Author: Wattle

We like themed eating because it saves us the bother of always deciding what to have for our evening meal.

In Januberry we knew we were having pan fried skinless chicken with boiled potatoes and steamed broccoli most nights, followed by a pancake with berries and chocolate ice cream for dessert. The only thing we had to decide was which accompanying vegetables to steam, and which berries to have on the pancake. The resulting weight loss was an excellent and anticipated reward for the disciplined eating.

This month the Feburine theme is sausages. Sausages with vegetables, hot salami sausages on pizzas and even sausage rolls in pastry for alternating breakfasts. As the name suggests nectarines feature on our pancakes. The goal is to maintain the new, lesser weight. Some chocolates have been allowed and cocoa you know whats have been the other alternating breakfast.

For the next month, Parch, we expect we will be having some beef steaks on the themed eating menu, with oven potato fries and mushrooms. Attempts will happen to make our own real, butter loaded Hollandaise, and Bearnaise sauces. We will also investigate many, many ways to cook mince. Steamed vegetables will be on the plate and peaches will decorate our pancakes.

I can well understand why themed eating might seem a bit boring to readers.

Mixing up the meats and the steamed vegetables should still work so long as the weight goal is identified. Is it to lose, or to maintain weight? The menu needs to be chosen to match the goal.

I have to admire the strategy of some restaurants. Serving up minuscule portions of (no doubt perfectly cooked!) massively priced food is a recipe to leave the owners exceedingly well off.

Happily for all, their diners would rarely complain because presumably they are used to tiny meals, and will exercise off every single calorie the following day.

What about those of us who must almost always choose the “Restaurant a la Home”? Similarly, we eat a portion size that matches our body size. The difference is that it is a larger portion for a larger body size (and with out any doubt at all, rarely, if ever, perfectly cooked!).

Reducing the size of our meal portions is a very hard thing to do. It needs to be gradual, done very slowly. A certain amount of subterfuge can be engaged in to deal with the gap between what the body wants to eat and what the eyes want to eat. Perhaps we will consider serving up less meat but the same amount of vegetables for a few months. Eventually we will just need less, so tend to place less on the plate.

On the few occasions we do dine out we will want choose a restaurant that is likely to match the portion size we are currently used to. Above all else, these are not the nights to eat as a rabbit would.

What if I eat my evening meal and do not feel full?

I am attempting to train myself to go and do some task for at least half an hour. After that I see if I really do feel full after all. At least sometimes the answer is yes.

We get the Culinary BFF (Best Friend Forever) out almost every day now. We bring the water to the boil while we are peeling the potatoes and preparing the other vegetables. Perhaps it takes seven minutes? Certainly it doesn’t seem to take very long. We steam the vegetables for about the same amount of time that the meat takes in the skillet frying pan, twenty five minutes maximum. The finishing sauce heats in the microwave oven while we are plating the food. The whole procedure is easy and takes about thirty minutes.

Would obtaining a “Fast Food” meal be faster? Yes it seems likely. Drive a few minutes to an outlet, wait five minutes for the order to be made up and then drive a few minutes home again to eat it. The hardest part would be deciding what have. Hamburger, picking off the gherkin, and fries? Fried chicken, mainly skin and bones, but with a hundred secret herbs and spices, served with gravy and fries?

I know which meal I would prefer to eat. How about you?