Saturday

Weight is down 1.6kg since last Saturday. Not surprising really, since I evacuated the entire contents of my stomach on Thursday and hardly ate anything on Friday. I’m feeling quite ‘ribby’ at the moment.

This morning for breakfast I had a smoothie with peanut butter, Sun Warrior protein, banana, 100% fruit blueberry jam, silverbeet, flax meal, cocoa, almonds and water. I also had a slice of multigrain toast spread with almond butter:

Lunch was a piece of frittata with mushrooms, spinach and basil, with some sundried tomatoes and capers sprinkled on top:

In the afternoon we went to the Brunswick Green for birthday drinks with our neighbours. Here’s the view from the back of the garden bar:

I had a glass of pinot noir:

and picked up a small pizza from the place next door. It had artichokes, tomato, goats cheese, eggplant, garlic, pumpkin and sundried tomatoes:

When we got home I had a custard apple:

Friday

Not much food to report today (and no pics sorry, too pooped). Due to having an upset stomach, I’ve just been sipping on diluted Gatorade for most of the day.

I had a little bit of work left to do this morning to meet today’s deadline, so did it in bed – yay for laptops!

Watched Julie and Julia on Foxtel Box Office this afternoon. It’s about a woman (Julie) who decides to cook her way through Julia Child’s recipe book in a year. The movie flicks back and forth in time between Julie, as she blogs about cooking from Julia’s book, and Julia, as she actually writes the book. I enjoyed the movie – it had some light touches of humour and it was interesting to watch a movie about a food blogger. Meryl Streep did a good job of portraying Julia Child, down to her voice, although the tone of her voice made her a bit hard to understand at times.

I finally got my appetite back about 7pm so had some scrambled eggs on toast and an apple, then before bed I had a homemade protein bar. That’s it!

Thursday

Breakfast today was Maple Trail Mix Oatmeal (made with soy milk and maple syrup, plus two egg whites cooked in):

I never thought I’d say this but I’m getting sick of sweet breakfasts. Might have to have something savoury next week.

For morning tea I had a homemade protein bar and some celery:

Lunch today was a bit of everything - black beans, stir-fry leftovers, avocado, pumpkin seeds, red onion, tomatoes and spicy tofu:

When I saw passionfruit in my fruit and vege box this afternoon I knew exactly what I wanted to make for my afternoon tea: Kek’s Passionfruit souffle omelette. I didn’t have all the ingredients, so had to make a couple of substitutions (I used low-fat plain yoghurt, passionfruit pulp and stevia instead of Dairy Farmers Light Vine Passionfruit yoghurt; no ricotta; and gluten-free flour), but it still tasted delicious!

Warning, you may not want to read the following while eating.

I had a suspicion that the vanilla whey protein I have been using was what gave me a sore stomach for a couple of weeks at the start of this month. I’ve been having rice protein or chocolate whey protein (a different brand to the vanilla) for the last few days. Rob had some of the vanilla whey on Tuesday morning, and he was vomiting by early evening.  I thought it was just because dairy products don’t usually agree with him, but when I had it again this afternoon in my omelette, I literally got food poisoning. My stomach bloated up, then I started vomiting and having diarrhoea. I think there might be something wrong with the protein powder we have, but regardless it is the last confirmation for me that whey protein and I do not mix. I am going back to plant-based protein powders, for good.

Wednesday

Happy Birthday to Us! Rob and I have our birthdays on the same day; he is just a year older than me. Since his is the even-year birthday this year, it was his choice what to do.

We both took the day off work, and after getting up I had a homemade protein bar and coffee:

 

Then Rob and TJ walked me to the gym. I took my camera with me since we were going to be going out for brunch afterwards. I love the light in the bathrooms at the gym – I feel like I look bigger and leaner there than in any other mirror!

After my workout Rob met me at the gym then we caught the tram to Brunswick to our favourite cafe, Green. For brunch I had pistachio and cranberry toasted muesli:

 

and fruit toast:

 

The food was delicious but we had two women sitting at the table next to us gossiping loudly in a really negative way and it brought the atmosphere down. We were glad when they left.

After relaxing a bit we caught the tram into the city. We had a late lunch at Grill’d at Melbourne Central. I had a Field of Dreams burger – grilled field mushroom, roasted peppers, basil pesto, tasty cheese, salad and herbed mayo, on a gluten-free bun:

The top bun on the burger was huge and I didn’t eat it all:

I had my water though!

