Bodyrockin

I'm back to the grindstone, two days have already gone by in a flash! It's good to be busy but sometimes it's so exhausting. Nevertheless, I dragged myself out for a quick 3.5 miles last night. I don't think I would have gone if I hadn't agreed it early in the day with Eamonn. By the end of the run I was sprinting, it was great to shake the day off. I wasn't particularly hungry though, as I'd had a big pile of sunday dinner leftovers at lunch, so I had a tiny bowl of Quorn (fake 'chicken' made out of microscopic fungi) in tomato sauce, topped with nooch.

Later on I was peckish though, and that resulted in cake. Not the healthiest thing to eat in the evening, but it's sitting there!

Today started with Ready Brek made with soya milk and topped with frozen berries and a scoop of plain yogurt.

I had a really great lunch with a grated carrot and red pepper (I meant to turn the grating plate over to slice, but I was rushing so got grated pepper!), lots of lettuce, some Quorn and a scoop of cottage cheese, oh, and a few sundried olives, mmm.

I snacked on bananas (2) and had a few cups of coffee and lots of water.

I got home and tried some Bodyrock, the epic burpees one- I only got 200 reps done (half the workout) and it took me 35 mins which isn't too bad I guess although I did have to switch to press ups from the knees early on (I suck at press ups which is why I'm trying to do more strength training).

Dinner was baked brown rice, sauteed mushrooms and onions, boiled broccoli and a little blue goat cheese.

There was more cake...it was really tasty but I didn't feel so good after. I have been thinking of giving myself a break from desserts/sugar/refined carbs or something in March, but I haven't worked it out yet. I am happy with my main meals but I think my snacking could be 'smarter'. I am definitely going to challenge myself to improved eating habits next month so stay tuned!

First full day at home

Yesterday (monday) was my first full day back at home. I got up around 8:30 and managed to make myself some breakfast. I had soothing oats on the brain. I always go to oats when I need TLC.
I cooked some old fashioned oats in half water, half soya milk. Normally I would just use water but I was trying to sneak plenty of energy into my bowl. I added a chopped apple, raisins, vanilla and cinnamon. Despite all those lovely things, the bubbling pan didn't smell nice to me.



I knew I had to eat so I mixed a little soya yogurt and a bit more vanilla in and a little demerara (turbinado) sugar on top.



It was quite nice! But of course eating stimulated my pancreas and I got sore again. It settled a little but I had gotten really tired, so I went back to bed, and ending up falling asleep for 2 hours! I woke up after 1pm, feeling hungry, so I started making soup I had got ingredients for. It took quite a while, so I had some oatcakes and hummus to keep me going. Three little oatcakes deep I felt full, but I had a bowl of soup when it was ready.



Rice, lentil, pea and tomato soup. It was flavoured with onion, garlic, rosemary, thyme, basil and a little paprika and lots of black pepper.

After lunch I read for a while, then about 4pm I had a little Alpro caramel pudding, then walked over the road to my GP to leave in the letter the hospital gave me. I was exhausted when I came back, so I went back to bed for yet another 2 hour sleep.

Dinner was quick, 2 big bowls of the soup for my boyfriend, then packet mix falafel by Hale & Hearty (all natural ingredients) and grated carrot dressed with rice vinegar and lemon juice.


Awful photo, sorry!



Image source

Later on in the evening, there was an unpictured bowl of nectarine, frozen raspberries and plain soya yogurt.
I watched an hour and a half documentary of all the best bits of Blue Planet, perfect calming pre-bedtime TV.

I slept pretty well, woke up about 6 with some pain, took some tablets and got up at 8:30. Breakfast today was my favourite out-of-the-box gluten free cereal- plain, puffed brown rice from Rude Health. I had it with a nectarine, plain soy yogurt, and a squirt of chocolate syrup to stimulate my jaded tastebuds.



The puffed rice is so different from those awful Kellogg's Rice Krispies and their copycats- for a start the rice isn't hollow, it's much chewier and more substantial, but it's nowhere near dense. Perfect!




