Diet Plan

Thanks to GM Diet I do not eat the way I used to before.
Earlier I used to hog on to anything and everything especially sweets. There was always something that I was munching upon.

But with GM Diet all that has stopped and I have full control over sweets. In fact, I have decided to not eat at all.
So, now I eat only 3 times a day:
1. Breakfast - Whatever is prepared like Poha, Dosa, Idli, Sandwich or paratha along with some fruits.
2. Lunch - Two Phulkas along with veggies + cucumber cut or any salad.
3. Dinner - 2 Phulkas or bhakri and some rice at times.

In between these meals I do not eat anything.

Its been difficult, but I feel great.
I feel light and my weight has indeed reduced.

I was 61 before GM Diet. But was around 59 after it. Then with food, I gained it back and was 60Kg.
Now with this fixed time meal, I am back to 59.

In Navratri I also did part fasting by having only fruits during the day and dinner at night. It was good too.

When you have less salt intake and sweet intake too, your body feels lighter due to less water retention in the body. Most of the times we feel we are bloated due to the water retention.

I did exercise for few days but now that has stopped. I try to go for a walk whenever possible.

Having limited meals is really helping me and I feel great.
I have a target of reaching 53-54Kgs.

And deep inside I want to go back to my before marriage weight of 47-48. Maybe its too skinny but lets see how it goes..

GM Diet once again

Sadly after my weight loss in 2015 with the right diet and exercise, I have gained weight crossing all limits. That fat was the fat I gained due to pregnancy. But this time its all the unwanted fat in the unwanted places like waist, thighs, hands and stomach. Its so difficult to reduce.
I was addicted to sweets and though one side of me did not want to eat, the stronger part of me just forced me to eat more and more. Sweets of all kinds from chocolates to cookies and all other unhealthy foods. Here I am at 62kgs as weighed yesterday.
I want to go back to 56 and for this to end my cravings, I am doing the GM diet once again. Its shameful and I feel bad, but don't know what got into me, when I cared less about anything except food.

Today is my first day. I was only on fruits and yeah I had slight head ache, but that was there since yesterday. Other than its been good.

A little secret, so many times I thought of going ahead with GM diet, but my devil mind kept stopping me. The willpower I had to do it first time, was just not there.. I did not have the guts to do it. But today I am stronger than yesterday. I did it easily and I know God is helping me :) I am not worried that I will fail coz I know I will succeed.

I am also doing a little bit of walking .. so with a good diet some exercise will help reduce more weight.

I am walking 2 kms daily and slowly want to increase it to 5Kms or more.
I have stopped wearing the fit bit bands and others. But soon will get a good one for me, to keep me motivated.

So far so good. I just weighed my self and I am, 61Kgs :)

Diet - I had fruits only today. Had some watermelon pieces, pineapple pieces, Pomegranate, 2 Apples and 2 sweet limes.
For dinner I will have some more watermelon pieces and maybe a sweet lime.

I am determined this time.. and I will succeed!

Hum Honge Kamayab!

3 months of strict diet and exercise, and I am SURE I will beat the excess cholesterol out of my body!!! I am also hoping my doc. will prescribe me with medicines to help. I don't think 3 months is enough to naturally lower cholesterol especially lower the high triglycerides running in my blood. Sad but true..

But I will WIN!
I know I can and I will !!!
Just like the GM diet was a cakewalk for me, this too will. It will take some time for me to adjust to the new diet. But it's not so bad. I am liking it!

Healthy Fat Free Baked Potato - Without Cheesez

For snack today, I baked two small potatoes. I did not twice bake them with cheese. I omitted that step and went ahead and seasoned the potatoes for some good taste.

Ingredients:

• Potatoes - 1 or 2 depending on size
• Salt
• Pepper
• Oregano
• Onion greens - cut finely to garnish
• Pumpkin - grated for garnish

Method:

• Bake the potato in the oven or microwave.
  I did not have one and so baked in my cooker. Will give away details on how to bake in cooker in some other post soon.
• You can add salt when baking potatoes.
• Once baked, add rest of the seasonings.
• Garnish and serve.

These potatoes tasted awesome. Absolutely OIL Free. If you wish, you can surely add some olive oil. But I did not feel the need, and it tasted just as good.

Steamed Fish

Now that I am not allowed to have Fried Fish, I have decided to go for Steamed Fish. I searched for a lot of recipes and found a good and simple one. In fact, its closest to the way we make anyway, as it has almost same ingredients as we make the fried Fish.

