LLWT-4 Tackling Festival Calories

Let’s Lose Weight Together Part 4 (LLWT-4)

Apologies are expected. I write after about 2 months while on the quest to complete a series of articles titled – Lets Loose Weight Together. The delay is unnatural and uncalled for at the same time. But as you read on, you would know the circumstances were such that I was completely zoned out.

As an update to my weight goals, I am 3 kgs lighter than since I started. Now another 3 kgs to go but it would need to wait till next year. I contracted dengue earlier this month, and after a 4 day visit to the hospital and many more days of rest at home, I am very happy in my skin as of now. I have continued eating clean as mentioned at the start of the LLWT series. But this article is aimed at something else entirely. I started writing it in October, to chronicle how to maintain weight during festive season where festive eating is at its height. For all who have not read the earlier posts, I strongly suggest you read and start to slowly incorporate your diet in the sketch I mentioned below. This is the right time for you to start so that the Christmas season with all its buttery goodness leaves a great taste on your palette but no calories on your tummy.

Throughout the Pujo and Diwali season, I possessed high metabolism rate which helped me burn out my cheat luxury effortlessly. This past season, I gorged on everything deep fried, sweet and alcoholic. But still was able to meet you at more or less the same weight as before. I am writing this article today, so that everyone feeling guilty of Diwali gorging can take a few leaves out of this tip jar, and better equip themselves for the coming Christmas- New Year season.

Eating is life for me, so letting go by a day without food is a wastage I can’t really imagine. But at the same time, being fit and healthy ensures that we can eat on our favorite cheat food till time immemorial. My goal is to not get an hourglass figure, but to attain a healthy weight in ratio to my height. By BMI calculation I am in the upper healthy range, and another reduction of 3 kgs will ensure I fall in the right weight to height category. When I started this series of article, I didn’t think I would carry on for so many weeks. But life is such, especially for an entrepreneur. We face delays in every aspect, and learn to live with it for future.

So here are some tips and tricks that I used to get past the post Diwali leftover weeks, with flying colors.

1. Dinners become the most important meals in the festive season. During Durga Pujo, a lot of my friends visited us at pandals to gorge on these yummy Bengali street food. Diwali celebratory parties with innocent card games and yum food were always served for dinners. So eating healthy for dinner is a bit far-fetched at that time. But we can overcome this by going to a party with a full tummy. This way you gorge less of those deep fried starters or farsaan. I have made a habit of having a cream cracker biscuits and/or roasted channa with tea in the evening. These low calorie snacks fill u up for a long time and hence you actually just taste and move on to the next dish effortlessly.
2. Another thing I do most often is to have a cup of vegetable soup before going out to eat. This helps fill me up with nutritious fibers which is good for my body. I always make a batch of vegetable soup by just boiling a collection of vegetable in a pressure cooker with salt and pepper and blend it to fine puree. I add some aromatic herbs at times to make it interesting to the palette.
3. I start each day with a big bowl of freshly cut fruits. This helps in detoxifying my body immensely. The heavy dose of fibers right in the morning cleanses last night’s filth effortlessly, and creates a path for a better nutritious day ahead.

To be honest, I eat very healthy, but I drink very filthy. So if you are anything like me, then these next tips would help you even better. It did to me, and being honest about this helped me curb my drinking from almost alternate days to once or twice a week only, that too alternate weeks at times. And that my friends, I feel is a triumph of a sort.

1. Make it a rule to never indulge in fried snack while drinking. This helps a lot. Alcohol makes you hungry. The best way forward is to enjoy a drink along with your dinner, or have a drink after the dinner. This helps in getting rid of the intense craving to reach for the bag of chips or other naughty snacks.
2. Roasted chana is a tasteless protein based snack. But it is one of the healthiest things to have with a peg of whiskey. Mix it with some salsa and it becomes a Mexican appetizer. Mix it with kuchumber salad, and it becomes an Indian salad. Stick to salads like these that appeal to our taste buds more than anything. A lettuce or sprout salad may not look or feel appetizing with your favorite drink.
3. Try to limit intake of sugary additive to your drinks. It affects the body most. Sugar and alcohol react together to make a concoction of intoxication that really is not good for a human body. Try tonic water with your drinks, but the best is still to go clean with ice and water. Another great substitute is to have flavored water mixed with 30 ml of vodka or gin. Flavored water is nothing but water that is kept in a glass jar overnight with cut fruits and herbs of choice. If you have an orange in the water, then it sweetens the drink greatly. So find a mix that suits you and stick with it for this festive season.
4. I know no one is going to like this one, but really a glass of water needs to go in your body for every peg of drink you take. I have a tip for you on this one. So in a party drink a glass of water before you start drinking. Obviously you are not going to stop at just one drink when it’s your friend’s farewell. So after 2 drinks, drink another glass of water. Do the math, u got 1 glass of water for each drink, and you enjoyed the drinks like u r supposed to as well.
5. Lastly, be prepared that there would be 2 days that you would not be able to exercise. And there would be those days that the table is full of pies and tarts of every sort. Guilt should not be a part of any celebration. Live that day responsibly, work a bit hard the other day by pushing for extra 10 minutes of exercise. Trust me, it works.

