D.I.E.T. (Determination, Insanity, Enthusiasm, Trust): PART 1

Well, I was supposed to share some sort of camping experiences actually... but a blogger friend of mine requested for some tips on a vegetarian diet, so tadah... here it is! In fact, that blogger blogged about menus for people who are on a diet. For the post, please click here!

Besides, it is easier to type out stuffs about my daily life. (Thanks to laziness-a typical characteristic in a

Libran... :P )

Here are the pictures of what I eat during my college days. Of course, the lunches are BY NO MEANS SMALL. As you can see, they are quite large. Why did I manage to lose 4kg then, if I am on giant lunches?

A heap of veggies, tempeh, rice

Rice (Carbs), Tempeh (Protein source-tempeh is often deep-fried), pumpkins, veggies! YUM!

SAUCE OVERLOAD... zzz (Bad idea for diet... I only learnt about the necessity of draining sauces from food  recently.

As you can see, the lunch boxes are nowhere small. LOL

(No before and after pictures, sorry. I always cover up under loose clothes. It is embarrassing to show off my figure under skin-tight clothes and I am not used to wearing such attire too.)

The solution: going vegetarian and choose the TYPES of food wisely.

PART 1: When Angel meets Devil

Okay, so now I will first reveal the "Angel" foods and "Devil" foods. What are "Angel" and "Devil" foods?

"Angel" foods are foods that are good for your health and even aid slimming. Example:

• Rice: Brown rice,  Unflavoured/less-salt porridge
• Fruits and vegetables: Practically all fruits and vegetables; advisable to eat a variety of them from the colour spectrum. 
• Nuts/Legumes: They are packed in protein and essential fatty acids, depending on the nuts. Still, eat them in moderation. Deep-frying them or coating them with sugary substances as sweets and you will get a high-calorie snack which is definitely undesirable.
• Drinks: Oatmeal, Sky juice, Cereal drinks (watch out for the sodium and sugar content though), Clear tea, black coffee (drink in moderation)
• Confectionery: Plain biscuits, whole meal bread
• Soups: Clear vegetable/lentil soup
• Desserts: Fruits
• Negative-calorie foods: food that, when consumed, take up more calories than the calories the food has, e.g. lettuce, carrots, celery

"Devil" foods are foods that can make your diet go haywire. They are normally nice and tasty but lack nutritional value. Example:

• Processed meat: High in sodium and saturated fats. As a vegetarian, I definitely do not consume these.
• Faux meat: Seitan, Crispy Vegan Chicken, Vegan cods, etc. Sure they are tasty but they are outrageously high in sodium and flavourings. Plus, they are calorie-dense too. Get ready to give up ALL forms of meat (including faux meat) if you want to go vegetarian healthily.
• Rice: Polished rice
• Fruits and vegetables: Vegetables tempura, pickles. Fruits and veggies, when treated with complex procedures or under high temperature, they will lose their nutritional value.
• Drinks: Carbonated drinks, Teh tarik, sweetened teas and coffees, packaged drinks, bottled fruit juices
• Confectionery: Doughnuts, Pies, Croissants, Danish pastries, white bread, sweet biscuits, cakes...
• Soups: Creamy soup. Creamy stuffs are packed with tons of fat and calories, since they are made of milk, cheese, sour cream, etc. 
• Desserts: Your typical Malaysian iced desserts, ice-cream, mousse, cheesecake... (The list of bad desserts is ENDLESS!!!)
• Other foods: Deep-fried food, fast food, roasted food, barbecued food, creamy food, your "goreng-goreng" and "lemak-lemak" food... YUM! 

Of course, that does not mean that you cannot consume the "Devil" foods at all when dieting! Yes you can eat them, provided that they are consumed sparingly (and I mean, SPARINGLY! In my case, I have a cendol every month or less. )

Why are the foods bad or good? Well that is a story so long that anyone can write a book out of it. To understand foods more, I recommend you to do further readings about them, ha ha ha.

PART 2: Make Diet as Part of LIFE.

Know why do you want to take up a diet, e.g. for weight loss, for religious reasons, etc.

• In my case, I want to lose weight to enable me to lead an active lifestyle, besides being as a means to reduce my risk for diseases (Ugh!) and to fit into my favourite clothes.
• Meanwhile, I abhor the thought that animals are brutally tortured for food, from their breeding conditions to the process of slaughtering. Human torture has NO difference with animal torture, e.g. concentration camp versus packed chicken coops, baby farm versus artificial insemination of cows for milk production, etc. Besides, just like us, animals need love and care. 
• I do not go vegan for practical reasons; I decide to go vegan when I begin working and can prepare my own food. 

Integrate diet into your lifestyle instead of viewing diet as a chore. Let me tell you, unless you are training as an athlete or being super-obese (where medical supervision is necessary for a rapid weight-loss), you can actually slim down by tweaking your lifestyle bit-by-bit!

This is how I do my assignments and surf the Net at home, he he. My innocent computer table is now my stand-and-sit desk! Note the stepper? (P/S: Ignore my messy table.)

To survive No-Cook Days (e.g. Studying in IPG, where cooking is forbidden.)

1. Make special requests in your meals.

• I request for NO SUGAR in my coffee when I have meals in the campus cafeteria. If I do not make any request, I might end up with half a cup of WHITE sugar and a mere half cup of coffee. Even with the less-sugar version, I can still find a substantial quarter-cup of sugar in my beverage. Thus, practically I AM DRINKING COFFEE SYRUP if I do not make requests! Drinks are best tasted in their original form.
• I also request for added vegetables in my meals to increase nutritional content.
• When buying nasi campur, I request the auntie to halve my rice amount. One bowl of rice is, well, huge. I do not know how heavy the rice is but the sight of a hill of rice frightens me! Click Here to know the calorific value of rice. Besides consuming less starch, I can put in more veggies too.

2. When buying nasi campur or economy rice, choose stir-fried stuffs with less seasoning over deep-fried, oily stuffs. Count yourself lucky if you can find steamed meals. As for the main course, go for white instead of "nasi goreng" or "mee goreng" or anything that is "goreng"ed. I mentioned white because white rice has less calories and fat than the "goreng"ed stuffs even though it is nutritionally devoid.

3. Eat slowly, at least 20 bites per mouthful. In this way, you will feel full because it takes 20 minutes for the brain to signal us that the body is full.

4. Watch your portions and calorie intake.

5. Opt for high-volume, low-calorie foods. For instance, when snacking, I will go for an orange instead of a Rice Krispies bar even though both foods are 50+ calories. Orange is packed with Vitamin C while Rice Krispies is mostly made up of fats and sugar, besides being less as filling as well.

6. Go for healthy snacks, such as nuts, fruits and baby carrots. Baby carrots are my favourite snack since they are negative-calorie foods. A serving (85g) of carrots contains merely 27 calories, and munching them is a great exercise for the teeth!

7. Keep a food diary to keep track of the food consumption. However, do not consume fewer calories than your basal metabolic rate or your body will switch to starvation mode which cause you to store more fat.

At home, you can prepare your meals as you have the cooking utensils and the refrigerator, so how diet-friendly your meals are depends on YOU. I recommend such methods of cooking:

• Steaming (not for mushrooms though, they make your body cold)
• Blanching (vegetables)
• Light stir-frying of vegetables in minimal oil and salt, within a short time. These are good for food rich in fat-soluble vitamins, e.g. carrots, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts.

Well, I have to pen off for homework. See you soon and stay-tuned for more information! :)

Feel free to leave your comments for queries.

有任何疑问，请留言。

UP-NEXT: D.I.E.T. Part 2-Diet as a LIFESTYLE)