Day 4 - Vegan

Day 4 - Going Vegan

Exercise - 7.8KMRun

Summary - Didn't feel like hurling till dinnertime. Very tough challenge due to previously acquired eating habits. Kept ploughing till 12 midnight and yes, I made it with no cheating!

I realised the toughest challenge of being vegan was, I couldn't get my sweet treats!

Most come with butter, milk or cream - some form of dairy or other.

(Delayed post because blogger was down yesterday)

Brekkie

A long glass of chocolate soy milk! I ran out of bread so I thought of having some cereal. But alas the milo duo has (sneakily) got milk in them. Not vegan friendly. I had some oats but I had no soy milk to mix them with. I had my trusty nature's valley oat bars but I wasn't quite in the mood! So VITASOY to the rescue. I love chocolate soy milk. It's the regular or honeydew ones (in singapore) that I am not too crazy about.

Lunch

This was probably the most enjoyable meal of the day. I had a Roti Prata filled with Spinach and onion with a side of dhal. The chef convinced me the roti was vegan as he only uses margarine, no butter, no ghee. And again I had some of the vegan springrolls.

Tea

I had black tea with equal and some freeze dried banana chips. Mehh.

Dinner.

I bought some falafel and ended up becoming all adventurous - wanting to make my own hommus. So i bought chickpeas and then realised, i need tahina (sesame seed paste of sorts. So i bought sesame seeds. Then I realised I needed well, some bread to go with so i bought levant bread. Ended up assembling a vegan plate.

This vegan plate was so hard for me to keep down. I was honestly, about to upchuck. Funny though, I like all the individual bits on it's own. But together it was just too much!

Clockwise from top left - papad, levant bread, hommus, falafel, dhal and brown rice.

This hommus is almost the way i like it at certain restaurants. Am still trying to get the balance of flavours right.

Supper

I held off until the clock struck 12 midnight. And then I caved and had chocolate bikkies because Vegan day was officially over! Woohoo.

Pescetarian tomorrow. Already made plans to goto my favourite fish and chip shop. *Evil laughter

XOXO

*The usual photo/copyright disclaimer.

Day 3 - Oprah (Inspired) Food Challenge - Red Meat

Day 3 - Red Meat

Exercise - Easy 3KM walk, 3KM run

Summary - Overate, under exercised. For some strange reason I'm always hungry!

Cheat - had two bites of a chicken drumstick, couldn't resist!

Never been a fan of red meat. So wasn't really looking forward to today's meal plan.

Been having a bit of vertigo, possibly due to low blood pressure. Reckon I'd need to up the red meat ante. Do you know that here in Australia, there are advertising campaigns to encourage balanced eating? They're usually seasonal. Like lamb for spring, red meat for winter etc.

I Was rather busy today so my eating times were awry. Must remember to follow eating times as closely as I can. Else I'll end up bingeing at night. The horror.

9 Am Brekkie - 1/2 My favourite oat bar and half a glass of 2% milk with 20g of Milo Duo cereal. The aussie Milo cereal looks like the Singapore Koko Krunch, no?

12 Noon Lunch - 2 spoons of leftover briyani and 2 spoons of brown rice with lamb shank soup and remaining bergedils. Main source of red meat intake for the day.

4Pm Tea - 1/3 blueberry muffin (it wasn't shoft, unfortunately) and green tea

7 Pm Tea - Remaining half of oat bar, milk tea and 1/4 of the blueberry shoft muffin. Also two bites of chicken drum stick (argh!)

I love shoft muffin. What is it? Any regular muffin, heated for 20 seconds at 800W or high in a microwave. Syiokest. Warm, fluffy, shoft muffin! Shoft is when it's fluffier than soft.

See, I count calories. So when I crave something calorie laden, the rule of thumb is, it must be worth the calories. A dense cold muffin does no justice.

9.30 PM - Exercise!

11 Pm Supper - 2 spoons of brown rice, a spoon of abon sapi, 2 mini falafels, a handful of grainwaves and a spoon of light sour cream. and here comes the naughtiest bit - half scoop of italian gelato! ( too raunchy for a photo)

And the big vegan day challenge tomorrow. Wish me well!

I will attempt to make hommus and will be having falafel. But funnily, I am craving tempeh.

The challenge has already begun since 12mn. I can't even sneak in a naughty chocolate. because yes, milk is a by-product. So I just snacked a little on some air-dried banana chips.

By golly I best go to bed! the 14 degree weather's making me hungrier and lazier.

All photos captured by IG on iPhone4 in Perth.

Day 2 - White Meat

Day 2 - White Meat (Chicken, since I do not eat pork and seafood fall under pescetarian day)

Exercise - 1.5 hours of gym (circuit training)

Summary - Easy! I love Chicken.

Today wasn't much of a challenge. Seems like 'twas any other day. Except I went easy on myself (not on the waist) this morning with an indulgent brekkie.

Breakfast - Awesome Skinny Dark Chocolate Mocha from Theobroma Chocolate Lounge and pinched a little bit of these sexy waffles drenched in melted couverture milk chocolate and vanilla bean ice cream. Not for amateur chocolate lovers.