Image source

Happily, my pancreas didn't get too agitated after that. I've swapped my cup of coffee for peppermint tea until I'm feeling better. Caffeine stimulates the pancreas although in itself doesn't cause or worsen pancreatitis (it may even help prevent it), but when you have an active case, it's best avoided.

Today is much nicer weatherwise than yesterday- it bucketed and blew a gale pretty much all day. It's much brighter today although still windy. If I am not too tired I might go for a little walk around the park later.

Birchermuesli (aka Swiss-style overnight oats)

Last night I whipped up an old favourite:

1 apple, grated, skin and all

1/4 cup jumbo oats

1/2 cup oat milk

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

Then cover the bowl and leave it in the fridge overnight.

Next morning, I stirred in some of my raspberry oat milk yogurt and half a big banana.

This was soo good! Even though the oat milk and yogurt are fairly light, the whole combo tasted really creamy and the apple and raspberry gives it plenty of sweetness.

I got myself properly hungry for my breakfast this morning; I took a leaf out of Farty Girl's book and got up before sunrise for a nice run. I felt so energised the rest of the day!

Eats for the rest of the day were banana, kiwi and carrot sticks with homemade hummus. I have to confess to a small coffee after lunch...whoops! But nothing kills hummusy garlic breath like a cup of the bean..aaah. Now I'm hungry again! I walked to and from work and went for a little coffee walk in the middle of the day too. Time to whip up a green veggie concoction!

Fermenting friday

It's true that I have a bit of a thing for sensationalist news. I like to get myself all fired up and rant about the overwhelming abundance of stupidity out there. Today's find is a classic:

The Woman Who Wants to be Obese (The Guardian)

*deep breath* I don't think I need to say why I think this is sick.

Aaanyway. Today I am fermenting.

Pre-squishing- cabbage, salt, ginger, fennel seeds.

Post-squish

I stuffed it all in a jar, and there wasn't much liquid. So I squished some more, using a small jar to push it down. And...

I got more liquid out of it once it was in the jar, and it squished down quite a bit. I put a big cabbage leaf over the top, then stuck the lid on.

I've got some production rye sourdough on the go too.

Not sure what to do with the production sourdough, whether to make Borodinsky bread (with molasses, barley malt and coriander seeds) or a seeded rye, with lots of lovely buttery sunflower and pumpkin seeds. I have eight hours to make up my mind anyway! I'll have leftover production sourdough for the next loaf, so hopefully my rad (I'm keeping this mispelling of red, because it's so true, although the cabbage is more purple than red) sauerkraut will be ready to eat with some rye sourdough! According to my sister's Russian housemate, Russians have a pretty high incidence of colon cancer. This crossed my mind while I was in the kitchen this morning and for a split second I was reconsidering this sauer and sour combo. However, I reckon this is what's wrong with the Russian diet- they do eat rye bread and sauerkraut, but they eat with with a whole pile of meat. My meal will be high on the sauerkraut, with a little bread, and probably a big mixed salad on the side, which is what this friend of my sister's says is pretty low in the Russian diet-fresh vegetables. And they don't eat much fresh fruit either. So I reckon my colon is pretty safe!

I was very good at breakfast this morning- I had pinhead (steelcut) oatmeal with hummus instead of fruit or sugar! Go sugar free me!

I love these bowls- this one has a very pronounced spiral pattern that you get to see when you scoff all your oats. I got them at the Christmas Craft market at St George's Market.

