Chocolate and Beyond

It was a Christmas miracle! No weight gain.

Well, would you believe it, I appear to be exactly the same weight as I was before Christmas, if not a little less?

I'll be perfectly honest, I don't account this small miracle to anything I've been doing on an intuitive eating level - although the couple of weeks running up to Christmas I was definitely being a lot more mindful in terms of portion size (using a small plate again, mainly).

However, following my trip to Uganda a few months back in October, I seem to have had a persistent stomach problem. I know, I know, I need to see the doc, but it is SO damn hard to get an appointment at my local surgery, it puts me off ever getting help with my health.

Anyhow, I basically was really ill for the first few days I got back from Uganda, high fever and my bowels had turned to water, without giving you too much gory information. And the stomach cramps actually made me cry. Proper tears. And I'm no wuss, I can tell you.

Since then, I've generally just not been right. Sometimes, it seems like I'm really, really full after eating just a small amount. And other times, there just seems to be a persistent pain (not agonising, but there) and lots of bloating.

Even though I did stuff myself with my Christmas dinners, especially on Christmas Eve which is our special night with our Polish food, afterwards I suffered for it and could not indulge any further - as would be normal - meaning my Christmas intake was more limited than normal.

So - thanks probably to some parasite living inside me (right okay Andrea: GO AND GET IT CHECKED OUT!), I did not put on any Christmas weight. There's always a silver lining.

However, I have been very slack in terms of remaining intuitive and mindful about my eating, and I do intend that for 2012, I will start to revisit my normal eating principles and get some weight off.

Happy New Year anyhow!

My vegan challenge for November

I found out that November is Animal Aid's Vegan Month and I'm planning on trying out a vegan diet through the month, to see how I get along and to learn some more vegan recipes.

I bought a vegan cookbook called Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook which is supposed to be excellent, and having tried a couple of things from it, I can see the authors know their stuff. The banana bread in here is amazing, and I baked it for my son's leaving party and everyone loved it (I never mentioned it was a vegan recipe!).

On their GoVegan site, Animal Aid have a huge amount of resources to help get started as well as find out about the arguments for veganism. I have to say, I currently can't imagine being 100% vegan for life, and especially when I travel, but I'm more than happy to cut down on my use of animal produce overall (free-range eggs, cheese, etc), and make far more vegan choices than I normally do.

However, another part of me is concerned that I'm not going to be able to manage my challenge for the whole of November! Already I'm wondering about how to deal with dinner invites and so on. I know a few restaurants that I can eat vegan food at when dining out - but what about when people ask me over for a meal at their place?

Wish me luck. I'll try my best and what I reckon is, every bit helps towards a lifestyle that does not involve cruelty, exploitation or destruction of the environment. So, just being aware of making such choices is a positive step forward.

Reading 'Eating Animals' is making me re-think my prawn habit...

If you follow this blog, you'll probably know that I've gone from being vegetarian (most of my life) to eating some meat (blinkered period), to being vegetarian again (principles couldn't stay down) but trying to cut out dairy (Conklin Farms horror), to being pescitarian but only choosing MSC fish (it suffers marginally less) and now?

Well I've gone and bought myself Jonathan Safran Foer's book 'Eating Animals', and I'm really starting to think the fish - and even the prawns - have to go.

I've cut down immensely on eating fish, I have to say, and I have been working at eliminating fish from my diet completely. But I never really saw any reason to give up prawns, ever, on the basis that I didn't think they suffered (which might not be true anyhow), as well as the fact that when there's nothing else on the menu that's veggie, there's usually a prawn dish I can eat. Yet I hadn't really considered the environmental impact of my prawn habit.

In Eating Animals, Safran Foer says that "shrimp trawling devastates sea horse populations more than any other activity". Sea horses are actually quite marvellous little creatures, with very complex natures (they live in long-term monogamous relationships and the males become pregnant, for crying out loud!), and they are being wiped out by the fishing industry. And while the prawns I buy from supermarkets are only ever the ones that say 'responsibly sourced' on them, what does this really mean?

