Chutney and other delights!
I am 8 weeks in at the moment and am finding that food repulses me. Nothing has much flavour and am finding it very hard to swallow mouthfuls of food.
Hi Maree
This is just your body adjusting, it has nothing to do with the food.
Now that you are committed to the program, and the food is without sugar and fat and only minimal salt, at about the eight or ten week mark you start to really feel the brunt of what you are doing.
It's time to put a bit more planning into what you eat, and to look forward to the meals instead of pining for what you used to eat.
I have always loved a glass (or three) of sherry before dinner. For about the past 25 years this was my daily ritual, and if I was out of sherry I would fret. I didn't drink anything else - well, not as a general rule - but that sherry marked the end of the working day when I turned the phone off, although I would always have more work to do after dinner.
During the first few weeks on Cohen's I would sometimes pour out a teaspoon of sherry, and go outside and lick it.
How sad is that?!
After a while, I noticed that days were passing where I didn't think about the sherry at all. By the end of the program, I had just about forgotten about it, and haven't bought any since. I rather miss the ritual, but when I have had a sherry to my sorrow it really doesn't taste the same.
Maree, have a think about what you are feeding your family, how you prepare the meals. Is it always 'touch and go'? Do you plan ahead or shop each day? Do you work out a weekly menu to ensure that your family is getting the nourishment each member needs, or are there quite a few Red Rooster meals each month?
This is the opportunity to re-educate the family tastes as well as your own. If you are Chief Cook and Bottle Washer then they can only eat what you prepare.
My husband does all the shopping and all the cooking. When I started the program I insisted on shopping for myself and cooking for myself. I wanted to make sure I weighed to the gram and for the first time in years actually got out the recipe books for ideas.
It seems ridiculous to plan a meal for 105gm of chicken, but I found about 15 meals I really enjoyed, and looked forward to each one. A rhythm developed, and after a while I didn't have to think much about it and as each kilo disappeared, I ate each meal with a sense of triumph and victory that I was losing weight with each bite of food. That certainly gave the food plenty of flavour - the flavour of success!
If you like pickles and chutneys, make your own from the daily ingredients.
If you like savoury dishes, make pizzas with cheese, capsicums and mushrooms and eat bubbling hot straight from the griller
If you like curries, cook the day before for real flavour, and eat with a rice cake instead of a pappadum
If you like barbeques, thread your chicken on a skewer and BBQ over the flame grill for lots of flavour
If you like salads, try a tuna and onion salad with a dollop of mayonnaise and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper
In other words, how can the food have no flavour? There are plenty of dried herbs to choose from and if you prefer fresh herbs, just remember to weigh them and add as a garnish later.
This is your opportunity to become a great cook! If you really must have Red Rooster, make it yourself - crush up a Salada, mix the crumbs with pure dried herbs, roll the chicken in the crumbs, cover with foil and bake in the oven, opening the foil to crisp up the chicken for the last ten minutes or so. If you smell the aroma, you will be able to identify the Red Rooster herbs and spices and get a close result at home - without deviating!
And most of all:
No-one said this would be easy. I had only 25 kilos to lose and I thanked God and Google (not necessarily in that order!) every day for leading me to Cohen's program.
There was not one day when I didn't happily look forward to preparing my own meals. Mike would have done the cooking for me, but this was something I had to do for myself.
I did not do it for him, I did not do it for them, I did it for me.
You have 40 kilos more to go. That's not that far away - probably about 30 weeks should do it. Let's see, it's the first week in January, 30 weeks will be the end of July. The time will go very quickly. Once you can really see what's happening your body will encourage you.
Stay with it, practise being Jamie Oliver, there is plenty on the shopping list to make great meals!
Good luck and do try the peach chutney with your BBQ chicken. To die for!
Chelsea
I can not believe how FAT I look and that was after I had lost 8kg with weight watchers.