Today started off with 40 minutes in the pool doing aquaerobics with my young trainer, my “son by another mother”. I have been visiting my bush town home for twelve days and I have had the pleasure of exercising in the pool for 9 of those days, mostly an hour a session. It is wonderful to feel the way I do afterwards! On the farm I have a spinning bike, a trampoline (rebounder), some weights and a stability ball, so I have no excuse. It is just so nice to exercise with a partner. It takes some discipline to do it by myself, but hey, I am getting better by the day!

This brings me to to my weight today, which is a half kilo up. My trainer says it is muscle:) I have been Banting legal, so it surprised me. However, I shall not be weighing myself every day, but once a week. Next Friday will be the next weigh-in, and measurement day. I shall look forward to that.

The last few days have been spent de-cluttering my recipe files, which is an enormous task. When I owned a restaurant needless to say I collected a zillion recipes of all kinds. They were not all Banting legal. I figured it would be counter-productive if I were to keep all the non-Banting recipes as this is not some short term diet but a permanent lifestyle, so I deleted just about all of them. It is the same with foodstuffs in the pantry. Pastas and grains abound and they will now find new homes. The writers of The Real Meal Revolution suggest that we keep nothing that is not Banting-legal and I see the sense in that. Fail to plan and you plan to fail. I know it is difficult if you have family who eat starches and then you will have to be super disciplined not to eat the potato mash you made for them for dinner! We can do it though. I did the other night, when I made cauli-broli mash for myself and potato mash for my husband. Mine was as delicious as his no doubt was.

Lamb chop and Cauli-Broli Mash

Cauli-Broli Mash Recipe

Half a head of broccoli

Half a head of cauliflower

Half an onion

2 garlic cloves

About 3 Tbs Single cream

Steam the broccoli and cauliflower until tender and refresh with cold water

Sautee the onions and garlic gently in a saucepan until cooked

Put cauliflower and broccoli into saucepan and heat up with onions and garlic

Get out your wand blender (or food processor or jug blender) and blitz all together.

Add cream until you get the consistency you want.

Add salt and black pepper to taste

Eat and enjoy!

I have managed to get one of my local restaurants to discuss hosting a Banting meeting once a week where we discuss the trials, tribulations and successes of our Banting journey, and then to have a dinner with new recipes each week. I have a feeling there will be quite a few people who will want  This lifestyle is a huge departure from the eating norm with which we have all grown up.

Low carb eating has been an underlying way of life for me, but I have not been able to stick with it for life. Now I know I need to. I have gathered information about alkaline/acid foods and added chlorophyll rich green powder to my pantry list, and green juices are becoming part of my daily regimen. Lemon juice and water is my go-to drink and ginger tea is my “tea”, my hot drink. Organic filter coffee with cream is like dessert for me and is one way to get the fat into the mix. (Imagine. Here we are finding ways to get fat into our food when we have been taught the opposite for all our lives thus far. Really?)

I really miss crackers because I am now a Banting Babe, so I tried out one of the many Sunflower Seed Cracker recipes on the internet. So many were the same, so I am not sure who I would thank for this one. All I can say is try it you will love it!

Sunflower Seed Crackers

1 cup shelled sunflower seeds
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup water
*Extra sunflower seeds (optional for topping)

Preheat the oven to 325°F-160°C. Put the sunflower seeds and Parmesan in a food processor and process until the sunflower seeds are a fine meal. Add the water, and pulse until the dough is well blended, soft and sticky. Cover a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Roll the dough out onto the parchment, tear off another sheet of parchment, and put it on top of the dough. Use a rolling pin or your hands to press the dough into as thin and even a sheet as you can get. Take the time to get the dough quiet thin–the thinner the better, so long as there are no holes in the dough. Peel off the top layer of parchment, then use a pizza cutter to score the dough into cracker shapes. Bake for 28-30 minutes, or until evenly browned. Peel off the parchment, break alone the scored lines, and let the crackers cool. Store them in a container with a tight lid. *Option: Before baking press additional sunflower seeds into the batter for an extra crunch. Makes 6 servings.
Crackers (1/6th of the recipe) = 150 calories, 12g fat, 7.5g protein, 3.9 carbs, 2.1g fibre

First attempt. Sunflower Seed Crackers ready for the oven

Now they are ready to eat. Very yummy.

