SmarterFitter Daily

Bananas, grapes, apples, oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, yogurt, splash of milk.

A brief return to the sweet breakfasts but not for long. All that fruity stuff makes my stomach feel funny. 

It's been months since I've had Bircher Muesli. I went off apples for a while after an unfortunate stomach bug. But the apples are back and so is one of my favourite breakfasts.

I made this Bircher as follows:

1. Soaked the following in enough water to cover overnight: 30g jumbo oats, 8g dried raisins and cherries, 5g flaxseed
2. In the morning: mixed the above with 1/2 grated apple, a squeeze of lemon juice, a pinch each of salt and cinnamon
3. Topped with natural yogurt, sliced bananas and - the best part - toasted pecans

To me this is a perfect and sustaining way to start the day. 

Recipe: Bircher Muesli

Today's impromptu muesli:

• 25g oats
• 5g wheat bran
• 3g sunflower seeds
• 4g almonds
• 5g raisins
• 50g milk
• 50g natural yogurt
• 1/2 banana
• ~10 grapes

Are these measurements rediculous or what? 

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.