I totally enjoyed the Steamed fish along with Rice.

Ingredients:

• Pomfret Fish - 1 Whole with a few cuts on both sides
• Coriander leaves - 1 cup
• Garlic cloves - 3-4
• Green chillies - 1
• Salt to taste
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tea spoon

Method:

• Grind the ingredients to form a thick paste
• Coat the fish thoroughly especially fill inside the cuts.
• Let it marinate for an hour or so.
• You can also refrigerate for 30 mins.
• Pour water in a heavy pot.
• Place a stand. Make sure, water is not above stand. 
• Place a flat tray or bowl with the fish on the stand.
• Put the lid and let it steam away.
• Check if fish is done.
• Place the fish along with rice in a plate and enjoy :-)

Pics for this recipe will be up soon. I will prepare again and upload pics then.

Simple and Quick Chickpeas Salad

Earlier I had written the recipe of my Chickpeas Salad, where I had not used tomatoes. This one is with tomatoes and it tastes equally awesome. Here is link to the Chickpeas Salad without Tomatoes.

Any type of Beans is very good for lowering Bad Cholesterol ie. LDL Cholesterol. So, I make sure alternate days I have a salad for dinner. In this recipe I will use Chickpeas but you can use Cannellini beans, Black eyed peas or Rajma beans.

Ingredients: 

• Chickpeas - 1 cup soaked for 4-5 hours prior
• Onion - 1/2 cup cut finely
• Tomato - 1/2 cup cut finely
• Spring Onion Greens - 2 table spoon cut finely
• Cabbage - 2 table spoon cut finely
• Cilantro - 2 table spoon cut finely
• Lemon Juice - 1/2 lemon
• Salt & Pepper to taste

This pic does not include the cilantro I cut.

Method:

• Cook the chickpeas in pressure cooker till cooked completely.
• Once cooled, remove peas from cooker.
• Add all the ingredients
• Mix well and Enjoy :-)

Changes in my Diet

I have decided to take these 3 months seriously and have a strict diet before I go for another Lipid Profile check 3 months from now. After my last test, soon after my GM diet, I used to have ONLY Oats in the morning for breakfast. I think, that has helped lower my LDL substantially, though still need to improve on those numbers. I also went on morning walks. Walked briskly for whole 1 hour which would be around 5000-5400 steps by the time I got home.

I have taken a break on my walks for last month due to various reasons, but getting back on it, is becoming challenging. Earlier I woke up from bed easily by 5.30pm and now its close to impossible. I switch off the alarm and go back to sleep. Self motivation has totally disappeared. I need it badly as of today. I will work on that.

In any case, my plan is to complete 10,000 steps daily as before, start my morning walks for 1 hour and control my diet completely.

Of Course, I need to still go visit my family physician who will surely prescribe medicines to lower the cholesterol directly. But meanwhile, I will follow a strict diet.

Oats for Breakfast
Phulkas for Lunch along with Vegetables made in less oil.
Snacks would be only biscuits or Carrots.
Dinner is Bean Salad or Bhakari (no oil) and some curry.

Say NO to Prawns and Fish to have as Steamed Fish only. 
NO MORE Fried Fish !!!
I am not a fan of Papad, Bhajiyas and Oily snacks anyway.. so that helps!

Health Check again..

Just got a health check done again. The last one I had done was in June last year. So, its been 8 Months. This was a comprehensive check up and not just Lipid Profile which I did last year.

I did the test in Bethany Hospital, Thane. The package was Good Health Executive which costs around 2500/-. I did not do the Good Health Total which is similar but has additional Stress Test and 2D Echo - Only because I did not the whole day for the test. as it was a weekday. Weekends were already booked for the whole month.

As usual though other parameters are Normal, Cholesterol is Not so good. Though my LDL is lower than last time's report, Triglycerides has shot up like anything. I am not sure why?

I still need to go visit my doctor with the reports. The physician counselling at the hospital was terrible. I was not at all satisfied. So, I won't be taking any of her medicines prescribed and plan to visit my family physician soon. Till then have started working out on a STRICT diet. 

The GM plan worked very well for me, as my diet was very well controlled after that. Except in Diwali when I went crazy for sweets and hogged on them. Soon, I did put a limit to that too.

So, now I do not eat sweets unless it is some Prasad of Pooja, or exception cases when I can't say NO. But then I make the serving really small. Also, I have stopped eating sweets at night and only eat in morning. This is because, the body has a lot of movement in the morning to break down the sweet. At night, body tends to rest and that's when all the sweet will stay within converting to fat.