There you go all you Banting Babes. Something crunchy to snack on. I will be trying out a Banting Bread very soon so watch this space.

Eat, Fast, Live Longer. Awesome documentary on fasting. BBC Michael Moseley.

This has thoroughly convinced me. I am glad I started this and I shall continue. The joy is not having to follow any specific diet except eating healthy, fresh foods across the nutritional board and fasting two days a week. I have no desire to eat junk food on Feed Days, but if I do for whatever reason, I do not need to feel guilty. Fasting definitely works to not only make me thinner but apparently it will also help my body resist age-related diseases. according to on going scientific studies. No pills, no diets, just two days of fasting a week.

Hunger is not something I have allowed myself to feel for too long, but somehow I can wait most days until noon to eat. Fasting for two days a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) eating 500 calories is do-able for me and since it doesn’t seem to matter what meal you eat on the Fast Day, I will experiment.

For the rest of the week I eat between 2000 and 2300 calories a day and that brings me within the losing target of 12 614 calories a week. This should result in a 1 kg loss per week for me at the weight I am now. Half a kilo is fine too and I shall be monitoring it closely. So far this month I have lost four and a half kilos and I have a feeling there will be more before the month is through.

From what I have seen, read and heard, and now from my own experience, fasting rocks!

If you look at the big picture, intermittent fasting of any kind basically boils down to eating less for a little or a long while, the length of time your choice. Some do anything from 20/4 to 14/10. Muslims eat a little before sunrise and then again after sunset and they fast twice a week I have heard. Others do Alternate Day Fasting or 5/2 or Fast 5. I eat at noon every day unless it is a feed day, then I will have a smoothie or a green drink at 10 after yoga or Water Babes.

Isn’t it simply meal restriction?

I imagine being Ayla in the Clan of the Cave Bears, hunting for berries and roots, and mammoth. Some days there is very little to eat but happily I have water to drink. Water; that alone assuages the hunger pangs and is my drink, hot or cold, along with my herbs, for I am Ayla.

No matter what the dietitians might say, I no longer eat breakfast. I see it as cleansing time for the innards and what better cleanser than clean water? When I eat breakfast I eat all day. When I don’t, I don’t.

Today my first food was a banana at about one and a full meal at two. (Ayla slaughtered wild boar today) so I had what our family would consider normal: Scrambled eggs, pork sausages, bacon, sweetcorn fritters, two slices of toast, butter, rose petal jam (gotta LOVE it!) and a cup of Earl Grey tea with milk, something I haven’t had in a while. I reckon this meal is a fairly high caloric meal, but I am not even going to track it because today is a Feed Day. The hunters were successful!

I must just add that I cook with little oil and add water to help food not stick to the pan. If I am doing fritters, I will use a basting brush to coat the pan lightly with a film of oil, and the cooked bacon is put on paper towel in the warming oven so that the fat content of the meal is lowered. Instead of cream or milk in scrambled eggs, I use a tablespoon of water, a hint from a great chef.

On the menu tonight is Spaghetti Bolognese with beans pureed with garlic and onion and added to the minced beef as a Low GI addition. I shall be making steamed courgette ribbons because I want to try them with the meat sauce instead of spaghetti. The salad is a Greek one with olives and feta with a lemon and olive oil dressing. Dessert is a small frozen yogurt.

This meal is a lower calorie meal as I will be having only one palm size of meat and two or three palm sizes of steamed and raw vegetables.

I do love bowl food…it’s that Ayla thing again.

The rains are soaking the African bushveld and my garden is doing a happy dance. So am I. Sixteen days and four kilos gone. Happy garden, happy me!

What a wonderful way to lose weight. Gentle exercise, good food choices and the occasional splurge seems to be working for me. What is really working though, is me being in control of my own diet. I have given myself a framework in which to make my choices, nothing is forbidden, and I feel normal and fabulous for the first time in years.
OK, normal might be pushing it:)

We did a great yoga class instead of Water Babes this morning because the heavy rains kept us out of the pool. Funny isn’t it…we didn’t want to get wet in the pool Yoga really got me stretched, relaxed and peaceful. At the end of the class we did a golden light relaxation meditation in Corpse Pose and my friend Kathy nearly fell asleep. Wonderful stuff.

