Day 1: Dinner
Posted by Paola
7:30pm Mash with cheese and salad
I made a mash over the weekend with the potatoes and celeriac I got from last Friday’s delivery of organic fruit and vegetable. I’ve not had celeriac before – it, erm, tastes of celery. The mash included low-calorie butter and some grated half-fat cheddar.
I had some for dinner with a sprinkling of more grated half-fat cheese and dressed with fresh chopped mild green chilli (for the vitamins), juice from a whole lemon and extra virgin olive oil.
Served with the rest of the yoghurt and everything liberally seasoned with freshly ground black pepper.
Doesn’t look appetising here but it was nevertheless very tasty.
Also a cup of tea. I usually don’t drink so much tea during the day but it was just under 18C (64F) in the lounge.
Day 1: Snack
Posted by Paola
3:45pm Frank leaves for a meeting and I am alone in the office. Tempted to have an unobserved biscuit but I have a cup of tea instead.
5:20pm Small glass of orange juice + a cheese-flavoured rice cake
Day 1: Lunch
Posted by Paola
Morning beverage: very large glass of orange squash with fizzy water
11:45am Getting hungry and distracted by it – gonna try to hold out until 12:15
12:18pm A bowl of a bean and tomato thing I made over the weekend*
Served with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil for flavour and a dollop of yoghurt for contrast. A pear for dessert.
I ate lunch with a teaspoon and made an effort to eat slowly and to relish every mouthful. I felt full afterwards (perhaps too full) and didn’t want to go back for more. Makes a change.
[*] tin tomatoes, coconut cream, aduki beans, Quorn mince, courgette, red onion, garlic and smoked paprika, with dumplings made from white & brown flour mixed with water. No oil used in cooking.
Food choices
Posted by Paola
Here are some simple changes to make to what you buy and keep in the house to reduce your calorie intake.
Substitutions
- sugar -> Splenda
- butter -> low-fat spread
- full-fat milk -> semi-skimmed milk
- full-fat yoghurt (e.g, Greek yoghurt) -> low fat yoghurt
- tinned foods in oil -> tinned foods in brine
- tinned veg in water with salt or sugar -> tinned veg in water
- cooking oil -> rapeseed oil
- mayonnaise -> low-fat mayonnaise
- fruit drinks -> unsweetened fruit juice
- sweetened sodas -> fizzy water
- jam -> low-calorie jam
- hard cheese -> half-fat cheese
- soft cheese -> low-fat cheese (e.g., Quark)
- cream -> yoghurt (although not as stable)
- white bread -> brown seeded bread
- bacon -> dry-cured back bacon (less water, less fat)
Cooking
- Don’t add butter and sugar to pancake batter. Sweeten with sultanas instead.
- When making a tomato pasta sauce, make it without oil.
Treats
- consider chocolate, cakes, biscuits and crisps as treats and not part of your daily diet
- consider take-out burgers as treats – limit to once a week (or month, if you can)
How to lose weight sensibly
Posted by Paola
From the Sunday Telegraph, reprinted in The Week, 5 Jan 2008
Ditch the crash diets: you’ll only gain weight when you come off them. Your aim is consistency. Once you’ve cracked this, everything falls into place.
Eat breakfast within an hour of waking, even if it’s just a pot of yoghurt. Eating first thing kick-starts your metabolism.
Eat little and often. Don’t starve yourself with long, hunger-filled gaps between food.
Balance complex carbohydrates with protein, ideally at a ratio of about 2:1.
Have a blow-out meal once a week. It stops you feeling deprived and mutinous.
Cut down on caffeine. It boosts the adrenaline which overrides the body’s need for food and confuses the digestive system.
Make weekends and Wednesdays your allocated drinking days. It’s a relatively painless way of reducing alcohol intake – you’re never more than two days away from an evening glass.
If you can’t resist a pudding, share it, or just take a few spoonfuls.
Day 1: Breakfast
Posted by Paola
8:30am Sweetened yoghurt + a cup of tea
1 teaspoon of lemon curd stirred into a cup of yogurt
1 cup of tea with semi-skimmed milk and sweeteners
(Yes, I know that the lemon curd was naughty. Perhaps I’ll use Splenda next time.)
