I admit, it was hard to not GRAZE on bits and bobs, here and there, as I went about my day.
Although I wasn’t hungry, I still ate my porridge for breakfast with a large mug of tea at 7 am as I knew I wouldn’t be back home to eat lunch until around 1 pm. At the office I normally have a piece of fruit at around 10:30 am but today I decided to go without as I’m trying to establish what is purely habit and what is actual hunger. During the morning at work I also enjoyed 2 cups of coffee! The perks of working is that back in the 40’s, tea and coffee would have been available to purchase from the canteen.
I work from home in the afternoon so as soon as I got in at lunch time I resorted to 1/2 a can of baked beans on 2 slices of toast placed on a nice large bed of salad leaves. I absolutely love my green leaves. Afterwards I had another mug of tea and a sliced apple before cracking on with my to-do list. It’s a BIG one and in never seems to get completed but that is good, it keeps me in a job! I then got hungry again a couple of hours later and ate a sliced tomato and had ANOTHER mug of tea.
As soon as I finished work later I grabbed a medium baked potato (I’d baked earlier) and foolishly used up 2 oz of my vegan cheese and gobbled it down as I was so hungry and then proceeded to make my planned dish which was vegetable stew. I chopped up 1 medium potato, 1 medium parsnip, 1 medium carrot, 1 small onion, a couple of stems of celery, 3 large tomatoes and some herbs, salt and pepper and made enough for a few large bowls. I’ll be having any leftovers for lunch tomorrow with buttered bread.
And that is it so far! Its 6pm and I know in a couple of hours my stomach will be rumbling again, luckily I have a ladle or two of stew I can afford to have and still have some for tomorrow.
Several times today I’ve had to give myself a stern talking too when I almost reached out for a cracker or a biscuit. Hoping over the coming weeks to break that habit.
Here are photos of what I have eaten today. I forgot to take a photo of the baked potato and cheese though.
Thank you so much again for all the lovely comments on my last two posts. I’ve read them all and will try and respond this evening once I settle down for the evening.
Much love, C xxxx
Your food all looks lovely Carolyn, you did ever so well. I at all my planned meals but fell off the wagon this afternoon and had a very small amount of chocolate and a few crisps ! Still fine on the calorie front but I absolutely did not need the crisps and chocolate 😆 …..must do better 😂 x
I had a few snacks yesterday and the day before but back to doing better now! It’s not easy though xxxx hugs
The stew looks fabulous, Carolyn!! What kind of bread are you eating with the beans on it? Do you bake it?
I find you very inspiring! Good luck with the rations plan and thank you for all you do!
The bread is just a regular wholemeal loaf that needed using up in the kitchen….I’d like to bake a loaf again soon but for now its easier to buy my bread 🙂 Thanks so much xxx C
Well done for resisting temptation. The stew looks delicious but I would have needed some protein with it such as lentils or chickpeas. I get hungry very quickly without protein.
Yes I usually have lentils, beans or pulses in my stews but just didn’t fancy that today after the beans for lunch but I know what you mean as adding those in does fill me up more! xxxx
Your kingfisher mug is pretty.
Maybe if you incorporate more legumes into your meals you will not feel so hungry so frequently? Just a thought I had when reading through your blog post. No need to reply to my comment.
Yes, stews do feel more filling when they contain some beans or lentils for sure! I must do that next time xxx I love my kingfisher mug, a charity shop find! C xxx
Your stew looks scrumptious! One quick question – did you use water as a base liquid, or did the tomatoes juice as they stewed create enough liquid?
I would have a difficult time just eating one bowl!
Hi Joe, yes I added in some water in addition to the fresh tomatoes and some Bisto gravy browning to thicken the liquid a bit once everything was cooked. C xxxx
Evening Carolyn, Keeping away from temptation is such a struggle isn’t it? And as you say, its often difficult to determine whether we are actually hungry, fanciful, participating in an eating habit, or in my case bored or tired; if I am fed up doing a task, I’ll turn to food as a way of relieving that boredom and ditto if I am tired and still doing admin (the joys of the self-employed!) again food is a distraction, or an excuse to stop doing the task in hand! (I used to pick/eat a lot where we had the old dial-up internet, whilst waiting to from site to site.) Just out of interest, were you yummy beans on toast on a bed of leave, hot beans or cold beans? Thank you so much for these posts, I really enjoy reading them at the end of the day. Frances xxx
Oh it is indeed! It is a daily struggle for me! I had hot beans on hot toast and the salad leaves were cold. I know it sounds odd but I enjoyed it and it was quick 🙂 I have the other 1/2 can of beans to use up tomorrow . Thanks for leaving a comment Frances! C xxxx