Ammi's quest for healthier eating - summer smoothies for weight loss

Summer is arriving in New Zealand where I live.

Over the last winter, I have gained more than a couple of kilos. This doesn't mean that I only have a couple of kilos to lose as I have many more kilos that were accumulated over the last few Christmas dinners and since my two kids. Offspring points out that I have had thirty years to lose those excess kilos. She doesn't just talk. She's lost her baby kilos within a few months. She  eats healthy but so do I, well most of the time when I don't get cravings. She hates sweets and she can eat anything and not put on weight while I love Hershey's peanut butter cups which tend to sit on my hips for decades. She also runs marathons. Half marathons to be exact and I have not done that even in my prime which is my biggest argument when I try to shut her up.

However, shutting up Offspring is not easy as she can bring up many an argument to rest her case. And, she is a legal eagle. I rest my case

I need to lose weight, not just to shut Offspring up and also to stop my dear GP from frowning or prescribing more pills but also for my own reasons the most important being it is way more cheaper to lose weight than to buy a whole new wardrobe.

I have been on many diets for the last 30 years.

It started with Sheri Louise back in Sri Lanka and I lost 10 Kg and I paid a hefty fortune in Rupees those days to lose it. It was a thousand Rs per kilo to lose weight those days I think and they had some lovely food to eat which I picked up from their offices in Colombo 3. I did lose weight but then I went and had another baby and put it all on. I didn't have the energy to go back to Sheri as I had two littlies under 2, was studying for a PhD and working full time.

In Canada where I lived for a while, I attended Weight Watchers meetings to lose weight. It worked but only until I was on the programme.

Once I moved to New Zealand, I've tried many diets. The cabbage soup diet lasted a whole four days and stopped when my diet partner Lynnie threatened to empty the rest of the said soup on my head so we flushed it down the sink and pressed the insinkerator button in glee.

The Food Doctor Diet was great. I followed it for a few weeks and got results and ate my way through it for three whole months shedding 7 kg before I had some surgery. It was probably the best and sensible diet I ever was on. I love their recipes and still cook them.
 
I've tried the Liver Cleansing Diet, The Rainbow Diet, The Aitkins Diet, The Juice Diet and every other blessed diet that was ever invented. I did lose a couple of kilos with everyone but I put them all back with interest.

Then I came across Rapid. I joined it and purchased all of its programmes Kick Start, Reset and Living Well. On Kick Start I lost 3.5 kg and was on Reset for a few months shedding a little weight but the fasting nearly killed me in the short run and high volumes of bacon and fat would have killed me by clogging my arteries and raising cholesterol in the long run. My doctor put a stop to that one and I didn't even touch the Living Well. However, I met some lovely people on their online forum and was amazed at the results of some people who lost as much as 40-50 kg on the programme. That is 90% of my bodyweight and I take my hat off to them but it was not for me.

In total desperation, I even tried the Gliricidia Cambodia pills. The only thing it reduced was my dwindling bank balance. Despite rave reviews from the likes of Dr Phil, it was a total disaster and I don't even know what I swallowed for those $$$s.

A few weeks ago, I decided that I will stop following any diet but will eat healthy and exercise. So I am totally cutting down on sugar and bread and reducing my rice and potato intake. I have started walking whenever I can and attend a Zumba class once a week and do Zumba using DVDs a few times a week by myself. I stopped weighing myself every day and in a few weeks found that I have actually lost 2.5 kgs.  I was surprised but continued to eat healthy and now I am losing weight slowly but steadily. I do have a treat occasionally and eat normally when I go out on the weekends. I am still experimenting but I am confident that I am on the right track finally.

So I will share my healthier recipes for anyone who is interested on this blog and for my own reference.

I've fallen in love with smoothies for brunch or breakfast. They fill me up and they are yummy.  I've tried out a few playing with different variations. Since I don't like the taste of whey protein, I've omitted it but I try to add some good fats into them to increase fat loss. I try to have them at least 3-4 times a week and have an egg with an oat cracker or am omelette or frittata with vegetables on the other two days of the week. On weekends, I eat what the family eat but in smaller potions.

My smoothie maker comes in handy to create them. I bought it practically new on Trademe (our equivalent of e-bay)  for $15 and it is so very good but you can use a food processor or blender or even a stick mixer thing.

 

Now for the recipes:
 Please note that there are no exact recipes for these. Try different combinations and find what you like best. I don't use milk as I hate milk but I use yogurt sometimes.