Can I guarantee a sea horse has never died from the prawns I eat? I doubt it. And what really shocked me in reading Eating Animals (though I'm so busy I haven't actually got that far in the book yet, though it's already having an impact) was how much sea life altogether is killed as 'bycatch', for just one piece of fish on your plate.

Safran Foer says "Imagine being served a plate of sushi. But this plate also holds all of the animals that were killed for your serving of sushi. The plate might need to be five feet across."

And these animals don't just include other fish. In tuna fishing, they include whales, dolphins, sharks, and sea birds of all kinds. Now that's something for me to think about, I reckon.

My roasted garlic & carrot hummus recipe (tasty & vegan too!)

I know I'll never switch to a fully vegan diet, though I do overall want to cut down on my consumption of animal products. I failed miserably to cut out dairy completely (well, not miserably, because I have switched to soya milk and I have cut down on cheese), but I have still decided to increase my repertoire of vegan recipes for cooking at home.

I made this recipe up at the weekend, when I did an afternoon tea, and it turned out to be delicious. I thought I'd share it with you (sorry I can't be more precise over the ingredients, I wasn't intending on writing about it when I first started making it!).

Andrea's roasted garlic & carrot hummus

6-7 large carrots

3-4 large cloves garlic

Approx 800g (2 cans) chick peas (mine were previously cooked from dried)

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika powder

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

4-5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Zest & juice of half a lemon

Heaped tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley

Salt & pepper to taste

Some vegetable stock to 'wet' while blending

1. Chop and roast the carrots (with a drizzle of olive oil) for about 40 minutes at 190 degrees celcius then add roughly chopped garlic and cook for about another 20 minutes until the carrots are golden brown and soft.

2. Allows to cool, then blend the roasted carrots and garlic with the chick peas, spices, oilve oil, lemon juice and seasoning in an electric blender. Keep blending and stirring down, slowly adding the vegetable stock until you get the consistency that you prefer for your dip!

3. Allow to cool in the fridge and serve with pitta bread or crudités as a dip or a starter, with a sprig of parsley in the top to garnish.

There you go - easy as pie! If you end up making this, I'd be interested to know what you think (my disclaimer though is to remember that my ingredients are approximate - try the taste test as you go along to see what it's turning out like!).

 

What do you mean when you say you're eating 'healthily'?

When you talk about 'healthy eating' do you actually mean you're 'dieting', or at least switching to low-fat eating? It's become a bit of a bug bear of mine that people use the term 'healthy eating' as a euphemism for eating a low-fat diet, when there is so much evidence to show that eating the standard 'low fat diet' isn't healthy at all.

When I say I'm eating 'healthily', I mean that I'm being mindful about including nutritional foods in my diet again, when maybe I've been a bit slack for a while (such as the times I've been travelling and living off pizza!). My healthy foods include things like nuts, seeds and avocados - which are some of the most nutritionally dense foods you can eat, and are ones which dieters tend to avoid.

Also for me, a healthy diet tends to mean eating less white carbs, which don't make me feel great (though I did eat 2 slices of buttered white toast for breakfast this morning!), but I don't start using less fat, and I certainly don't start eating 'diet' foods. Again, there is so much evidence to show these do us more harm than good, and also make us hungrier in the long run because they contain so many substitute ingredients.

Of course, I do include a lot of vegetables and salads when I'm eating 'healthily' - but that's because they are the foundation of a good diet, not because they help me lose weight.

I know I'm no skinny minny, but I do now stay at a stable weight, pretty much whatever the occasion. And I am a lot happier than I used to be, when I was spending what seemed to be every waking moment thinking about how to keep the number on the scales down. For me, the way I now eat 'healthily' actually feels healthy.

