Fasting on Vacation

Market Town

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How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow, for a calorie total of less than 600. On another day this week, eat the meals from a different post, another day of eating 600 calories or less. Eat sensibly the other days of the week. That’s it. Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

We love Market Towns. In Pennsylvania, where I was raised, county seats would have market buildings for weekly or semi-weekly sales of all possible meats, fruits, vegetables, baked goods. After our sons were born and we lived in New Hampshire, it was always a special treat to return to PA and take the boys to the market. Their eyes would widen at the pies and pastries, and the apple seller would give them one for free. When we go to Europe on vacation, we seek out the country markets: pop-ups in the town square [Thoiry, Ferne-Voltaire, Annecy, Paris] or those in ancient, covered halls [Durham, Venice, St Helier]. We love to shop there for our provisions and to wander around, feasting our eyes, wishing we could be there for weeks on end to try all the items on sale. Sigh. New Hampshire has nothing like that.

Our meals today are provisioned from markets in Brittany and Normandy. When purchasing, one must be sure to get only enough for your stay — a real shame to have leftover food to discard. The breakfast was born of necessity, utilizing odds and ends for one more meal. The dinner features a serendipitous find at market, which provided two meals.

Breton/Norman Bread Pudding:  204 calories 8 g fat 1.5 g fiber 11.6 g protein 13.8 g carbs [6 g Complex] 124 mg Calcium This dish was invented to clear out the fridge when leaving a rental cottage in Brittany. We repeated it when departing Normandy. It works well anywhere, even in your own home kitchen.

¾ fluid oz milk ½ slice whole-grain bread 1 egg 1 oz cooked fish OR ¾ oz cooked chicken 1 oz tomato ¼ oz cheese, grated fresh herbs, as available 2 oz strawberries   Optional: blackish coffee [53 calories] or blackish tea or mocha cafe au lait [65 calories] or lemon in hot water   No Smoothie

Cube or dice the bread and tomato. Flake the fish/chop the chicken and grate the cheese. Stir together everything, except the strawberries. The mixture should be moist throughout, but not soupy. TIP: I like to combine it all the night before so the bread has time to absorb the liquids. Heat a saute pan and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Turn the bread pudding into the pan. Pat and nudge it into a large, flat patty. Cook until brown on one side, then turn it over. [Alternatively, bake it in an oven-proof dish at 350F for 18 minutes.] When done, it should be set and cooked all the way through, and browned on both sides. Plate with the berries and reminice about the vacation you just enjoyed.

We attended the market in Caen, Normandy. What an experience!! It was the largest open-air market we had ever seen, stretching for blocks along the port and into the city center.

So much to choose from that we didn’t see a fraction of it. But we found all the supplies for the week [except breads, which we buy at the local boulangerie]: eggs, vegetables, cidre, seafood. When we saw the fresh pasta cart, we were in heaven. Rabbit Ravioli caught my eye and I envisioned a plate of pasta on Wednesday and a ravioli salad for the following Fast Day. Here it is: a lightly-dressed salad topped with cooked raviolis rewarmed in a barely buttered pan.

Ingredients for next week: Breakfast, single portion for Monday ……… single portion for Thursday:

1 two-oz egg1.5 two-oz eggs 
garlic + scallionsbleu cheese
fish sauce + applemushrooms
cooked spinach + Srirachaleeks + pear
Optional smoothieoptional smoothie
optional hot beverageoptional hot beverage

Dinner, single portion for Monday: …….. single portion for Thursday:

chicken/turkey thigh + egg6-12 oysters + leeks + apple
mirin + soy sauce + dashfennel bulb + fronds + egg white
sake or dry sherry + sugarbleu cheese + butter
onion + parsley + riceoptional: pie crust, not GF
Sparkling waterSparkling water

Dinners on the Wall

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How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow, for a calorie total of less than 600. On another day this week, eat the meals from a different post, another day of eating 600 calories or less. Eat sensibly the other days of the week. That’s it. Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

