Moni's Wednesday eats

What a day! phew...

First, Tuesday night dinner was out again... last minute drinks and spanish tapas with friends was a lovely way to end the day! It consisted of:

-calamari
-olives
-bread
-octopus
-mushrooms
-potatoes

a little bit of everything.. yum.

TODAY

Breakie
-none really... straight to work!

snack
-rice cake

Lunch
-hard boiled egg
-orange
-espresso

snack
-a few rice crackers

Let me add in here that this afternoon Steven made me eat a piece of cake crust... YES cake crust. I sure hope it didnt have any sugar in it!! :)

Dinner

-really nice olives from the deli to start mmmm

-quinoa, seitan, mushrooms, onion, garlic
-yogurt and quark dessert mmm oh and honey (really good stuff!!)

off to PAris tomorrow to start the big move!!

Bananas.com

My sugar-less diet and intensive running training schedule is having a number of effects:

1- I feel full of beans

2- I am a really very boring person.

As my colleague commented today: "So you're basically giving up fun?"

I feel myself turning German.

I run Km reps at the same exact pace, having mapped out a route before on mapmyrun

I plan meals ahead and make lunches in advance.

I refuse alcohol and cake, and feel like a social reject as a result.

On this sad, cautionary note, here's today's eats. Today I went for a run and a swim so have been justifiably STARVING. Tonight I roasted sweet potato chips for lunch tomorrow. Yum.

Brekkie: You guessed it, porridge with all the trimmings: raisins, 1/2 banana, honey, quark

Snack: Banana, orange, 2 rice crackers

Lunch: filled pasta, feta, salad, sweetcorn, sun dried tomatoes

Snack: Egg, yoghurt & honey, banana, apple, 2 crackers, 1 rice cracker, whole dried banana, pretzel

Dinner: Risotto with courgette, onion, broccoli, lentils & cheese

3.5 bananas. Today was a banana day.

just for fun...

Tuesday eats

First, dinner Monday night:

I started cooking a lovely mix of mushrooms, onion, garlic, seitan with quinoa for dinner when... I was invited out to dinner. And so I ended up having yummy Japanese
-wakame salad
-udon with prawn and veg
-green tea


Breakie today:
- one apple, one rice cake, one half dried banana

Steven was so generous to share his dried bananas with us... though we were all skeptical* they were well enjoyed.

*skeptical because they look like this..

and most loved by creatures like this...

FYI this is a Degu... little rodent of a thing... I once had three as pets :)

Moving along... lunch will be:

- a lovely mix of mushrooms, onion, garlic, seitan with quinoa. Yum.

Snacks:

-some sourdough rye bread

-grapefruit

-espresso

Toodoolooooo.

M.



back to reality..

So I forgot about blogging for a little while.. sorry folks... sorry to our lonesome follower?

My weekend was lovely, spening lots of time enjoying the weather, going for a few runs, reading.. and a night of dancing thrown in.

Monday eats:

Breakie
-espresso
-pretzel (thanks to Judith who arrives with carbs in hand! yes.)

Snack
-Grapefruit

-hutenkase

... I grazed... didnt have a proper lunch today..

The lowlight of Thursday was mistakenley drinking a mouthful of what I though was water, and what turned out to be clear vinegar, essig in german. Why there was a water-jug next to the salad full of this stuff, I don't know. I swear the cashier at the canteen saw me pour it and said nothing. Its strong acid taste left me feeling quite ill for most of the day.

Thursday's eats need a bit of explanation....

Porridge (you know it by now..yoghurt, raisins, honey & 1/2 banana)

apple

rice cake

weird stodgy pea soup/stew stuff

selection of oily vegetables: mushrooms, aubergine, pepper, artichoke, olive, prawns.

Quark WITH SMALL CHOCOLATE SHAVINGS**

Banana

Rice cake

Apple juice x 2 glasses (Sugar warning)***

Pretzel

Filled pasta

Orange

** So I was in a canteen, I wasn't paying, & I really fancied quark. It had chocolate shavings on top. I figured I would take off the top layer of chocolate, and eat the guilt-free quark below. Little did I know, as I returned to my seat next to the regional directors of ICLEI, that the chocolate shavings were THROUGHOUT the quark, all the way to the bottom. There weren't many, but this was definitely chocolate. Yet to have got a dessert and then not eaten it would have been rude, I told myself. I ate it.

