SmarterFitter Daily

Had a nice lunch with Rachel Demuth at Made by Bob, pretty much the best thing going in Cirencester at the moment for good food (perhaps some Cirencester peeps can correct me on that one?).

I ordered the asparagus with parmesan and balsamic, which in retrospect was pretty meagre for lunch. Luckily Rachel shared with me some of her focaccia with Imam Bayildi, a Turkish dish of braised aubergine, onion, garlic and tomato. I'd never had before and now I totally want to make it. Rachel informs there's a recipe in Green Seasons. Imam Biyaldi coming soon.

This was the third time I've made this dish and it's still wonderful. An Ottolenghi recipe from last year's Guardian: Chermoula aubergine with bular and yogurt.

Energy in:

Does measuring food take away from its enjoyment?

• Breakfast: My favourite oatmeal (33g porridge cooked w/ 1 pear, water and salt). Topped with 1/2 banana, 6 toasted pecan halves, 50ml milk. Served with 1 coffee.
• Lunch: Crazy puy lentil and blueberry salad (~1 cup puy lentils, ~20 blueberries, 4 sugar snap peas, 1 tbsp dried sour cherries, 4 french beans, 4 Tbsp honey lemon vinaigrette, 2 tsp toasted sesame and pumpkin seeds, lots of parsley, lettuce leaves, 1/2 avocado). This was really good.
• Snack: Strawberry and banana protein smoothie (4 strawberries, 1/2 banana, 1 scoop protein powder, leftover whey from cheese-making for the liquid - AWESOME in strawberry smoothies).
• Dinner: Aubergine bake (about 1 aubergine, 50g tofu, some tomato sauce?, ~1 Tbsp olive oil, quantities impossible to know!), sourdough toast (40g worth), blanched broccoli (~8 florets), 1 glass organic vino blanco, 3 strawberries

I haven't been writing down quantities of the food I eat. I think I should, for accountability's sake. Especially with dinners, where I have a bad habit of going back for seconds. A critical downfall, and the difference between feeling satisfied and full. But looking at my list of meals above, you can see the problem with this. Breakfast is fairly easy, but after that, meals often become a hodge-podge of ingredients, some added on the fly, with few measurements taken. To me this is party of learning how to be a good cook, and I don't really want to ruin it with OCD precision. It also looks a mess. But I WILL say, writing it down like this did help me avoid snacking and going back for seconds. 

But it does lead me to the question I ask up top - does measuring food like this, and particularly calorie-counting, rob us of the visceral pleasure of actually eating it?

I'm inclined to say "yes", which is why I haven't been counting calories, but at the same time I know from past experience that calorie counting DOES work (for me at least). It's that accountability thing. And it reminds me what a "portion" of food really is. So, maybe calorie counting isn't a way of life, but a good exercise to do in short bursts, just for that reminder? I don't know.