Zucchini Hashbrowns

I made a new breakfast this morning; Zucchini Hashbrowns. As good as normal ones? No. But not bad for Cohen's-friendly hashbrowns. :)

Ingredients:
- 75 g shredded zucchini/onion (in whatever ratio you prefer);
- 2 crackers (like Salada or Premium ie., 4 squares);
- 1 egg;
- dried herbs;
- salt & pepper; and
- fresh chives/parsley to garnish.

Crumble the crackers, beat the egg and mix everything together. Cook in small clumps in frypan with spray oil. I made 4 and they cooked just like pancakes. I think if I wasn't on Cohen's that I might substitute the crackers for actual potato (probably precooked).

Enjoy!

M. x

Cohen's Diet Weigh In; Week 16.

Hi all, hope you've been having a great week! I weighed in yesterday and lost 0.7 kg, bringing me to a grand total of 20.5 kg!

As you can probably guess, I was a tad disappointed with my 0.7 kg given how many big changes I made to my diet last week. Whilst I suspect that some of them did or didn't make a difference, I really can't make an accurate comment about it because I had a binge on Saturday night. I CRACKED! Cracked, I tell you. Turns out the pressure of losing weight in time for France combined with trying to crack the 20kg mark, not to mention trying to crack on past my old skinny weight (and a few other work/personal dramas thrown in for good measure), was all too much. So on Saturday night, when I had no food left for the day, I ate 2 crackers and 2 massive kiwi fruits. I know it doesn't sound like much, but when you are only allowed 2 fruits and 5 crackers per day, and they have to be had at certain times apart from each other, etc., having all of that in one hit would have given me an insulin spike like I haven't had in a while! That is what would have done some damage. Not to mention that it was almost the size of my dinner!

Disappointingly, I am out of integrity if I try to comment on whether or not all of the strategies I implemented last week worked or not. I am, however, going to make a few comments anyway. :)

1) Cheese: I had heard previously that cheese could restrict your weight loss and had experimented a bit with it before, by not having it for a few days (whilst weighing myself daily). I found that I actually tended to lose weight after eating cheese and concluded it didn't make a huge difference.

2) I'm not overly sure that swapping meals 2 & 3 make a huge difference unless I have chicken at both meals. Otherwise I seem to be eating about the same weight of food and don't think it will matter if they are reversed or not.

3) I seem to be having less cravings in the evenings and think that (a) either the sugar balance tablets are working or (b) I really was having too much Vitamin B6 before hand (see last week's blog for more details).

I also found out that too much stress and not enough sleep are two of the biggest reasons for the slowing of weight loss. Given that I have been abnormally stressed for about 6 weeks and not sleeping as well, it would be silly to think that these are not, at the very least, contributing factors. So my plan this week is to stress less and sleep more!

I have one HUGE reason to stress less this week - I have worked out what I am going to do about France. Prior to now (and you've no doubt read about it in this blog), I was hoping to do my refeeding program (where they introduce bread/pasta/rice/wine/sweet biscuits and other restricted fruit/veg/meat back into your diet in a calculated fashion so as to not cause alarm and weight gain), before I go to France. The program lasts 17 days but can take a bit longer if your body isn't adjusting well. Given I leave for France on 23 September, I considered I should start refeed on 1 September. Problem is, Dr Cohen is very straight about the fact that he won't let you refeed unless you are at the goal weight that he prescribes you. Now, regardless of the slight discrepancy between my goal weight and Dr Cohen's version of my goal weight, that leaves me a good 10 kg to lose in 5 weeks. Given my last two weigh ins at the clinic were 3.9 kg and 3.4 kg for the last two 4 week periods, it is highly unlikely I will get there. I spoke to the clinic yesterday and we made a deal - I can start refeed on 1 September so long as I get in contact with them when I get back. That way, if I am not at my goal or still have weight to lose, I can go back on the program for a month or so to finish it properly. YAY! Well, not yay about having to go back on the program but YAY - I can relax!! Now I know for sure that I will be taken care of and can start refeed on 1 September regardless of my weight, the pressure is gone! YAY FOR LESS STRESS!