In May of 2016, I went for a hike with our cousin and her son. Nothing much…just walking the Hadrian’s Wall Path in northern England. [84 miles in 7 days] This was not an ‘all-inclusive holiday’ tour by bus with a guide and meals provided. Cousin Peggy found the places to stay and we figured out on the fly where we would have dinner each evening. Walking an average of 12 miles/day sounds arduous — but it wasn’t really, if you trained for it. You might think that this was no place for a Fasting Lifestyle. With all those calories being expended daily, surely one would need to chow down like a lumberjack every day. Again, not so. A Fast Breakfast can take you a long way into a busy, active day. The remainder is up to mind-set [like any diet plan]. And don’t forget — this was only two days out of the week — the rest of the time I could eat what I liked.

So what did I eat?

At Bistrot 34 in Brampton, I enjoyed this plate of legumes and goat cheese. It was really delicious and full of protein to fight hunger.
At the Gilsand Inn, the meat pie beckoned to me from the menu. The pie was small and tasty and the vegetables were abundant. Without the potatoes and gravy, it might almost be a Fast Meal. Ordering from the menu has limitations.

The take-aways? 1] With determination, one can Fast on vacation. 2] One will not perish by exercising on a Fast Day. 3] It is possible to order off the menu and still be true to the Fasting Lifestyle.

Did I eat salads while suffering from hunger all week? No way! The last day, we walked 21 miles from Carlisle to Bowness-on-Solway. [The map says it is less, but taking the wrong turning adds miles!] We dined well that night at the King’s Arms. It was a Saturday so I could eat what I wanted. And I did.

The meal of fish & chips was delicious and I ate it all [I did share the chips with fellow diners]

Brittany

~ me ~ Leave a comment

How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow, for a calorie total of less than 600. On another day this week, eat the meals from a different post, another day of eating 600 calories or less. Eat sensibly the other days of the week. That’s it. Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

You know how I like to talk about traveling/vacationing and still following the Fasting Lifestyle? Well, I’m going to do it again. We went to Brittany, France last May: partly because it is a wonderful place to visit and partly because some of my mother’s ancestors are from there. I had visited 50 years ago [literally: in 1969] on a student tour and had wanted to return. So we did. We rented a self-catering cottage in the region whence came my ancestors and we had a wonderful time. We hiked, we bird-watched, we drove to lovely and interesting places, we purchased food in local farmer’s markets, and we visited local restaurants. We also ate galettes and crepes and washed them down with cidre, naturallement. Our cottage was in the tiny hamlet of Kergeral near the sea. It was delightful.

It is not difficult to stay on a Fast Diet while traveling. You need to be mindful and to make the right choices. Deprivation is not necessary, as you can see from sample meals below. Upon return, my weight was still below my Target. Hooray!

The last breakfast at our cottage, we had some food left over — eat it or toss it? This ‘breakfast bread pudding’ contained bread cubes, egg, cooked fish, cooked vegetables, and a topping of cheese. Delicious and under 300 calories!
We drove to Carnac to see the Standing Stones and to eat oysters. Here are the oysters, as served at Huitres de Cochennec, enjoyed at one of their outdoor tables at water’s edge. Fabulous combination of location and food consumed. Oysters are a wonderful dinner choice for the Faster.

Breakfasts on the Wall

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How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow, for a calorie total of less than 600. On another day this week, eat the meals from a different post, another day of eating 600 calories or less. Eat sensibly the other days of the week. That’s it. Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.                       Welcome to Organic Tree who is now Following.