Chocolates, ice creams and desserts are a big No for me now.

As of now, my weight is 57Kgs. I was at 59 after my GM diet. So, I must say, I am satisfied in terms of my weight. I can try for loosing another couple of Kgs. though according to my BMI, I have Normal Body Weight.

BMI is: 22.3
Normal weight: 18.5 - 24.9

Coming back to my Health check reports, I will concentrate on the Lipid Profile since rest of the tests are all normal.

Investigation  Latest Result Old Result Reference         Cholesterol 239 245 DESIRABLE < 200 | BODERLINE HIGH 201-239 | HIGH > 239         Triglycerides 199 94 NORMAL < 150 | BODERLINE HIGH 150 - 199 HIGH 200 - 499         HDL Cholesterol 52 50 MAJOR RISK for HEART < 40 | NEGATIVE RISK >= 60         LDL Cholesterol  147 176.2 OPTIMAL < 100 | ABOVE OPTIMAL 100 - 129 | BODERLINE HIGH 130 - 159 HIGH 160 - 189

So, as you can see the cholesterol results are all above desired levels in a negative way :-)

I have now decided to take Diet seriously and watch the Oil and cheese intake.

I will be posting my diet plan and recipes so that it can help you all too.

Keep watching this space.

Indian GM Vegetarian Diet Plan - Day 7

So sorry all. I had the post ready, but I had saved it as draft than submitting. My bad!

Day 7 - Veggies, Starch and Juice

So, today we can have starch in the form of rice. I am feeling very light already and am so glad to have lost 4 kgs. I am down to 59.

We can have veggies, juices and rice today. So, morning I had some water melon Juice and cut pieces. We then went shopping as there are sale all around here in the malls. We shopped till we dropped, so we actually skipped lunch. I was feeling tired as I did not have much in the morning. But drank lots of water.

We were out by 5.30, so after that I had some saute veggies. For dinner I had some plain white rice and saute veggies.

Now I got to maintain my weight and also do some exercises to loose more weight.

Here was my menu for the day.

Breakfast - Watermelon juice + some pieces

Lunch - Skipped

Evening snacks - Saute veggies

Dinner - Rice and saute veggies.

I am glad  I completed the GM Diet Plan without any problem. I again saw that if I plan something and make my mind upon something, I will definitely do it come what may :-)

I do recommend exercise to loose weight. Also, that we should watch what we eat so that we do not stock up on too much calories, especially if we do not burn out that much on a daily basis.

I won't recommend GM diet plan to those who want to loose weight alone. I will always recommend doing exercises. This plan is good for detoxing your body and controlling your food cravings. Be sure to maintain healthy eating after this diet :-)

Indian GM Vegetarian Diet Plan - Day 6

Day 6 - High Protien with veggies - NO TOMATOES

Today we can eat similar to what we ate yesterday but with no tomatoes. I saw a few sites mentioning no tomatoes while many were OK with tomatoes. Since yesterday I had up to 4 tomatoes. Ideally I should have had 6 but I could not.

So, things going good till now. I loved the sprouts salad I had last night for dinner. It was really refreshing and a good change. I had some sprouts from last night so I reused that for breakfast today.
I also got some chickpea soaked overnight and cooked them in cooker.

I was actually out for dinner with friends and I could not carry my food. But I did not want to break my diet plan and hence had 2 bowls of soup which is allowed :)

Here is my menu for today:

Breakfast - Sprouts salad (Dew Bean used)

Lunch - Chickpea Sprout Salad

Evening - Did not eat anything

Dinner - 2 bowls Vegetable clear soup.

Water - 10 glasses

My weight is 59KG. Awesome 4 Kgs down. I am thrilled absolutely!

Recipe for Chickpea Sprout Salad:

Ingredients:

1. Chickpea soaked overnight.
2. Yellow Bell pepper - 1/2 cut finely
3. Red Bell Pepper - 1/2 cut finely
4. Green Bell Pepper - 1/2 cut finely
5. Onion - 1/2 cut finely
6. Salt - just a dash
7. Oregano, Rosemary, Pepper - to garnish

Method:

1. Cook the Chickpeas that you soaked in a cooker or heavy pot till fully cooked.
2. Strain the water and let it dry for a bit
3. Add all the other ingredients and mix well
4. Enjoy the salad :)

Indian GM Vegetarian Diet Plan - Day 5

Day 5 - High Protein | Eggs, Tomatoes, Sprouts, Paneer

Day 5 is about High Protein. The original GM diet has Beef. Since I do not eat meat, forget beef, I decided to eat Eggs and Paneer. So, around 4 Eggs during the day, some paneer and sprouts is what I plan, along with 6 tomatoes.