Savouring the savoury

I'm still struggling with the sugar thing, but tasty savoury dishes like the above are helping- that was collards and aduki beans with a coconut, coriander, lemongrass and ginger sauce, served with millet. I made so much of this that there were leftovers for both lunch and dinner today.
Breakfast didn't win me top marks with the sugar police (I had some sugar and chocolate soy milk in my coffee, the jam on my oatmeal was sugar free, sweetened with apple concentrate instead), but I was off work as it was Ireland's national holiday, so I don't particularly care. That said, I actually preferred my next cup of coffee, which had no sugar added, just the tiny bit left at the bottom of the cup. It was the sugar we call demerara in the UK, but I think might be called Sucanat in the US. Not sure though. Before brekkie I had intended to go for a run, but realised just as I had climbed into my Skins and running skirt that I'd left my trainers in my parent's house. So I hopped on the exercise bike and then did some weights and squats, but I wasn't really feeling it. It didn't help that my tummy was upset this morning, it's still a bit iffy after all the soy milk and coffee I drank last week.
My skin is still really dry. This is it on a good day, it often cracks and bleeds. I reckon I should just moisturise more often, I use Lush's Dream Cream. I don't think there's much more I can do diet-wise to help with this problem. It sure does itch though, and it's hell doing the dishes (my get out clause, hehe) nevermind squeezing lemons. Ouch.
This was lunch, leftover collards, beans and millet from last night, grated carrot with toasted seeds, za'atar and lime juice and a big dollop of hummus. It shouldn't have worked, with the Morrocan spices in the hummus and the coconut/ginger of the beans and collards, but it was great. After this I went for a two hour walk and found some new places, but couldn't get any further along as the path got boggy and involved crossing a stream, and E didn't have the right shoes. It was fun. It was quite cloudy and still today though, so I felt really sleepy when we got back.
Being St Patrick's day, I had to eat green for dinner, so I made courgette (zucchini) pancake. It's basically just 3-4 courgettes grated and mixed with 1 cup of gram/chickpea/besan flour and spices of your choice. I did freshly ground coriander seeds and some garlic and smoked chilli mix that I had, plus a little salt and black pepper, oh, and 1/4 cup of nooch. The moisture in the courgette is enough to bind the mix together, then I cooked it in a little hemp oil in a large skillet. I steamed some green beans and tossed them in loads of fresh ginger, lime juice, sesame seeds and toasted sesame oil. I had the last of the coconutty collards/millet/beans and carrot salad from lunch. Delish! I sneaked a soy chocolate pudding after though...but I did turn down a raspberry beer.

I'm going to do Meghan Telpner's How Low Can You Go low GI challenge starting on sunday. I'm actually slightly terrified by this, it's going to be quite hard. But I think if I do it, it will make me feel AMAZING. All that said, until today I was viewing this whole sugar problem the wrong way. I was worried it would make me put on weight more than anything. And while that's not impossible, it's not that important, not as important as my actual health. I realised today that I *am* happy with my body now, I had actually set an even lower weight target of 112lbs and got down to 114lbs. I'm back to 116 and I know that feels healthy, and realistic to maintain. I don't want to have to live off fruit until lunch every day, I need my oatmeal, and I can't do without some healthy fats, like nuts and seeds, and I certainly can't do without the odd square of dark choc. I guess I'm just scared I'll go back to what I was before. I am a little bit of a control freak, surprise surprise. Keeping sugar out of my morning meal should help keep me on an even keel.

Sometimes, though, I do still have 'fat' days, but it's not that I'm actually fat- those days are the days when my bowels are playing up, when I'm bloated and crampy, and there's nothing like being crampy and windy to make you feel ugly, fat and decidedly unsexy. I really want to go for a colonic, so I'm going to try and get one organised for next month. I'm broke at the moment but I'd love to have one before I go on my walking trip in May. For now, trying to eat a bit more low GI, no sugar in the morning and going easy on the soy and coffee, as well as eating smaller meals, and maybe more often if necessary, is the way to go.

Snow day=kitchen day

Sunday is that one day of the week that if you use well time-wise, you'll skip through the week ahead. Otherwise you end up dreading hastily prepared lunches that quite often just don't 'work'. For that reason, I got up early this morning to get some sponge method rye bread started and to soak some chickpeas. By the end of the day, these lovelies will be cider rye bread and hummus. Other great things to do on sundays are cookies or flapjacks for week day snacking, oatcakes, a big vat of brown rice or pot barley for freezing in portion sized packs to speed dinner along and some salad dressing or toasty seeds for sprinkling on everything.

This is all made easier today by the fact that it has snowed. Ok, it wasn't a heavy fall, but it's excuse enough for me to stay in.

This morning, I discovered this tasty looking alternative to hummus- Muhammara

Picture courtesy of Closet Cooking

I don't have all the ingredients in the house, but I have to try this as a hummus alternative. I've tried a walnut beetroot dip before and wasn't fussed, I think the smoky sweetness of roasted pepper and smoked chilli would work better with the nuts. I can't believe I've gone so long without knowing about this! I guess I know very little about Levantine cuisine, although I like anything I've tried.

