Day 439: Doctor day
Posted by Paola
I saw my GP today about my sticky saliva. I told her my symptoms first, then some possibly related symptoms and then what I’d read online. She waved her hands and said “forget Candida”. She said that although there is yeast that, yes, candida was a made-up diagnosis by the alternative health medicine people. She looked at my tongue, considered oral thrush and prescribed me some drops for it.
With regard to my sugar cravings, my theory was correct that my recent increase of sweet things had generated the sugar cravings (’sugar rush’). I explained how I’d gone caffeine-, sugar- and wheat- free for a few days (she frowned) and how that’d broke the sugar cycle (she smiled). She suggested eating fruit and other slow-release sugars. I have mostly swapped sweet tea for instant coffee to minimise the risk that I’ll get hooked on sugar again.
3:10pm Cottage cheese salad with plums
I decided to chop up two plums into my salad and it was rather delish but they did take all the pleasure out of the tomatoes. Maybe I’ll just do plums OR tomatoes in my salad in future.
10:10pm Coconut bean and veg soup with toast + squash + plums
It’s another big full bowl of soup but, as my second and last meal of the day, I figured I’d have some toast to go with it. I was about to put my small gluten-free slices in the toaster when I found Frank’s cold full-sized toast from five hours ago. I decided to warm them up and have them instead with spread.
Evening drink: coffee
Feeling very full now.
Day 438: Carb-free day
Posted by Paola
After the cereal blow-out yesterday, I decided to go carb- (bread) free for a day to make up for the previous excessed.
1:20pm Kale and spinach with tofu sausage and veggie burger + coffee + plums
The bowl was less than half full and so I added a whole chopped tomato. I finished it all but felt too full afterwards!
Afternoon drinks: 2 x coffee
6:50pm Coconut and garlic veg and bean soup + coffee + plums
Starting with a paste of passata, garlic and coconut cream, I added red onions, frozen veg and red kidney beans. This might have to be a monthly treat as it’s too damn tasty and I keep having a full big bowl of it.
Midnight Kale and spinach with tofu sausage, feta and yoghurt + coffee + plums
00:40am Gin & orange + chocolate rice cakes
There was only a little bit of orange juice left and so I added some gin!
Day 437: Serious cereal
Posted by Paola
2:40pm Ham and cheese salad sandwich + orange + coffee + squash
6:30pm Kale and spinach with tofu sausage and veggie burger and sweet chilli yoghurt
6:40 Gluten-free cereal with sultanas and pumpkin seeds
I didn’t resist the urge. Must stop having this cereal with milk as it just goes soggy. Ugh.
10:50pm Veg and bean soup with spinach + crackers + coffee + plums
00:30am Crispbeads with spread and marmite + coffee
I can’t even begin to tell you how yum this was.
Tuesday and Wednesday
Posted by Sylvia
Tuesday:
Restarted the diet Tuesday after lunch which was a bit odd as I kept having urges to have a snack “quick, while I still can!” Luckily lunch was fairly heavy so it wasn’t actually very hard to resist. I did 10 minutes of yoga in the morning and no other exercise.
Dinner:
Algerian Chicken and Chickpeas: 320 calories
Wednesday:
Been feeling slow and bloated still today, not sure what’s up with that. I weighed myself this morning and it was 81.something. It’s stored on the Wii so I can find out what it said but there’s been people in the television room all day and I didn’t really feel like interrupting just to load up the wii to check my graph. :P
In the kitchen after lunch, I was packing away the left-over rice and I grabbed a big lump and ate it. I thought, “now that’s exactly the kind of bad calories that I shouldn’t be having” as I swallowed it. I’ve added it as a somewhat random 50 calories but I’m annoyed at myself for doing it (it wasn’t even as if I was going to throw the rice away, I plan to use it for a pork and lime with rice soup at the end of the week).
Somehow, because we have guests and I’m cooking big batches, I don’t “feel” like I’m on the diet and so it seemed like it was OK to have that bite. :(
When not dieting, I have a terrible habit of snacking in the kitchen both while cooking (I try to put out plates of veg to give myself something to reach for) and late at night before dinner (prime cheese time). That’s why I think serious calorie counting works for me, because the number of calories in that lump of rice matters and now I don’t have a weight for it, and that just breaks everything.
| Meal | Food | Drink | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Coffee | 30 |
| Sub-total | 30 | |
| Lunch | Persian Chicken Kebabs & Rice | 600 |
| Sub-total | 600 | |
| Dinner | Sausage Minestrone | 420 |
| Sub-total | 420 | |
| Snack | 2 * Options | 62 |
| Lump of rice | 50 | |
| Sub-total | 112 | |
| Total | 1,162 | |
I went for a walk/run in the afternoon – I didn’t push myself at all but it was sort of nice to be jogging again. Hopefully I’ll start getting back into the habit but I’m trying to at least walk a few times a week even if I don’t run.
It’s the End of the Week as We Know It
Posted by Sylvia
I only just realised that I hadn’t posted my food count from Friday.
I’ve been making salads without counting the detail but as lunch today was one big mega salad meant to be really filling, I thought I’d better play it safe and measure everything specifically. I guessed high on the sesame oil (I added in one shake to help me process the ginger – I probably shouldn’t have!) and I put in a token 5 calories for the ginger/coriander mix (it was about a teaspoon of the two which I had processed together) but the rest are all exact measures.
| Serious Salad for Two | 150g fennel | 46 |
|---|---|---|
| 140g tomato | 22 | |
| 120g celery | 19 | |
| Ginger and coriander | 5 | |
| A dash of sesame oil | 40 | |
| 100g Palm hearts | 26 | |
| 4 eggs | 280 | |
| 200g tuna | 232 | |
| 66g onion | 21 | |
| lime juice | 17 | |
| Total Calories | 708 | |
I felt very tired this morning (have I reached an age where I need two days to recover from a hangover?) and had three coffees with milk to try to get myself focused on what needed doing. I had been looking forward to tonight’s dinner: steak and potato. Then it turned out that we didn’t have any potatoes in – I must have used them up without realising. I know Cliff is getting very tired of salad so I tried to getting a bit more adventurous with veg as side dishes rather than serve yet another salad.
I placed a slice of ham and a slice of cheese on top of the steak which I thought was nice but Cliff thought was a waste of calories. He would have rather had a bigger steak.
| Meal | Food | Drink | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 3 coffees with milk | 90 |
| Sub-total | 90 | |
| Lunch | Salad | 354 |
| Sub-total | 354 | |
| Dinner | Steak | 310 |
| Corn | 79 | |
| Asparagus | 25 | |
| Slice of ham | 52 | |
| Slice of Cheese | 30 | |
| Sub-total | 496 | |
| Total | 940 | |
Day 436: Two cups of soup
Posted by Paola
2:30pm Cheese and tomato salad sandwith with toast + squash + 2 x coffee + plums
7pm Vegetable, tomato and bean soup
The second of two cups of soup brought to me at my computer whilst I list a zillion auctions on eBay.
11:10pm Sausage, cheese and tomato salad with sweet chilli yoghurt + coffee
23:30pm Chocolate rice cakes + plums + coffee
Day 435: Two tea cakes
Posted by Paola
4:10pm Ham and cheese salad sandwich + orange + 2 x coffee
Afternoon drink: pint of squash
6:40pm Vegetable, tomato and bean soup with crackerbreads
8pm Kale with tofu weiner and sheep’s milk cheese + plums
134 calories for half a tofu sausage.
8:50pm Chocolate rice cakes with coffee
By Kallo, 57 calories each.
10:30pm Tomato and cheese snack + coffee
23:30pm Orange
00:50am Toasted tea cakes with jam and chocolate hazelnut spread + coffee
