Banting legal, but…
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!
Banting, but paid the price for a binge…
It’s been 4 days since I went on a serious binge and paid for it by putting on 2 kilos overnight! I am sure that was from water retention from all the wine that I drank, not to mention the carb foods that I scarfed down when the inhibitions plummeted and my good intentions went screaming out the door. I was so disgusted with myself the next morning that I decided to give the wine a wide berth from now on. Maybe French champagne on my birthday and at New Year…
For three days I have drunk filter coffee (Mocha Java) with cream, and a lot of water and some herb tea. My food intake has been Banting legal all the way and in those four days I have lost the two carb-water-logged kilos plus another one. I count that as one kilo lost in 4 days as I will not give those carb-kilos a spot they do not deserve!
Off to lunch with hubby and dogs at the local pub today. I am planning on steak and salad. Oh, and hubby and I both had some of yesterday’s batch of cocktail meatballs as a quick snack this morning. Yum.
The Sunflower Crackers are a welcome go-to when looking for a quick crunchy bite. I did the previously unthinkable and scooped up soft butter with them. Mm m mmmm! Good stuff that butter. I just keep thinking “appetite suppressant, appetite suppressant!”
These two snacks are ‘must-haves’ on a Banting journey.
Anyone want to add a meatball recipe in the comments below? Go on, you know you want to.
Here’s mine…
Modjadji's Meatballs
Modjadji’s Meatballs
500 g mince, preferably fatty (ha!) not lean (Did I really say that?)
¼ cup finely chopped or grated onion
3 to 4 Tbs your favourite hard cheese (I used Cheshire the first batch and Cheddar the second. I am using Parmesan next)
Any herbs and spices you like – about 1 Tbs fresh herbs or 1 tsp dried – about ½ to 1 tsp spices. Up to you. (I used dried oregano and cayenne pepper*)
Salt and pepper to taste (I use Himalayan. Maldon as well)
Mix it up **
Fry the meatballs in a pan with about a tablespoon of your preferred oils/fats. (I used butter and olive oil for one batch and pork fat for the other. Will use coconut oil as well.)
*(Just a note on cayenne – it’s really good for circulation and our hearts. Google it for more great info.)
**Spread the meat out evenly on a tray or roasting pan and sprinkle the herbs and spices, onion and cheese on top. Lightly gather up the mixture, (kind of fold it up) and then squish it together and make into meatballs. It helps to roll them with oiled hands so the mixture doesn’t stick. Use coconut oil, it is really good for your skin!
This made about 24.
Keep in fridge in container. (Didn’t last long. Make a big batch and then you can freeze them too.)
Have a great day all you Banting Babes…and Boys!!!
Banting Babes…
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.
Banting Mania…
Banting has become quite the word in South Africa what with Prof Tim Noakes’ new book The Real Meal Revolution. Jonno Proudfoot and David Grier have put together some tasty recipes and the Prof has given some great science facts behind this Revolution.
Once upon a long time ago in the 70s, Dr Robert Atkins started up with the Atkins Diet which was somewhat revolutionary in the day, and later in the century many of us were low-carbing and yet there were so many nay-sayers and critics of the diet. However the low carb diets proliferated and there were quite a few doctors who advocated this way of eating. The doctors Heller, Eades, Diana Schwarzbein, Atkins were all talking the same language. Still the criticism abounded. Enter The Prof. Suddenly the diet hit the mainstream and everyone was talking about it as if it was the first time they had heard of low carb dieting. I think the word Revolution had a positive effect on the masses and suddenly low carb has once again taken centre stage, along with Paleo and Primal diets.
My experience with “low carbing” goes back a long way because of my insulin resistant, carbohydrate intolerant body. I have fought weight gain for many years and the Atkins diet was my first flirtation with low carb. I managed it for 9 months some years back and lost 16 kilos. I stopped the diet because everyone thought it was crazy, and to tell the truth, I was so tired of eggs and bacon and meat meat meat. I proceeded to put on all the weight I had lost and a whole bunch more. Soul destroying.
The interesting thing was that high fat didn’t really come into it, except for the Fat Fast suggested when one hit a plateau. The doctors Eades advocated good fats. Dr Schwarzbein listed coconut oil as a bad fat and a cookbook called Curb the Carb suggested that 30% of daily calories should come from fat. So many differing opinions and so much confusion for me.
