Sunday, June 25, 2017

No-Sugar Month Finishes

We made it, one month with no sugar! It was easier than I thought it would be. The only problem being that the food was a little repetitive at times. The only dessert type food we ate was a brand of yoghurt we found that had no added sugar. I ate it with some lower sugar fruits and it was nice to be having a dessert sometimes.

Mostly we ate meals based on meat and vegetables.

Chilli with extra vegetables added

 
Meatballs with sweet potato and kale

Beef stew and dumplings

Stamppot

For lunch we generally had a salad with meat and cheese. 

Gammon salad
Sometimes we had a collection of foods such as avocado, cheese, ham, sun-dried tomatoes, hot dogs, celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, carrot, hummus etc.


We always ate plenty so we wouldn't get hungry and be tempted to eat something sugary. And it worked, we both enjoyed the food we ate and didn't particularly miss foods we'd cut out.

After the month I definitely feel like I have more energy and I want to keep eating a fairly low sugar diet. It's nice to feel like you're giving your body good foods. It's really stisfying.

I did miss baking, it's something I get pleasure from, making something sweet that everyone enjoys. I'll probably go back to making the occasional treat but do it less often than I used to and try to find some lower sugar treats for us.

But overall it was a good experience, I'm glad we did it. :)

Monday, June 19, 2017

Playing Silly Burgers 1: Indian Spiced Burger




I've got a new book. 40 burgers! Even though the book's tagline claims "The exciting varieties are endless". Hehe!

The travesties don't stop there! Despite it's claims, this recipe book only includes 31 burger recipes. The remaining recipes are for fries, coleslaw etc. I'm still going to do 40 burgers though, I'll just scour the internet for 9 more recipes. 31 burgers isn't a nice round number of burgers to make.

So here we go with the first of many burgers we'll be making and eating.

Indian Spiced Burger 

    

Lamb mince spiced with garam masala, tumeric, mustard seeds, and chili. Served between mini naan breads.


Saute the onions with the spices.


Mix together the meat, onions, breadcrumbs and an egg.


Form into patties and cook.



We ate ours sandwiched between two homemade mini naan breads (since we're still not eating sugar and shop bought ones have sugar in). The burgers were really good, nicely spiced and really tasty. I'm not sure I've had lamb burgers before but I'd have them again. They weren't as aesthetically pleasing as most burgers I've had but the taste made up for that.

Ratings: JD -3, Emma - 3

Friday, June 9, 2017

A to Z Blogging Challenge: E is for Eggs and No-Sugar Update




How do we like our eggs in a morning? We like ours with a kiss ;)

Actually kisses aren't very filling so we usually eat our eggs with some meat and cheese. I do the prep and get the egg accompaniments cooked then JD takes over and scrambles the eggs in a frying pan. It's a really satisfying breakfast and a good start to the day having a meal together.  

Chicken and spinach

Pek chopped ham

Smoked sausage

Hot dogs

We try to vary the meat or way of cooking to stop us getting bored. We even tried haggis in our eggs on Burn's Night.


Corned beef and baked beans go great with a fried egg for breakfast.


We also enjoy Shak Shuka from Israel, eggs cooked in a thick tomato passata.


So yeah, we love eggs! If you've got any suggestions for something we could try with eggs then please comment below. :)

No-Sugar Update

We're over 2 weeks into no-sugar month and so far it's going well. We've eaten piles and piles of vegetables and our own body weights in meat too. It's tough for me going without sweet treats because I eat them fairly often. My work colleagues are keeping an eye on me at work so I don't eat sweets but so far I haven't really been tempted.

I definitely feel like I have more energy which has made it easier for me to get back into exercising more. We're being more creative with meals and making sure to eat plenty so we don't get hungry and succumb to sugary snacks.

Sugar makes you feel crap if you eat too much, there have been times we've eaten too much these last few weeks but it doesn't make you feel the same. It's nice to feel you're giving your body good food all the time.

I'll be posting when we finish with pictures of meals we've been having. 12 days to go!
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