What makes you happy? Losing weight (quantity) or feeling good (quality)

I haven't blogged here in sooo long.
But that's because I've been slipping up.
I'm not so strict any more as I was when I started this out. But I haven't given up either.

My weakness -- I wont wake up and exercise. I know it's my undoing but I won't budge.
Motivation is such a beautiful word but it's not in mydictionary currently.

I'm still eating fairly healthy, but without exercise, that's only 50 per cent of the effort, right?

I finally weighed myself, reluctantly, about two weeks ago. On the same scale I'd weighed myself at the beginning of this blog. And I've only lost 200 grams!!!!

But, and this is a BIG BUT -- I've been fitting into clothes I'd put away six months after I gave birth to my son. I need belts on my jeans and trousers. My boobs have grown a wee bit smaller - I fit into tops I couldn't earlier.

But that goddamn tummy......can I just like cut it all off smoothly with a butterknife?

I don't exactly look like I have a figure...I'm nowhere close to THAT. But, I'm not feeeling too miserable either. Some pride I do take in the facts that:
1. My eating portions have come down (which was initially so difficult for me to achieve).
2. I'm able to keep off my evening hunger with some dry fruits, fruits and water till I actually eat dinner.
3. Overall, my energy levels and self-image are better (except when I look in the mirror ;-)

So is this qualitative "betterment" a good show in my life? I think so....at least I'm not distressed and depressed about my looks and weight.

Easy high-protein breakfast: traditional Indian is the way to go

I haven't been posting here regularly, which means I haven't really been sticking to my diet or exercise routine.
BAD.
But I will get back to it, I'm confident.

In the meanwhile, here's a recipe for a good kickstart for the day -- it's vegetarian, traditional Indian recipe, popular in most states in South India -- it's called pesarittu. Sometimes, all it takes is a little analysis and you realise what you have in your backyard is really so rich and fulfilling.

We vegetarians have a problem finding high sources of protein in the food we eat. Green gram or mung dal is one of them. It's always drilled into our heads that they are a high source of protein when eaten raw, better still if it's sprouted...when boiled it loses most of its protein content.

Since I hate eating it raw (soaked overnight), I turn it into pesarittu -- a dosa or pancake.

Here's the recipe: (Makes batter for about four people -- two dosas each)

1. Soak about two bowls of green gram overnight.

2. Also soak about three to four teaspoons of  rice flour in water and keep aside overnight.

3. In the morning throw the green gram into the mixer/blender, add to it some fresh ginger, coriander, about one green chilly, a small spoon of jeera, hing (asafoetida), salt and sugar to taste. Whizz it till it forms a grainy batter (you probably won't need to add water because there's some left from what you've soaked the green gram in)

4. You can mix in the soaked rice flour with a ladel after you remove it from the mixer or whip that in too.

5. Heat a tawa and spread out like a dosa -- a little oil to cook it makes it tastier. Flip and cook on the other side too.

We eat this with a fried gram (puthani in Kannada) chutney (will post recipe another day -- it's again very common in south Indian households). This, again I believe is a high source of protein. So there, it's a power packed high protein start to your day. Eat it with sambar too and there's more protein to add to your list of nutrition gained from the breakfast.

Honestly, these traditional Indian breakfasts are great starts for the day -- they make so much sense. They are fresh and non-processed, and taste great too. And I love to start my day with HOT breakfast. :-)

Why it's easier for me to diet

I really find it easy to stick to my diet, really, because it's largely become a part of my life, ingrained into my being. It hasn't happened overnight. It hasn't happened in a short while.

Sometimes we are doing things right and just don't realise it.

I've always been seen as a "healthy" eater at the workplace because:
1. I eat vegetables and fruits every day
2. I bring home-cooked food every day
3. I eat a raw salad with my food on most days (I'm not one of those who can eat just a salad for lunch -- doesn''t work for me ;-)

According to me, these steps means half the battle is won.