I have done quite a bit of research on the refeed program and there are two major signals to the body that you are ready for it. The first (and most common) is that you are just suddenly starving. Like 'I want to eat a horse' starving. On the first part of the program we are fed just the right amount to force our bodies to burn our stored fat to use as fuel. When our bodies reach a point where they don't want to burn any more fat, they will start screaming at us for more fuel. The second most common signal is that it will feel like you've hit a wall and you will have no energy for normal, every day tasks. It is hard to pin point this equilibrium point with the scales, it really has to come from your body. There is a bit of evidence from people who started the refeed program as soon as the scales said they were allowed to, rather than waiting until their bodies signalled to them that they were ready. They have then gained back some of the weight and since redone the end of the program. It appears that, in general, these people have found it much easier to sustain their goal weight after having gone through the experience a second time and waiting until their bodies told them they were ready, rather than the scales.

After learning this, I was keen to get to the part where my body tells me I'm ready, and so refeeding before France actually gives me the freedom to enjoy France without stressing about not being at my goal. Now I can just see how I feel when I get back. I'd already figured I might need to go back on the program for a bit (if 5 weeks in France results in too much indulgence), so now I will relax and just see how I feel when I get back. Who knows, maybe I will relax and get close enough that I can maintain it anyway? Anything is possible. There are certainly plenty of people that didn't wait for their bodies to scream at them before starting, and are maintaining just fine. :)

So for this week I am going to stress less, sleep more and RELAX! Food wise, I've talked to the clinic and I am going to have cheese a couple of times a week again, and try to keep my softdrink/sweetener restricted. I also have to make sure I only have 5 crackers and 2 fruit a day!!!

Hope you all have a great week,

M. x

PS - I cooked some lovely fillet steak with mushroom sauce the other day. It was so good, even the photo was all steamy!

Gai Pad Gra Pow (Basil Chicken) with Cauliflower Rice

Wow, I love this stuff.

This has always been one of my favourite Thai Dishes. I have had to modify it for my Cohen's Diet as the normal recipe calls for sugar and fish sauce, but I didn't even use any sweetener and it came out beautifully. I thought I might pop it up on my blog so that you all may enjoy it. :)

Ingredients
- 120 g chicken mince;
- 10 g thai basil leaves (looks like a lot but it's the main part of the dish);
- 1 clove garlic;
- chilli (I used a pinch of chilli flakes but you could use whatever chilli you like);
- 1 small spring onion;
- 80g cauliflower.

Slice spring onion, chilli and garlic and stirfry in a bit of spray oil. Add chicken after a minute or so and give a generous sprinkle of celtic salt (I use this as the subsitute for the fish sauce). Cut cauliflower up finely (or grate). Either put it in microwave container and zap for 2 minutes (to make 'cauliflower rice'), or stir in with chicken depending on your preference. Once chicken is cooked, remove from heat and stir through the basil.

I made mine with 'cauliflower rice' as a bit of a novelty. Obviously you can use whatever veggies you like (and certainly a bigger quantity than I used), and even serve with real rice!! Enjoy! :)

M. x

Cohen's Diet Weigh In; Week 15.

I weighed in this morning and I was shattered!!! I lost 0.6 kg which brings me to a grand total of 19.9 kg! Waaaaah! Well... I'm not really shattered given that I've (nearly) lost 20 kg, just a bit miffed that I didn't crack the 20 kg mark and also that I have had my worst ever weight loss to date. But that's all the complaining I'll do. :) I'm actually not surprised, I'm stuck at the weight I couldn't crack 4 years ago and they do say that your body has 'memory weights' that it will try to maintain but it's all good, I'll smash it next week. :)

I had a fabulous chat last night with the head of the Cohen's Lifestyle Clinic that I'm signed up to. Thus far I've avoided them like the plague, because, you know, I don't like being told what to do. I told them I'd sign up but wouldn't go see them (they are waaaay over the other side of the city), so thus far I've done the whole thing by phone. I typically only talk to them once every 4 weeks which is when they record my weight, or if I have a question. I had not had a hugely great experience with them as the woman who was meant to call me once a month was pretty slack, resulting in me calling her each time she was late in calling me so my overall impression of them wasn't high. However, it turns out she's not there now (apparently they noticed she was crap too) and that the lady who runs the place has taken an interest in her clients.

