Carbs and serotonin boost

As I lost my appetite today, I tried to find a correlation between dieting and loss of appetite. After reading a bunch of Atkins forums, I found a phycology study about serotonin and the effects of eating the right carbs at the right time of the day. According to the study run by Dr. Judith J. Wurtman, we should have most of our protein intake in the earlier part of the day, switching to carbohydrates by late afternoon. That said, we should have a carbohydrate based dinner with very little protein. This should increase serotonin sufficiently to prevent nibbling after dinner. The soothing effect of the serotonin prevents stress from interfering with sleep (another tip that may help me). If you have a boost in serotonin, you end up switching off your appetite and turning on a good mood (I guess this is the only part in life that I don't need much help with). The whole math seems to be a good plan to me specially because serotonin is nature's own appetite suppressant. The only question I have is....which carbs would be the right cards?

Here is what I had today:

Breakfast: Boiled plantain, a fried egg, a DanActive with all bran buds, a brazil nut, and coffee with milk.

Lunch: Red and black quinoa, chicken tikka, and avocado.

Snack: A simply bar

Dinner: A bowl of daal.

The aftermath of the day:

1183 calories
1 litre sparkling of water
9 hours of sleep
0 minutes of exercising (still super sore from Monday's night workout)

Cheers,
Fernanda

Bocconccino

Somehow eating was not one of my priorities today, and I am definitely blaming on last night’s dinner. I was not hungry this morning when I work up but I forced myself to have breakfast. I had kiwi, pineapple, plain yogurt, and all bran buds, a brazil nut, coffee with milk, and a few Brazilian shortbread cookies.

We celebrated one of my co-workers birthday at Bocconccino (http://bocconcino.ca/). Their food is very good and the place is quite nice for Woodbridge. I had a stracciatella soup, and half of their homemade gnocchi dish. I love the idea of sharing dishes because it allows me to try more dishes without feeling too guilty. The gorgonzola sauce was light and tasty.


My dinner plans with my girlfriends got postponed because of the lovely weather. Luckily I had saved half of my main from last night and I had it for dinner. I complemented it with a side of black and red quinoa with shrimp and lime juice, and two tiny empanadas.

Trevor Kitchen

So much of so good intention but so little results... I truly wanted to go to the gym today before indulging in a dream dinner but, my body did not collaborate with me. After spending a few hours awake last night, after 4:30PM, all that I wanted to do was to sleep and rest so I could enjoy the dinner and not feel super tired tomorrow... The good part was that I skated for 30 minutes today during lunch time.

I tried to eat supper healthy food the entire day. Leafy greens with grapefruit, macedonian feta, and pecans. Scrambled eggs with red and yellow pepper, gouda, an chives. A brazil nut, coffee with milk.

Healthy snacks? You got it! Pear and activia with all bran buds, one tiny peanut butter flavoured pretzel.


Healthy and light lunch? That's what I aimed for. Daal and a salad with orange, feta, and candied pecans.

Here is what I had for dinner at Trevor :

duck and fois gras rillettes

1/2 of the port braised beef cheeks with sunchoke risotto and shaved frozen fois gras

1/2 of the dark chocolate and caramel torte with peanut butter chantilly

As I previously mentioned, Trevor(http://www.trevorkitchenandbar.com/menus.php) is one of my favourite spots in town. I am glad we were able to get a table for this winterlicious. Super nice ambiance!

The food? to die for... hoping for another good excuse to come back there.

Cheers,
Fernanda

Skinny Vanilla Bean Latte - Yummy regret

I tried to have a low calorie count day but I ended up consuming 1096 calories. The two biggest ticket items were the chicken from lunch and the Skinny Vanilla Bean Latte. I so regret that I did not get my usual chamomile tea. I could have spared my body of these 210 calories. Anyway.... lesson learned. For now on I will have one latte once a month.

Tomorrow I will be going to my second (and last) winterlicious dinner at Trevor Kitchen (http://www.trevorkitchenandbar.com/menus/winterlicious.pdf). Trevor is one of my favourite restaurants in Toronto, and usually they have a fairly small menu but an entire session devoted to fois gras, and I don't now if I ever mentioned but I LOVE fois gras. I acknowledge that my dinner will be on the heavy side, so I am prepared to eat only half of the dessert and half of the appetizer but a full main course. In addition to that, I will be doing a 60 minute extreme metabolic conditioning (XMC) class before the 9:30PM dinner. The goal of the XMC class is to kick-start the metabolism to enhance weight loss and weight maintenance, as well as cardiovascular enhancement and muscular strength over time. Sounds like a lot of work but I will be definitely up to the challenge. Today I did do 20 minutes of circuit training. Let's see if I'll be able to skate tomorrow during my lunch break.

My breakfast somehow was very filling as I just felt hungry around 11AM. I had pineapple with plain fat free yogurt and all bran buds, a tomato, cucumber, and macedonian feta salad, a brazil nut, and coffee with milk.

My snacks were the already mentioned skinny vanilla bean latte, and a DanActive with all bran buds.


For lunch, I had chicken tikka and red and black quinoa.












For dinner I had a small bowl of cream of asparagus with a drizzle of truffle oil.

I am about to going to bed and I am still hungry. I hope I will be able to survive the night. Wish me good luck!