Lunch - Salad and a tiny portion of chicken briyani dam (homemade with the help of Patak's)

Threw in the mix, chicken portions, some almonds, ginger, heaps of coriander leaves, basmathi rice and ta-dah!

Easiest salad recipe ever - baby english spinach, sliced canned beetroot, roma tomato wedges, sliced white onions tossed in ground sea salt and evoo with a smidgen of lemon juice and homemade wholegrain croutons!

Tea - My favourite grainwaves with a side of low fat sour cream

Dinner - A tiny portion of lunch plus two spoonfulls of brown rice. I love long-grained brown rice!

Tea/Supper - Decaf black tea with half a butter bikkie and one tiny leftover cadbury easter egg

Success!

Still worried about the Vegan day. Might buy falafel mix. Lucky i love falafel. Tomorrow's red meat day methinks. Will see how goes.

All photos captured by IG on iPhone4 in Perth, Western Australia

XOXO

Day 1 of Oprah-inspired food challenge

Day 1 - Going Vegetarian

Exercise - 7 KM Easy night run

Summary - Full but not quite satiated/satisfied!

As mentioned previously, I am attempting to re-invent my eating habits according to days of the week. And today I'm trying out being vegetarian. I'll be honest. Initially I wanted to delve right in and try being vegan but I made the mistake of having milk (a by-product!) this morning. Time to stock on the soy milk again.

I reckon this is the first time in my life ever, that i had gone a whole entire day without any sort of meat. The horror!

So here's what I had.

Brekkie - 2% milk and my favourite muesli bar.

Lunch - button mushroom and baby spinach one-egg omelette with croutons. (Homemade!)

Tea - A mug of English Breakfast and 2 Oat Chocolate Chip cookies (Homemade!)

Dinner - 1/2 Plain Roti Prata/Canai with dhal ...

... and the remaining 1/2 I had with a spoon of seri kaya for dessert (bad but so gooood)

Snacks - Vegetarian samosa and spring roll and a little mug of Horlicks with Equal.

Not sure this is the healthiest dinner I've had - quite a bit of fried stuffs, more than I'd usually have. But you know what, going meatless wasn't too bad. Being vegetarian wasn't too bad!

All photos by IG shot on iPhone 4 in Perth.

What day will tomorrow be? I'll figure it out when I wake up. But I'm thinking, it's white meat day!

Oprah - inspired (food) challenge

I admire Oprah. Not like an ardent fan, but as a person. Foresight, is what this woman has.

Just like Zuckerberg with facebook. And the Chinese with group buying. And Twitter with micro-blogging.

So, I happened to catch an episode of Oprah just the other day. All the guys at Harpo are attempting a vegan-challenge. And that Mondays can and should be Meatless Mondays. But unfortunately, I was already having my fish when it was on so, strike one there. Being vegan and vegetarian are quite different things. Going vegan can also be a lifestyle, encompassing more than just a diet.

I must say however, I thought that 'twas a fantastic idea! That is to allocate eating patterns/styles to days of the week. I am a flighty spirit so I like the idea of structure. It aids discipline, self-control and willpower. Essentially the distinguishing factors removing Man from animals.

So I thought, and tweeted that I might try it out.

Once a week - Vegan

Once a week - Vegetarian

Once a week - Red Meat

Once a week - White Meat

Once a week - Pescetarian

Twice a week - Balanced Meals

Not so rigid on the days, so long as they make up a week, I reckon I'd be alright.

Started of today HOPING to go vegan. Only realised I couldnt because I had these for breakfast.

MILK!

I obviously forgot, milk is an animal by-product. Should have taken that lovely chocolate soymilk instead. So that, was strike two! Boy is this going to be hard. But I am determined to keep on at it. Perhaps I can still make today vegetarian day.

Lately, I've been trying to take a little more care of my body in hopes of improving my health. I try to exercise at least four times a week and eat healthier. Not easy because i love food!

But I'll be damed if I don't try. Watch this space.

And for treats (chocolate chip oat cookies ok for lacto-vegetarians)

What a beautiful day in Western Australia.

I've been shuttling between Australia and Singapore for the last five years, but only today did I realize how beautiful a day can be here in Perth. Autumn is my favourite season. Winter is too cold, Summer is too hot and Spring gives me hay fever but Autumn, Autumn is just perfect.

Today I took a walk to the local IGA, a little supermarket down the street. I enjoyed the gentle sunshine and the cool Swan River breeze which all but whisper on my skin.

It's along my running route, but when you're running everything looks, feel and smells different!

In Australia, I live in a quiet suburb. In between a boutique hotel and a retirement village. My apartment block is somewhat a buffer between the party-goers, and had-enough-of-partyingers.

Which effectively describes where I am at, now that i am in my mid-to-late-twenties, horror of horrors!

And today, after a gap year, I have decided to bring meself back to life. Like the Evanescence song. Yes, they were from 'my time'.

So I am coming home. Because I realise, I have never felt 'cut-off' from Singapore and perhaps, never will.

But I know I will feel cut-off from western Australia and all its gastronomic glory.

sexy onion rings and burger at JUS BURGER my favourite burger bar in the whole world.

and sexy western australia seafood by Cicerello's.