There are these other problems of mine which have made it easier for me to stick to my plan:
1. Whenever I eat out, I fall sick : It's not something I'm proud of, because it probably means my immunity sucks. But, it also means I AVOID eating out, which really is a big help. It's sometimes horrifying to develop a fear of eating out, but then it works to my advantage. You always notice how when you eat out, you eat more, and always feel heavier than when you eat at home, haven't you? I end up with loosies. So just two weeks ago when I told hubby I won't cook, and wanna eat out, I went ahead and ate a great meal, came home and well headed for the loo! I do have an underlying condition of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), something I developed after I had a baby.

2. And then I have imagination:  My imagination goes haywire and I think of all the psossible cockroaches and rats in the restaurant kitchen, how they may not be covering the food, washing vegetables ...and it's enough to send my scurrying to the kitchen to whip up something special for myself AT HOME.

3. I seem to have developed some sort of allergy to fat -- specially deep-fried food. Again, I get the loosies.
So, I avoid fried food as much as I can. Which is really difficult because I LOVE FRIED FOOD. The taste of it...aaah... But these days I don't keep such food around the house and when I see fatty food these days, I honestly get repulsed. I do gorge on it once in a  way, but I've realised these instances have come down dramatically. So when I do feel like having fried food, I make it from scratch at home where I know the oil I'm using, at least, isn't re-fried.

But consistency is what matters and it hasn't been one of my strengths. I hate it when I set myself back, of my own volition, and have to start from where I left off...life should be one continuum...but then life wouldn't be fun!

Five diet modifications I made to lose weight

Here are just some of the changes I made in what I eat, how I eat, how often, and how much I eat in order to get a wee bit slimmer.

These are not very dramatic things. But these are the first few things about your eating patterns that you CAN easily change.

 I love my food and am not willing to give it all up entirely...I still eat chocolates and chips. And I have my bad days when, well, plans just derail, and I end up straying off the path.

But once you know that these small little itsy bitsy changes are making you feel better, that's incentive enough to keep going and coming back to THE PLAN if you stray.

Again, these are not strategies I devised all by myself, but this is what I FOLLOW (and it's largely from Rujuta Diwekar's book):
1. Eat fruit first thing in the morning. My favourite is plantain/banana. Very rarely apple or mango. Sometimes papaya. It revvs you up for the day, it's healthy food, and it makes you feel good about yourself. I believe in the philosophy that you must eat fruit before other food, not after, else it turns useless for the body. In case there's no fresh fruit, eat dry fruit -- my fav is almonds and raisins. Don't start the day with biscuits or tea/coffee.

2. Eat every two hours. It makes sure you eat less. It really works. It makes sure you don't get so hungry that you binge when you finally get your hands on food. Just munch and graze along.

3. Make food afresh. It has helped me a lot. I've always been a refrigerate-and-eat, ok-with-leftovers person. But now I'm changing that. It just FEELS so healthy to eat food afresh. I cook breakfast and lunch in the morning, and part of the dinner too. But there is something freshly made at dinner time. Yes, it takes time and effort, but it's worth it. It makes me feel good.

4. Smaller portion size. Smaller plates and bowls. Yes, they make a difference. Once you get used to smaller portion size (the most difficult part of a diet I feel) your stomach seems to shrink and get used to this new quantity. My example: I used to eat 4 idlis or 5 dosas. It's very difficult to stop at the ideal 2. Now I've come down to 2.5 or 3. And now, I can't eat more than that. It does take will power, though, to resist a second helping.

5. Eat all sorts of food for dinner, but eat less, and early. No sweets and fried food in this meal. Too early is not possible for me. That takes HUMONGOUS effort. But less and no sweets is a rule I can follow. Avoiding carbs at night doesn't work for me...I was raised on a high-carb diet since childhood. But I eat less rice at dinnertime. That works, I suppose. Also, since I eat late, eating less quantities eases digestion, so I sleep without heartburn -- a problem i had to face every night earlier.