 

Not in my cuppa - why we need to keep mega dairies out of the UK

We like our great British countryside don't we? Rolling hills of green, privet hedges and cows grazing the pasture. But imagine the cows and fields were replaced with massive, corrugated sheds instead? Doesn't quite sum up what a day in the country is all about.

But we need to act if we don't want our beautiful landscapes to change in that way, and if we don't want to drink milk from 'battery cows'. That is, cows kept in conditions not dissimilar to the millions of poor hens who suffer terribly in barren battery cages. I definitely don't want that to happen, and it was great to hear of the recent WSPA campaign success when Nocton Dairies had their application turned down (yet again) to install a US-style intensive dairy farm in Lincolnshire.

The threat isn't over though. While Nocton Dairies were unsuccessful on this occasion, they will no doubt try again, and other dairy businesses continue to push towards building intensive dairy farms, such as the proposed Leighton Farm expansion in Wales.

'Mega-dairies' impose terrible suffering upon cows. They are kept not in fields but inside stalls with little room to move, and have no opportunity for natural grazing. They are milked to the extreme, three times a day, and the burden this places on them makes their lives even shorter than dairy cows' lives already are. It isn't just the cows that suffer though, the environmental impact is also significant, with waste polluting local water supplies and causing massive problems.

Dairy cows in the US are already subjected to dreadful suffering through intensive 'mega dairies' - PETA are investigating one currently. We must prevent this from ever being the case in the UK. It must not be that we have to keep campaigning against mega-dairy applications, but that there must be no opportunity for dairies to make the application in the first place, with a forwards-ban on this style of farming in the UK.

I have become part of the WSPA's 'Not in my cuppa' campaign, and part of a small team of people looking to spread the word on this issue, to make sure intensive dairy farms never become part of the UK landscape. We want our cows in fields, not in factory farms (can you imagine looking at huge ugly sheds while driving in the countryside, rather than seeing cows grazing in fields?). I hope after reading this, you'll think the same.

Join the 'Not in my cuppa' campaign and make sure the milk in your tea or coffee never comes from a battery cow.

The problem with frequent travelling is weight gain

Having had a recent trip to the USA (and being served HUGE portions of food!), I currently feel weightier than I have done in a long time. In fact, I could barely fasten my jeans on the plane home!

I can honestly say, the idea of going on a diet is creeping into my mind. Especially since I have a holiday coming up in a few days, which is an all-inclusive trip, and I know I will be faced with mountains more of food.

I find intuitive eating principles are not easy for me to practice while away, and I go away a lot. Especially on a press trips, where we get full breakfast, lunch and dinner, in yummy restaurants and hotels, and I want to enjoy the experience fully. What I think is that I'm only going to be there this once, so it seems such a shame to not try things - but the effect is weight gain! At least for me.

I had a similar weight gain /dieting panic a few years back after returning from Tunisia, and I have just re-read that post to remind myself how I dealt with the feelings then.

However, my thoughts about intuitive eating have changed a bit over the years. I no longer think I should just eat 'what I want', as long as I'm hungry and I only eat enough to be satisfied. While this is a tactic for the initial stages of giving up dieting (to free yourself from deprivation mentality), I find that if I eat - for example - a lot of high-carb foods, I get hungry again very quickly and I am never satisfied for very long.

I also believe that some foods do have the effect of being 'addictive', while not necessarily good for you, especially sugary, carbohydrate foods. So I may think this is what I want, but it's not really the best choice for me (I get in a habit then of eating them and wonder why I feel bad and stodgy). 

So - I'm not dieting, no. But I am going to 'cut out the crap' for while, so to speak. That doesn't mean I will omit chocolate of course (I have cupboard loads of the stuff too, since it was recently my birthday and people bought me lots!), but I am going to make a conscious decision to aim for nutrition over 'empty calories'.

Hopefully some of this 'travel weight' will be shed in the process, and I will be able to fasten my jeans comfortably again. But I still have next week's holiday to get through. Hmmm.