*** I've discovered its very difficult to be social in an evening when you've given up alcohol and are trying to avoid sugars. What do you drink in a bar? I have found no solution, apart from when non-alcoholic beer is available. Two apple juices later, and my sugar intake for today is seriously higher than normal.

Tonight, Leipzig music festival "Honky Tonk"

Non alcoholic beer for me....

just for fun...

You are what you eat..

Thursday eats

First..

Although everyone else has jumped off the blogging wagon I will continue, I will persist in sharing my BORING HEALTHY diet which lacks of all processed sugars!

Last nights dinner:

-banana after work snack
-didnt feel like eating anything in particular so I had wholemeal bun with some nice goats cheese..
-wine, espresso

Today

Breakie
-orange

Lunch
-Delicious Korean and sushi!! mmmmiam
-pear dessert

apple snack

.... a demain!

Wednesday eats

Tuesday night dinner:
-sauteed tofu, cabbage and broccoli
-I totally overdosed on natural yogurt for dessert... this is the new weakness!! (better than sugar I guess)

Today

Breakie
-orange

Lunch
-bretzel
-quark and honey

snack
-quark and honey

a whole lot of this...

 when really I wanted this...

YUP basically all I ate today was quark... what are you going to do about it??!

afternoon: espresso

Dinner... Ill tell yah tomorrow!! :)

Tuesday eats

Im starting to get the hang of this and im feeling great!

So..

Breakie
-orange

Lunch
-greens with wild salmon, olive oil, sprinkle of salt (I didnt have anything else on hand...)
-piece of wholegrain bread

-milky coffee treat for dessert

Dinner... Ill tell you tomorrow

Monday eats

Maybe its because I was feeling a bit off my eating habits were SO bizarre....

Breakfast
-kinda savoury... I had a mini bowl of fermented red cabbage (the fridge was empty okay..)

Lunch
-some olives, sauteed cabbage and tofu
-small bowl of plain yogurt

Dinner
-bread, salad, mushrooms (japanese mix) savoury pie
-plain yogurt dessert

Steven returns...

Firstly, big up cagan, our first follower, you are mad.

I have just returned to the land of the living from the reclusive joy of a weekend with my girlfriend, and I can confirm that I did not sway from the ship of sugar free sailing, IF we clear up some definitional issues first.

On the room in my wall, a poster states my lent commitments. The food related ones read:

No...

Sweets

Chocolate

Pastry

Cakes

Alcohol

On all fronts, I have not succumbed.

However, the philosophical question remains: Does a waffle count as a pastry? And does a sweet smoothie non-alcoholic cocktail count as a sugar infested infidelity against the spirit of the game?

Definitional issue 1: At the cocktail bar Mojito's, I had the dilemma: sugar or alcohol. I opted for sugar in the form of a delicious Mango Kiss. Which isn't even on my list of non-eats.

Steven's honesty and virtue rating: Remains at 10.

Definitional issue 2: At brunch today (my virginal Germany brunch experience) I ate a waffle. By its very nature, savoury (flour, butter, maybe milk). With quark and fruit on top, it remains healthy, non-refined sugar free. But is it nonetheless a "pastry"?

Steven's honesty and virtue rating: Slips to 9, confusion rife.

My Sunday eats:

Massive brunch (with more meat than I've eaten since Christmas- a substitution technique?)

Cornflakes & milk, an egg, scrambled egg, 6 small sausages, aubergine, tomato, mushroom, bread roll, salmon, cheese, parma ham, waffle, fruit & quark, mountains of quark and fruit.

Then later...

More quark and fruit, followed by yoghurt and fruit (The quark ran out. OK, I have a problem), slice of bread and houmous.

Onwards and upwards. Swimming at 7am tomorrow.

I've said that before. It's never happened.

