Beginning of week 4

Hi All

Triumphantly I started week 4 yesterday, having lost nearly 8 kg, I am extremely happy!

Neither of us have cheated and we are constantly patting each other on the back for that :)

So, today at work, a colleague (a skinny, gorgeous colleague) said something to a patient that rang very true in my own life.  She was talking about how South Africa is one of the fattest nations on earth, and she made the following claim:  South Africans are always having a party. 

Always having a party of course translates into always having party food - breakfast, lunch and supper.

This is so true for my former life, if I think about it now, weekends (the ones I don't work) were invariably spent in the kitchen, cooking and baking the most wondrous food creations, adored by family and friends, all too happy to accept frequent invitations to lavish dinners at our home.  And in return, I loved cooking for them, nothing in this world gives me greater pleasure than making food for a loved one and seeing them enjoy it and asking for more!

Shopping for these dinners usually turned out to be very expensive, as I seldom planned them, I'd just start paging through my enormous library of gorgeous cookbooks for inspiration, go to the grocery store and start piling in ingredients, and usually by the time I've gathered what I deemed necessary and standing in line for a till, a second wave of inspiration struck, and more food needed to be bought.  And of course the obligatory coke and chocolate for the drive home and a little treat for me to munch on when everyone's left...

You can see how I often ended up with way too much stuff in my fridge and an overstocked pantry with many goods way beyond their sell-by dates.

Even just supper with my husband was never just supper, no, I really made a party out of every meal, there always had to be pudding, even if it was just a chocolate after dinner.  If I think back to my childhood, and what my mother fed our family - the difference is so vast.  For supper we'd always have meat, except once a week when she'd make macaroni and cheese, other evenings we'd get a small portion of meat - 2 lamb chops or meatballs - accompanied by a warm vegetable portion, a salad portion and a starch portion, which was always rice or some kind of potato incarnation.  In other words, an extremely balanced and healthy lifestyle.

Dinner in my house as an adult would frequently be nachos smothered in cheese and sour cream, spaghetti bolognese smothered in mozzarella - that cheese and starch pattern is fairly consistent as the list goes on...

I always wonder where I derailed from these principles, and I so suspect those diet pills are the ones to blame, instilling a lifetime of bad eating habits.

Anyway, so, in order to achieve a healthier lifestyle, party food will have to be reserved for parties from now on, this I solemnly vow. 

This does of course mean that party food is still out of the question for the time being, since I still have loads of weight to shed.

However, one has to make due with the cards that one is dealt - so in my case - I try to come up with delicious recipes, ones that should fool even the most perverted of taste buds!   Like my AWESOME roast red pepper and garlic dip - used to dunk crudite or stuff chicken with, the possibilities are endless!

Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Dip

• 2 large red bell or pimento peppers
• 1 large head of garlic
• 1 tub of fat-free cottage cheese

Roast the peppers in a hot oven 220 degrees Celsius, until the skin in nice and black, you have to turn them once.  Take them out of the oven and into a glass bowl and cover with clingfilm and allow to cool.  Meanwhile, roast the garlic at about 180 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes.

Take the skin off the peppers and deseed them, cut the top off the roasted garlic and squeeze out the roast garlic, it will be a luscious sweet paste with a gentle garlic fragrance, unlike the rather pungent uncooked version.

Blend in a blender, together with the cottage cheese and season to taste.  Enjoy!

Have a great evening and God bless

Janie B

So far so good

Hi Guys

I just came home from a weekend of night shifts and I am emotionally and physically spent.  I haven't weighed in a couple of days, for the reason that I actually gained weight on my previous two weigh-ins.  UTTERLY discouraging, BUT stuck to the grand plan and more determined than ever to make this work!  Hopefully by tomorrow the scales will have some good news for me!

On the bright side, I haven't had any cravings since my last post about them, yay!  That and it's already day 6 on Cruise phase! I can't believe that yesterday marked the beginning of my third week on this diet already.

