Adios

Unfortunately I am closing this blog. I have a lot of problems with Blogger (signing in, publishing...the little things) and am giving them the boot once and for all.

My new blog is at http://dailyadventures.wordpress.com and while it will be a bit more general than this one, I'll still be posting about the things I'm learning about food so I hope to see you there.

My Thoughts on Milk

I've never been a huge fan of milk. I was lucky enough to have been brought up on skim milk so have only occasionally known the horrors of full cream milk. Blah - just the thought of it makes me shudder. I haven't had any dairy products for a while but today I impulsively had an iced chocolate drink at the the new Borders which opened in Wellington a few weeks ago (disappointing btw - where are the books?? I've only had 2 Borders experiences - Singapore and Hawaii - and this one doesn't even come close!!). Moments later my nose started dripping non-stop and I had to buy a pocket pack of tissues just to manage the nasal flow! A coincidence? I think not!! The thing is - I had taken my chronically runny nose for granted (it's really that bad. I go through 1-2 handkerchiefs a day with the odd tissue thrown in for good measure) and all I need to do is give up dairy for good.

So I did a little bit of online research and found that there's a lot of evidence that milk is not your friend. Read Milk Sucks for the low down on how dairy production affects your health and the environment and Not Milk for an even more comprehensive look at this. And when Dr Weil says this - Casein, the protein in cow's milk can both irritate the immune system and increase mucus production. It is often associated with sinus conditions as well as with such problems as recurrent childhood ear infections, eczema, chronic bronchitis and asthma. It may take as long as to two months before you experience the full benefits of eliminating milk from your diet. - I know for sure that it's not all anti-dairy propoganda.

So I'll leave you with these thoughts and questions that I'm sure someone out there can answer:

• Humans are the only species that drink the milk of another animal.
• Could Mad Cow/CJD be spread through milk? I will never be able to donate blood thanks to my carnivorous ways over 4 years in London at the height of the Mad Cow outbreak so sensitive about this one!
• Is there a dairy free chocolate that tastes like milk chocolate?

Week 1's Results

I'm down 2.7kg and I am thrilled! The scales have only been going upwards in the last 10 months or so and it's nice to have such a dramatic drop to spur me on. I went shopping yesterday and remembered why I haven't done it much lately - is there anything so depressing as trying on clothes when you've gained weight?! ETL does work and I need to stick to the plan to get the results. I had a bit more stodge today than I should have but oh well....

B - pita bread pizza made with veges and avocado
L - none
D - vegetable risotto (tomato, mushrooms, corn and fresh herbs)

I had my first ever go at making risotto from scratch thanks to some encouragement from ShinyRuby who assured me that it was easy really. What I found was that it was definitely easier than I thought - I could take the occasional break from stirring, it had a lovely creamy texture (way more so than the packet mixes I've used in the past!!) and the stock and herbs made it full of flavour. Maybe it's time I started to put a bit more effort into cooking...

Day 7 - Moving Forward

The good news is that I think I'm going to be very happy with my 1st week's weigh in which I'll post tomorrow. The bad news is that I seem to be stuck in a diet mentality - which means that psychologically I start to rebel against what I know I "should" do and do the exact opposite, and I also revert back to some really well-entrenched bad habits.

Back to the good news - I accept that this is a work in progress. There are some things I've found really easy to give up (dairy products, alcohol, chicken - I don't eat red meat anyway, eggs) and heaps of things that I've found really easy to add (breakfast!!, beans, more veges and more fruit). So rather than beating myself up for every little (or big) slip up I'm going to start aiming for a better than average eating day rather than a perfect one. Some people will raise an eyebrow in response my less than stellar ambitions but I know me and I know that I'm not good at perfect (how I wish!...).

So be warned you may see the odd noodle in my menu, bread (not a huge fan but you never know) and on extreme occasions some smoked salmon. My goal is still to Eat to Live and it's still to eat real food so long as I'm eating that rather than junk food, then it's a better thing.

Day 4 - PMT + Stress = ??

Come near me at your own risk is all I can say!
My work project is doing my head in and I am tired!!
On the plus side I ate a bit better today. Go figure...

B - smoothie (berries, banana, kiwifruit, spinach, flaxseed)
L - sushi
D- salad with hummus

I realise that as nice as the smoothie was, it's not the right time for me to have that kind of meal. It was hard for me to drink and just not appetising for me at that time of the day. I'm going to stick with my beans for breakfast and add some veges to the morning mix instead.

Day 2 - Oops!

Does the title give anything away at all?! All my good intentions following breakfast were sabotaged by bad habits as soon as I arrived at work. Work is SUPER stressful for me at the moment and I resorted to some tried and true coping mechanisms - chocolate and coke. At least I had the good grace to feel ill afterwards!

B - 1/2 cup of baked beans, 1 feijoa
L - fried rice
D - cheese scone
Snacks - a whole lot of bad stuff.
Exercise - 1/2 hour session with my trainer

The secret to my success this week is going to be planning. This week is going to be tough but I have a strategy to make things as easy as possible. I hit the supermarket tonight and stocked up on fruit so I can start making breakfast smoothies. I also got some more beans (in case the smoothies don't do it for me). For lunch I'm going to head across the road from work to a great salad bar that allows you to "make your own" using fresh produce. Then for dinner I'll get some vegetarian sushi to take back to work (just this week honest...I hope!!).

So while today completely sucked, I have high hopes that tomorrow will rock!

Day 1 - April Fool

B - fruit (blueberries, bananas, apple, orange and kiwifruit)
L - salad (lettuce, red onion, corn and some left over chicken)
D - stir fried veges (bok choy, onion, broccoli and leftover chicken)
Snacks - hot chocolate (I know!)

I have to admit I have been pretty hungry today. The fruit was nowhere near enough to sustain me through to lunch time which was 3 hours later. It was pretty easy to order this for brunch at a cafe though. Luckily there was fruit and yoghurt - hold the yoghurt - on the menu but I can see that I'm going to need to really think about protein and how to factor it in regularly throughout the day. At the moment I'm thinking baked beans for breakfast, nuts for snacks, hummus for lunch and tofu for dinner but of course variety is the spice of life so this will be great one week but will get boring without some changes after that.

Nicole at Full of Veggies doesn't know this yet but she is my hero! I suspect I'm going to be reading her blog voraciously for inspiration. She lost 9.6lbs (about 4.4kgs) in her first week. If she can do it then I can aim for about the same. The big difference between the two of us is that she appears to be totally disciplined and I'm not! Damn me and my slovenly ways! Ah well...onwards and upwards. A bit of weight loss and a break from headaches should help keep me motivated!