Winner of RAWR Easter Eggs competition has been announced!

I'm happy to report that a winner of the RAWR Easter Eggs competition, which was recently featured on my blog, has been chosen by RAWR.

It was a touch choice as there were 60 entries for the competition, but RAWR's chocolate producers liked the suggestion of Claire Evans, who came up with the idea of a mix of dried cherries, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries as a new chocolate flavour for RAWR. So Claire is the lucky winner of the eggs!

She has been notified and a box of the RAWR Easter eggs are on their way to her.

DON'T FORGET THOUGH - 10% discount on orders from RAWR is available for Chocolate and Beyond readers!

Just use the code BEYOND10 which you can add in My Cart on www.rawrchoc.com after making your order.

My 2011 personal review of intuitive eating and dieting

I was just starting to write a response to a comment by Lucy, who wrote something on my post Slimsticks - yet another 'revolutionary new weight loss aid' but I decided to do blog a post instead. Otherwise, the comment would have been too long!

Lucy - your comment kind of made me want to review where I was at, and what I now feel about intuitive eating, and I hope by doing so, I will also be addressing what you were querying.

Firstly - where am I at in 2011 in a life where I 'opted out' of dieting several years ago (I began my blog in September 2006 - wow!)?

Well, I'm not a skinny minny, if that's what anyone is wondering (see picture)! But I am so, so much happier - and quite possibly a more natural weight? I am probably the same weight (maybe a few pounds more) as when I gave up dieting (a weight that I had been on and off for a time anyhow, even though I WAS dieting!) - so I think I have learnt to stay fairly stable (give or take holidays and Christmas).

I think the main thing that has changed for me is that I no longer have any obsession over food. I don't obsess about the calorie or fat content of foods I eat, nor do I worry about socialising with friends and going out for dinner and so on. I feel so much more liberated in that way, and I generally don't care if I am no longer a size 10-12 (instead, a steady 12-14), because I FEEL so free from what dieting is about - on the whole.

Still - I do have my moments (and at times where I wonder if it would be nice to fit back into some of my clothes from the early 2000s, hanging around my wardrobe!). And I have to confess that I have not been very mindful of my eating for a while, which is central to intuitive eating working for me. I've just doled out a 'portion' and ate it, regardless of whether I've started to feel full or not. I know if I carry on doing this, I'll just pile on the weight.

Dieting?

In her comment, Lucy mentions she has put on two stone in the last 2 years and though doesn't want to diet, feels a bit desperate to do so. I really empathise. Though I have not had such significant weight gain, I definitely had this kind of desperate experience. I remember being almost panicked by it at one point.

And while I am so much freer of diet-mentality, I am not 100% free of it. Five years on I have times where I start to consider dieting, just a little bit. However, for the times where I've even tried to diet maybe a couple of days, then I start to feel straight away deprived again. I know then that I musn't continue on that path.

What I would say to Lucy, is this:

If you've dieted before and it's worked for you for a long period and you are happy with 'being on a diet', then I think that by all means go for it. Some people are more than happy with dieting, and they can maintain it, and it does work for them.

My blog is my own personal response to breaking away dieting - after feeling like I just couldn't do it anymore, and after reading Beyond Chocolate, but I am not an expert for other people. This is what I prefer, but it may not be right for you.

However, Lucy - you say you joined Slimming World and gained a stone? Is there any reason it should be successful the next time, if you opt to diet again? 

Intuitive eating / normal eating

I have moved away from seeing what I'm doing as 'intuitive eating' to just calling it 'normal eating'. Normal eating to me encompasses everything that normal people who don't diet (and have never dieted) do. They sometimes overeat, they sometimes miss meals, they sometimes eat at funny times, they sometimes eat crap food, and they probably eat the food of their choice when they want to eat it, not just because it's breakfast or dinner.

