What I miss eating the most?

Since embarking on this restrictive diet for over a year now, I can't say my restricted food journey has been easy.  Any diet for that matter is never easy as we have to consistently adhere to what we can eat and what we can't eat is the very thing we miss eating the most...and I'm no exception.

There were days when I just wanted to give up and go back to the way I used to eat.  That's why I've a lot of respect for my blogger friend, PhongHong (PH), who is so diligent in following her carnivore diet...and her diet is even more extreme than mine (which includes giving up carbs and vegetables).  So, the only way is to let myself have some days off with a cheat meal...and I can't say I'm not tempted to have more cheat meals than I should.

When it comes to eating a carb-less diet, there are a lot of things I had to give up but can't do it 100% because of my Malaysian/Chinese way of eating.  I still eat noodles (for breakfast) and rice (for lunch and dinner) but make changes to the portion size and type of rice/noodles I eat.  I cook my own basmati rice (and control the portion).

There are just too many things on the 'should-not-eat' list in our carb-centric Chinese way of eating that it's just not possible to avoid it 100%.  And the very things I need to avoid are also the very ones I miss eating the most (like the following)...haiz.

#1 - Sauces

Avoiding sugary drinks and desserts is easy to comply...avoiding sauces is by far the most difficult to do. Sauces like sweet & sour, assam, salted egg, marmite, tomato, teem cheong (sweet sauce) need sugar to balance out its flavours...and these sauces are the foundation of many of our Chinese dishes.

The only alternative left for me is to opt for a more savoury sauce like black pepper, soy, oyster sauce or the occasional curry (though these would still have a small element of sugar but at least not as much as the other more sweet-based sauces).  Eating mostly steamed or braised food in soy and oyster sauce can get really monotonous.

#2 - Condiments

I'm sure you would think of condiments being so insignificant to even bother with.  Well, I was so strict in my first 6 months of restrictive eating that I would even avoid condiments like chilli sauce (those served with chicken rice or from a bottle) and anything pickled for the very reason that I know a lot of sugar goes into the pickling process to counter the sourish vinegar.  I absolutely adore pickled green chillies (with noodles), vinegared ginger (at Japanese eateries) and vinagered daikon (at Korean restaurants).  In the end, I found it very difficult to give up and I've since introduced it back to my diet...in small amounts.  The key is to exercise control over the amount you eat or dip.

#3 - Glutinous Rice

We all know glutinous rice is a high GI food, so it's best to avoid any glutinous rice-based food such as glutinous rice dumpling (chung), steamed glutinous rice (lo mai kai), Chinese sticky rice (lo mai fan) and Thai dessert of sticky rice mango, just to name a few common ones.  I've not had a chung the past year but have had a few lo mai kai since embarking on my restrictive diet which has been extremely difficult since I love to eat anything glutinous rice.

Sweet desserts/pastries like glutinous rice cake (nian gao), sesame balls, onde-onde, snow skin mooncakes, mochi, tong yuan (glutinous rice balls), etc. are all made with glutinous rice flour.  Luckily, I can deal with the temptation of these since I don't have that much of a sweet tooth but do adore onde-onde and mochi.

#4 - Rice Wine

Rice wine dishes is probably one that people would not think to omit but know that sweet rice wine (teem chow) is also made from glutinous rice.  So, dishes like rice wine chicken on its own or with noodles should be avoided too (incidentally, I also love rice wine dishes).

Even though la la noodles or fish head noodles have rice wine too in its soup, I guess that should be alright since only a very small amount (like a spoonful) is drizzled over the noodles.

#5 - Nasi Lemak

Nasi Lemak is a staple breakfast for many Malaysians...and I'm one of them who used to eat nasi lemak on a regular basis.  Those fancy ones with chicken, beef rendang, sotong or kerang are the ones that will make us overload on the rice, so I reserve this for when I've a cheat meal.

These days I try to go for a more simple, basic nasi lemak kosong (sometimes with a fried egg) when I feel I need to eat nasi lemak for better portion control.

#6 - Char Siew & Char Siew Bao

Char siew rice/noodles is my favourite when I go to a roasted meat stall.  But we are all well aware that char siew contains the most sugar which is used in its marination in order to achieve that desired caramelisation that everyone is looking for.  So I end up having to choose either siu yuk or chicken.

In the same context, I should be avoiding char siew bao also but this is easier said than done as I absolutely love it for breakfast. >.<

#7 - Burgers & Fries

When I say burgers, I don't mean the western-type burgers which come with its default cheese as those who know me know that I dislike cheese...but I crave our local burgers (from roadside burger stands).  Although these burger stalls also give you an option for cheese, you can choose to omit it since they come with sauces (like mayo, chilli & black pepper) unlike western burgers that need cheese as they're usually without any sauce.

When you have a burger, you'll need its sidekick of fries!  And burgers and fries make a killer combo...both in terms of a good pairing (of food) and as a double whammy of elevating your carb intake to greater heights! :O

#8 - Satay

First of all, the marination of the satay (with sugar involved) is needed to give it that nice char when grilled over charcoal.  Then, you have the satay or peanut sauce which can be slightly spicy but it's predominantly more sweet which is vitally important in a satay sauce (some even use peanut butter to give it that nutty flavour).

I'm happy to report that I've eaten it only twice since I started on my restrictive diet, so avoiding satay has been one of my greater successes...lol!  During the last Ramadan bazaar, I was very well behaved and didn't have any.