Anyhoo, we had a good old chat and I told her about how I am going to France and need to start refeed on 1 September but don't think I'll quite make it. I was scared to tell her in case she tried to make me go to France without doing refeed and make me keep going until I reach goal weight when I got back (meaning I wouldn't be allowed to drink wine or eat croissants in France!?) but she was great! She's now made it her personal mission to make sure I do make it (yippee!), and has given me some new rules for this week (boo!). These include:

1) Only have yoghurt 4 mornings a week (cry). She wants me to have an egg for breakfast on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. I like eggs but I LOVE my mango smoothies and this is going to be a bit sucky but will be worth it if it works.

2) No cheese this week. BOOOOOOOO!!!! I love cheese. So much. The fact that I can only have it 3 times a week makes me sad enough already but she said, now that I am down to the last fat layer, my body will burn the fat that I eat before it will burn the fat from my thighs and so she is banning me from eating cheese (which is the only protein in the diet that has fat in it). Cry cry cry. Friggin cry. And I have a feeling 'no cheese this week' will turn into 'no cheese until you finish'. Waaaah!

3) Cut back big time on the soft drink. (Cry again). I have been drinking (almost) the entire allowance of softdrink which is 1 L. I have 1 x 200 mL coke zero a day with lunch, and 2 x 375 mL sprite zero in the evenings. She wants me to cut back to one can a day. Sob. Sniffle.

 

 4) No Berocca. OH WHY!?? I love my morning Berocca. Too much B6 is what is, apparently, causing me to get the munchies at night time. I thought it was the boredom and the fact that I am alone, coupled with a dash of rebellion.

 

 5) No tofu. Dag nabbit. This was my new favourite thing. In fact, I actually made 6 serves of my lovely Tofu Masala (see my Week 13 Weigh In post for recipe and picture) last weekend and froze them. She said I can eat them (only 2 a week though - max) but that it's a weaker protein and better for me to eat chicken more often.

 

6) Swap lunch and dinner around so I am having a bigger meal at lunch. This rule I can handle (*wipes brow*).

 

Well, not only has she taken away all of the things that I love (*queue melodramatic music*), she has given me a bit of a vitamin readjustment. Firstly, I am to start taking some Blackmores sugar balance tablets. Apparently they will help with the sugar/carb cravings. I am to take them at morning tea, afternoon tea and just after dinner for a week or so, before weening down to one a day. I also have to take some magnesium tablets as I've been getting sore muscles. Get this though, vitamin B6 was in both the magnesium tablets and the sugar balance tablets so I ended up buying calcium & magnesium & D3 tablets which don't have B6. The sugar balance ones do but I'm assuming it won't have such an impact and somehow works with the chromium to regulate your blood sugar? Pfft. Sounds a bit fishy to me (and I can't be bothered looking into it further), so I have just alerted the clinic to the fact that there is, in fact, B6 in the sugar balance tablets and I am just going to do what I am told, for once. :)

 

To get to my goal weight by 1 September I need to lose 11.2 kg. To get to their goal weight for me I need to lose 14 kg. She thinks I'll get to her goal weight but before our conversation last night I thought I was going to come in short at around 9.2 kg (2 kg above my goal). She has me feeling pretty confident about reaching my goal with her help though - so watch this space!!!

 

Thanks for reading my blog, have a great week!!!

 

M. x

Mel's Cooking Adventures

I must say, one of the pleasures that I've been finding inside this diet is the pleasure of guilt-free eating. If I can make something yummy (for example, my apple slice!) within the Cohen's diet guidelines then I can eat something amazing with no guilt whatsoever or any worry that I am eating something unhealthy or not good for me in some way. I have really enjoyed making some things that I have already shared with you, like my big tasty cheese stacks, chicken schnitzel, tofu masala and coleslaw, and I thought I would share a couple of my new favourite discoveries with you. :)

Zucchini Pasta
- cut zucchini into fine long strips;
- dry on paper towel overnight in fridge; and
- stirfry with garlic, spray oil and salt.

I love this, it actually does taste a bit like pasta. I've eaten it several times, here it is with some seasoned chicken. I can't wait until I have a bigger veg allowance, I'd like to make this bigger so it is more like pasta with a topping. :)


Salt and Pepper Squid
- cut open squid tube and remove any cartilage you can find;
- score diagonal lines into inside of squid and cut into strips;
- place in little bag with 1 crushed premium cracker, salt, pepper and garlic; and
- stirfry in spray oil.