Normal eating for me also means aiming to eat nutritious food (though I'm sure not all 'normal' eaters are like this!). I really don't feel good about myself when my diet is slack and nutritionally extinct - I like to fit in a lot of green vegetables, and not hinge meals around carbs. When I started out with IE, I got the impression with the 'eat what you what' concept that nutritious food wasn't as high on the agenda as simply eating what you want.

Though I think that it is necessary to 'eat what you want' at first to take the personality away from food (as long as it's only as much as you need!), you have to respect your body, and feed it the right things. For me, once I started moving back towards truly nutritious food then I stopped gaining the weight that seemed to appear when I stopped dieting.

Lucy - you also mentioned Beyond Chocolate's workshops and how pricey they are. I have to say, I don't really follow so much what is going on with Beyond Chocolate anymore because while reading the book was the reason I started my blog, my learning and development has been from a number of sources since. So I checked in on the website and I see a lot has changed.

I agree the workshops and membership is expensive - I would not be able to afford them myself. But I suppose the difference is that the authors are two women who are trying to earn a living from a method which has worked for them and that they wrote a book about, with a genuine intention for helping other women. They are not a multi-million pound industry which feeds off our despair, by giving us something that may work in the short-term (offering such promise) and is unlikely to work in the long-term.

It's a bit the other way round with Beyond Chocolate. It doesn't appear to work in the short-term, but is MORE likely to work in the long-term. And if you think about the amount of money many women pump into the diet industry over their lifetime (from diet yogurts, diet aids, appetite supressents, weekly meeting fees etc) on something generally doomed to fail, then it starts to look less expensive.

However, I do feel that it's a shame that the members' forum isn't open to anyone who buys the book. Speaking to other people trying this new way of managing weight is a valuable support, and I think if you've bothered to buy the book, then the forum at least should be available to you. I haven't tried it but maybe the Through Thick and Thin forum could be an alternative?

If you decide you are going to persist with intuitive eating, then I think you have to be really honest about how closely you are following the principles to make it work. I have not been following them very closely at all lately, although I make many more intuitive choices than I used to, I know I'll gain weight unless I revisit them.

So, a very long-winded response - maybe with a few typos cos it's late and I've been ill! But hopefully this is a kind of up date on where I'm at, as well as some feedback to Lucy's comment on my Slimsticks post.

WIN a box of DELICIOUS RAWR Easter Eggs!

If you've just read my review of RAWR Easter Eggs, then there's no doubt your mouth will now be watering at the thought of them! And here's your chance to WIN a box of them!

RWAR Easter Eggs are  delicious, organic, raw chocolate hand-made from Peruvian cacao. They are dairy-free, gluten-free and, in fact, completely free of any yukky cheap ingredients, emulsifiers, processed oils or other rubbish that is found in commercial chocolate. There is no artifical anything in them, but lots of goodness.

Plus, they are the simply the best chocolate you've ever tasted. EVEN if you're not vegan, or have gluten sensitivity, or anything else! Find out more on www.rawrchoc.com

Competition to WIN a box of RAWR Easter Eggs

So, here's your chance to win your very own box in time for Easter in a competition. To enter, you need to suggest a new chocolate flavour for RAWR, one which they don't already make.

You'll need to have a quick browse on www.rawrchoc.com to check what flavours they already do!

THEN you need to leave your idea as a comment below, and make sure you provide your email (it won't be shown - don't put it in the comment itself).

The best idea will be decided by the people at RAWR, who will send you a wonderful box of their yummy Easter eggs, worth £8.95.

The competition closes on Friday 15th April - giving time for RAWR to choose a winner and send a box out in time for Easter!

10% discount on RAWR orders for Chocolate and Beyond readers!

In the meantime, if you'd like to order some of RAWR's chocolate eggs to try now, or buy as Easter gifts, the company have kindly offered a very reasonable 10% discount off website orders to Chocolate and Beyond readers.

Just use the code BEYOND10 which you can add in My Cart on www.rawrchoc.com after making your order.