This diet is pretty easy. Actually if you cross the first 2 days, the diet definitely gets easier by the day.
I plan to have boiled Eggs with sprinkle of salt and pepper. Tomatoes either cut or like juice. Paneer I plan to have like Burji. With very less oil and some veggies, so it will get some taste. This is because plain paneer is pretty bland to eat as is.

For the Sprouts, I already soaked "Matki" or "Dew Bean" yesterday and before going to bed took off all water for it to sit through the night. Morning, the beans were sprouted just as I wanted.

Early Morning (8.00am) - Veg. Clear Soup.

Breakfast - 2 boiled Eggs + Tomato (2) Juice

Lunch - Paneer Burji + 1 tomato cut + 1 Cucumber cut

Evening - 2 boiled Eggs + Few pieces Paneer saute.

Dinner - Salad made from sprouts.

Recipe for Paneer Burji:

Ingredients:

1. Onion - 1 Big cut into small cubes
2. Tomato - 1 small cut into small cubes
3. Coriander - 2 tablespoon
4. Chillies- 1 cut into 1 inch length
5. Asafoetida - 1/6 teaspoon
6.  Turmeric / Haldi - 1/4 teaspoon
7. Chilly Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
8. Olive Oil - 1 tablespoon
9. Salt - to taste

Method:

1. In a wok, heat some olive oil
2. Add asafoetida, onion and saute
3. Add tomato
4. Add Turmeric, chilly powder and saute
5. Add paneer and salt to taste
6. Mix and let it cook for a while
7. Add coriander to garnish

You can eat Paneer Burji with Chapati or rice.

Indian GM Vegetarian Diet Plan - Day 4

Day 4 - Bananas and Milk

Today I must have upto 6 bananas and 4 glasses of Milk. I want to target 2 glasses at least. I am not worried about Bananas as I love them and can have as many as possible :)

So, while yesterday I ended my post with a happy note that all is well, a little later I felt my whole body crumble. It was aching so bad. I could not even lift my little daughter of 18 months. I usually carry her to brush her teeth before bed. But I was too weak to hold her. I did not know what was happening.

By the time I cleaned up the kitchen and was off to bed, I was very tired and weak. It could not be because of my diet because all day I felt good and fresh. So, I was not sure what was happening. I was feeling feverish. I told my hubby I am feeling feverish. But I left it to that. Soon I was shivering and took 2 think blankets to sleep. This was not good. I had few more days to go and could not give up now. So, I woke up, took a crocin and went off to sleep.

As I slept I kept thinking, what could be the reason for my sudden breakdown. Well, I realized, it could be the Musk Melon that I had in the evening. It was kind of sour as I had left it outside the fridge for some time before eating. I don't think eating cold as I fear catching cold. But the fruit went sour. I did throw off the sour layer, but yeah it was not good, what I ate. And that caused the reaction.
Anyway, with the crocin, when I woke up in the morning, I was back in good shape.

So, coming back to the diet. I have bananas ready and also some veggies to make some nice soup.
My day is as follows:

Breakfast - Banana Milk shake with 2 Bananas and 1 glass of Milk

Early Noon - 1 Banana

Lunch - Veg. Clear Soup.

Evening - Banana Milk Shake with 2 Bananas and 1 glass of Milk

Dinner - 2 Banana + Veg. Clear Soup

Water - 8 glasses

I had an awesome lunch with 2 bowls of awesome veg clear soup. Feel energetic,

Somehow I had less amount of water compared to other days. But the soup I am sure made up for the required water content. Loved the soup. Just 3 more days to go!

I Weighed myself and was glad to see that I am down another KG. I am 60KG now .. thats 3 Kgs down. Wow I am thrilled :-)

Here is my recipe for the Veg. Clear Soup.