Berry Smoothie

a handful of frozen or fresh berries (raspberry, blueberry, strawberry or a mix of all)
3 tsps. of LSA or crushed lin seeds
half a cup coconut water/ almond milk/almond coconut milk/ oat milk or milk if you can handle it
1 tbsp. coconut cream (optional) or you can add yogurt
half a banana, sliced
A couple of ice cubes if you are not using frozen berries
You can add a serving of whey protein if you like


Place everything in the smoothie maker or blender and whizz together for a couple of minutes. Serve in a tall glass.

Mango smoothie

Flesh of half a large or 1 small mango cut into cubes
a few icecubes
half a banana
3 tsps. of LSA
half a cup milk of your choice
2 tbsps. coconut cream or plain or mango yougurt
a serving of whey protein (opt)

Whiz all ingredients together in a blender/Smoothie maker. Serves 1

Pineapple smoothie

half cup cubed fresh (preferably) or canned pineapple (canned in water not syrup)
half a banana
3 ice cubes
3 tbsps. yogurt
half a cup milk of your choice
3 tsps. LSA
a serving of whey protein (opt)

Whiz all ingredients together in a blender/Smoothie maker. Serves 1


Watermelon smoothie

1 cup cubed watermelon, seeds removed
half a banana
a small piece of ginger grated
2 tsps. LSA or ground lin seed
3 tsps. yogurt or coconut cream
a few ice cubes
a serving of whey protein (opt)

Whiz all ingredients together in a blender/Smoothie maker. Serves 1


Well, that's it for now and enjoy your smoothies. Let me know your thoughts.
 

Stuffed Cuttlefish/ calamari curry - Dello purawala

I remember eating a stuffed calamari curry as a child. My aunt used to stuff the calamari with cooked mung bean, cover the calamari with its own head and secure with a small piece of coconut ekel and simmer the calamari in a thick coconut curry sauce.

When I spoke about this curry many years later when my aunt was living with us in New Zealand, she made the curry once more. That was the last time I had it as my aunt passed away a few months later.

Recently I found some small calamari with heads on at the Sea Mart fish market and I remembered that cherished dish but I had no idea how it was made. I only remembered that my aunt used roasted mung dhall to stuff the calamari.

So I experimented and made a decent curry. Here is the recipe.

 Unfortunately, I don't have photos. Although I photographed the dish in a hurry, I didn't have a memory card in the camera so there are no photos.

Ingredients.

500 gms small or medium cuttle fish, cleaned with heads intact

stuffing:
200 gms roasted mung beans, either halved or crushed roughly (I purchased cleaned and roasted beans which is available in Asian shops)
1 onion, chopped
3 sliced green chillies
a handful of curry leaves
a piece of pandan leaf (rampe)
1 tsp unroasted Sri Lankan curry powder
half a tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
half a cup thick coconut milk
half a cup thin coconut milk
salt to taste (about half a tsp)
2 tbsps. oil

Curry:
1 onion chopped
3 green chillies chopped
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp unroasted SL curry powder
1 tsp chilli powder
 a piece of rampe (Pandan leaf) 4 cms long
a piece of cinnamon 4 cms long
half a cup thin coconut milk
half a cup thick coconut milk
1 tomato, peeled and chopped
salt to taste
curry leaves
2 tbsps. oil

Wash and drain the mung beans. Heat the oil in a small pan and when hot fry the curry leaves. Add the onion and green chillie and saute until soft but not browned. Add the turmeric, pandan leaf, curry powder and chilli powder and fry for a minute or so. Add the drained mung and stir well for another couple of minutes. Add thin coconut milk and cook covered until the milk is absorbed. Then add the salt and thick coconut milk and cook till dry. It should not be overcooked. Cool for 10 mts.

Use this mixture to stuff the cuttle fish. Use the heads as a topper to cover and secure with a toothpick or two so that the mixture doesn't seep out. Keep aside.

Meanwhile make a curry but sautéing the onions, curry leaves, rampe and green chilli in oil. Add the ginger garlic paste and stir. Add the cinnamon, curry powder, turmeric, chilli powder. Then add the thin coconut milk and the tomato and cook until done. Add the thick coconut milk and salt. When simmering and thick, carefully place the stuffed cuttlefish in the curry and cook on a medium heat for about 10  mts. Don't overcook as cuttlefish will be rubbery if overcooked.

I found that the cuttlefish generated quite a bit of liquid but I didn't want to overcook them. So I removed the stuffed cuttlefish into a serving dish and boiled down the curry until it was quite thick and then spooned it over the curry.

Serve with rice and a few other curries. I served it with a green mallun, pol sambal and devilled potato with rice.