what I changed to lose another 10kg after losing 20kg.
I've written before that I lost 23kg of weight in a year by using simple habits.
Today I want to update how it is going now, and how I started to make an adjustment to my diet.
I left in the previous article that Google Fit told me that if I keep my pace I will be back to my best weight of 68kg by May 2023.
But it was so easy to lose weight til 81, then my weight is fluctuating around 78~82kg right now.
I'm building a lot more muscles though, I've met a few people for the first time in 6 months, and they all told me I'm much more muscular and bigger.
But I think it's correct to make a little more adjustments to what I eat.
How I adjusted what I eat
So, I asked myself "Well, what should I be eating then?"
And I'm such a foodie I'm not willing to give up all the great tasting food for my health.
I want to find where the balance is, and that’s how I met the 1 soup 1 dish theory.
1 soup 1 dish for breakfast
For breakfast, I like brewing my coffee hand drip because the aroma given off makes me so happy!
So, while it brews, I prepare soup and a plate of lettuce, pickles, sour cream, and eggs.
The Soup
The soup will be miso soup most of the time. This is mainly because I'm trying to eat wakame seaweed daily as much as possible. But sometimes it's tomato soup, which is adding hot water to chickpeas and tomato sauce I would cook for dinners, and is leftover.
In KL (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) where I live, (it's not as cheap in Japan)but there is a decent selection of miso to buy. Don Don Donki was a game changer and it's so easy to have a pantry of Japanese food now!
The dish
The plate is usually already prepared in the fridge, including leftovers to be heated.
If I don't have sour cream, greek yogurt. If no greek yogurt, coconut cream.
I don't try to stress too much, I go with what I have.
I like the neutral taste of chickpeas for beans, so I have it boiled to eat with salt, olive oil, and soy sauce. Or, I will have it mixed with tomato paste, herbs, and canned or dried sardines.
What else do I eat with the 1 soup 1 dish?
I eat with a bowl of rice, banana, kaya toast, oatmeal, or no carbs at all.
It's very affordable to eat lunch out in KL. Brunch hours around 10:30~11am is less crowded, so I go earlier if I'm hungry. The portion has a lot more carbs than in Japan, so skipping it for breakfast is not a problem at all.
I'm very addicted to kaya toast... And it doesn't look like the healthiest option from the taste of sugar inside it... But I say yes to it, then try to adjust the amount of sugar later on in the day.
This works very well at least for me, I'm not that discipline about saying completely no to things that taste good.
The reason why I started eating the "1 soup 1 dish"
Why have 1 soup:
In Japan and I feel in a lot of the places in Asia, we are taught to eat things that warm the body.
It's hot liquid, so it shouldn’t be a surprise. Warming the intestines will help digest better.
The soup fills the stomach and it results in what the Japanese say, "hara hachibunme." 腹八分目 which translates to "stomach 80% full"
Cooking soup is what my mother told me to stay healthy, too. She told me, "Throw in veggies sitting in the fridge in a pot to make it into soup everyday and you can't really go that wrong in terms of health."
It's easy too! And miso tastes very good and somehow comforting.
After reading Doi Yoshiharu's book about 1 soup 1 dish, I loved how he said "you never get bored of the taste of miso soup, because it's nutritious, and the body wants it. Having Michelin food every day could start to get overwhelming, while your body will love to have miso soup every day.
*Yoshiharu is a home cook food legend in Japan also featured in the New York Times
That's why you feel comfortable when eating miso soup or he wrote (hotto suru)ホッとする。 We use this term a lot to take a break moment, "hotto hitoiki"ホッと一息, most frequently used when we have green tea.
So what Yoshiharu Doi said, and what my mom or even the nutritionists I used to work with all told me having miso soup even just one of the meals of the day, and it helps reset the body.
So far, I very much agree.
Why have 1 dish
We live in such a busy society. I love to cook, but I also felt I'm missing out on the things I should be doing in this world of entertainment. Also, I simply didn't have the time.
But 1 dish can be prepared in 5 minutes. Having this routine and routine helps me to be mindful of my life, too.
Actually, the Japanese all know 1 soup 3 dishes, ichiju sansai 一汁三菜 when Japan was in economic development and people started longing for better taste and health.