#9 - Rojak & Cendol

Similarly, rojak (I'm referring to Malay/Indian rojak and not the rojak buah/fruit rojak) is a no-no by virtue of the rojak sauce (which is fairly similar to a satay sauce) even if you have some good stuff in it like vegetables and egg.

#10 - Roti Canai

Roti canai is both carbs and grease all rolled into one...and should be avoided even if you're not on a specific diet as it's so unhealthy.  I eat it only sparingly even before I was on this diet and have only eaten it only twice (maybe 3 times) in the past year, believe it or not (a pat on the back for myself)! :D

#11 - Porridge

I actually love porridge and avoided it like the plague during the first 6 months of my special diet thinking it was high in carbs seeing the milky outcome of starch it releases when boiled.  But my sugar readings (taken after a meal of porridge) tell me otherwise.  Perhaps, it's the small quantity of rice needed to make a bowl of porridge, so I've now re-introduced porridge back into my diet.

#12 - Cakes, Bread & Pastries

I don't miss cakes all that much (since I hardly ate them even before my new way of eating) but bread and pastries is a whole different story.  Those take a humongous effort to not eat.  I love, love, love bread and some pastries (like kaya puffs, egg tarts, onde onde, mochi and curry puffs especially)...and the highly forbidden doughnut (which I've not had for years, even well before my restricted way of eating).

Someone once said there are good carbs and bad carbs...and sourdough is a good carb.  To me bread is bread and still a carb...lol!  But I shall heed her advice and eat more bread, sourdough specifically...wuahahahaha! So, I now eat bread more regularly, at least once a week...and I feel much happier, of course! ;)

#13 - Sweet Desserts

Sweet desserts is something all of us must strive to eat less of irrespective of whether we have a blood sugar problem or not as we all need to keep our sugar levels in check.  I don't have that much of a sweet tooth as some but still crave for a sugary treat (especially those that come in santan) every now and then...I'm human after all!

For me, my favourite sugary treat comes in the form of a tong sui (bubur cha cha is my no. 1) or cendol, a sweet pastry (like a kaya puff or bun) or a plated dessert (when I'm out).  Glad to say I've had bubur cha cha only once and had my first plated dessert (shared with friends) only recently...but have had a few kaya buns since...oops! >.<

#14 - Fruits & Fruit Juices

I've given up eating almost all fruits (although that is not on the advice of my doctor who recommends hard fruits) coz the very ones I like (soft fruits) are the very ones I shouldn't eat since they're high GL foods.  I did say I wanted to introduce some fruits back into my diet...and I have with guava, rose apple and mandarins but haven't eaten other fruits (like mangoes, grapes, papaya, pineapple & bananas) in more than a year...haiz.  I don't miss eating fruits as much as I thought I would (maybe it's because I'm too lazy to cut fruits).

I actually miss drinking fruit juices more!  If I'm not having a glass of coffee, I would want a glass of fruit juice...my favourite being ambra (kedondong) & sour plum or watermelon juice.  I've only had it twice since! :'(

#14 - Snacks

Life without any snacks is kinda boring....lol...don't you agree?  I will still have my occasional snack but have to be selective in what I can and should eat.  These days my snacks are more savoury in nature and restricted to mainly nuts, crackers, seaweed and sunflower seeds (with the occasional vegetable biscuit which I keep with me for times of experiencing low sugar).  Of course, a snack is still a snack and will contain trace amounts of carbs and sugar depending on the snacks we choose.

#15 - Coffee  

Last but not least, refraining from coffee was a monumental uphill task, one that was extremely difficult for me (even PH could not give up her coffee) coz we are such coffee lovers.  I failed...I was experiencing coffee withdrawal symptoms...lol!

These days I'm drinking coffee a bit more regularly (either kosong or less sweet and/or with milk)...at least a good cup/glass 1 - 2 times a week (a far cry from 2 cups a day) and I find myself in a much happier mood! ;) For days when I'm making my own instant coffee at home, I'd drink half a cup and leave the other half for the next meal or next day.

It's extremely difficult to keep up with a restrictive diet when the very things I can't eat are the very things I love to eat.  That's why I admire PH so much for sticking to a diet that restricts her to only meat (then again, it's probably easier if you happen to love meat).  If I were to go on a carnivore diet, I would fail miserably as I can't handle an 'all meat' diet at every meal.

If it was as simple as giving up sugary stuff (as in sweet desserts), that's easier to comply (I've been doing this for the most part for years already)...but to have to give up carbs is far more difficult to do since they exist in every food item + carbs also form such a major part of our diet.

Being on a restrictive diet is no walk in the park, I tell you...and (after over a year) I'm beginning to feel the effects of a restrictive diet.  The food that I should eat is so restricted that it has become utterly unexciting (there were times when I fell asleep through a meal...that shows just how boring the meal was).  At times, I even felt depressed for not being able to eat certain so many things.  

In the end, we need to be happy living our one life...and if that means we shouldn't be overly restrictive with our food, so be it.  But of course we need to exercise portion control and how regularly we eat certain food items that we're trying to cut.  Even PH has reintroduced carbs (good carbs as she puts it) and vegetables back into her diet (with her official, cheat and unintentional carb days...but now there are only good carb days).  So I shall take this as a cue (lol) to do the same!  Going forward, that's what I'll do...I won't be so strict with my diet (just to bring that little bit of sunshine back into my life) but will still be cautious of what I choose to eat (steamed, stir/pan/deep-fried, baked or dishes with no/right type of sauce are now my best friends)! ^_~