My friend is wondering why she’s not losing weight and as I was trying to make her do a food diary, it turned out that she was ‘forgetting’ to write down some of the stuff she eats.

It’s not that these things are unhealthy, it’s just that if you’re going to write a diary for yourself and as an aid to your diet (in order to adjust things depending on what works best etc.), then you need to be thorough.

So what she was forgetting were things like hummus for example. It’s not bad in itself but if you’re dipping things in it all day, be it carrot or cucumber, it’s going to make you fat.  It contains up to 200 calories per 100 grams, and up to 10% of it is fat.

So careful if you’re dipping about everything and anything in hummus. It’s not a bad food in itself, it’s rich in Omega 3 and lots of minerals, but still not worth killing your diet for!

I was wondering what it was that made me lose 2 kg in two weeks and started to analyse how my eating patterns had changed over the past couple of weeks.

OK, I’ve been extra careful as Christmas is coming and I know I’ll have to fight off attempts by my mother and grandmother to make me stuff my face, but I’m convinced that I’ve lost those two little babies by stopping to eat… Dorset cereals.

Dorset cereals are possibly the finest range of cereals out there, and they taste lovely. Their range of mueslis include: berries and cherries; super cranberry; fruit, nuts and seeds; really nutty; simply delicious; and a couple of others.  God they are wholesome, but gorgeous. Personal favourites are “really nutty” and “fruit, nuts and seeds”, which make my mouth water as I’m writing this.

But now I’m convinced that the reason I’ve shed 2 kg is that they’re no longer part of my diet. Part of it is because they taste and look so healthy that you feel you can have more of it. Part of it is because their variety packs are 100g each rather than 50g for Kellogs fruit and fiber for example, meaning that a pack contains roughly 360 Cals, and the Kellogs ones, well, half of this.

The reason is that nuts and dry fruit, even though they’re supposed to be really good for you, are also really high in calories. They are also really high in fat, although arguably these are “good fats”. Look at the table below:

One single almond can give you 7 calories. But they are good for the heart, so worth having as a snack, just be careful not to overdo it!

Meanwhile, I’ll give dorset cereals a miss, as for all their lovely goodness, their suppression from my diet means that I’m 2 kg lighter!

So today, although it was Saturday, I was working, albeit from home.

So it was lovely, I went to the gym first thing and had lots of energy, not too sure why, I think it’s from all the water I drink these days.

Anyway, back from the gym, I had a banana and a pear, banana mainly for potassium and because they fill you up, pear because they are high in fiber, nearly in season (only two months early!), and most of all they taste nice. And I also had some echinacea and rapsberry because it tastes really sweet, while I was cooking.

Something with proteins

So basically I was going to have prawn and mussel kebabs and my local store was running out of mussel meat. I absolutely wanted something with proteins because I had done some weights at the gym. Eggs didn’t appeal, chicken always comes in massive, family packs, and so do beef and lamb, and the fish was looking a bit sorry for itself. I managed to resist cheese and sausages are a no-no, but came across those chorizo slices which are really really thin slices and thought to myself that there couldn’t be so many calories in them if you only had a few slices + they would not need seasoned or whatever and would add flavour to any meal. Turns out, the calorie count is about 80 per 25 grams, which gets you about 7 slices. Real treat.

Something carbo-hydrat-y

So then I thought I’m going to be working this afternoon, so I need carbs of some sort to have the energy to concentrate, so I bought a small potato. They are not bad for you, contrary to what diet sites tell you, but as for everything, they need to be eaten in moderation. So one is enough. By then I decided I was going to make a vegetable and chorizo roast, so I got lots of things for roasts, like garlic, onions, and parsley, plus in-season stuff such as cabbage, swede, and leek. I bought a lemon for the flavour, and I cheated, I got some oxo cubes, but to make up for it, i didn’t buy oil or butter, and resolved to cook my roast without any cooking fat whatsoever, as chorizo has some fat in it anyway.

So in the end, my shopping list for one plate of the stuff, with the corresponding calories, would have read:

• 7 thin slices of chorizo (proteins + fat): 80 cals
• 1 potato (carbs, fiber, and vitamins if you keep the skin): 130 cals
• various vegetable (vitamins and minerals): 70 cals
• 1 oxo cube (nastiness + taste!) diluted in water: 15 cals

So oven is on on mild heat, and because you are not going to use any fat, use a good cooking tray, to make sure things don’t burn or stick at the bottom.

Cut the veg, sprinkle in lemon juice, lots of garlic and herbs, leave in the oven for 30 minutes, then things will start to get crispy at the surface, so you need to add half an oxo cube diluted in water, leave for another half an hour, then add the chorizo, and leave it to cook for another half an hour, so altogether it’s 1.5 hour cooking time. But that’s for a real treat, and for weekends. And while it’s cooking you can get on with your life.

All this goodness for less than 300 calories - it was really hearty and kept me warm all afternoon!

It’s the 10th of November and so before you know it, everyone will be taking you for drinks to celebrate the festive season. Mince pies and hot cross buns aside, often on the cards even when you think you’re going for drinks, you’ll basically be having to make a smart choice on what drink to have if you don’t want to end up looking like an elephant come January.

So the table below, taken from http://www.caloriecounting.co.uk/resources/food/calories_drinks.htm, shows you how many calories there are in drinks.

It tells you to stay off the booze and beware of mixes, with diet coke being an exception as it has virtually no calories. But then coca cola, whether diet or not, is rubbish in every way, isn’t it?

So anyway, look how saintly wine is, compared to the others, with only about 80 calories a glass.

I have a bit of a bias towards white wine or champers myself, and think that two glasses are enough for the average girl if you’re going to have drinks with work or during-the-week drinks. So that’s roughly 170 calories. Something quite easy to burn off.

So for those who are not into wine quite yet, try and have some at your work Christmas party instead of beer. Try some South African Chenin Blanc if you’re not used to drinking wine as it tastes like fruit juice.
My favourite white wine is Pouilly fume, but it tends to get me drunk as a skunk after one glass. So depending on the circumstances, this can be an issue, or a plus!

One more thing: cocktails are a no-no. They look good and taste nice but have high sugar content, high calorie-count, and will give you the worst hangover of all. If you want to feel glamorous, hit the bubbly instead!