Another great snow day undertaking is Boston beans (or any verrrry slow bean dish). You can of course do this sort of thing on a work day as you can start it in a low oven or slow cooker in the morning and it'll be done for dinner. However, I don't have a slow cooker and wouldn't want to leave electrical equipment or an oven on all day while I'm out of the house. In any case, I'd never be organised enough in the morning to get a stew going- that's why I prep for weekday lunches on sundays as much as possible. So for me slow cook bean dishes are a weekend endeavour, everything in the Le Creuset for 8 hours. It means if it dries out a bit, I can check it, rather than coming home to a pot full of congealed, dried out, semi cooked haricots.

Boston beans

500g small white dry beans (haricot or cannellini), soaked overnight and brought to a hard boil for 10-15 minutes

1 large onion, sliced finely or chopped (whatever you prefer)

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2cm chunk of fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped

a small onion or shallot studded with 4 or 5 cloves (remove before serving), or 4-5 cloves in a little muslin bag, or 1/4 tsp ground cloves

4 tbsp molasses (black treacle would do)

4-5 dried chipotle chillis or 2 tbsp spanish smoked paprika (aka vegan chorizo substitute!)

3 bay leaves

several grinds of black pepper

t tsp dried mustard powder

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 cup ketchup (I'm using some smoky ketchup), put I've used passata before and it was lovely)

water

2 tsp salt

Put everything except the salt (it toughens the beans so put it in at the end) in a large casserole pot. Cover with water (more than you might think if you are going out and leaving it alone until it's done) and put in a 120 degrees fan oven (140 conventional) and cook for 6-8 hours, until the beans are very tender. Stir in the salt, remove the clove onion or bag if used, and serve with rice, pot barley, rye bread and/or steamed collard greens. This will definitely, as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is fond of saying, warm your cockles.

And what should you eat on snowy sundays? Oatmeal of course!

His: with vanilla rice milk, heated up frozen raspberries and rice malt syrup

Hers: with one sliced banana, and a teaspoon each of almond butter and rice malt syrup.

Naughty Valentine's day...

Mmm, red is the colour of lurrve. So I had the last of my raspberry compote on my pinhead (steel cut) oat porridge and I had a jar of nearly finished peanut butter so I scraped it out on to my porridge to use it up. YUM. That was weeding fuel, as we then went down to our new allotment. We got nearly a third of it completely weeded, but my hands were extremely painful after, so much so I was nearly sick. Two hours later and my fingertips are still on funny. As we got in the door, I had hot chocolate on the brain, when Eamonn asked if I had tried making vegan..."hot chocolate" we both said! So I put two cups of almond hazelnut rice milk in a saucepan, warmed it up and then added 60g grated chocolate (I chopped it finely with a knife as a cheese greater didn't seem a good thing to handle with numb fingers!) and 2 tsp cocoa powder. It was really good, really rich:) We continued the red theme with some red pepper hummus- sounds weird with hot chocolate, but I was hungry after that weeding!

IBS article

Control IBS with Proper Diet and Exercise

I thought this was fairly good. Personally though, I find cooked fibres much more troublesome than raw. Soup is a big trigger, but I can eat the same veg lightly cooked or raw e.g lightly cooked leeks, raw greens or carrot. I've found loads of great raw recipes in the KristenRaw, Choosing Raw and the Pure2Raw blogs. These girls are fantastic, they make the healthiest food the tastiest. I hope to try some ideas out at the weekend.

I didn't have a smoothie this morning as I'd had them all week. I had some porridge with my raspberry compote when I got into work, it made a nice change but I'm now convinced smoothies are the best breakfast. I had some soba noodle salad with soy beans and spinach for lunch and a dark chocolate bar, which was delish. I went for a good hard run when I got home and then had quinoa and spring greens barely warmed through with lots of garlic and chilli. So bloody good! I love the taste of quinoa, I could eat it on its own, but then I would say the same about spring greens, so deliciously sweet.