So, last week, I said to my husband that I think we need to start considering a reward for ourselves for once we've completed the Cruise phase.  It can't be food related, also not a vacation, since that invariably revolves around food for us.  It must be something of value and something that you've been thinking about for a long time.  So I came up with a Stand-up Paddle board.  For the longest time now I've been looking at the people on their boards in front of my house in the ocean, it looks so awesome, but my admiration is always accompanied by the realisation that a) I'm too fat for a bikini and b) will probably sink that board at this stage.  So, this board will be the perfect reward for me!   My husband still has to come up with something for him, I have no idea what he has in mind.

Still on the topic of the board, my cousin came around for coffee this morning and as she left she asked if I would be interested in this sport... Hell yes was my answer, and since she's also busy loosing weight, we're both getting boards at the end! How awesome is that?

You'll be glad to hear that my vegetable enthusiasm is going stronger than ever and I have an amazing green bean dish recipe to share with you, well, actually I have a couple of great recipes by now, but hey, a girl needs material for her blog!

Mediterranean Beans

• 1kg of green beans - strings removed and cut up in what ever manner that takes your fancy - I have this really cool cutter that strings and cuts beans into long linguine-type pieces
• 3 tins of chopped tomatoes
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced

Chuck everything in a pot and bring to the boil, adding some water in the initial stages to prevent it from burning.  Cook this on low heat until the beans are nice and soft, you don't want crispy beans for this.  Once they're soft, turn the heat off and cook until the stew is nice and reduced and no longer watery.  Season with salt and black pepper and serve with plenty of fat free feta cheese crumbled on top.

I've been making this stew for a long time, but now that I've Dukanised it, I'll never make it the old way again,  eg. with oil and full cream feta, the small difference in taste is certainly not worth the difference in calories, in fact, I think the new version tastes better!

I hope you enjoy it too!

Happy cooking and God bless

Janie B

First day of Cruise - and another recipe

Hi Guys

Today is day one of the Cruise Phase! I can't believe how quickly 10 days flew by! I'm so glad we stuck it out for 10 days, my husband and I both lost over 5 kg.

So yesterday I went vegetable shopping, perhaps I went overboard a little from all the excitement! 

This morning stared off with an omelet with bacon (reduced fat), roasted mini tomatoes and large brown mushrooms, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it!

And for snack time today, I've planned vegetable crudité with aubergine dip, unbelievably yummy! You know what that means - another awesome recipe to share with you!!

The original recipe comes from my sister-in-law, but I tweaked it somewhat to "Dukanise" it. :)

Aubergine Dip

• 2 large aubergines
• 1/2 tub of smooth fat free cottage cheese
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• zest of half a lemon
• one tablespoon of chopped coriander (cilantro)
• one tablespoon of chopped parsley
• 1 large or 3 small cloves of garlic
• salt and pepper to taste

Wash the aubergines and dry them with a paper towel.  Put them on a baking tray sprayed with non-stick spray and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 1 hour.  After baking, place them in a glass bowl and cover with clingfilm to sweat a little until they're cool enough to handle.  Now make a slit in each and scrape out all the contents with a spoon.  Transfer to a bowl into the refrigerator to cool.

No for the tricky part - you have to get as much water out of them as possible.  I used a piece of muslin cloth to wrap them up in.  I then progressively twisted the loose end side of the muslin "bag" until no more water came out of the aubergines.

At this point put them in the bowl of a food processor, along with all the other ingredients and blend until smooth.  There is no reason why you can't just use a hand held stick blender to mash the dip up in a bowl. :)  Season with salt and pepper to taste and enjoy with absolutely anything you like, I'll be dipping some crudité into mine!

For supper tonight, I haven't put much thought into the protein for tonight with all the veggie excitement!

I'm making a nice hearty bowl of roast vegetables with rosemary and a gorgeous salad of a bed of rocket topped with thinly sliced baked and cooled beets topped with fresh thyme leaves and crumbed fat free feta. :)

Oh my goodness, I'm salivating while I'm typing this, better go dip some crudité!

Cheers and God bless!