We all like to go on vacation: to visit new places and have new experiences. It has been said that “Travel is broadening.”  But that can be a problem — you go on a great trip and come back with several extra pounds.  Often the reason given is that “when you stay in a hotel, you have to eat off the menu and therefore you can’t possibly continue to Fast.”  I’m here to argue against that.  Two years ago, I went on a hiking trip with our cousin and her son. The Hadrian’s Wall Path is 84 miles long. We started on the East end [Wallsend, Northumberland] and walked to the West end [Bowness-on-Solway, Cumbria].  And all along the way we stayed in a variety of places: from hotels to inns to holiday parks. The Wall and the Wall Path were truly  amazing: a wonderful walk through beautiful countryside and pretty villages.  We hiked 8 days, ranging from 5 to 19 miles per day.  Can you Fast while on vacation? Yes.  Can you Fast and still go hiking? Yes. It was great. End of the Trail The trip covered two Fast Days and here are some of my breakfast choices for the week:

2-3gg omelette on the road

A two-egg omelette ordered off the menu with a side of mushrooms and a cup of coffee was just what I needed at the  Benkinsopp Castle Inn in Brampton.

 

                                                                In East Wallhouses, at the Robin Fasting on the TrailHood Inn, scrambled eggs on toast became the perfect start to a day on the Path. This is similar to a meal we would have at home a Fast Day. [The extra pieces of toast were not eaten.]

 

 

English Breakfast on the Trail

Of course at some point in England one will be served the Full English Breakfast, as we were at the Gilsland Spa Hotel in Brampton. This can be a temptation for a real pig-out, but I opted for lots of protein and some fruit yogurt.

Gertrude Jekyll

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How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow. On Monday, eat the meals that will be posted on Sunday.  Eat sensibly the other days of the week.  That’s it.  Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

Tomorrow will be the birthday of Gertrude Jekyll, the English gardener who was born in 1843. The Jekylls [pronounced ‘GEE-kal’] were a talented and well-connected family. She chose gardening as her life’s work [how many Victorian ladies had a ‘life’s work’?] and became hugely influential in the design of garden landscapes. Her training at art school taught her to view the land with an Impressionist’s eye, to understand perspective, and to have a strong knowledge of color theory — of great importance in garden design.  400 gardens on 2 continents, 1000 articles, and 4 books have helped us to remember Jekyll to this day. Her well-crafted gardens have been restored at Munstead Wood [be sure to click this link to see the garden].   “The best purpose of a garden,” wrote Jekyll, “is to give delight and to give refreshment of mind, to soothe, to refine, and to life up the heart in a spirit of praise and thankfulness.” Jekyll’s concept of the ‘perennial border‘ is a joy to behold and set the standard for all time, whether or not you recognize her hand at work.                                                                                                                         For Gertrude Jekyll’s love of all things grown in gardens, our meals are heavy on the herbs and plants.  Herbs flavor the eggs at breakfast and the dinner contains 5 vegetables [!] plus the pepper sauce. Be sure to plant herbs, even on a window sill, and to include herbs in your foods for flavor.  I plant rosemary all over the garden, so pleasant is it to know that at every few steps one may draw the kindly branchlets through one’s hand, and have the enjoyment of their incomparable incense; and I grow it against walls, so that the sun may draw out its inexhaustible sweetness to greet me as I pass, said G. J.

Ricotta-Herb ScrOmelette: 294 calories  7.8 g fat  2.6 g fiber  17.6 g protein  35 g carbs  234.5 mg Calcium  PB GF  Easily prepared with ingredients on hand.Ricotta-Herb Scromlette w: applesauce

1 ½ two-oz eggs HINT: If you are serving one person, crack three 2-oz eggs into a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Whip up those eggs and pour half of their volume into a jar with a lid and put it in the ‘fridge for next week.                                                                               1 Tbsp low-fat ricotta cheese, drained in a sieve overnight                                                                        1 ½ Tbsp fresh herbs – any ones you have – chopped                                                                                  salt & pepper                                                                                                                                                            1.5 oz applesauce                                                                                                                                               blackish coffee or blackish tea or lemon in hot water                                                                                      5-6 oz green smoothie or fruit smoothie or unpasturized apple cider

Whisk the cheese and herbs into the eggs and scramble or cook as a folded omelette. Enjoy with the hot beverage, smoothie, and applesauce.

