Going strong!...

I am loving this Low GI lifestyle. I started on the 5th of May and I have not looked back since then. It means that this is long-term and a true change of my way of eating. There can be nothing better than that.

The recipes have been mostly great and this morning I made myself Green Pea Soup (not split pea soup) for breakfast. Yes - for breakfast:) It came from Eating for Sustained Energy 3. What great books. The soup contains onion, garlic, lean bacon, courgettes, (I changed that from baby gem squashes because that is what I had in the fridge) potato, frozen peas, chicken stock, lite evaporated milk and fresh grated nutmeg. Yummeeeee! I had one and a half servings. 383 calories. One serving was just not enough.

The reason I made the soup is because I have not been eating enough vegetables and I reckoned that this was a good way to get a few in. It is a twofold reason in that I am also trying out different soups for my tea garden as the menu is based on Low GI foods. If it is good for me then it must be good for everyone. I love herbs and spices so the foods that I offer are filled with flavour and there is no way that someone would think it was "diet" food.

My one week holiday was a great success in that I did not put on an ounce. I did not lose but I did not put on and that is a huge plus. We are making Leek and Potato soup for tonight as well as Beef Chilli to be served with brown rice and a garden fresh salad. My lettuces are growing beautifully and the new salad garden is looking promising. The spinach is all growing so beautifully and the tomato plants are sporting their little yellow flowers with the promise of red luscious fruit to come. These are all planted with companion plants and organically grown. We make our own compost and I have supplemented with Seagro and Nitrosol - all organic. It is now time to plant root vegetables as the moon is on the wane. I have some carrots, onions and beetroot seeds just waiting to go in. It is so satisfying to eat from my own garden! At least I will know that it is truly organic!

On to the rest of this lovely day...

8 kilos gone in one month!...

It may seem like a lot and in some ways it could be construed as too fast - 8 kilos in one month - but I have a lot to lose and therefore it goes quickly in the beginning. It will soon slow down and I will need to accept it because it is healthier to lose slowly and steadily.

This new way of life is taking a little getting used to and I still have to look up a lot on my tracker or in my low calorie/low fat counter but it gets easier as the weeks go by. Beans beans beans, whole grains and of course lots of green vegetables. Fortunately I like this kind of food.

This week I managed to do a 55 minute session of exercise which resulted in painful knees! It was possibly the step exercises. The weights part was great though. There's something called chair dancing that I found on YouTube which looks like fun and since it is a little cold for swimming, maybe this is a good thing to do. I need to lose a bit more weight before I try more step exercises!

I have added more fibre to my diet in the last week and feel that it is helping the weight loss along. More fibre serves to make me feel full more quickly. It seems that I have been doing all kinds of wrong things over the years. Dieting is one of them! When I was doing low carb I know that I didn't have enough fibre and generally speaking I didn't have enough vegetables as well, and way too much fat. Since changing my eating habits over the last month I have learnt so much and honestly feel better. Although I eat much less fat, I still cook with grapeseed oil and try to make sure I have three teaspoons of good oils a day (certainly not margarine though!) As we lose weight, our skin gets looser and the oils are necessary to retain some elasticity. (What doesn't spring back, will have to get tightened!)

Last night I had corn on the cob without butter and it was delicious. So sweet. Tonight I had steamed broccoli with only sea salt and ground black pepper and that was also very tasty. Tomorrow I am going to make a delicious marinated cabbage dish and a vegetarian chilli with red kidney beans. That should take care of quite a few fibre points!

Now to plan tomorrow's meals. Although this planning and research seems to be taking a large chunk of my day, what with looking up recipes and meal plans, it won't be long before it will come naturally and not feel like I am studying nutrition. I had become used to low carb over the years and this is all fairly new to me. I have always hated the thought of counting calories but now it is just a case of getting used to the foods needed for an ongoing healthy lifestyle. This is not a diet which starts and then stops. Those are the ones that have made me fat over the years. Lose a little put on more, lose a little, put on...etc etc etc.

No more of that. On to the next kilo:)

The day after...

I know now why I stopped drinking wine! It makes me want to eat more:(

Yesterday was my high calorie day - or high carb day (as in carb cycling). Unfortunately I drank some champagne and then some wine. My body is not used to it any more and I was nodding off by 7.30...unheard of for me. On my way to bed I ate two cookies and didn't seem to care either. Not good. But it showed me that my system does not do well with wine anymore, and I guess that is something good. I actually love my bitters and sparkling water and I feel so good in the morning and I have found that I enjoy a party even more not drinking alcohol. I also get to be the designated driver quite often:)

Today I found a new low GI, low fat cookbook and it has some wonderful recipes in it. I am looking forward to trying out quite a few. There must be about 500 or more recipes in various books waiting to be tried out so I have a wonderful time ahead of me. Of course, I like to add my own touch to most recipes - that's half the fun.

Lunch yesterday started with a wonderful spicy cauliflower soup which my guests and I enjoyed immensely. The croutons were so good...1 slice of white bread (four servings) cut up in cubes and rolled in one tablespoon of olive oil mixed with a tablespoon of finely grated Parmesan cheese and fried in a non-stick pan with no extra oil. (You can also bake them in the oven until crispy, turning at least once.) They were delicious and could be used in many different soups. Speaking of soups, this is the season for them here in Africa and so many people just love soups. They are going on to my restaurant menu when we re-open on the first of July.

Today we made fresh tomato and basil soup which got the thumbs up from my strictest critic - my husband. To get on to the menu, a dish has to get at least seven and a half out of ten. Lately quite a few dishes have passed muster, and they have all been low fat low calorie low GI recipes. It just goes to show that one does not need to compromise on taste to make good healthy food.

I am sure I might have said this before - this is not a diet - this is a new and exciting way of life and I am loving it. Never thought I would ever say that about low fat food. I still use butter, but very little, often mixed with grapeseed oil, so my saturated fats have diminished but flavour has not. There is still cream in my dishes, but it is reduced fat cream or sometimes low fat evaporated milk. One doesn't need much to flavour the food. Herbs and spices are wonderful additions to so many dishes and this is where my herb garden comes into its own. Today I picked up my order of vegetable and herb seedlings and some large bags of organic compost to go in the new circular garden at the back of the restaurant. Tomorrow these babies get planted in their new home. We use no pesticides but concentrate on companion gardening so there is some planning to be done and it should all be in place by the end of the weekend. There is nothing like picking fresh organic produce from your own garden.

Lovely stuff! On to cooking!