(Picture: I googled German brunch, and this appeared: A german farmer. Enjoy).

Sunday eats

Saturday I forget... sushi for dinner though! yum

Sunday, the sun is shining! woop!

Breakfast
-one apple
-raison and spice roll/stick from the best boulangerie

snack
-coconut yogurt

Lunch with an old friend!
-salade chèvre chaud
-one glass white wine (sugar is my only enemy)

Dinner
-tomato, cheese, wholegrain baguette

dessert
-orange

-green/peppermint tea to sooth a bit of sickness.. boo *sneeze*

Wondering how our good ol friend steven is doing with temptation to the max! Did you get through it or not?!!

See you kids soon.

M.

Friday eats

Hmmm I packed my running shoes and the day I have planned to run it rains! bummmer. I went shopping instead :)

Breakie (thats my aussie talk)
- grapefruit

espresso

Lunch
-cabbage soup and baguette
-sparkling water

snack
-citrus flavoured goats milk yogurt
-baguette and comté

Dinner
- very thin pizza al tartuffo
-plain yogurt dessert

Not so exciting. I know..
Noticing my bread intake is WAY higher than usual, need to deal with that.

Keep it real.
M from Paris

Moni`s Thursday eats

I forget.

But it had something to do with baguette, cheese and yogurt... and lots of sparkling water


I do however remember I saw an interesting indi film, it was Korean (in keeping with the theme of my work and why I am in Paris) with french subtitles of course, called `Ha, ha, ha` .. it was good!

ps. OH! I see we have a follower?!! sweeeet welcome to our world.

M.

Thirsty Thursday

Staring to regain more and more energy!

While documenting my daily food intake it becomes surprisingly obvious what a creature of habit I am. Well or another way of looking at it: why change a winning recipe?

So here it goes:

Breakfast:

Yoghurt with kiwi, oats and linseed

Lunch

Big salad, 1 avocado and veggie spread roll

Supper

Roasted potatoes, herb quark and roasted beans

Yoghurt

Snack:

1 apple, 2 crisp bread, 3 apricots

Exercise: after a rather frustrating day at work I thought I’d let off some steam and caned a 25min run in the park followed by a 25min strength workout. Knackered but happy I tugged into dinner (kindly sponsored by da 3^rd floor home crew!) and did some sofa & telly fudging, working out my big thumb for the rest of the evening.

Can’t wait to do this again:

Wednesday - 1 week in!!

Woke up bright and early even before the ALARM CLOCK!
Starting to feel the grip of the sugar man loosening its hold on me!
Managed to watch telly with a huge (1kg originally) bag of gummibärs and not even be tempted!



Breakfast:
Yogurt with oats and flax seeds

Lunch:

Huge bowl of salad (greens, cucumber, tomatoes, sweet pepper & Feta)
1 Football roll with Avocado and Veggie spread (kindly sponsored by the lovely Luciana)
1 Orange

Snacks:
4 dried nectarines
1 Yoghurt with Sanddorn

Dinner:
No idea!


1st week summary:
-Giving up alcohol and the vere rare accational fag (easy-peasy!)
-Giving up coffee (I usally have 3 cups a day) is tough and I miss the taste and its seditative effect on my.
So far none of the replacements (Caro/barley coffee or chai) is coming even close!
-Giving us my sweeeets (Haribo's stocks plunged when they heard I was going on lent!) is by far the TOUGHTEST of all!


But I can start feeling the benefits of more excercise and this new diet!

Steven: stay strong and dont let the crew down!
Monica: Bon voyage! And be goooood!

Glad I dont like meringue

UM... just came across this blog post... click HERE if you like meringue and want to feel sorry for yourself...

A weekend of temptation awaits...

Today has been a good day.

Mostly because I ate loads of quark with honey.

Its raw honey- non pasteurized and therefore containing all the good stuff including bits of bee. Apparently.

Bee bits.

Yum.

Todays crazily interesting food log for you to salivate over...