Fish Kabobs:  236 calories  8 g fat  4.3 g fiber  27 g protein  22 g carbs [all Complex]  77 mg Calcium  PB GF  Any firm fish will work for this simple meal. The Fresh Polenta is from Jacques Pepin and it is a keeper.Fish Kabobs w: fresh Polenta

3.6 g firm fish [swordfish, tuna, halibut], cut in 1-2” cubes                                                                             1 oz eggplant cut in 1” chunks, skin left on                                                                                                       1 oz cherry tomatoes                                                                                                                                               3/4 oz red or yellow bell pepper, cut in 1” squares                                                                                        2 tsp Pimenta do Queilo or other red pepper sauce                                                                                     ½ cup fresh polenta***                                                                                                                                                ½ cup side salad

Combine the pepper sauce with 2 tsp water in a small, microwave-safe bowl. Toss the eggplant and bell pepper in the pepper sauce and microwave for 30 seconds. Remove the bell peppers and microwave the eggplant 45 seconds longer. Cool the vegetables and save the marinade. Prepare the polenta.*** Assemble the kabobs on skewers and brush with remaining marinade. Sprinkle with a little dalt and pepper. Broil 4 minutes, then turn the kabobs, brush with marinade, and broil for 4 minutes more. Prepare the side salad and plate to applause.                                                                                                                                                 

***Fresh Polenta: 1 serving = 1/3 cup = 80 calories                                                                                                    1.25 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen                       1 tsp unsalted butter                                       freshly-ground pepper + salt                                                                                                                          Puree the corn in a blender until smooth                                                                                                       [it won’t be like whipped cream, but you shouldn’t see whole kernels].                                             Put butter in a warm pan, then add the corn, pepper and salt.                                                            Cook about 30 seconds or until it becomes thicker.

Ingredients for next week:

Breakfast, single portion

1 two-oz egg    + crab meat 1 two-oz egg
soy sauce  +  ginger  + scallions Mediterranean Vegetables [see Sidekicks II, posted 4 october, 2017]
semolina flour   + sprouts chèvre [goat] cheese
garlic powder   +   clementine herbes de Province   +  melon
Whatever you need for your smoothie Whatever you need for your smoothie
Whatever you need for your hot beverage Whatever you need for your hot beverage

Dinner, single portion:

Chicken breast   +  chicken stock 2# beef chuck/shoulder
2 momos [25-Feb-’18]  + satay sauce beef stock  + onions
2 wontons [18-Feb-’18] + peanut butter  sweet paprika + tomato paste
1 oz Chinese BBQ Pork  + tomato green beans + egg noodles [optional]
Sparkling water Sparkling water

Traveling While Fasting

~ me ~ Leave a comment

How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow. On Thursday, eat the meals that will be posted on Wednesday.  Eat sensibly the other days of the week.  That’s it.  Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

Can’t tell you how often people say, “Well I’m off on holiday and of course that means I won’t be Fasting, since that would be impossible.”  And I think, “Why would you say that?”  Having been at this for 5 years, perhaps it is easier for me to see the possibilities on a menu and do a mental calculation of calories.  But even without that, if one sticks to lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables at meals on Fast Days, then one might even allow the odd glass of wine! Other days, enjoy whatever local fare is offered. The bottom line is this: Fasting on vacation does not mean ruining your trip or spoiling the fun. Rather, it gives you a framework which enables you to partake of local foods sensibly without the groans of disappointment when you read the scales upon your return.

Breakfast the Hotel: Most hotels serve a Breakfast Buffet,   Fasting breakfast in Rome                                                                     often of grandiose proportions. If you view it                                                                                 with a Faster’s eye, you will spot some                                                                                                offerings which exactly fill the bill.   On Slow Days, one can sample more freely from the other tempting treats.                                                                                  Breakfasting from the buffet in Rome looked like this: It was the perfect prelude to a day at the Colosseum and the Church of San Clemente, with its 5 levels of historic interest.

 

 

Dinner at the Restaurant:  If your     Fasting dinner in the Azores                                                                         accommodations are not of the self-                                                                                            catering type, you will find yourself                                                                                             dining in a restaurant on a Fast Day.                                                                                            Seafood to the rescue!  At Botequim Açoriano in Rabo de Peixe, Sao Miguel, Azores,                                                                                                                                                                                               grilled fish with a side salad was a great meal. Enough for two, it just what we needed.

