Moza... Ehla!

In my last post, I mentioned I had some mint leaves growing... I also grow basil. That stuff grows out of control!!!

I actually don't eat enough of it to be honest, at least I don't seem to be able to eat it at the rate it grows. It also dawned on me that I'm growing herbs on my balcony in Tokyo... And there was a nuclear accident in the north of the country. I was getting myself worked up over it, if my herbs were healthy for consumption that is, but considering most of our vegetables come from Japan, we're f*cked anyway, and there seems to be no problem with the stuff that's pretty far away from the plant, but we can't really know for sure... Even last week there was a man selling really cheap peaches outside the train station (300yen for 5 big ones, I usually buy 3 small peaches for that price), and I wanted to buy them but then I didn't know where they were from and if they were from an area close to Fukushima, he probably wouldn't tell me anyway, so I didn't even stop to check them out properly. I digress...

So in an attempt to use my "home-grown" herbs, I ruffled up this as a late evening snack:

Tomato
Fresh mozzarella
Basil
pepper and salt

Loves it!!!! The BF also loves it, so I only get to eat half of it. I know I keep on going on about it, but good (western) food is such a ripoff in Japan... When I was in university I'd eat fresh cheese all the time, here it's a weekly thing because 100grams of that cheese costs 300yen (about 4USD).

On another basil note, a few weeks ago I  made some pesto using LOADS of basil, some mozzarella cheese, natural yoghurt, olive oil, garlic and a bit more seasoning. It was good but the garlic was a bit of overkill, as were the calories from the pasta. I'll try it again soon, but I'll try to substitute the pasta for something else, I wonder if the Shirataki (angel noodles) will do.

Strawberry Mint

As the weather (humidity!!!) goes up, my energy levels go down...

In Japan we have to save energy now, because most of the nuclear reactors are turned off... So the AC isn't used as much as it could be.

Anyway, I've been growing mint on my balcony (and some other stuff), let's face it, I started growing it for the Mojitos. Fresh mint is difficult to find and terribly expensive. Anyway, I haven't had a mojito in over a month now, so the mint plant is kind of becoming a small shrub! I started thinking of how I could use it, besides for mint tea.

Solution?

I got some frozen strawberries, non fat natural yoghurt, and a few mint leaves and... Voilá!

I also added some powdered collagen, just to get a boost for my skin and stuff.

Snack it

So last weekend was a long one :D

Saturday was one of those days when... Well you know, you crawl out of bed at 11. (Actually it was 2pm but I'm kinda embarrassed to say it).

I had my all bran breakfast and cleaned the house a bit. At around 16:30 and after seeing my boyfriend go through two (2!!!) packs of potato chips while he played the PS, I was getting a bit hungry. The problem was I was getting one of those sweet attack moments, you know?

My solution?

One apple
+-13 grams of walnuts
one teaspoon of raw organic honey
Mix and enjoy :D

Yummy!!!

Mix and enjoy :D

The dress that doesn't fit

That epic moment when you buy a gorgeous dress online and it fits your waist and hips but doesn't fit you around the breast area!

Fortunately/Unfortunately I never lose too much in this area, and being top heavy is not something I am happy about. Must be weird for women who don't have big boobs, but I tell you know, having to carry this shit around is not all it's cracked up to be.

Anyway, maybe if I lose 10lbs or so it might actually fit. Let's wait and see!

Salad

I have no idea what the calorie count, all I know is... It's effing good. I eat this type of salad several times a week.

What's in it?

• lettuce
• carrot
• tomato
• sweetcorn
• cucumber
• red peppers
• fresh parsley

For the dressing I crush a garlic clove, add extra virgin olive oil, cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar and salt.

Forget love - I'd rather fall in chocolate!

So you know sometimes you feel the need... The need for creamy hot chocolate?

I do. Now while on an "ideal diet" you'd never have this, I'm not on a diet, I'm in a lifestyle change. So yeah, sometimes I get to eat stuff that I shouldn't.

Low fat milk: 225ml 92 calories

Chocolate powder: 8.5gr 34 calories

Mini Marshmallows: (based on weight) 25 calories

Total: 151calories of yummy

Actually, this is just a "cheap" version of something I really, really love...

But calorie wise I'm not sure if it's better. These come in individual packs with mini marshmallows... They have 121 calories and A LOT of sugar. But you can just add water and they are still good (add milk and it's better, add milk and crea... I digress)

I prefer my version because I can increase or decrease the caloric value as I see fit or to be within a daily limit (add water instead of milk, or 50/50), I can add less cocoa, no marshmallows. That and it's cheaper. Either way, it's a good way to end the day when you've got a few calories to spend and feel like a semi-guilty snack.

Romanesco broccoli

I was coming home the other day and I noticed the weirdest thing in the veggie shop...

It was so weird, I actually tool a picture!

Anyway, I took note of the Japanese name (ロマネスコ) and later googled it, to figure out what it was, if was eatable and if I could use in my diet :D

I discovered it's actually not that uncommon, it's called Romanesco broccoli and wikipedia filled me in on the rest.
Unfortunately for me though, the next day it wasn't there...

15% weight loss achieved!

So it's been a long time coming and... FINALLY I've reached my 15% weight loss.

Without any further ado, I present you the 15% progress shots

Yummy Skewers

Here's something we love to eat at home:

Skewers with onion, chicken breast, spring onion, pumpkin and garlic. I don't add any seasoning.

 I'm not sure about the calorie count, but It should be little more than the chicken, all the other things are very low calorie.

This with some tasty salad makes for a yummy dinner :) I also take it to work in my lunch box, but I remove the food from the skewers first!

My dinners and I...

I actually don't follow recipes in the kitchen, I just throw whatever I have into the pan and voilá!

Since I've started my diet my dinners are rather routine and boring. It's basically pretty much always the same thing: I'll each vegetables (sometimes with meat/fish) and usually a salad.

Now my vegetable mix is far from rocket science, it's just a "vegetable mix".

It became an issue when some colleagues asked me what I put into my "veggie mix" and I really didn't remember...

This was still cooking, but it's... Onion, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, salt, spring onion, tomato, celery, eggplant, green beans,  asparagus, konnyaku, carrot, parsely and soy sprouts. Later I add herbs.

Some people have commented that it's too expensive to buy some of these veggies, which might be true depending on several issues, such as food budget, where you live, where you buy them from, how many people you are feeding, how much you eat... But I don't find it too bad. I do however understand the financial issue, in fact the main reason I stopped juicing fruit was because it was too expensive.

Christmas

The table...

For Christmas I went to Europe... I wasn't counting on dieting and I was expecting all kinds of havoc to run through my body.

It was nice to be back, and I did eat like a pig (actually, I ate like five pigs rolled up into one big pigzilla) and my weight will of course reflect two weeks of gluttony.