What a day – I have managed 8 portions of fruit and veg and all without any Innocent Smoothies or struggle. Every single meal today has contained 2 portions of veg and my snacking was not out of hunger but the desire to review a new type of “1 of your 5 a day” bar that I picked up yesterday.
Breakfast was my favourite meal and it was the first time that I decided to have a fry up. It was so quick, yummy and helped me get two portions just for the first meal of the day. Now for everyone else my fry up would not be considered a “fry up” but it did contain the bits of a fry up I like – scrambled eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes. I have never been a fan of sausages, bacon or beans so have normally avoided fry ups in the past. Meeting BF I found I could finally enjoy fry ups with someone – as a veggie other than adding beans we have a very similar idea of what makes a delicious fry up. What I found really great though was how frying the mushrooms first then adding the tomatoes added a tomatoey tang to then mushrooms and allowed me to use only a tiny bit of oil. I must admit that I failed at scrambled eggs – it has been about 2 months since I last made them – after I added why too much milk by accident so had to remake them but the end result was still incredible.
Compared to trying to make a fruity mix to add to porridge this breakfast was so much easier, quicker and just as nice. I am really wondering whether I should switch to such a filling, quick and yummy breakfast for my everyday choice.
Someone I know lost a lot of weight last year and swears by starting his day with fry up as fat has false reputation concerning health. Having watched a few documentaries this month, and in the past, all of these documentaries have the same finding – sugar not fat is the biggest issue in modern diets. When Channel 4 ran a documentary were a “celeb” swapped all her full fat food for “fat free” or “sugar free” products, she gained so much weight in only a month. Tescos have now made a controversial move to remove fruit drinks with added sugar in a bid to help cut down childhood obesity as they appear a healthy alternative yet contain so much additional sugar. I am interested in finding out the other 10 moves that they will be rolling out and see how many are connected to sugar.
I must say that with so many portions of fresh plant based food I have found that I am not looking at any calories or food information you’d normally check to make sure that you aren’t eating something that will shock you with the fat, sugar or calories. Fruit and Veg generally doesn’t come with all that nutrition information and with it now making up so much of my diet at the moment, you stop looking at labels as most things don’t have them. I spend more time looking to see how much of the fruit or veg accounts to a portion. It felt weird and annoying at first but now it just seems to lead my life now.
Lunch was another great dish – it was a mix of sliced courgette, tin of chopped tomatoes and mozzarella in the over for 40 minutes. I felt so lazy – yes it takes longer but the prep and leg work was so quick – but there I had 2 more portions. If I was having the work in an office this sort of dish would not be possible while running around trying to get ready in morning and commute to get to work for 9am. Working from home does make exploring healthier food easier – especially now that snacks have faded more and more from the flat. If felt really lazy I could have grabbed some mixed salad leafs, tomatoes, and slice (then add) some cucumber and cheese.
I think I felt lunch was lazy because of my plans for dinner – to cheer up BF from a stressful week I planned out a full veggie roast. Starting at half 6 and finished at 9 I spent hours making roast potatoes, boiled carrots and a delicate geek style sun dried tomato, feta and spinach pie topped with a mushroom sauce. My feet still hurt but it was worth it for the smile on BF’s face when he found out what dinner was and when it was laid in front of him. I must admit that the pie was a bit rich for me – I still can’t work out if it was the feta or the sun dried tomatoes but I was chuffed when BF definitely wanted it all again.
It did all though make me sit and count out all of the portions of fruit and veg through the day including meals and snacks that ended up totaling 8 different portions of different types of fruit and veg. I cooked so much veg today though – I really have become a different person that I wouldn’t recognise a month ago. I spend so much more time joyfully in the kitchen than cooking, worrying less about food (ironically) and have a cupboard and fridge full of plant food. I think as this all goes on I didn’t realise the difference it would make. I even feel healthier in general and happier. Maybe it is not connected, or maybe it is the fact that I have managed a challenge like this – something I previously thought would never be possible.
I like who I am at the moment – I am eating much healthier food because the focus on the fruit and veg makes it hard not to. Yes there are some occasional meals that don’t have any fruit or veg but these are slowly reducing more and more. I feel like I am lazier but in reality I am doing more hands on cooking than I was last month as I whip up a quick tomato sauce rather than just adding pesto from a pot, or create a fruity sauce for my porridge. I may not be a completely different person, which is a good thing as I am still an awesome person in other ways, but these little changes are definitely a good thing.
Anyway, I am going to curl up and rest after so long cooking one of the most complicated dinners for someone with only a single shelf in the oven…
Have you found that you have changed as a person because of a small change or diet? Leave a comment below as I would love to hear from you.
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