Ingredients:

1. Mushrooms - 5-6 cut into small cubes
2. Pumpkin - 3-4 small cubes
3. Beans - 3-4 Cut 1 inch piece
4. Corn - 2 teaspoon
5. Lettuce - 1-2 leaves cut
6. Broccoli - 5-6 flowers
7. Garlic - 7-8
8. Oregano, Rosemary, Pepper, Salt - For garnish

Method:

1. Cook all the veggies in the pressure cooker so they cook well. Add salt when cooking.
2. Remove from cooker and add more water depending on quantity you want.
3. Add garnish of Pepper, Oregano and Rosemary.
4. Add the lettuce
5. In a small wok, add little olive oil and fry these garlic pods till brown. Pat them on tissue to remove excess oil.
6. Add to soup.
7. Enjoy the delicious Soup

Indian GM Vegetarian Diet Plan - Day 3

Day 3 - Fruits and Vegetables

So here I am on Day 3 and its been absolutely amazing till now. I feel lighter and definitely much better. Today will be a good day coz its a combination of veggies and fruits. I know I can complete this diet plan smoothly coz I have already crossed the two difficult days.

I have no head ache at all today. Not eating much.. drinking lots of water and feeling good.

Breakfast - 1 Apple + Boiled Corn and Cauliflower + Saute Mushroom with Bellpepper

Lunch - Saute Vegetables + Watermelon pieces

Evening Snacks - 1 Custard Apple + few pieces of Musk Melon + Black tea without sugar or milk

Dinner - Roasted Tomatoes + Water melon

Water - 16 glasses

Today has been really easy. Waiting for the next days.

My Weight is now 61KG. So, 2 Kgs down. Cool!

Indian GM Vegetarian Diet Plan - Day 2

Day 2 - Vegetables

I am actually enjoying the diet plan. I love eating boiled or saute vegetables. And taste of each vegetable is so different that it does not feel monotonous. Eating fruits was difficult as most of them are sweet or bland. For the veggies,  I also added garnishing like Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary and Pepper.

Since potato is allowed one time today and not anymore during the diet, I decided to have a them for breakfast. I bot some baby potatoes instead of large ones to have some roasted potatoes.

For lunch I decided to go for saute veggies. I bought veggies like Mushroom, red yellow and green bell pepper, Beans, Broccoli, Baby corn. I also cut 3-4 cucumbers and tomatoes.

Breakfast - Roasted Potatoes.

Early noon - Tomato Juice, some slices of cucumbers and tomatoes.

Lunch - Saute vegetables , cucumbers and tomato slices.

Evening - Corn cob

Dinner - Saute Veggies and some corn

Water - 16 glasses

I can feel slight headache but not as strong as yesterday, Day 1. So its better today. I do feel a bit lighter. My MI Wrist Band strap seems loose so I am sure its a positive sign of loosing some unwanted fat.

I agree that first two days are crucial. If you can cross these, then the next will be easier to tackle.
My hubby who started with all enthusiasm gave up today having breakfast. He could not take it anymore :-) The first day itself got him bugged.

He thinks this plan is for Lazy people, coz you want to go for short cut of weight loss.. well I totally agree exercises are a must to loose fat. This diet won't help. But for me,  as I have already mentioned at the start, this plan is only get started with an organized diet from now on, and more importantly I want to put my self control to a test. Before this diet plan, I always had a strong strong urge to eat sweets and chocolates. I am not a junk food eater, but I can't control when it comes to chocolates. Everyday I had to eat some. I emptied the whole Nutela Bottle myself in less than a week eating a spoon of it or more everyday :-( I did regret but each day I told myself, one last spoon.. and took another :-(

Also, recently I got to know that my cholesterol levels are beyond limits. Here is what the report says,
Total Cholesterol - 245 HIGH
(Desirable <=200 | Borderline High 201-239 | High >239)

HDL Cholesterol - 50 LOW
(Major risk factor for heart disease < 40 | Negative risk factor for heart disease >= 60)

Triglycerides Level - 94 NORMAL
(Normal < 150 | Borderline High 150-199 | High 200-499 | Very High > 500)

LDL Cholesterol - 180 HIGH
(Optimal < 100 | Near Optimal/Above Optimal 100-129 | Borderline High 130-159 | High 160-189 | Very High >= 190)

LDL/HDL Ratio - 3.52 OK
(Optimal 2.5 - 3.5)

Non HDL Cholesterol - 195 VERY HIGH
(Desirable < 130 | Borderline High 130-159 | High 160-189 | Very High >= 190)

Actually, I have been eating out of limits. I love cheese and have been eating a lot of it recently. 1 year back because I was pregnant, and then because I was nursing my daughter. But now I need to take control of my diet. My health is now priority.

So, to kick start my change in diet I am doing this GM Plan. I know I will complete it without any hassles and will enjoy till the end. After that will I keep my self in control and eat within limits.

Btw, I did not loose any weight today.. hmmm..