We are both Hoyts Club members, which gives us a free ticket to any movie at any Hoyts theatre on our birthdays. Rob wanted to see Book of Eli, and it was showing in the Director’s Suite at Melbourne Central at 4pm today. We had the whole theatre to ourselves!

The movie was pretty good – I didn’t know much about it before seeing it, so the content was quite intriguing and there was an interesting twist at the end. In saying that though, I probably wouldn’t pay full price to see it at the movies. And it was quite violent, so be warned!

After the movie we caught the train home. We talked about birthday cake on the train, so when we got home I started flicking through the ‘sweets’ section of my folder of recipes. I had been thinking of flourless chocolate cake, and Rob had mentioned banana or carrot cake, all of which would have required leaving the house again to get the necessary ingredients. Then I got to the recipe for Raw Vegan Brownies. I looked at the ingredients: walnuts? check; dates? check; cocoa? check; avocados? check; agave nectar? check; coconut oil? check; vanilla? check; salt? check; cinnamon? check. Brownies are go!

While they were ‘uncooking’ I had a glass of cab merlot:

An hour later and the brownie was ready. I enjoyed a big slice with a cup of decaf coffee:

It was a nice relaxing day.

Water with meals: 4/4

Tuesday

A few weeks ago I tried one of these:

Organic Food Bar, Protein variety

Ingredients: Organic Almond Butter, Organic Brown Rice Protein, Organic Dates, Organic Agave Nectar, Organic Bio Sprouts - Flax, Organic Biodynamic Raisins, Organic Sesame Seeds.

Nutritional information: 330 calories, 13g fat, 33g carb, 22g protein

I liked it because it was tasty, filling, and didn’t contain whey, gluten or processed ingredients like a lot of other protein bars.

Here’s my version:

Homemade Protein Bars

(makes 8)

Ingredients

• 8 Tbsp (160g) Melrose almond spread
• 8 scoops (approx 170g) unsweetened brown rice protein*
• 1 cup (184g) dried dates (the pitted ones!)
• 8 tsp (64g) agave syrup (I used dark agave)
• 8 tsp (16g) flax meal
• 8 tsp (40g) raisins
• 8 tsp (24g) sesame seeds

Method

Using a food processor or similar, mix all ingredients together until they are finely chopped and sticking together (you may need to add a little water, depending on the brand of rice protein you use).

Lightly grease a rectangular dish (I used a medium-sized Pyrex dish). Empty the mixture into the dish and press out so that it spreads to fill the dish. If you’d like your bars to have a smooth top, place a sheet of baking paper over the mix and rub over it with the back of a dessert spoon. Remove the paper.

At this stage you can cover the dish and place it in the fridge to help the mixture stick together more (or not, if you’re like me and couldn’t wait). Use a sharp knife to cut the contents of the dish into eight ‘bars’ (run the knife under hot water if it gets too sticky to cut cleanly). 

Each day I’ve been taking a piece out and having it for my morning tea.

You could cut and individually wrap each portion though.

*I tried making this with chocolate Ladybird rice protein and it was way too sweet (the dates, agave and raisins are sweet enough).

For this batch I used Lotus Organic Brown Rice Protein Concentrate (bought from my local health food store), which contains lots of spices, so it’s almost like eating gingerbread – yummy! Unfortunately it’s quite expensive. For the next batch I’ll try natural Sun Warrior Protein.

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Today I was inspired by Leigh Peele’s post 30 Days – No Problem. She wants to see how people react to a 30-day challenge if they are given lax requirements and unknown reasons for reward.

Instructions on how to enter the challenge and information about the reward are listed in the post.

I decided to enter, not so much for the reward, but because I have a habit I want to work on: drinking more water. So for the next 30 days I’ve challenged myself to drink a glass of water with each meal. It might not sound like much but I often forget to drink water (don’t enjoy it) but never forget to eat. I’m hoping that by trying to have a glass of water with each meal, I’ll increase my water consumption and improve my hydration. And since I take photos of my meals (and will be including the glass of water from now on), I’ll be able to ‘measure’ my compliance.

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Breakfast today was Empty Peanut Butter Jar Oatmeal (I used fresh strawberries instead of frozen mixed berries, and less stevia),

Here’s the almost empty jar:

and here it is filled with the oats:

I also had two boiled egg whites:

For my morning snack I had a homemade protein bar and some celery:

 

Lunch was Crispy Roasted Chickpeas with Moroccan Spices and spicy tofu on salad of romaine lettuce, kale, coriander, spring onions and tomatoes:

For my afternoon snack I had almond butter mixed with rice protein and stevia, and apple slices:

Dinner was a stir-fry with chicken, carrots, broccoli, peas, onion, tamari, chilli, ginger, garlic and sesame oil:

 

Later I had a kangaroo sausage and some cashews:

 

and an apple:

Water with meals: 6/6

Monday

Enjoyed reading the following post today. Here’s the intro:

Help! How do I get started?