Cheers,
Fernanda

You can say I am happy, I think I am ecstatic!

My journey started 37 days ago. I had gained a lot of weight in the previous seven months (including 5 inches only around my waistline). Today I went to the gym for a follow up assessment. I have got my measurements and compared to the one I had 30 days ago. The results?....amazing. I am extremely happy!

I will start with the low light just to bring some momentum. Even though I thought that I was gaining a lot of lean mass (I do feel super toned lately)... well I did not gain nor lose one pound of lean mass. The trainer told me not to get discouraged because women usually have a harder time to gain lean mass. On the other hand, he congratulated me for losing 2% of my body fat. It probably sounds like not so much but these 2% were translated in the following accomplishments:

• 6 inches around my waist
• 2 inches around my arms
• 4 inches around my thighs

I am so happy and so motivated that I will try to keep up with the good work and push myself to lose this month 4 extra lbs of fat. My goal is to have this accomplished by my birthday. This will require more workouts, 4 days per week when I will eat only up to 900 calories a day, and then have 3 days per week when I can eat from 1200 to 1300 calories (I will leave these for special nights).

Spinach salad with grapefruit, feta, and pecans, an omelet with yellow peppers, a brazil nut, a DanActive with all bran buds, and coffee with milk. That's what I had for breakfast. I'm not a fan of fruit, nor grapefruit but it was not bad because of the Macedonian feta.


Lunch consisted of a halibut fillet and brussels sprouts (but I completely forgot to take a picture- shame on me)

I had more DanActive and all bran buds, and 0% greek yogurt with strawberries and more all bran buds as my snacks.






Dinner was a bowl of daal, and some sparkling water.

I worked out for 40 minutes today and I am feeling very energetic. I cannot wait to hit the gym tomorrow morning!

Cheers,
Fernanda

Porzia

Yucca, plantain, a fried egg, a brazil nut, and coffee with milk. That's what I had for breakfast today. Tomorrow I will be back to my low carb reality.



I was too lazy around lunch time, so I had a cereal bar to delay any cooking or travelling to the grocery store.

After lots of cuddling with my pillows, I was finally able to make to the local Wholefoods store. I did do my grocery shopping including but not limited to red and black quinoa, organic black beluga lentils, halibut, sockeye salmon, organic fruits and vegetables. When I got home I have a spinach salad with quinoa/zucchini/chickpea, and chicken salad. Worth the wait :)

My dinner experience at Porzia (http://porzia.ca/menu//) was very good. Amazing music, great ambiance, friendly service, nice desserts, and good food. I cannot say it was perfect but it was pretty good! The drinks were perfect, I have to admit.



I had an Eggplant Involtini. Think about a cannelloni, but instead of pasta, you have a very thin layer of eggplant around the ricotta and herbs. All on a light tomato sauce and some melting cheese. Yuuuuumy! They have a four seat chef's "breakfast bar" that I would definitely book for my next visit. The dessert was a very tiny but delicious rectangle of hazelnut chocolate mousse with crushed hazelnut on the top...... very delicious!


I did do some serious cooking today. Chicken Tikka Marsala, Cream of Asparagus, Daal, and Brussels Sprouts with bacon, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar... I cannot wait to eat it.

Long Weekend (Drake Hotel & Empanada Company)

I took Friday off to relax and pamper myself. I was at the spa at 9AM to get a massage, a pedicure, and a manicure. I started off by having a light breakfast. Raspberries, omelet, a brazil nut with coffee and milk.

After I came back from the spa, I stopped by the Empanada Company (www.empanada.ca/) to get a few empanadas to go. I truly love this place and I recommend to anyone. They have fried and baked empanadas, however, my favourite ones only come fried. That's my only complain to the owner. In addition to the Chilean empanadas, they have gourmet empanadas. My favourite one is the beef braised rib with a merlot reduction. Soooo yummy!

My strategy in this meal was to finish the entire salad before eating the empanadas. The result? I had a hard time finishing the lobster empanada with corn and black beans, so I ended up eating the second one as a snack before I headed to the movie theatre.









Here is my Friday dinner. Fennel salad with orange, parmesan cheese, and balsamic vinegar with citrus. A light braised oxtail soup. I am glad that the chef did do a good job! I cannot wait to try the Campagnolo version of the salad.




Saturday:

I was planning to prepare a Brazilian style brunch on saturday morning but I ended up having a Brazilian style breakfast .... It is life. Boiled yucca, friend egg, cheese bread, raspberries, a brazil nut, and coffee with milk.

Lunch was very similar to Friday's lunch. I was too lazy to think about what to cook so I had a spinach salad with feta, candied pecans, tomato, and cucumber... and an empanada. I will have to give a break to the empanadas for at least 2 weeks. It cannot become a habit!










My afternon snack was a little bowl of DanActive with strawberries and all bran buds.

White BC tuna sashimi, half of the spicy red tuna maki roll, half of the black forrest cake with dark chocolate mousse, and a very large mojito. That's all that I had for dinner.

The food was not bad, and the drink was ok, but I don't think that I would ever have a full meal at the Drake Hotel (www.thedrakehotel.ca/). The ambiance on the other hand was pretty good. The place was filled with well dressed young professionals. Thank you God I did not wear my usual Parkdale outfit (jeans and plaid shirt)!