion of chips (I donated most of those pictured to nearest and dearest!)

Small portion of mushy peas

Medium portion of pear, berries, nuts, yoghurt and Manuka Honey

 

Satiety Level: Pleasantly satisfied

I was one of their first customers, so everything tasted lovely and fresh and hot.

The pear has been slowly ripening in the fridge over the past couple of weeks. It is now intoxicatingly sweet!

 

Dinner:

3.5 sticky chicken and chicken tikka drumsticks

Medium portion of salad topped with cheese

Greek Yoghurt’n'berries’n'pistachios’n'raisins’n'mullberries’n'Manuka Honey

 

Satiety Level: Half way between pleasantly satisfied and full

Marmalade chicken? Really? Observer? Really? It wasn’t a disaster.

My improvised, yoghurty chicken tikka drumsticks were more successful.

Looks like I ate a lot, but there was more bone than chicken!

Still the most ecstasy-inducing food of the day!

 

 

Summary:

Felt much better today. There was something a bit dodgy about those samosas yesterday! They caused excessive gas expansion in my abdomen – something that I had wanted to consign to history! But I was feeling much lighter today. I had an early hours breakfast because I was still awake then (cleaning the kitchen!) and was hungry at around 3.30am. Was asleep by 4am, but had chores to do from 9am.

Had lunch at midday. Very satisfying fish’n'chips meal. I did eat a whole fish. But it was a small one. And I barely touched my chips.

After an afternoon of lazing around in the sun reading the introduction to Virginia Woolf’s The Waves and dozing in the back garden, I was still feeling far from hungry. So I thought it best to hit the gym for appetite-generation. I did a five-minute run on the treadmill followed by quite heavy legs and upper body training. Came home, cooked and didn’t actually eat till two hours after I’d finished exercising. The tikka-type chicken drumsticks were very acceptable, if unremarkable. The marmalade&mustard ones were not really great and probably not something I will be repeating. It’s slightly annoying me that most recipes for drumsticks that I come across say that they need to be cooked in the oven for 30mins. But I’m having to cook chicken for, at least, twice that in the oven before it is properly cooked. But the good thing is that I am getting less paranoid about chicken-cookery the more I experience and experiment. Am now very happily satisfied, but not with the discomfort that I experienced yesterday. I am feeling rather tired, so I anticipate a good night’s sleep.

I want to read some more before bed, but I’ll be surprised if I’m still conscious come midnight! (Which is very unusual for me!)

Tomorrow I have a hunch that brunch is gonna be of the eggy variety. If so, I may find time for the gym. But I doubt I’ll find time/the inclination for lunch. Nearest and dearest might make Pau Bhaji for dinner if she’s up to it after a long working-at-home weekend. If so, I’m gonna be very sensible with my portions. I’ll ask her to be moderate in the amount she cooks in the first place…

 

Eating |Consciously – Day 38 – My first experience of overeating for such a long time…and it feels HORRIBLE!

Fri, 1st March

Breakfast:

Large serving of pauwa

Small cheese, tomato and lettuce bun

Small portion of Greek Yoghurt,’n'berries’n'cashews

1 cup of coffee (Half of the mug pictured)

Satiety Level: Just beyond full

Substantial breakfast. Bordering on overeating!

This was the equivalent of my “waffer-thin mint”! It tipped me over into overeating.

Lunch:

N/A?

Dinner:

2.5 samosas and chutney

Medium portion of veggie pasta

Large bowl of Greek Yoghurt’n'berries’n'nuts

 

Satiety Level: Full

Sensible leftovers

Sensible samosas

A samosa too far!

Summary:

I am slightly annoyed at myself for allowing myself to overeat (albeit only slightly) for the first time in nearly 40 days! It happened, first, at breakfast. I was hungry, to be sure. But I didn’t need to take all the pauwa that I did. Or, if I did want to have that much pauwa, I didn’t need to have that bun. And, on top of it all, I certainly didn’t need to have that berry’n'nut’yoghurt combo. So even though I was very far from properly stuffing myself in a way that I used to very regularly, it is interesting the discomfort I felt after what I believe is now overeating for me. In other words, I only need to overeat by a very small amount to feel bloated and uncomfortable. So, yes, I am a little miffed at myself, but at least I will be a little more mindful of my portion sizes from now on.