Low Carb High Fat is what seems to have made the difference in Noakes’ version of Low Carb. A ketogenic diet calls for fat percentages as high as 80%. I own a fascinating book entitled Eat Fat to Lose Fat but it has taken The Real Meal Revolution to make it OK for me to really treat fat as a necessary nutrient, and more importantly for me and my raging appetite, to use fat as an appetite suppressant. I would much rather that than take some highly suspect pharmaceutical pill that has serious side effects.
Cautiously, (I am known for trying out anything to lose weight and have lost face countless times by giving up on so many diets) I have started Banting, along with my step daughter, my brother (who is a Banting inspiration and encouraged me to try it) and my sister-in-law and a close friend. In order to make myself more accountable, I have decided to make it public and to post my meal plans and experiences. Spooky stuff, going public! This will hopefully encourage me to stay the distance, which is actually for life. This is not a diet to start and then stop, obviously! Getting my head right was the first step, and daring to go low carb again after my dismal failure in the past was the next.
Tomorrow I will share my week’s meal plan and who knows, even a recipe or two might come out of it!
Vegetables, and more vegetables…
Probably the most difficult things for me to make sure I eat are good old green (and other colour) vegetables. When presented with them, I am all too keen to eat their green goodness but somehow the preparation of them for my consumption leaves something to be desired. I love wilted spinach with lemon juice and ground black pepper, and broccoli soup is delicious, while grated courgette pancakes are always welcome. Salads filled with organic foods from the garden are a treat, but the problem is that it all takes a little time and a bread sandwich is so very easy! Even rice cakes with avocado are easier than green pancakes! OK, avo is green but not always available.
So. Green smoothies and juices are in. At least I will know that I am getting in my essential five fruit and vegetables.
BUT!
The buck are eating my organically grown kale, chard and spinach while the monkeys are destroying my young onions and tomatoes, so drastic measures are necessary! I have one lone pak choy plant that has braved all assaults, including some vicious black frost that annihilated my young aubergine plants and the prolific green pepper plants that have been giving me some beauties for a few months now. My baby seedlings survived under cover and are my pride and joy and the hope of my future green juices. I am now going to be growing a variety of greens in big pots on the stoep which will give them enough shelter to grow into gorgeous green super foods.
Growing your own food is like printing your own money, so bug off you bokkies and you meddling monkeys! Take your hands off my bank!
Changing times, changing minds…
What is a mind if you can’t change it!
Just back from a short holiday which was spent visiting precious family and friends. It was an awesome time with not a photo to show, but loads of lovely visual memories to visit in the archives of my brain.
While visiting, I listened to my brother and SIL talking about Prof Tim Noakes’s new book Real Meal Revolution which is written with respected nutritionist Sally-Ann Creed, Jonno Proudfoot and David Grier. It would appear to be mostly Paleo, which is fast becoming the recognised diet of the day. A way of life really. Mark Sisson’s Primal (Grok on!) and all the low carb proponents, amongst whom there are numerous medical doctors who all have a similar take on turning the traditional food pyramid upside down.
Sally Fallon’s Eat Fat to Lose Fat is a must read for those who want to learn that coconut oil is a really healthy fat. Endocrinologist Dr Diana Schwarzbein’s 10 suggestions about food are as follows:
- Never skip a meal again (but only start eating after 10 am and finish around 7 – my note)
- Eat real, unprocessed foods
- Eat balanced meals
- Choose a protein as the main nutrient in your meal
- Add some healthy fats
- Add real carbohydrates
- Add non starchy vegetables
- Eat snacks
- Eat solid food
- Drink enough water
The oft maligned Dr Atkins’s diet if used correctly works like a charm (choose green vegetables over any man-made protein bars etc.). It’s getting round the thought of no bread that scares many because of the ease of using it for snacking and more.
This all boils down to fresh food. Meats and vegetables in their natural state, not processed. Simple really. At least that is how it looks on paper. Getting used to it and building a new lifestyle is another story. That is where discipline and commitment come in.
Even though the thought of giving up wheat rattles me (I truly love bread) I gave up sugar 3 months ago, following Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar programme and found that to be relativity easy. I lost 10 kilos but managed to put on 4 by eating too many carbs I have decided to make the next 8 week programme the I Quit Wheat challenge. Maybe if I picture the bread crawling with worms it might help!
