Today I came off from my month long news diet. Hearing who won UK election or about oil spilling somewhere in Pacific from friends instead of ‘breaking news’ headlines was refreshing. Now on agenda is The Economist binge-reading (I’ve got 4 back issues to get through) this week.
What did I do with all this free time, that was not consumed by following news stories, real and fictional. Did I come up with plan to save the world from consuming itself? Did I think of a million dollar tech idea that would ensure my early retirement? Did I figure out how to rid the world of Kim Jong Il? Not really, but I did read some books. Three, in fact, in as many weeks, must be some kind of record of mine in this post-broadband world of ours. I even bought one of the books, borrowed other and pinched the third. They were good books – On the Road, One Day, Wisdom of the Crowds.
On another note, I’ll be taking a break from my monthly diets, as I’ve done what I initially set out to do – teaching myself to say ‘no’. Saying ‘no’ to meat, saying ‘no’ to coffee, saying ‘no’ to dairy, saying ‘no’ to wheat, and finally, saying ‘no’ to news. I’ve also found a side effect of saying ‘no’ to something, it leads to saying ‘yes’ to other things more often.
So here is to balance in the world, have a great night/day/morning!
Posts Tagged 'diet'
Got Milk, but Where’s the Beef
Published April 4, 2010 Life 2 CommentsTags: carnivore, diet, got milk, no dairy, vegan, vegetarian, where's the beef
Apologies to all the animal lovers for the harsh image, but I thought I’d go out with a bang. Yep, I’m doing a veggie month this time. I’m back on dairy, but no more meat or fish for the whole of April. Non dairy was painful, toughest so far. Only black coffees, no milk chocolate, no cheese, ehh. I have to admit that at one point during March I did consume butter, as I unknowingly was munching away on baklava that apparently is full of butter (instead of oil), before my colleagues pointed it out to me, stupid me. Apart from this accident, the rest of the month went smoothly, though on 1st of April I probably had dairy overdose, induced by 3 lattes, cheese sandwich and buttery croissant for lunch, and pizza for dinner.
Anyways, I’ve never gone longer than couple of meals without some kind of meat or fish in it, so doing it for a month should hopefully open some new horizons. I’ve already discovered the delights of mushroom risotto, veggie lasagna and avocado sushi. Looking forward to trying out some veggie restaurants, such as Hummus Bros, Vanilla Black and others.
Any must have veggie dishes that I should try this month? I’m a full on carnivore so this month I’m really looking forward to expand my limited knowledge of veggie world so please enlighten me, I promise to be a good pupil and never laugh again at the fella who orders tofy burger with beetroot on the side. By the way, did you know that in UK about 5% of population consider themselves vegetarians (whilst 0.25% claim to be vegan).
p.s. Also, just to clarify, I’m not going vegan, so still eating animal products such as cheese, eggs etc. I’m not that crazy.
Say Cheese
Published March 2, 2010 Life Leave a CommentTags: change, cheese, dairy, diet, lifestyle, milk, no, soy, wheat
It’s been two days since I’m back on wheat and cut out the dairy. For those of you not familiar with intrinsic details of my food challenge, her’s 10sec intro like the one you get on American series under ‘previously on …’ I’m still on the journey of cutting out one type of food for a month to change my diet habits and test my willpower to say ‘no’. There is no science or allergic reactions driving this, I’m just identifying the groups of food/drink that I am very keen on (some may say addicted) and cut it out. January was no coffee month, February was no wheat month, and now its no dairy for the duration of March.
So what falls under dairy? For me its all milk and milk based products, e.g. any kind of cheese, butter, yogurt, cream, curd, ice cream etc. I’m also excluding all related products that have significant trace of processed milk such as milk chocolate. chocolate covered bars and so on.
You’d be pleased to know that my biggest sin in dairy category is cheese, I eat as much of that tasty stuff as average Frenchmen or Greek, the biggest cheese eaters out there, consuming more than 20kg of cheese a year or 400g per week. I have this reoccurring dream when I wake up in the middle of the night, stroll downstairs to the fridge, open the door to grab a slide of Emental, but shock and horror, there is no cheese. I have also concluded that soy milk is only good for porridge, but no good for coffee, so I’m going black.
p.s. last Sunday I spent 10 hours on the photo-shoot for one exiting project so hopefully in next weeks update I’ll be able to share some great new photos.
Hello Coffee, Goodbye Wheat
Published February 1, 2010 Life 3 CommentsTags: coffee, diet, experiment, food, Life, london, no, wheat
My month of obstination from coffee is over, and I’ve had 3 double espressos this morning already (just kidding, it’s only 2). The first sip was magic, the smell, the texture, the froth on top. Aghh, I think this vice will stay with me, but now at least I know I can do without it if I choose to, junkies should try it. Actually it was easier than I thought, no convulsions or anger parades, just that continuous tickling of the left ear, is that normal?
February is no wheat month for me, which means no cookies, no bread, no pasta, no beer, no noodles (except rice noodles), no breakfast cereal, no couscous, no porridge, no pies, the list could go on. That damn grain is everywhere.. that is why it’s so exciting. I’m not wheat intolerant, so no biggie if trace of it creeps in, but in general the aim is to cut it all out for a month and see how my diet changes and body responds. I already did my first wheat free shopping, it makes you think and come up with new dishes and ingredients instead of relying on the usual suspects.
