Day 21: Dinner

Duck stir fry.

Strips of duck breast, pak choi, water chestnut, onion, garlic, ginger.  Very yummy!

Day 21: Lunch

Chicken and bacon salad and a sparkling water.

Eaten out at Caffe Verdi, a local cafe.  It was very nice, think the chicken might have been salted which always makes it more tasty.  Had to eat out as we had nothing in and I was in a rush!

Day 21: Breakfast

Plain and simple scrambled eggs.

Busy start, and after two cheat day, back to this.  Still not particularly enjoyable though!

Day 20: Lunch

Cheating Again!!!

Today was the 75th Birthday of my grandmother-in-law, and we had thrown a surprise party for her.  My plan was to be good yesterday so that I could cheat today, but as you've seen from yesterday's posts, that didn't quite work out.  My plan was then to try to be good today, but that soon went to pot too!  Unfortunately, where I was helping out with organising on the day, I didn't diligently take snaps of everything that passed my lips, in fact hardly anything, but I'll try to give you an honest account!

Above is an example of the sort of thing that was in abundance and I can safely say I will have eaten around 10 of these mini treats.  I also had a glass of champagne and 2 pints of sparkling elderflower cordial, but the rest of the time stuck with cups of tea (it was a very hot day, 28 degrees centigrade, and it was non stop!).

There was also buffet food, which I ended up having for both lunch and tea.  I honestly can't tell you why there's no snaps of this, looking back I can't remember!  Must try harder next time.  They say with food diary logging, like the apps on your phone that track calories etc, that it's not the things you track that do the damage, it's the things you decide not to, as it gives you free reign.  This is the case here too, and there's less excuse as a little photo with your phone is quick and easy.

The buffet I had was mainly coronation chicken, sausages, some quiche and salad.  I did manage to steer clear of the breads and pastas.  I figured if I was going to be naughty, I wouldn't be wasting it on those foods,  I'd save it for the amazing puddings on offer!  Speaking of those, I think I probably had 3 bowls of Eton Mess!  If you haven't heard of it, it's a simple but delicious dish; meringue, strawberries and whipped double cream.

We'll see tomorrow what the damage is in terms of results!

Day 20: Breakfast

Stuffed mushroom and roasted red peppers.

I realised as soon as I'd eaten this that I had gone wrong!  Cheese!  Not the best start to the day, but nevermind.  Didn't eat the sweet potato though, not that appetising first thing in the morning, cold and dry.

Day 19: Late Night Snack

Tea bread, butter and a cup of tea.

To finish off my cheat day in style I had a late night snack of my wife's homemade tea loaf which is made with All Bran breakfast cereal, tea bags and usual cake ingredients.  It is seriously nice, even more so with butter on!  This type of food is my biggest weakness.

Day 19: Dinner

Fish and chips!

Having had my best intentions scuppered at lunch, I decided that today would become a cheat day.  It has been exceedingly hot today, and whilst I love it, my wife and three girls were suffering so we decided to head to the beach!  We had lots of good and active fun running along the beach and swimming in the sea, but my middle daughter Jess has developed an obsession with chips and tomato ketchup at the seaside!  So seeing as she has me wrapped around her little finger, that's what you see us all eating here.  And very nice it was too!

Day 19: Lunch

CHEAT ALERT: Pork belly sandwich, with tortilla chips and a pint of bitter lemon and soda water.

Was out to lunch with my business partner in the training company we run.  He's moved into a new house in a new area so we checked out the local pub!  It has exceedingly nice food, but not a single item that fell in line with my diet aims, not even with some common substitutions like I had done before.  I therefore decided to hell with it and went for something that is one of my all time favourites; pork belly!  The whole thing was very nice indeed, good quality ingredients, even if it was white bread!  The pork had some almost chinese style herb and spice flavouring to it and was to die for!  I did resist the pint of beer that my partner had though!

Day 19: Breakfast

Scrambled eggs.

We were lacking entirely in food today, so I had to make do with plain scrambled eggs.  I've said it already, but I'm steadily getting more adamant; plain eggs like this are not appealing.  Actually that's an understatement, they are getting almost intolerable!  I really had to force down the last few fork-fulls.

Day 18: Dinner

Roast chicken with wholegrain mustard.