But Yoshiharu is actually trying to say 1 soup 1 dish is enough, as Japan is losing health from a Westernised food culture, and the fact that we are so busy to cook 1 soup and 3 dishes.
Yoshiharu actually got this 1 soup 1 dish idea from French home cooking, when he studied in Switzerland and France. French moms will cook 1 soup with bread. The usual meals are much simpler, while only on special occasions, the French will go for a sophisticated meal to dine out.
Once I got the hang of it, I save a lot of time on cooking.
More importantly, I used to have stomach aches all the time, but it's controlled quite well now.
Ingredients to put in the diet: Ma go wa ya sa shi i
I was so happy when I met a Dutch guy recently and he said the Dutch have a set of rules on which ingredients to take for a healthy diet. We have the same in Japan, too.
A Japanese nutritionist taught me this, magowayasashii まごわやさしい, which I've written about before.
I have the まごわやさしい written on a small whiteboard on my fridge, and every day I will cross out the alphabet after I ate the ingredient that day.
Not being too strict helped me keep good habits
Especially when the nutritionist told me not to be too strict and take things easy helped me a lot.
She told me to try to start small first. I can continue to say yes to business meals and tempting street foods but have 1 meal with 1 soup 1 dish, or just a bowl of miso soup at the end of the day.
To confess, I acted much later on and kept postponing. But little by little, I got the hang of it.
For example, today I'm left with go which is imo=いも potato and goma=ごま or sesame, which can also be alternated by nuts.
So I have peanuts which are the most affordable and local to Malaysia stocked, and I will take them as a snack.
Or, I had to buy some groceries anyway so I decided to stop by to take out satay with peanut sauce.
I will also think of frying sweet potatoes for dinner, or having it sliced into my miso soup.
So sometimes I will have some alphabets that I haven't eaten yet. Then I will make a bowl of miso soup and put that ingredient. This results in an easy way for me to balance my diet.
The last food habit I took in: find teachers in the supermarket
The last habit I think is helping me, is observing the people in the supermarket, and choosing what to buy.
If a muscular person is buying that product, chances are it will build muscle.
If an obese person is in that section, it might be best avoided.
I try not to even go to that section, as it might start to develop a craving for it.
I have a note of the things I need to buy and only buy them most of the time.
But I also evaluate whether I should be buying what I'm buying looking at the other consumers, and this is working very well.
But as I mentioned above, I still say yes to my cravings e.g. ice cream occasionally. But I make it a little more difficult.
When I go to this Indian restaurant to eat, then I tell myself the ice cream at seven eleven just next door is a set and I can eat it. My favorite premium one to be happy. And this satisfies me for a while and get back to my healthy habit.
I think it's important that my mind is not burned out from the health habits, too. So a small repeatable challenge + reward, then step up gradually.
It's amazing how I don't crave as much as I used to, I feel great. and the reward isn't really that rewarding, it starts to create a feeling of guilt that I didn't need it in the first place.
I still try to walk for at least 1 hour a day. If rainy or no access to the gym, HIIT
Exercise also plays a huge part in controlling the diet.
Whenever I feel hungry, I stand up and stretch or walk a bit, or even go out for a walk to forget the feeling of hunger. Walking was recommended because it was better for my gout attacks. And after a year of continuing my walking routine, I don't have any gout attacks anymore.
My chest and belly still have fat I wish to burn off, but I read that these come off last. My shoulders and thighs are much fitter, as I also follow fitness videos on Youtube, and continue them after I wake up or before I go to bed.
I now mainly exercise from Workout Youtube Channel, as this tells which muscle the exercise is for. The series has videos for all the videos I would search for including:
I live right by a park and choose hotels/Airbnb that is close to some kind of nature with paths as much as possible. Then I would go on a walk at least once a day.
It's free, too :)
I will update my results and share my recipes
It's been about a month since I started adopting the 1 soup 1 dish, and I have a general set of recipes that best worked for me in terms of taste, nutrition, and value for time and money spent.
I want to share it here as notes and develop it into a recipe note for a sustainable diet!
I should have recorded my weight more accurately and consistently, and I will do so from now on.
And I will update how my weight will change in the next few months!
*The things I wrote are my experiences and what fits me, but please read it as a reference as this is no professional advice that is guaranteed to fit you. Please consult with your doctor or dietician for what is best for you.
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