South Beach Diet - Day 2

Ok, day 2 feels like it's gone a little better for me.  Still not got my routine down though - not had as much to eat as I'd hoped (now that seems like a strange thing to say when dieting!) due to yet another late start, so I'm feeling that I need to tackle this ASAP, because I'm starting to realise that I haven't had a proper routine for a while and have been allowing my stomach to dictate when & what I eat.  This could be part of the cause of my weight gain, and the increasing symptoms of my PCOS.  I feel like I had a "Eureka!" moment today when I noticed this.

Well, I started the day with my usual actimel probiotic drink - although I've had to switch to a fat-free version, and as I'm not allowed any fruits or fruit juices (only during phase 1, to get rid of those sugar cravings, which is fine cos I'm more of a veg person anyway) I figured I was better off with the original variety.

Then for breakfast I had turkey rashers & sliced tomato topped with mozarella - all grilled.  Verdict: winner!

Tried the veg juice again, this time on it's own - still not much better, after 2 hours I still had half a glass left so decided to chuck the rest away.  Verdict: binned.

For an afternoon snack, I had cubes of low-fat cheddar and some cherry tomatoes - very nice, filled a spot, but I felt like I needed more (or maybe that was due to my boyfriend stealing some of my cheese!)  Verdict: try again next time.

Dinner tonight was awesome! I was inspired by things I've had before, so I went for a chicken breast stuffed with goat's cheese & red pepper (I sliced the chicken breast across the top, in a butterfly style), tenderstem brocolli, spring greens, toasted pine nuts, roasted onion & red pepper slices (done in the oven with garlic and balsamic vinegar), plus a salad of rocket, lambs lettuce, celery, cucumber, cherry tomatoes & feta with a homemade balsamic dressing.  And here's the end result:

I might have overdone it with the toasted pine nuts, but they were so tasty and just seemed to bring the whole dish together - I was so pleased!  And I made a new discovery - I love spring greens!  I was a bit hesitant, but figured it was hightime I got out of my foodie comfort zone and tried something new - I had a nibble on a leaf before I cooked it, just to see what it'd be like and it tasted a lot like brussel sprouts, but once it was cooked it seemed to bring out a gentle sweetness that was just amazing!

For the salad dressing, I just mixed together a crushed garlic clove, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and a little wholegrain mustard.  Very tasty.





Verdict on tonight's dinner: WINNER!

It was the right amount for me - filled me right up, I didn't have any cravings and only 3 hours later do I fancy having a snack.  Will most definitely be doing this one again!

Well that's it on progress so far - now I'm off to find a snack that will do me til morning :)

South Beach Diet - Day 1

Right, how did Day 1 go? Well, I probably didn't get off to the best start because I was waiting on my shopping being delivered - and that didn't arrive until lunchtime.

So besides getting up late and not having any food til late lunch, let's see what I did manage to do:

1st try of soya milk (unsweetened) - interesting! I thought I was as well to try it, because I can't have my usual semi-skimmed milk (can have skimmed only, or other low-fat milk alternatives), but I'm glad I only bought a small carton! It didn't taste too bad, but the smell was pretty strong and off-putting - very nutty, with a hint of cardboard, and reminded me too much of some funky rice pudding for me to enjoy it.  Verdict: binned.

My next new "buy n try" was vanilla protein powder. Sadly my first attempt at mixing it with something (vegetable juice - see below) was beyond yuck and put me off.  But I've realised I maybe just need to research it more, to get ideas of what I can do with it, and think it will probably be of more use to me at phase 2 - when I'll have more food choices.  Verdict: try again next time.

So onto the veg juice - I got some V8 to try, as it's recommended in the book to have a glass of vegetable juice every day.  I must admit, I was trying a shortcut by combining my breakfast & lunch options in one go (since it was getting on for 1pm) and somehow thought it would be good to try blending some of this veg juice with the protein powder.  I was wrong.  Very, very wrong! It was so horrible that after the first sip, I felt physically sick at the thought of having any more, so sadly it went down the sink.  Verdict: try again next time.

Finally I found a winning combo - turkey rashers, tomatoes and scrambled egg.  The main thing with the 1st 2 weeks is pretty much all carbohydrates are off-limits - that means no pasta, rice, potatoes or bread.  Which are all pretty much my staples - already I was missing my morning cereal, and it's only day 1! But the turkey rashers are yummy - I grilled 2 of them, along with 2 tomatoes, and scrambled 2 eggs on the hob.  Verdict: winner!

All this just for some breakfast!

Dinner went a little better - I'd had time to think, so was able to get a bit more creative.  I decided on pork medallions, marinated in soy, ginger & balsamic vinegar, accompanied with grilled asparagus & green beans, plus a side of butter beans in a tomato sauce (homemade - so no sugar or additives).  Unfortunately I didn't take a pic of this, but it was delicious and I will be doing this one again.  The only thing is I'd decided against doing a side salad, because my plate was beyond full with all those veggies piled on, but I was actually still hungry afterwards so really could have done with something more.  Verdict: potential winner, but needs work.