Janie B

 

Fish cakes from heaven...

Hi Guys

So today is day 9 of attack phase, as you've read, yesterday was not a good day, however did manage without cheating.

Today went a lot smoother, no weird cravings or having to find inspiration.  No, inspiration came from the bathroom scale this morning, another 500g down!  It is so easy to become discouraged after a couple of days of not loosing any.

Anyway, so this afternoon, due to my own assumptions (assumption = ASS of U and ME) I missed a meeting and was punished by means of the worst traffic ever on my way home.  That and it's currently 40 degrees Celsius outside.
So sitting in the scorching heat in my car in traffic from hell, inspiration struck - I was going to make plain old fish cakes for supper tonight, but the fish cake gods spoke to me :)

Here is the recipe for the BEST fishcakes I have ever made in my life, completely self-invented, SERIOUSLY impressed with myself :)

Thai-style Fish Cakes

•   400g baked hake, cooled and flaked
• 250g hot smoked salmon, flaked(check ingredients for no sugar or flavouring added!)
• 1/2 small onion
• 3cm fresh ginger, finely grated
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely grated
• a generous handful of chopped parsley
• a generous handful of chopped coriander (or cilantro for our American friends)
• a few drops of sesame oil ( not even a teaspoon full)
• juice of one lemon and 1/2 of the lemon's zest, finely grated
• a few drops of liquid artificial sweetener to taste
• 1-2 finely chopped red chili, depending on how hot you like it
• 2 eggs

Mix everything except for the sweetener together, taste it and add some salt if you want (keeping in mind that the salmon is quite salty and should season the mixture well).  At this point you can add a few drops of artificial sweetener, just to balance the flavours, remember, Asian food is about a balance of flavours - sweet and salty and sour.

Pat the mixture into fish cakes of whatever size takes your fancy, I got about 12 5cm cakes out of this batch, which should serve about 4.

I tried crumbing them with the daily oat bran allowance, but the ones without the oat bran coating browned way better.

Just a tip though, leave to brown well on the first side before flipping them, this helps to keep them intact.

I really hope you enjoy these fish cakes as much as we did tonight!

Good night and God bless,
JanieB

Beating cravings

Hi Guys
So today is day 8, yes, in two days I can eat vegetables!!! I have never been so excited about vegetables in my life!
My husband and I are both doing this diet and have been debating whether we should take the 5/5 or 1/1 approach and decided on 1/1. I think both of us are pretty fed-up with pure protein right now. Plus both our weights have started to stagnate for the last 3 days, which really puts a damper on all my former enthusiasm...

Today was a very bad day for me in terms of cravings, what a battle! I ended up eating so much, but only stuck to what I'm allowed (HUGE pat on own back). Right here I'd like to send a shout-out to the good people at Jello-O for inventing sugar free pudding making the most delicious pudding virtually out of thin air, a real diet-saver! But when the pudding didn't really kill my craving (for tennis biscuits of all things!?)I turned to Google, at first looking for ways to kill a craving, most of the advice I got was absolute rubbish, making me salivate even more over the thought of that crumbly, buttery, coconutty cookie. Just for the record, I'm a candy eater, I never have cookies, don't even like the stuff, so I have NO idea where this craving came from! Then, after reading through piles of bad advice (probably written by super models, trying to stave off a celery craving) I started looking for pictures of thin ladies to inspire me, and ended up finding hosts of websites showcasing before and after photo's and some really amazing stories, even of people way fatter than I am! 
This was helpful, as right now, I really have a hard time finding people that are fatter than me when I go grocery shopping...

So now I know where to turn when the craving strikes, I do hope it's good effect won't wear off after a while. And I really hope this tip helps you keep your cravings at bay too!

Anyway, I've been fantasising about what I'm going to make for our reintroduction to veggies! I was thinking herbed grilled vegetables with fat-free Feta cheese (yes, very excited about my find) or perhaps a Mediterranean green bean stew...decisions decisions.

Stay tuned for more posts of delicious recipes that I will post as I make them up:) of course only after making and trying them on my personal lab rat and gorgeous husband.