Oh how I loved eating this. I seriously felt like I was cheating, it was that good. It also works well in the oven for about 12 minutes on 190 degrees or so (fan forced). Doesn't look that great with the coleslaw colour-wise, but I eat that coleslaw with everything! ... and no my darling student husband, I still haven't bought that slicer so my cabbage still looks messy. :P


Balsamic Mushrooms
- cut up mushrooms;
- saute in 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar; and
- crumble feta and parsley over the top.

Oh My God. This is amazing. Was inspired one morning at work, thinking about a mushroom bruschetta I once had and I came home and made this in my lunch break with a manky bunch of parsley that had been in the fridge for about 3 weeks. The parsley ended up making the dish! I wish I was allowed feta more than once a week because this is amazing.


Chicken Nuggets
- mix organic chicken mince with 1 premium cracker, 1/4 teaspoon of mustard powder and some celtic salt;
- form into little nuggets; and
- bake in oven for 12 minutes on 190 degrees (fan-forced), turning once.

YUMMO! I made 5 batches of these last night and froze them. Good for a quick pre-prepared dinner. I think when I make them again that I won't mix the cracker in, I will save it to crumb the outside. See, I eat that coleslaw with everything! So quick, easy and tasty. :)


Egg Muffins
- finely chop 75 g total of spring onion, mushroom, asparagus and spinach;
- mix with one egg;
- divide into 2 muffin molds; and
- bake for about 15 mins on 180 degrees (fan forced).

These are pretty tasty. I freeze them and put them in the fridge to defrost overnight for an easy breakfast. I've even eaten them cold!

So there you have it. If you are looking for some healthy alternatives or ideas - enjoy!

M. x

PS - Thank you again for all of your support, I think creating this blog has helped me enormously to stay accountable and that wouldn't happen if I knew nobody was reading it so thank you to all of you who encourage me and read it. If you are still getting email notifications and would prefer not to, please let me know as I won't be at all offended. :)

Cohen's Diet Weigh In; Week 14.

Hi people! Another week bites the dust. 1.1 kg down this week, 19.3 kg total - woot! Getting close to 20 kg. :)

I am getting pretty excited and feeling pretty fabulous. I'm the thinnest I've been now since I was about 18 so that is exciting. I'm looking forward to the rest of the weight coming off soon and hoping to get it all done by the time I go to France. That means I'll have to start refeed by 1 September.

I drank 3 L of water each day this week but I'm not really sure if it made a big difference over the 2-2.5L I was drinking before. Prior to the slow down of my weight loss I was losing 1.0 kg on the 'off week' and I lost 1.1 kg this week. I'll keep up the 3 L though, just in case it does. My celtic salt arrived in the mail today so that was good timing - I'm going to tip out all of my old salt now and use it from now on. If you haven't read my post regarding celtic salt then click the link to check it out - it's good for you!!

I've started fantasising about the first sweet thing I'm going to eat when I go on maintenance. They say you should be able to have chocolate (50 g like a chocolate bar) twice a week or so and I'm looking forward to it immensely. I like that there are guidelines and that this stuff is not ruled out forever. I understand that I can't go back to eating the way I used to (I never really ate chocolate but I didn't eat enough protein and I ate too many carbs) and I love that this is a lifestyle change that includes the allowance of treats still. I'm under no illusion about it and it pleases me greatly. :) Speaking of chocolate, check out the photo of our morning tea at work last week - this is only what was left after an hour of 9 people eating it. I think I've done brilliantly to not cheat given we have one every week and this was a small spread compared to the others. The chocolate covered scotch finger biscuits were partiularly tempting this week, as were the mini mudcake muffins.

I hope you all have a great week, I think I should crack the 20 kg mark!!

M. x

Cohen's Diet Weigh In; Week 13.

Woo hoo! Had a ripper of a week and pulled a whopping 1.5 kg!! That makes for a grand total of 18.2 kg - woot!