Acores I

~ me ~ Leave a comment

How this Fast Diet Lifestyle works: Eat these meals tomorrow. On Monday, eat the meals that will be posted on Sunday.  Eat sensibly the other days of the week.  That’s it.  Simple way to lose weight and be healthier.

The first time I ever heard about the Azores [‘Açores’ in Portuguese] was in a poem by Joaquin Miller which praised the glories of Christopher Columbus and begins, “Behind him lay the gray Azores…”  Miller was a good-enough poet, but he was wrong about several things: Columbus was no saint; Columbus would never have heard of the Azores, since they had not yet been discovered; and the Azores are definitely NOT ‘grey.’  We visited the island of Sao Miguel in early May and found a riot of flowers covering steep, verdant volcanic mountains, herds of placid cows, and fruits of all sorts, surrounded by a thundering ocean.  It was marvelous, which means ‘a thing of marvels.’  When we travel, we like a self-catering accommodation, so we can have some say about what we eat and so we can cook with local foods. We did a lot of touring, some hiking, and enjoyed some very satisfactory dinners.  Portions were large, so there were leftovers and we enjoyed them too. The cheeses, the native wines, and specialties like ‘chorizo paste‘ and Pimenta da Queijo were great.  Want to go to a beautiful location that is off the beaten track?  The Açores are for you!

Azorean Omelette:  250 calories   10.7 g fat   0.9 g fiber   17 g protein   13.5 g carbs [6 g Complex] 276 mg Calcium PB GF  When on vacation in the Azores, these local ingredients made for a wonderful breakfast.Azorean Cheese ScrOmelette

1-1/2 two-oz eggs  HINT: If you are serving one person, crack three 2-oz eggs into a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Whip up those eggs and pour half of their volume into a jar with a lid and put it in the ‘fridge for next week.                                                                                    1/2 oz Azorean cheese OR Gouda                                                                                                                       1/2 oz Pimenta da Queijo                                                                               2 oz kiwi fruit                                                                                                                                                     blackish coffee [Portugese or Brazilian] or blackish tea [from the Gorreana Tea Plantation] or lemon in hot water

Grate/shred the cheese. Whisk the eggs with the pepper sauce and turn into a lightly-oiled nonstick pan. Sprinkle the eggs with the cheese and cook as you would an omelette. Plate with the fruit and serve one of those delicious beverages. Excellent.

Cozido Soup: Cozido do Furnas is a specialty of the Azores island of Sao Miguel. Some of the dormant volcanoes still have warm magma and send steam out through vents and fissures. Locals lower cauldrons of meats and vegetables into steaming wells, then serve the cooked meal at restaurants. The serving for two at O Miroma in Furnas consists of vast quantities of: beef, pork knuckles, blood sausage, carrots, potatoes, collards, cabbage, and turnips. Like a New England Boiled Dinner, but cooked in a volcano! We took the remainders from our meal home.Cozido Soup

The next day, I put the bones, sausage, and juices in a pot with water and Piment da Queijo. While that simmered, I cut up the vegetables and meat into bite-sized pieces [discarding the blood sausage to which I have an aversion]. Combined, it provided a hearty, nourishing, and low-calorie soup for a Fast Day.

Ingredients for next week: breakfast, single portion

1 two-oz egg 1.5 two-oz eggs
 queso fresco  mushrooms
 chorico paste  bleu cheese
 pineapple  leeks
Whatever you need for your smoothie Whatever you need for your hot beverage
Whatever you need for your hot beverage Whatever you need for your smoothie

Dinner, single portion:

 cod  cooked pork tenderloin
 carrots  lettuce   +   tomatoes
 broccoli  fresh cranberries
 cauliflower  zucchini  + red bell peppers
 green + black olivesÇ  balsamic vinegar + olive oil
 excellent mustard
Sparkling water Sparkling water