The second time I overate today (the second time I ate anything today) was at dinner. I had one samosa too many. I am now feeling very uncomfortable indeed! Again, this is not major bingeing like I have indulged in in the past. But I am in such bloaty discomfort that I do not wish to repeat this experience again! On top of that, I’m experiencing a strange, fluttery sensation in my right side that may or may not have something to do with swimming. I swam for nearly an hour today. But, because I was feeling a little bloated after the breakfast, I didn’t glide as easily through the water as I had done yesterday.

So this has definitely been the worst day I have had so far while eating consciously. If the discomfort doesn’t let up soon, I’m going to have to do some walking round downstairs. That’s ok. I have a lot of reading to catch up on!

I’m quite surprised at the rather excessive reaction my body is having to only a small amount of indulgence. But that’s a good thing. It means that my internal default setting is to now eat very modest portions indeed! And any deviation from that will lead to a large-scale protest from my body!

 

Eating Consciously – Day 37 – I’ll be a better swimmer when I’m thinner!

Thurs, 28th Feb

 

Breakfast:

Large plate of homemade Chinese-style veggie curry with rice

Half a bagel with Philadelphia

Small bowl of Greek Yoghurt, nuts’n'raisins

Satiety Level: Pleasantly satisfied

Yeah, it’s a large portion. But I loved every single bite and I still didn’t overeat!

Once again needed for tummy-soothing properties post-curry!

 

Lunch:

N/A

 

Dinner:

5 dhokla and chutney

Medium portion of homemade pauwa (fried rice flakes)

Medium portion of homemade veggie pasta with a modest amount of Grana Padano cheese grated on top

Medium portion of homemade Avocado Soup (abandoned after two spoonfuls because it was so pointless!)

Medium portion of Berries’n'nuts’nGreek Yoghurt’n’ Manuka Honey

 

Satiety Level: Pleasantly satisfied

Deeply flavoursome homemade pasta

I’m trying to eat spicy at least once a day!

I’m loving the goji berry and mullberry combo!

 

 

Summary:

Still skipping lunch. Was able to fit a decent swim in the middle of the day. I haven’t been swimming for a while and today I noticed that I was gliding through the water easier than ever before. Lugging my body back and forth for 40 mins or so was a lot easier compared to last time. I reckon that has a lot to do with my (modest) weightloss! If so, I look forward to when I’ve lost some significant weight. I ought to be able to swim like a dolphin then! I am such a water baby. I feel blissful every time I hit the pool. And I believe swimming has a major impact on my overall health. And I’m pretty sure that if I swim more often than I have been doing recently, I will lose fat even faster than I have been doing with, predominantly, gym-work. So I am determined to swim again tomorrow.

Avocado soup was an absolute disaster! Bland, lifeless, pointless! But Mother’s pauwa and dhokla more than made up for it! And my own pasta was very decent. I’m gonna try a sticky chicken drumstick recipe from The Observer tomorrow. Using marmalade. (!) My family were less than enthused at the prospect. But if we don’t try it, we’ll never know if we missed anything!

 

 

 

Eating Consciously – Day 36 – Novelty is the spice of life!

Wed, 27th Feb

 

Breakfast:

Large bowl of meaty soup noodles

Medium portion of fruits’n'nuts’n'Manuka Honey’n'Greek Yoghurt

 

Satiety Level: Pleasantly satisfied

A very hearty, but still light, breakfast bursting with flavour!