I'm out of shape, bad diet, and I need a kick to get going! Any advice on how to start? My mind is in stop mode and cannot get into first gear. I read all the time about protein, creatine, carbs, etc. How do you start? What do I take? Menus, fitness!! Aaaaarrrgghghgh! Help?

Read more

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Today’s breakfast was Apple Crumble Oatmeal (made with soy milk, no Splenda):

 

plus an egg-white puff with peri peri sauce:

For a snack I had a homemade protein bar and celery:

Then I went down the road to do a couple of errands and go to the gym. Someone was using the squat rack so I substituted with Smith squats. For a ‘meathead’ gym, it’s odd that there’s only one squat rack but two Smith machines.

After training I had some rice protein and raisins:

I followed that with a late lunch based on Meghann’s Mexican Casserole; I was out of salsa, but had some leftover tomato puree to use up from last night’s soup, so decided to mix that into the casserole with some chilli flakes. I also put the cheese and yoghurt on top instead of cooking it into the casserole. I think salsa would have been nicer, but just made do with what I had:

 

For dinner I had spicy chicken stir-fry with peanut sauce:

 

and an apple:

 

Later I snacked on a mix of protein powder, cocoa, strawberries and walnuts:

Sunday

For breakfast this morning I had an old favourite, bircher muesli (recipe below):

Bircher Muesli
This is a handwritten recipe from my folder. I have no idea where it came from, but I can't take credit for it. It makes four serves, but the recipe can easily be halved or quartered.

Step one
Mix the following ingredients together and soak overnight
- 2 cups rolled oats
- juice of 2 lemons
- 1 cup water

Step two
In the morning, prepare the following ingredients
- 2 granny smith apples, grated
- 2 cups plain yoghurt*
- 6 Tbsp honey**
- fresh fruit***
- 4 Tbsp nuts, chopped****
Add apple, honey and yoghurt to the mix from step one. Serve into 4 bowls and top with fruit and nuts.

Notes
* I used a low-fat yoghurt but Greek yoghurt is nice for a creamy taste.
** Unless you have a sweet tooth, I don't think you need this much honey. I used 1 tsp per serve and drizzled it over the top of each serve instead of mixing it in.
*** I used strawberries.
****I used almonds.
Cinnamon also adds a nice touch.


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I also had a couple of boiled egg whites with my muesli:

I read the paper then had my morning snack, a homemade protein bar and some celery:

After Rob and I walked TJ to the supermarket to get our groceries, we had lunch. Today I had salad with romaine lettuce, kale, coriander, spring onions, salsa, black beans, avocado, pumpkin seeds and spicy tofu:

My afternoon snack was a mix of choc protein powder, cocoa, diced plums and walnuts:

Dinner was Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup (I used low-fat yoghurt instead of sour cream, and cheese and avocado for the toppings):

I also had some trail mix for an evening snack (x 2):

Saturday

I’ve been making my oats in the evenings lately. I’m glad they were waiting for me this morning as I had a sleep-in and was feeling a bit shaky when I got up. So I didn’t bother with girth measurements this morning; I just jumped on the scales then heated up my breakfast.

[Side note: my weight was the same as last Saturday. I’ve started exercising again since then but have eaten more – due to the exercise increasing my appetite and being pre-menstrual. Overall I’m happy I’ve been able to maintain my new low achieved last weekend.]

This morning I had Honey Nut Oatmeal:

and a couple of boiled egg whites:

Then we were out the door to go and look at a house we are interested in. I had my morning tea on the train on the way home.  A protein drink:

 

and an apple and some almonds:

Lunch was Crispy Roasted Chickpeas with Moroccan Spices and spicy tofu on salad of romaine lettuce, coriander, spring onions and tomatoes:

For afternoon tea I had ultimate chocolate mousse topped with a couple of strawberries:

and a protein shake:

Dinner was a shared affair with our neighbours

I had pizza (inspired by Meghann's) made on a gluten-free wrap with tomato paste, kale, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, goat cheese and swiss cheese (x 2):

and a glass of sparkling shiraz:

We sat outside until quite late. I finished up with soy hot chocolate: