Monday, January 24, 2011

Life after a diet ...

I'll admit. I'm serial dieter. From the master cleanse to the raw foods diet, I've attempted every diet I could lay my hands on, the most recent being my two week PSMF stint. It's gotten to the point where I don't even know how to eat 'normally' anymore. I deprive myself for a few weeks and shed some pounds, then I binge and stuff my face and put back on those same few pounds, over and over again. I think in the past year I've lost the same 5lb more than a couple of times.

Since my PSMF diet ended prematurily, I spent the past couple of days racking my brains trying to figure out what's next. Back to calorie counting? What about the South Beach diet? Or adopting a Paleo diet? Then I thought, why not take a break and stop thinking about food all the time. Live life in the PRESENT, and not 10lb into the future.

And that's what I will be doing until further notice. No more counting this or restricting that, but just eating the things I like when I'm hungry. Key word being - HUNGRY. I came pretty close to intuitive eating in early December when I stopped 'dieting'. I ate everything in moderation and didn't deprive myself. I want to get back to that happy, healthy relationship with food and what's a better day to start than today?



One of the things I want to focus on is eating only when I'm hungry, and until I'm 7/10th full. A lot of the time I eat out of habit, or because I should. But breakfast doesn't always have to be 7:00am on the dot, nor does it always have to be around 300 calories. If I have a late dinner, I want to be comfortable the next morning eating a LIGHTER breakfast, or maybe even skipping it! (The horror!!)

That's exactly what I tried to focus on this morning. Since I didn't have a proper dinner last night and instead had a late-night pastry, I wasn't hungry this morning. Knowing that I wouldn't get a chance to eat again until close to 1pm, I had a bowl of cereal (Puffins!) with half a sliced banana and a blob of blackberry yogurt. Nothing too heavy, but enough to sustain me.



When I got into the office at 12:40pm, I was more than ready for this sandwich. Oh bread! How I've missed you! Let's never fight again!!! A cream cheese & turkey sandwich with spinach & cucumber on whole wheat CHIA bread.



At around 4, I need a mental pick-me up. Enter grande iced americano and a giant delicious mandarin orange.



When I got home at 6pm, I was more than ready for dinner. But I had plans with friends at a restaurant for 8pm. I didn't want to arrive starving, so I chopped up half an apple and nuked it in the microwave before adding a blob of yogurt on top. This was the perfect snack to fend off the edge of hunger.



The restaurant we chose to celebrate Timothy's 22nd birthday was Las Margaritas, the famed local Mexican restaurant. As much as I claim to be a foodie, I know next to nothing about Mexican cuisine. This was my third time visiting the restaurant, and I still hardly knew the difference between an enchilada and a quesadilla. Luckily, this time proved to be the best of all my dining experiences there and I hope to try out more Mexican cuisine in the future!

One of my friends was running a little late for dinner, and the rest of us were more than happy for the complimentary tortilla chips (hot from the oven!!) and salsa. I had a biiig handful of these.



For dinner, I went with the dine-out Vancouver menu for $18. It features an appie, an entree, and a dessert, with three choices for each.

I started with the snapper cerviche (supposed to be scallop but they ran out) ... this was a cool and refreshing dish, but I couldn't take more than a few bites because of the excessive sprinkle of cilantro.



Which was fine because my entree was delicious! The website describes it as Conchinita Pibil - A famous dish from the Yucatan area of Mexico. Achiote marinated pork, oven roasted in a banana leaf. Served with pickled red onions, rice, tortillas and black beans.

It came with three warm, doughy (mini) tortillas which you add the filling to. There was also a variety of hot sauces at our table to choose from. I topped two tortillas with ample amounts of the pork, rice, and red onions. (The black beans were pretty flavorless so I left them alone.) Paired with the hot sauce, each bite was a unique experience for my (unrefined) palette. I could've easily polished off the third one as well, but wanted to stay true to my 7/10 rule and left it alone.



The dessert I chose was the churros con chocolate. Doughy, cinnamon-dusted fresh-from-the-oven churros drizzled with a thick dark chocolate sauce. I shared with my friends Z and Tmo who each ordered a different dessert from the dineout menu. (Flan and this AMAZING caramel crepe) Had generous bites of each, and it was the perfect amount of dessert.



After the dessert, I left the restaurant feeling 8/10th full. Very content, but not bursting to the seams or bent over backwards. What's wonderful about the whole experience was that I wasn't concerned with the number of calories or fats I was consuming, but the friends whom I shared them with. And if that isn't a worthy indulgence, then I don't know what is!



Tmo's 19th! (In my 1st year dorm room)



Tmo's 20th! (Ok I couldn't find any bday photos from this year so we'll pretend)



Tmo's 21st! (After Red Robin's ..)



And hopefully many, many more fatty meals to come. :)

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