The coolness of this balanced the heat of the noodles

 

Lunch:

N/A

 

Dinner:

5 small, homemade dhoklas

Medium portion of Chinese-style curry with rice

Medium bowl of Fruit’n'nuts’n'Manuka Honey’n'Greek Yoghurt

 

Satiety Level: Pleasantly satisfied

Another hugely satisfying, from-scratch meal

 

Summary:

Another largely sedentary day without any exercise, so my food intake was also, naturally, limited. In the past, days like this would have included a ridiculous amount of food. And much snackage. Today, I had a decent-sized, immensely satisfying breakfast of soup noodles (utilizing last night’s leftover soup) that saw me through – without even a drink apart from water – until our evening meal. I made a Chinese-style curry using ingredients that happened to be around. I was inspired by a recipe posted by a vegan blogger on here, although mine was a bit saucier, sans the soy curls and with tofu and celery and babycorn instead. Check out his blog too for some interesting vegan ideas:

http://invegetableswetrust.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/chinese-curry/comment-page-1/#comment-915

The curry was lovely. Better than similar types of curry we’ve previously had from out of a jar or out of a takeaway box. And it tasted so, very fresh and authentic. I can see it becoming a staple – with varying vegetables – as it was just so easy to make. One of the best things about eating consciously is that I have reignited my interest in food which, ironically, had waned hugely just over a month ago when I was still overeating massively and eating a lot of junk too! Now, I am determined to experiment, to try new flavours and to become a better cook for the sake of the health of myself and my family.

Haven’t decided on tomorrow’s menu yet. Got loads of veggies still in the fridge, so I’ll need to do something with them. Possibly pasta. But I think I’ll do a soup too. Either garlic soup or avocado soup. Probably the latter, as the avocados need using up. And tomorrow I will definitely do some exercise. Running and/or swimming. Hopefully for a decent, 35-odd minutes.

 

Eating Consciously – Day 35 – Lunch is for wimps! (Sometimes.) And I’ve begun a Soup Odyssey!

Mon, 26th Feb 2013

 

Breakfast:

2-chorizo-style sausages in a hotdog bun with onions and mustard and ketchup and mayo

Medium bowl of fruit’n'nut’n'Greek Yoghurt’n'Manuka Honey

 

Satiety Level: Pleasantly satisfied

Hotdog for breakfast? Why the hell not?!

Fruits’n'nuts’n'Greek Yoghurt’n'Manuka Honey every day?! Why the hell not?!

 

Lunch:

N/A

 

Dinner:

Medium bowl of homemade chorizo and spinach soup

2 homemade aloo parathas with Philadelphia and chutney

3 small petis with tamarind chutney

 

Satiety Level: Neutral

Punchy bowl of chorizo-like sausage and spinach soup

 

Nothing much to eat aloo parathas with? Improvise!

 

Summary:

Decent-sized breakfasts like the one I had today keep me going, pretty much, all the way to dinner time! I got slightly peckish at about 3pm. But with dinner no more than 3.5hours away, I had myself a large mug of coffee instead. And that killed my nascent hunger there and then!

Some days I might well fancy lunch. Especially if I’ve had a small breakfast. But on days like today, I don’t miss lunch at all. I’m actually quite happy to be able to get on with my work/my day without stopping to refuel!

Dinner was an experiment that seemed to work pretty well. Family enjoyed the chorizo(ish) and spinach soup. It certainly had a depth of flavour from all the dried herbs and fresh rosemary and black pepper I put in it. Next time, I might go a little easier on the pepper. But it was certainly an interesting combination of flavours that exercised our tastebuds well!

Mind you, the next time I make this, same soup could well be in over 3 years’ time as it came from a recently bought, beautifully illustrated book containing 400 (count ‘em!) soup recipes. I made a reasonably-successful spinach and rice soup the other day and might just have the opportunity to make one more soup this week. I’m eager to try the slightly more exotic soups first before going for the more mundane ones. I’ve espied an intriguing Greek Aubergine and Courgette Soup in there that I want to get to grips with, but the fridge is full of other veggies at the moment, so I’ll have to use most of them first.

Tomorrow I intend to stick some noodles – and maybe some tofu – in the leftover chorizo(ish) and spinach soup. I’m hoping the flavours will have intensified overnight and that I won’t need to mess with the entire concoction too much… maybe a splash or two of soya sauce? I’ll let you know how it goes!