Well, my little experiment has proven to me that all of those little things Dr Cohen says not to eat that seemed not important (like fenugreek, the wrong multivitamin and different sweeteners etc. in different soft drinks) really do make a difference. Bugger. It just goes to show really, if you want good results you really do have to do this program at 100%. If you are happy to coast along being on the program for longer than necessary then it's ok to do 98 or even 99%, but those last little things have almost halved my weightloss for a month. So I am definitely not eating out or doing anything unnecessary to affect my diet as I want this over with so I can have as much time on maintenance as possible before I go to France!

Now that everything is back on track I am upping my water to 3 L a day from 2 L. Let's see if that makes a difference!

Thanks for all of your support and encouragement, every little email or comment I get from you makes a huge difference to me. I was really excited last week to get a comment from another Cohenite - it's nice to know that my blog is inspiring others. :)

Have an awesome week!!!

M. x

PS - I made a kind of Tofu Masala, it rocked. Browned off the tofu in spray oil and cooked the vegies quickly with garlic/ginger/coriander/garam masala powders. YUM!

My all time best lucky find I've ever found in the whole of today!

Cohen's Coleslaw!!!

Found a recipe a girl put on the web called, 'Lazy Coleslaw' and she is so right. Quick, easy, and yum!

After playing with it a bit here is how I make it:

1. Slice cabbage and weigh to allowance. If I'm not feeling lazy I might also chop up some spring onion and celery;
2. Splash with white wine vinegar;
3. Add 1 level teaspoon of low fat mayo (that's all I'm allowed per day - it's tiny!);
4. Add a good grind of salt and pepper; and
5. Sprinkle with sweetener.

I turn it over a few times to mix in the mayo then I put the lid on and give it a bit of a shake to mix it (I normally make up one veg allowance in a disposable gladware container). I make a few in advance (I can only have one a day due to the mayo) and have it as a quick, ready-made veg portion.

I also discovered that it goes swimmingly with tuna, which makes for a very quick meal. YUM!

M. x

Sometimes it sucks to be a scientist...

OK, so after my month of relatively slow weight loss I have learnt a few more things. Firstly, Dr Cohen says that it can take up to a week for any substances that aren't allowed to leave the system. I think I observed this last week when my weight plateaued for 4 days and then began to drop consistently again.

When I started I was losing a bit of weight every day. The last month or so, however, I've been staying the same for 4-5 days and then losing most of my weekly weight in 1-2 days. They say that your body will stall often during rapid weight loss while everything reequilibrates but I did notice that the stalling was for much longer than normal in the past month. Therefore, I will be interested to observe my weight change this week now that I have been totally compliant with the diet (as far as I know) for the last week. If I can pull something decent over 1 kilo then I will assume that Dr Cohen is correct in that little things like fenugreek, the wrong yoghurt and the wrong diet soft drink actually make a difference.

I spoke to my consultant on Thursday and she suggested that I up my water intake to 3L if I want to lose more weight (I currently drink AT LEAST 2 L, sometimes 2.5 L). I purposely drink only 2 L (the minimum I must have) because if I drink more than that, my whole day consists of moments like that new TV ad where the lady is busting for the toilet and can't find her keys to get in the front door. So, because I actually want to test whether or not 3 L a day will make me lose more weight than 2 L, I won't start that until next week because if I pull a big number this week I won't know if it was the water or my new found diet-compliance.

The next thing I have learnt is that Celtic salt is far superior to normal salt, and infact has the opposite effect on the body as the normal sea salt I eat now. Instead of causing fluid retention and increasing blood sugar, it actually regulates your body minerals, decreases fluid retention and helps reduce blood pressure! WOW! Why have I never heard of this lovely goodness??? It even (apparently) can decrease cramps etc., due to the magnesium it contains. Very exciting, but it does add a third variable to my diet experiment. Whilst any normal person (who is in a mad rush to lose weight because they are going overseas) would just start doing all the things she was told to do (stick to the diet, drink the right soft drink, drink 3 L of water and swap to the good salt) and probably get great results, my silly scientific brain will only allow me to introduce one new variable at a time so that I know which variable is making a difference.

So this week, I am continuing with total diet compliance right down to the sweeteners (get this, I can have splenda, but not equal); next week I am going to up my water to 3 L a day; and the week after I am going to switch salts.

I'll let you know how I go!!

M. x