Posted by Day two and it is not as drastic as I thought. My tummy isn’t rumbling and I am getting through the day with lots of energy. I only have one problem: food supplies are running short.
I started breakfast with more brown rice porridge and condensed milk. Yum! It feels decadent yet, with the brown rice content, arguably healthy as well.
For lunch I had some leftover brown rice, tomato and chicken hot pot with parsley on top. During the day I snacked on one hard-boiled egg and an apple.
In the evening I went to my gym and had a swim, then frocked up to participate in a careers panel discussion at the Australian National University. I didn’t have time to eat beforehand. The event was catered. I felt a little bad refusing to eat things that were offered, but I think people understood. I think it would be harder if I stayed to mingle afterwards, but I had to run off to pick up my kids (who had a very late night). At least it made it easier to say no to cake.
Today I felt an odd lack of hunger. I say ‘odd’ because last year I was hungry and struggled to get through the week. Actually I felt so good today that I decided to only eat an apple for dinner. Except that Little A found my apple before I did and decided to eat it for me. I guess that’s what a lot of mothers facing poverty do – they give up their own food for their kids. I was still able to eat the half that he left after he lost interest.
Part of the reason for lack of hunger is that this year I invested heavily in a low GI, complex carbohydrate brown rice diet. My reasoning was that if it is good enough to form the basis of a cancer-fighting macrobiotic diet, then surely I would at least emerge from the week feeling healthy. And regular from so much fiber. At $2.29 a kilo pack of rice from ALDI, that was over a fifth of my food supplies right then and there in one ingredient. By the time I added in butter ($1.39) and eggs ($2.59), that didn’t leave much for fruit and vegetables.
After making a large batch of brown rice, tomato and chicken hot pot last night, I suddenly realised that I have used up nearly all of my brown rice. I have less than a quarter of a packet. And I still have three days to go! Admittedly some of that cooked rice is waiting for meals (two hot pot meals plus a quantity for another meal). But I feel a little scared. I was even going to attempt bread with a brown rice sourdough fermenting on my windowsill, but I am unsure now if I have enough bread.
And I am feeling it is time for a bit of variety. Except that my pumpkin has not arrived! The guy at work who said he would sell me a homegrown one forgot. Hopefully he will remember tomorrow. I am really craving some more vegetables.
It is fascinating following your progress. Go Serina!
Well done, Serina… actually, cutting back on food is really not that bad once you put your mind to it… good on you.
Still hard … just not impossible. Last year I was so hungry and reduced 3kg by the end of five days. I had food left over but was too tired and hungry to cook it. The hardest thing is the lack of variety and ‘spice’. It is those little things, the salt, herbs, spices, that give food pizzazz.