Breakfast: Porridge with honey, raisins, yoghurt & banana

Snack: Banana, 3 rice cakes, 1 cracker, 1 apple

Lunch: Gnocchi with courgette, carrot, cabbage, tomato and cheese

Snack: Lots of quark & honey, bread & an egg, bread & cheese, orange

Dinner: More gnocchi.

Tonight I will swim grrrr...

This weekend will be a real test. My girlfriends visiting (yay!), & I have to admit much of our relationship revolves around food: buying it, looking at it, baking it, eating it, finishing it all.

And most of the time that's bread/pastry related. If anyone could tempt me into breaking Lent, its her. And she just wrote me a message: "tomorrow, i'm going to crack you like the supportive girlfriend i am..."

It's not looking good.

Moni's Wednesday eats

Last nighsts dinner
-salad (tomoato, ruccola, olives)
-fresh buns and some nice french goats cheese

dessert
-yogurt and honey (too much because I was going through withdrawl of anything sweet)

AND I went for a quick run!

-----------------

Breakfast
-natural yogurt
-apple

Lunch
-salad (tomato and greens)
-quality bun (YUM with walnuts and so fresh!) w sm. piece goats cheese
-espresso

-dessert: quark and honey

Dinner...

I have been banned from any breach of this 'lent and cutting out sugar' mission of ours (freaks in the corner office)... which means no traditional sunday morning pastry from my favorite boulangerie in Paris this weekend! BOO

NO.. its okay because every other time ive been in Paris I have naturally eaten 5 more pastries than I should have. So I can accept the restriction this time... this time only.

What Ill be missing appreciating I have tasted before (see below)...

YAH. beautiful, tasty macaroons!

Thats the Sunday morning pastry im talking about (photo: Christmas morning Paris 2009)

On a better note at lease I will be able to enjoy some things! like....

Baguette!! and...

Coffee!!! (unlike Judith! hehe) and...

Cheeeeese!! YUM.

Bon weekend a tout!

M.



Healthy it may be, fun it is not

I'm not yet over the initial cold turkey. Maybe that's because I still eat jam for breakfast: pure, unadulterated refined sugar and glucose-fructuose syrup. "Jam is the worst...faaar out" Monika chirps.

Thanks for your contribution.

It's my one moment of light in an otherwise droll day spent obsessively ruminating about food.

Highlight of the day: Staying strong and not eating Alice's DELICIOUS looking chocolate cake.

Lowlight of the day: Eating leftover rice instead.

Breakfast: Muesli & milk, 2 slices of rye bread, 1 w/jam, 1 w/honey

Mid morning snack: 1/2 banana

Lunch: Large slice veggie lasagne, Hunk of white bread, Orange, 3 rice crackers

Afternoon snack: Small apple, 2 x sesame crackers, 8 (approx) mini pretzels, egg, rice w/cheese

Dinner...as yet unknown...tune in tomorrow...

Pudding: Apple, quark, raisins, honey

Exercise: Short run

Food fact of the day: Did you know that Rewa Bio ricecrackers contain 6.2g of carbohydrate..none of which sugars?!!!

Answer: I could have guessed.

Recipe of the day: Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Lasagne

By the UK's most famous TV chef, seen here cooking innocently

And here appearing drunk at Norwich football club.

Quintessential English.

Until tomorrow, food lovers.

Steve "sugar on my lips" Bland

Tuesday delights

Early start with more energy than usual.



Breakfast:
Joghurt with oats


Lunch:
Two rolls with veggie spread and Avocadoooo



Snacks:
1apple
4 apricots
18 minipretzels (unlike Georgie boy I remember to chew before swallowing)http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXCr9OCNHgk


Dinner:
-Maultaschen (filled German dumplings)
After a 25min run in the park!



Goood day so far!



40 days without alcohol, coffee and sweets -Piece of CAKE!!!!!!!

Moni's Tuesday eats

Favorite food moment of the day: Quark and honey

Breakfast:
-Quark (peach)

Lunch:
-banana
-wholegrain bun with hardboiled egg
-grapefruit
-quark with bio honey

Dinner:
-Salad.. ruccola, greens, tomato, goats cheese, olives

Dreaming of... nutella

Another day of denying the cake. Good job guys! M.