Cutting down carbs – Week 3
Since I’ve been sharing my new ‘kambing’ diet with friends, some have started to fill up their plates with more vegetables too. They decide to go for more sayur campur than the usual sambal udang and also cut down their rice and white bread intake.
Good for you, ladies!
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Sadly, that only lasted for a couple of days. Most of them came back to me, complaining that they felt hungry just after an hour or two, so I checked with them to find out where they did wrong.
And here’s what I found out.
For breakfast, I usually eat oats and wholemeal bread with some protein. Either eggs or chicken cubes. But my friends only eat oats and instead of adding protein, they added condensed milk (yes, Malaysians tend to sweeten up everything with susu pekat) and sweet fruits like grapes.
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As for lunch, I always have some chicken breast in my salad. Sometimes, I add mushrooms in my chicken topping too. Most of my friends skipped the meat altogether, leaving them feeling hungrier soon after.
So, today, I’m sharing with the healthiest choices of protein if you’d like to go on a grazing journey with us ladies who have been trying to lose the MCO body! Haha!
Animal-based protein
Well, this is easiest and also more filling than plant-based, but stick your options to only two sources of protein for the time being. First, eggs. While it’s true, the white egg provides the highest protein, but you wouldn’t want to waste the yolk right? Generally, a healthy person can eat up to 3 egg yolks a day, but don’t make that a habit because I read this from some American magazine. I suppose, that’s why many Americans are obese. And we Malaysians aren’t that far behind!
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Second, chicken. The healthiest part is the chicken breast, so start changing your chicken part preference from now on. Yes, yes, a drumstick is nicer when it’s deep fried with 11 herbs and spices recipe but still, we need to make one small change at a time. A Chef I once interviewed told me, unless the chicken is organic, try to avoid the chicken wings because that’s the part where the hormones are injected into. Yikes!
We can do salmon too from time to time. But sadly, we don’t live in Norway and salmon can be a bit pricey for those on a budget, including me!
(Thank you, A Gripping Life!)
Plant-based protein
While you have a bigger variety to choose from the plant-based protein, they may not sustain much because of the low contents of protein compared to animal-based protein. But let’s see our options here.
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Well, being part-Javanese, naturally tempeh is part of our dietary intake. When others who are non-Javanese find it repulsive, we can just fry these protein-packed cakes and dip into sambal kicap (soy sauce with ground tiny chili pepper and crushed garlic) to snack on, haha! Trust me, if you think tempeh is not appetising, wait until you see the difference it has on your overall diet. Besides, you drink soy milk and eat tofu, so how is this any different?
Go nuts over nuts! Or don’t, if you’re allergic. Peanuts and almonds make a great snack in between meals. But you shouldn’t overdo it, especially when some swear that nuts give them ahemmm, nuts on the skin! Yes, ladies, zits! There are other types of nuts that you can explore too! Like steamed chickpeas or I always find roasted chestnuts (packed of course because I don’t want to ruin my nails having to remove the shells) simply divine around 3 pm while I’m working.
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And grains too! While quinoa has been dubbed as the best, healthier substitute for rice, but let’s face it, it WILL burn a whole in your pocket. So, I settled for another Latino lover, chia seeds which I’ve sprinkled onto my desserts and dinner. You may also sprinkle some onto your chilled juice! You’ll love crunching the chia seeds. Just make sure to brush your teeth after each chia intake, the seeds can really get stuck between your gnasher!
So, if you’d like to know more on plant-based protein, you can check this article by Medical News Today.
This is something my former PT once shared with me to guide us on the right amount of food our body needs. Just remember, this is only a guide. We may need more or less food based on our daily activities. You can use the hand method to estimate the size of your food intake.
(Thank you, Daily Mail UK!)
One more week to go, ladies!
Read this article in Bahasa Melayu HERE!
XOXO,
Paris Ashiqin