Not the most balanced meal I know, but I got home pretty late from London, where I'd been heavily active all day, and I just scrounged what I could that fitted my diet.  This was there and it was easy, so here it is!  Better than the marmite on toast, cheese toasties, cereal or other quick snack that would have been my go to meals just a couple of weeks previous.

Day 18: Lunch

Spinach and basil salad, with tomatoes, green peppers and tuna.

I was super prepared for my trip into London.  Went to the shops with my sister the night before and made my salad fresh that morning.  I also took a small bag of almonds to snack on through the day and a 2ltr bottle of Evian.  Traditionally, this would be my downfall.  Any trip out for the day would automatically trigger some form of eating out and that would normally end up being something tasty over something nutritious.  This didn't take too much effort, tasted great and saved me a fortune!  It definitely pays to be prepared.

Day 18: Breakfast

Scrambled eggs and roast gammon joint.

I'm almost entirely sure I took a photo of this, but cannot now find it uploaded at all.  I made the eggs in my parents microwave, and I realised how much better eggs are from the pan.  If you habitually use the microwave, I urge you to start making things in the pan and see how much better they taste.  This is true of many things, the things that come to mind most are scrambled eggs, porridge, and baked beans!  If you pushed me though there are probably several other things I can think of too.  Yes, it's more of a pain in the arse to wash up, but this has the added bonus of making you decide if you do really want that food!  We actually took the decision to give our microwave away to charity for health reasons.  I'm not 100% sure it's bad for your health, but I have read things either way; not so much from peer-reviewed scientific journals, but anecdotally from health literature.  When you couple the nicer tasting food with the potential risk it just made sense to us and I'm not sure we'll look back.

What was interesting about my visit to my parents was the fact that they have taken an interest in this project and that it is modifying their behaviour, even if it is only slightly.  To paint a picture, my parents are not the healthiest.  Both are sedentary, both used to be heavy smokers (Dad has now given up for a year), both have persistent niggling and serious health issues, and both have a relatively poor diet, due to my Mum's disinterest in cooking and their mutual interest in processed junk food!  I may well keep you posted with any progress on the parents front, they've certainly sat up and taken notice at the results, so we'll see!

Day 17: Dinner

Chilli con carne, with minced beef, kidney beans, peppers, mushrooms, garlic, mixed herbs and spices.

This was made for me by my sister.  I was staying with my family in London as I was on a course the next day.  She happened to have it going spare and let me demolish it!  Knowing my sister, this won't have been absolutely 100% in line with what my diet aims are, but beggars can't be choosers, and I was grateful for the tasty hospitality!  I believe there were baked beans included, and probably a couple of sugar laden sauces.  All in all though, not too bad at all.

Day 17: Lunch

Homemade spicy tomato and kidney bean soup.

My wife made this for me, she makes fantastic soups and they are surprisingly easy to do.  This uses a homemade stock from meat, fresh tomatoes, kidney beans and various herbs and spices.  As you can see from the photo, my bowl was actually full to the top, but I nearly forgot to take a photo at all!  Very nice indeed, and the beans add to the protein intake a little.

Day 17: Snack

Handful of brazil nuts.

Day 17: Breakfast

Scrambled eggs, ham and tomatoes.

Was at work and I'm lucky enough to have access to some food, not always the best, but today's ham was good even if the tomatoes were a bit flavourless!  A welcome variation on my egg breakfast.

Day 16: Dinner

White Fish (Coli), cabbage, broccoli, peppers and sweet potato.

After my big breakfast, I didn't feel the need for any lunch, so went straight to dinner.

Day 16: Breakfast

Sausage, bacon, egg, tomatoes and mushrooms.  Coffee with cream.

Don't know why, but I really felt I needed this!  Bought at my favourite local cafe, Garton's.  Good quality ingredients and always tastes good.  Breakfast of the champions!

Day 15: Dinner

Calves liver, bacon and fried onion accompanied by some more of the squash & chickpea stew from the other day.

Words don't describe how much I love calves liver!  This was delicious, that's all I've got to say about it really.

Day 15: Snack

Handful of almonds.

No time for lunch again today.  This got me through without feeling too hungry.  

As I look back at this blog, I can't believe how many lunches I've missed!  This is not at all normal for me.  In fact everyone who knows me, knows me to be a pig when it comes to food.  I'm notorious for being able to polish off a lot, and to do it time and again.  Since I've changed to this more whole food and high protein and fat diet, my appetite is far more under control, which is great!  I'm not battling to eat less.