On the food front, I have entered foods eaten as well as foods planned using the Spark People Nutritional Tracker. Such a great tool. (I think I have mentioned it before, but it’s worth repeating.) It helps me see the bigger picture. One high calorie day does not mean disaster.

My daily goal was a success yesterday, so I am repeating it today – water from 1 pm until tomorrow. The weekly goal is coming on nicely and the painting is almost done so I think I might just repeat that next week as well.

Procrastination! – Be gone!

In the super seventies (ahem) – there was a book entitled “Be Here Now” which struck a chord with me then. Today Eckhard Tolle’s “The Power of Now” speaks the same language. For me it means Be mindfully in the moment. Today is the day we know. It behooves us to use it well and be happy.

When we make a daily goal, it brings us right into the here and now. Not worrying about whether you are going to keep up your goal or not because it is just for a few hours, and surely we can all do that.

When we make a weekly goal, it is still not too far away to get lost in a sometimes hazy or unrealistic long term goal. (You know that saying – While you’re making plans, Life happens)

Your goals do not only have to be about food and diet, it can be about anything you wish.

Let us begin…

GOAL TODAY:
Beverages: To drink only water and herb tea from now (1 pm) until tomorrow. No wine, tea or coffee.

(Tomorrow is another day, another goal – yes?)

GOAL THIS WEEK: (I need to think about this…)
To finish one painting!

There, fellow MODders. Your turn…

I have allowed myself just about everything over the last two weeks, and I have enjoyed wine with my meals and the occasional chocolate brownie and peanut butter cookie (all home made with good ingredients). I have lost three kilos and probably put on a bit of muscle in the Water Babes classes. (We even did a class in the soft rain this morning which was gorgeous. The rains have kissed the African bush at last. It is cooler and quite heavenly:)

Although I seriously overdid the foods one day and went over my limit a couple of times, I averaged out the calories to just below 2000 a day over seven days.

My natural way of cooking is at times fairly rich, but I console myself that the oils I use are healthy and the cream and butter is real. I eat fresh fruit and vegetables daily and the protein is mostly lean. No food groups are prohibited and therefore my intake is varied and interesting. There is no way I am having a boring time losing weight!

Having and following my own rules, I found I do not have the rebellious reaction to the DIET that I have had in the past when I was trying to follow someone else’s programme, falling down again and again and ending up feeling like a failure. Right now I feel like a conqueror! Whether it is because I am a control freak or just a plain ol’ rebel, this MOD is really working for me.

Making it up as I go also gives me leave to try out things, to experiment. For instance, trying out intermittent fasting or using carb cycling as a tool, having a protein or high fat day to shift a plateau, having a meatless detox day – those sort of things.

Today is Meatless Monday and an Intermittent Fasting day in order to give my digestive system a bit of a break after the weekend. It is also the discipline I find important on such a day.

One hour to go and then at noon I will be having a simple vegetable soup and Low GI seed bread. Snacks today will be some soaked almonds and celery and a green drink made of baby spinach, watercress, apple and ginger. Tonight, a salad wrap or two.

And water! Don’t forget the water…

A Cloudy Day in Africa…
Sunday, January 13, 2013

It has been so hot lately and today we have cloudy skies but no sign of the predicted rain. The frogs were silent last night and there was no need for air-con, just the fan. The bush dams are dry and although the veld is green, it really needs to be watered from the clouds that are gathered. The morning has been slow and peaceful. I took my herb tea and avocado on seed bread toast to the bath. What a relaxing time. Did some reading, some deep breathing, meditation and of course, some lying back and thinking, seriously chilled…(me, not the bath:)

A painting waits to be dusted off and continued here in my studio. Oil over acrylic, a nebula, a galaxy, a dream of other worlds.

Food planned for tonight: Pork fillet strips sautéed in grapeseed oil (high smoke point – not good to cook high heat with olive oil), creamy mustard sauce (real cream no flour), lightly steamed cabbage strips and a green spinach and watercress salad with red peppers and feta with lemon, olive oil and black pepper. The rest of the family will have noodles. (The steamed cabbage strips are my noodles – learnt from the low carb days.)

Next: Recipe for a Simple Creamy Mustard Sauce…

No more procrastinating – off to paint…