Have a good evening and God bless,
JanieB

my first recipes - to die for!

Hi guys

So today is day 6 of the attack phase, dropping weight like a Yamaha grand piano :)

I can not tell you how good I am feeling about myself right now!

But more importantly, I have "invented" or "Dukanised" two awesome recipes that I would like to share, I think you'll like them a lot!  Both are suitable for pure protein days and protein and vegetable days.

Here goes:

Creamy Pepper sauce for Steak:

• resting juices from your freshly prepared and rested LEAN steak
• 1/2 cup of fat free cottage cheese
• half a sachet of stock (what ever flavour you have at hand) or a cube dissolved in a little water
• lots and lots of freshly ground black pepper



Mix everything together and enjoy with your steak - do not heat in a pan - IT CURDLES

Killer Peri-Peri Chicken Livers

• 500g chicken livers, "stringy bits" and visible fat removed
• 1 small onion
• 1/2 teaspoon of peri-peri or cayenne pepper
• 1/2 to whole tub of fat free cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup of fat free milk
 

Brown livers in a hot pan on some non-stick spray, add diced onion, peri-peri and milk, cover with a lid and simmer till cooked, remove lid and reduce liquid.  Add salt and pepper to taste at this point.

Take the pan off the heat and let it rest for 5 minutes, then stir in the cottage cheese, as much or as little as you like.  Again, if you reheat, or add when it's too hot, it's gonna CURDLE!

I really hope someone reads this and enjoys these recipes!  Cooking is such a big part of my life and for the first time in my life I have found a diet that allows me to make delicious food!

All you need is a little imagination!

Take care and God bless

Janie B

Newbie!!

Hi guys

A week or so before Christmas, I was shopping for a book gift for my mother-in-law and somehow ended up with a copy of the Dukan diet book in my hand.  I bought it and took it home and couldn't stop reading!

I am 6ft tall and to say that I'm struggling with weight would be an understatement.  Never being a skinny child, but not fat either, the weight started piling on during puberty, reaching 97kg at age 17.  a Ridiculous diet of carrots, water and pseudo-ephedrine helped me to loose 27kg and I looked INCREDIBLE. 

So began my lifelong struggle with appetite suppressants, not only do they make you feel good and energised and positive, but they keep you skinny and I soon realised that I couldn't live without them, if I omitted even for a day, I would binge eat like there were no tomorrow.  For the next 10 years of my life this battle continued, at times I'd feel guilty and stop the pills, accepting whatever wheight gain ensued, but as soon as the scales tipped +10kg, I relented to the appetite suppressants, quickly dropping the weight again, and the vicious cycle repeating itself over and over again.

Fortunately for me, about 5 years ago, the particular appetite suppressant that I was abusing (yes, I said the "A" word, was taken off the market as over-the-counter medication and I was forced to stop.  In that same year I got married - a radiant skinny bride with the most gorgeous wedding pictures imaginable.

But with no drugs, in 4 years, I managed to gain 42kg.  I went from  a size 35 to a size 42.  In the last four years, I've been on so many diets, most not lasting more that a week or so due to my poor self control.

In September of 2010, a friend told me about the Cohen diet, and I immediately signed up, although I was very sceptical.  I stuck with the diet for just over 2 months and lost a whopping 20kg, only to gain back 30 in the next 12 months - both incredible and embarrassing!

So now you that you know a little more about me, I hope that you will accompany me into this new journey that I am about to embark on - Dukan Diet.  I feel different this time, I feel highly motivated, I started with the Attack phase 4 days ago, 6 more days to go until I reach the cruise phase.

To aid me and motivate me, I use a calorie counter app for iPhone, I know you're not supposed to count calories on Dukan, but it keeps me motivated as hell!!

In this blog I will share with you my journey back to 70kg and those size 34 skinny jeans and to boot, delicious Dukan-friendly recipes! (my love for cooking is perhaps what got me into trouble in the first place )

I bid you a good night, God bless

Janie B