I am committed to this no wheat programme and I am sure that 8 weeks will have a significant effect on any digestive issues I may have. Psyllium husk is waiting if I encounter any constipation problems, which sometimes happens if too much protein is eaten and not enough vegetables.
The GAPS diet is another reasonably low carb diet worth reading as it treats autism as well as generally healing and sealing the gut. Bone broths are the one thing I have taken out of that regime and I will be endeavouring to have them regularly throughout the day. Thank goodness for slow cookers! What a wonderful way to make bone broths overnight.
The upshot of all of this is that I am taking my dieting along the low carb high fat course in phases. First the sugar gone and now the wheat. Add in the bone broths and green drinks. That’s it for now. The rest will come in stages as I feel it.
Cosmic energies…
The cosmic energies are fluctuating and undulating more and more by the day and I seem to be getting clear messages from the angels, from Spirit. Time to prepare for changes. Time for purification. Time to tap in and listen.
Part of the purification process has inspired me to stop drinking, and the smoking is next. I feel that if I don’t I will be missing out on the finer details of this glorious life, this wonderful journey. It seems as if the angels, Spirit, Higher Self are inviting me to go deeper into this spiritual adventure.
The whole process has had me at times irritable, grumpy, curious, questioning, understanding, loving, listening, and ultimately, excited. One step at a time I scale the mountain and one step at a time I dance in the valleys. I am not alone and it makes me smile to know that I have angelic company wherever I may go.
Meditation brings me closer to the voice of my Higher Self, to suggestions from the Divine, and guidance from the angels. It brings me picture messages, voices, visions and light. In the stillness of my mind I can hear and see beyond the veil of this world.
I don’t know where this wave will take me but I am holding tight to the surfboard and going with the flow. Soon I will be able to stand up and take off. It is bound to be an awesome ride.
Fasting 16 hours, Feasting 8…
No No No.
No primal or paleo, no low carb, no low fat, no fads or fiddly things, no foolish mono-diets, no no no no no. Just intermittent fasting and eating healthy foods at least 70-80% of the time. By that I mean vegetables, and many of them raw, as well as all the other natural foods like chicken, fish and meat, grains, legumes, cheese, eggs, buttermilk, yogurt and even cream…and ice cream:)
Nothing is forbidden.
I forgot my own rule for a little while and nearly landed up in the depression ditch being frustrated and disheartened yet again. Fortunately good sense prevailed and I sighed a rather large sigh of relief as I dug into my delicious dinner of whatever I jolly well pleased and returned to the best way I know for me to lose weight – Intermittent Fasting.
Fasting allowed me to eat that gorgeous gourmet meal and thoroughly enjoy it, no guilt, no remorse, no excuses. I am just eating less, that is all. After all, it is energy in and energy out isn’t it? The secret to all weight loss.
Breakfast is now something I may eat at 12 noon, which is when I start eating. Water and herb teas are the only things I have in the morning and I have not felt dizzy, weak or dejected. That is because I am genuinely not hungry until noon and my body is having a well-deserved break. Feasting is from noon to 8 pm after which I am done with food and return to drinking water until I go to bed.
I find that I basically have one main meal in a day and the rest is pretty much snacking on healthy foods. After trawling the net for 100 calorie snacks I now have a comprehensive list written in my food diary to which I refer when needed. It is really handy information. Imagine this, you can have one meal of 750 calories, and really enjoy it, and then you still have at least 5 to 10 other 100 calorie snacks left over to enjoy in the 8 hour feasting period.
Well, that’s one way to look at it.
The fact that I can have pizza for my main meal of the day thrills me no end, and strangely enough, I haven’t had pizza in ages. The very fact that I can have it makes me not crave it. But I know I can have it anytime. After all, it is MOD (My Own Diet) and I make the rules:))
I used to think it very important to eat breakfast and I would argue that point quite strongly in the past. Not now though. I feel much better for not eating in the morning; far more energetic and lively. It just goes to show that we keep on learning and that we can change course at any age 
Keep on truckin’ mama!
Fasting ROCKS…
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!
More on Intermittent Fasting…
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.