I hope these are of some help to you. If you read this far, then do put in a comment to let me know how your season went. I am always more than happy to hear from you guys!

And before I leave, here is a sneak peak of all the holiday baking that should land up on your table this month. i would be sharing 1 recipe each week to pull you through your holiday entertaining with flying colours. Cheers!

HOME-MADE WW BUN WITH PORK AND CHICKEN PATTY, SERVED WITH ARUGULA SALAD.

GARDEN FRESH ZUCCHINI STIR FRIED AND SERVED ALONG BALSAMIC GLAZED ONIONS 

CRISPY POTATOES WITH GARDEN THYME

HOT CROSS BUNS STUFFED WITH MOMS GUAVA JELLY

Borosil Prima 19 L Oven Toaster Griller

It’s not a very unnatural thing that today again I set to write about borosil. I have mentioned it far beyond and always that I have loved every single piece of their product range, since I was in college. Let’s see, so here I was writing a beautiful note for borosil, to my unborn child. Then here was I talking about all of my greatest memories of borosil; sometimes in my house, and sometimes in others'. And today here I am, writing about their newer products that I have tested and enjoyed using very bery much. Yes, I am being very truthful here. In fact I have always been brutally truthful here on my blog when I say, I like something, to something I don’t like. And borosil is beyond my likes or dislikes. It has a history of provoking me to be a better earner than anything else in the world.

Curios? Nope, doesn’t mean that I am being paid truckloads of insane money to write this on a beautiful sunny winter afternoon. In fact this article comes with no remuneration attached. It means that it had inspired me since the start to earn enough so that I can afford the luxury of owning a set of borosil bake and serve.

I am a simple girl! I grew up in a house which was like any others in a small town. But I had dreams. A bit sultry, a bit naïve, a bit ambitious; but these were my dreams. I fought my way out of my parent’s to stay in a hostel of Delhi University. This was the biggest, and by far the most adventurous decision of my life. A lot conspired, this side and that. But finally I was here, in Delhi, in a city that stank of wealth and power like nothing else. Here I met people staying in quaint green lined lanes of South Delhi, beautiful big houses; but boasting of dreams so shallow. Here I saw the finer things in life, the more beautiful, and the more glass like. And when I met borosil over here, I just knew I wanted the relation to last a lifetime. It wasn’t glass like, and yet so like glass. This is what I inspired to be. Don’t know if I was able to achieve what I inspired for, but I did strike up a beautiful relationship with borosil, for life.

That is precisely why, when Food Bloggers Association of India got in touch with me over a review of a new product launched by borosil, I readily accepted. Yes, the company which has been dealing with borosilicate glassware for decades now, has ventured into kitchen appliances as well. Their new product range which is about to hit the market pretty soon consists of rice cookers, juicers and convectional ovens for the domestic market. I chose to review the oven over the others, and dutifully a package arrived at my doorstep, much in time. I checked the oven by toasting some bread slices. This is the best way to understand a new oven and find spots of more heat. The panel was easy to use. The description was enough for even a person with minimal education to figure out and toast the slices well. The heat is consistent inside the oven, and is perfect for baking cakes to get an even fluff on top. I had used a 19 liter oven, smaller than my usual 60 liters, and that’s why I found it really quick to heat up and toast. So all in all, I loved my shiny silver addition to the kitchen. It proved easy to use, and very effective to heat up this winter.  

If you are looking to buy an easy oven soon, then do check out myborosil.com for offers and prices. After using it, I can assure you its of great quality and make. Additionally, it also comes with a 2 year guarantee.

Cheers!