As a late-night snack I had some Greek yoghurt, with a little of the vanilla protein powder mixed in to help fill me up (my tummy was on the verge of rumbling again, since dinner didn't fill me up) and a handful of cashews.  Verdict: tasty.

Overall, I think once I got over the initial teething problems I did ok - but I didn't follow the diet rules as closely as I should have.  The whole idea of this diet is to level out blood-sugar levels by eating regularly, and I soooo didn't do that - so it's no wonder I didn't feel full.  I'm meant to have 3 full meals (breakfast, lunch & dinner), with 2 snacks and a dessert thrown in.  I only managed breakfast - actually more like brunch - and dinner, with a late-night snack.  I did finish the night with a hot chocolate - thankfully, I only use cocoa powder anyway for my hot chocolates, so it wasn't too much of a hardship for me haha! Instead of using sugar, I used fructose instead (fruit sugar) and added a little skimmed milk to the boiled water.  I think that could be my nightly treat!

South Beach Diet - The Start!

Alright, I said in a previous post that I hate "fad" diets.  That hasn't changed.  But I have been feeling that I need to change my routine up a bit, sort out my eating habits and I desperately want to lose weight.  So for inspiration, I read through the weight-loss post of my fave fitness blogger, Fitnessista - this chick is awesome, she always posts inspirational things and lots of pretty pictures about yummy foods etc, and she also managed to lose 40lbs a few years ago.  So I found her weight-loss post here, and I noticed that she mentioned the South Beach diet.

It's not one I'd heard of before, but I was interested enough from the things Fitnessista said to read up on it - and it actually sounded like the kind of thing I was looking for.  In a nutshell, it's not one of these diets that's designed to help you lose weight then that's the end of the story, you can go back to your old habits.  Here's what I like about it (without sounding like I work for their marketing team) - it was written by a doctor, has 3 different phases (phase 1 is the shortest, lasting 2 weeks & designed to kick-start your metabolism & get rid of cravings, then phase 2 is about slow & steady weight loss by making healthy food choices, then phase 3 is pretty much the rest of your life - according to the book, by the time you've reached your goal weight you should know what's good/bad so there's not really much in the way of what you can/can't have at this stage) and it's basically designed to teach you good eating habits you can keep up for life - definitely my kinda diet!

So now that I've explained my reasoning behind trying this diet, I'll be blogging about my progress - but not in a "You have to try this diet!" way, just really to see if it works and if anyone is interested in trying it out then it might give an idea of the positives/negatives.

Watch this space...!

Stereotypes, perceptions & assumptions....the mother of all f***-ups

One thing I keep re-learning as I get older is that stereotypes and assumptions are never good - they block you from seeing what's really there, or understand what's really going on.  It's like you get some sort of mental block from reality.

People form stereotypes, or make assumptions, all the time - and it happens everywhere.  I see it when I'm driving, and the driver behind assumes I have the same intentions as him/her (discovered this on a frightening level recently, when I had to drive on a spare tyre with a maximum speed limit of 40mph for safety reasons - I even had lorries swerving out at the last minute, when there was nothing else on the road and they could clearly see me from a mile off, with them frantically flashing their lights as if to say "move out the way" and I'm thinking "I can't go any faster, you're gaining on me like there's no tomorrow and you want me to move?!?").  I also see it at work, when a colleague reacts in some weird way if a patient discloses they have schizophrenia (they become so wary, as if they've just been put in a cage with a hungry lion) because they assume, no thanks to the media, that all schizophrenics are knife-wielding lunatics.

Sneezing, sniffles, coughing....? Winter is on it's way!

Well September is here already - almost can't believe it, except I've managed to catch a cold already!

Colds are horrid things - they're (usually) not serious enough to warrant medical intervention, but you can be stuck with one for weeks.  They make you feel miserable, with all the coughing/sneezing/runny nose, and the thing that drives me mad is you just have to wait it out.

I do have a coping strategy though - I stock up on my vitamins/minerals, drink plenty of water & fruit juice, rest as much as I can and aim for healthy & wholesome foods.  Whether they work or not (and I believe they do) is only part of the story - I also do it to make myself feel better.  And I think that's usually half the battle - when you're ill, trying to stay positive is really hard work so I try to focus on doing the little things that help.

So I figured today would be a good day to get started on my cold-busting tactics.  I stopped off at the health shop earlier to get my vitamin C + zinc, anti-viral tissues, antibacterial hand gel and for some reason, lentils.  I don't know why, but I always reach for lentils when I'm feeling sick - and today's choice was puy.

My mind power is running pretty low at the moment, so rather than try to invent something new I had a quick search for recipes that inspired me.  Two main ingredients were on my search list - eggs (because I have plenty and want to use them) and of course the puy lentils.  And this is what I settled on: