Week 1 - Day 2 PP, ATTACK Diet

Now for the second of three ATTACK days.

Weigh in first, there is the first sign of weight loss, 1 kilo gone. I woke up at 3am a bit hungry so had a few spoons of vanilla forme yoghurt and was able to go back to sleep.

Measure out 1.25 litres of water to drink in the morning, and 1.25 l for the afternoon.
Take vitamin capsule.
Black coffee no sugar.

When feeling next hungry - 9am
3 oatbran muffins
White coffee with Natvia

When next hungry 10.30 am
3 meatballs
Pot of chamomile tea sweetened with Natvia

Lunch time meeting, so 12 noon
Chicken noodle soup.

Finish first bottle of water by noon.

When next hungry have lunch 2 pm
2 teaspoons Apple cider in water
Smoked salmon rolls
Pot herbal tea sweetened with natvia.

When next hungry 2.30 pm
Jelly and vanilla forme yoghurt.
Oatbran muffins

When next hungry 4.30 pm
150ml tub forme yoghurt

Dinner 6.30 pm
Chicken breast, seasoned and grilled.

Supper 8pm
Baked custard

9pm
150 ml forme vanilla yoghurt.
Apple cider vinegar - 2 teaspoons in water
Chicken breast fillet

Exercise
30 min stationary bike

Supper
Baked custard
http://dukaninadelaide.blogspot.com/search?q=Baked+custard

Cooking for tomorrow
Nil

Day 7, PP day CRUISE diet

This will be my last example diet day as my systems for Dukaning are up and running now. There is considerable organisation and food preparation to be successful on this diet. To finish this week, I have a PP day on the CRUISE diet.

Measure out 1.25 litres of water to drink in the morning, and 1.25 l for the afternoon.
Take vitamin capsule.
Black coffee no sugar.

Breakfast 8.30am
200 ml of forme yoghurt

When next hungry 10am
3 oatbran muffins
White coffee with natvia

11 am black coffee

Finish first bottle of water by noon.

When next hungry have lunch 1.15 pm
Hot smoked salmon and Dukan mayonaise

When next hungry 4.30 pm
meatballs
2 cups herbal tea with Natvia

5.30 pm
meatballs
Black tea with Natvia

Finish second 1.25 L bottle of water by 6pm

7.30 Dinner
Altamtic salmon fillet with Dukan mayo

9.00
Yoghurt 200ml

7.30 dinner
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Dry fried Atlantic Salmon (seasoned with lemon pepper) and served with Dukan mayo.

Supper Yoghurt
4 sugar free marshmallows

Slim tea.

Note that this was Easter Sunday. I did not have any chocolate, nor did I crave any either. I admit, I did avoid being near any hot cross buns as their smell is normally too tempting.

In general, I feel well, energised and balanced. It is a diet that suits me and my chemistry well. By the end of 7 days, I had dropped 3.5 kilos, feel more myself and am already over a third of the way there. I am quite comfortable that I can continue the cruising process for another 6-8 weeks to lose the weight.

Week 1 - Day 3, PP day, ATTACK Diet

Now for the last of three ATTACK days.

Weigh in first, there is another sign of weight loss, down another 1.5 kg. so that is 2.5 kg gone, or 25% of the 10kgs I wanted to loose. I know that only some of this is fat, most is fluid and the changing over of my intestinal biotica, from that which supported the high fibre of the CSIRO wellness diet (which does not work for me) to the high protein of the ATTACK stage. Need to keep drinking water to help the transition.

Measure out 1.25 litres of water to drink in the morning, and 1.25 l for the afternoon.
Take vitamin capsule.
Black coffee no sugar.

When feeling next hungry - 9.30 am
Apple cider vinegar - 2 teaspoons (dilute in water)
1 serve if Chicken noodle soup with slendier slim noodles.

When next hungry 10.30 am
2 oatbran muffins
Instant coffee with no fat milk and Natvia

Finish first bottle of water by noon.

When next hungry have lunch 12.30 pm
2 teaspoons Apple cider in water
Chicken thighs
Pot herbal tea sweetened with natvia.

When next hungry 2.30 pm
Jelly and vanilla forme yoghurt.

When next hungry 4.30 pm
150 ml Yoghurt

Dinner 6.30 pm
Apple cider vinegar - 2 teaspoons in water
Roast beef

Exercise, 30 minute stationary cycle, upper body exercises.

Supper
Baked custard
http://dukaninadelaide.blogspot.com/search?q=Baked+custard

Cooking for tomorrow
More meatballs

Week 1 - Day 1 PP day, ATTACK diet

Okay, time to start.

Dukan dieting involves organisation and a good deal of cooking. So I am going to itemise my actual food consumption on the first week of the diet for my future reference.

Day 1 of three ATTACK days

Weigh in first, mmmm yes I thought so ... I would like to drop 10 kilos. Now that my hypothalamus is working again, I should be able to do that in 2-3 months.

Measure out 1.25 litres of water to drink in the morning, and 1.25 l for the afternoon.
Take vitamin capsule.
Black coffee no sugar.
Brisk walk 15 minutes x2.

When feeling next hungry - 9.30 am
Apple cider vinegar - 2 teaspoons (dilute in water)
1 serve if Chicken noodle soup with slendier slim noodles (500g chicken mince, 1 packet noodles, 2 Massell's salt reduced chicken stock cubes, mixed herbs, salt and pepper to taste. Add in natural low fat yoghurt; 3-4 serves).

When next hungry 10.30 am
2 oatbran muffins
Instant coffee with no fat milk and Natvia

Finish first bottle of water by noon.

When next hungry have lunch 12.30 pm
2 teaspoons Apple cider in water
Tuna in yoghurt and salt and pepper, made 3 serves from a 400g tin of Sirena tuna.
Pot herbal tea sweetened with natvia.

When next hungry 2.30 pm
Jelly and vanilla forme yoghurt.

When next hungry 4.30 pm
Mini meatballs - made up 20 meatballs from 500g beef, half with added curry powder, half with added moroccan seasoning. My family will snack on the left overs, so I will save some for tomorrow.

Dinner 6.30 pm
Apple cider vinegar - 2 teaspoons in water
Poached 200g Atlantic Salmon, serve with yoghurt

Supper
Baked custard
http://dukaninadelaide.blogspot.com/search?q=Baked+custard

Cooking for tomorrow
Need to make chicken noodle soup for the next few days.

Shopping list for starting Dukan

Time for another Dukan intervention.

I think a 3 day Attack, and then cruise back down to a better weight for me. If I start on Monday, I can use the weekend to get organised.

Let's look at a proposed menu and a shopping list for the week ahead (3 Attack, 4 cruise = 5 Pure protein days (PP days) and 2 days where I can add in allowable (green) vegetables (PV days). These are Thursday and Saturday.

My first decision is how to have my oatbran. I prefer to have mine as a muffin as I can pre-make it. So during Attack, I will have only 2 muffins a day, then move up to 3 a day while cruising, and then 4 when stabilising.

Here is the recipe.
http://dukaninadelaide.blogspot.com.au/search?q=Muffin
I will need to make 2 dozen for the week ahead, and then freeze them.

Next is the litre of non-fat dairy per day.
I will use some in my coffee, and there is some already in the muffins.
I will make some extra jelly to go with Forme vanilla yoghurt.
http://dukaninadelaide.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/jelly.html
as that always fills me up.

On the 2 PV days I will have some rhubarb with my yoghurt (a few sticks, washed, trimmed and chopped, splinkled with natvia to taste and then in the microwave for 2 minutes). Then add Forme vanilla yoghurt.

Lunch
I will also have 2 days where I have the salmon cheese roll for lunch.
http://dukaninadelaide.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/salmon-roll.html

and 2 days with canned tuna would be good
http://dukaninadelaide.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/canned-tuna.html

and three coldest days I will have chicken noodle soup
http://dukaninadelaide.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/chicken-soup.html

Dinner
2 nights I will have poached salmon for tea
2 nights beef (roast/steak)
3 nights chicken (thigh/breast)
For the PV days I will have some broccoli, mushrooms, green beans and cauliflower
I am keen to try this eggplant and garlic recipe
http://www.dukandiet.com/weight-loss-secrets/eggplant-recipe
and I note that more coloured vegetables are now on the list like carrot, capsicum, tomato and pumpkin http://www.dukandiet.com/low-carb-diet/food-list
which will make things much easier

I will try to start each main meal with some apple cider vinegar
http://www.dukandiet.com/weight-loss-secrets/apple-cider-vinegar-for-weight-loss

Supper is baked custard, using up my egg quota
http://dukaninadelaide.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/baked-egg-custard.html

Snack foods
for PP days, mini meatballs, chicken thighs, prawns
for PV days, celery, cucumber, carrots, cherry tomatoes.

I feel full just writing it all down.

So my shopping list (or at least what I will need to check I have):
4 litres Forme vanilla yoghurt
6 flavours of Aeroplane jelly lite
200g Oatbran
baking powder
1 dozen eggs
egg whites
Rhubarb
natvia
4 pack UHT skim milk
8 packs of Slendier Spaghetti
2x100g smoked salmon
1 tub Philadelphia extra light cream cheese
Sirena tuna in springwater
tub of plain natural non-fat yoghurt
500g chicken mince
2 fillets of Atlantic salmon
1 roast beef
1 beef fillet steak
2x500g 5 star beef mince
2 x Lilydale chicken breast
4 x 600g Lilydale chicken thighs
Moroccan seasoning
dried onion flakes
celery
cucumber
broccholi
cauliflower
mushrooms
coriander
garlic paste
eggplant
garlic bulb
pepsi max
listerine breath strips
multivitamins
apple cider vinegar
balsamic vinegar
massel salt reduced chicken stock cubes

Wish me luck!

Extend your eggs

As I am an  afternoon oatbran muffin eater, I like to have eggs for breakfast rather than a galette. But an egg or 2 on its own is not really enough. Here are 2 "extenders" that I like to use in my scrambled eggs for breakfast.

Puregg Simply egg whites - I will put a layer of this in the pan first before my eggs; and Philadelphia extra light; I use about 100-150g, scoop out as smaller pieces. It takes a little mixing in the pan as you cook, but helps make the eggs smooth and tasty. 

Lasagne

Slendier Slim have released a lasagne version that I have been playing with. The product has some similarities to pasta, but is made of a vegetable called konjac and is okay to consume on PV and PP days.

The mince meat (lean beef or chicken/turkey) is seasoned (stock cube, chilli garlic etc) and cooked on a stove top until brown. Add a jar of low fat pasta sauce (Braille Arrbirrata) or a little water and 200g Philadelphia extra light cream cheese for a PP day. Set aside.

The cheese sauce is a 400 g packet of Philadelphia extra light (microwave 30 sec to be soft), mixed with about 200g plain no fat yogurt until smooth. Then stir in 2 egg whites). 

Start layering, meat, cheese, pasta, meat, cheese, pasta, meat, cheese, pasta, then cheese on top. Sprinkle with paprika. You can also sprinkle  a tiny bit of strong Parmesan cheese.

Bake 35-45 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.  

Pretty good. The PV day lasagne with chicken mince is pictured here.

Fruity Dukan Cookies

Okay, fruity cookies may be a stretch, but they are fruit flavoured and they are small as a cookie...but probably closer to a short muffin.

This is an original recipe, but as far as I can see, it complies with the Dukan principles.All Dukanites need oatbran each and every day of every stage of the Dukan diet. This is how I have been having mine.

I make four dozen of these at a time (limit of my kitchen) and freeze them in four packs for enjoying with either a morning or afternoon tea. If you were attacking, the packs would only have 3 cookies.


First I preheat the oven and arrange the trays to cook as many batches at once as possible.

Then get the muffin trays out. To avoid sticking, I use spray oil, and then wipe with kitchen paper, so there is nothing visible left. This feels more like 'cleaning' the tray, rather than 'greasing' the tray.
Here are the ingredients:



For one batch I mix with a spoon
250g yoplait forme vanilla yoghurt
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
100g oatbran
1 sachet of Aeroplane light jelly crystals (provides sweetening and flavour). I like to mix it up, but try port wine, strawberry, lime, vanilla berry, mango & passionfruit ....
Once mixed, transfer, a desert spoon at a time, evenly between the cups on a 12 cup muffin tray. I then set the batch aside and then start mixing another batch in the bowl (with out washing). I have an idea that the longer these sit, the better, as the oatbran swells and takes on more of the flavour.
Here they are ready to go in the oven - mango and passion fruit, strawberry, lime and port wine flavours.




I then bake all trays at 180-200 C for 22 minutes. They spring back when touched and have a light brown appearing on some of them. I often let them cool in the trays (as I am off doing other things) and then, when cold, gently run a dinner knife around the edge to loosen before packing for storage.

Here they are ready to put into the freezer.




They freeze and defrost well, and a minute zap in the microwave will bring them from frozen to ready to eat.

Enjoy!


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Salmon omelette Dukan style

The new year brings renewed efforts, and I have been asked to refresh the blog for the latest Dukanites.

I did try a Dukan omelette this morning.





First, I whisked 2 eggs (yolk limit for a day) with 2 egg whites and a splash of skim milk with a fork for about 15 seconds. Then I poured it into a warmed nonstick frypan on medium heat. I use my fork to move the mix around and let the unset mix fill the gaps. When about 50% set I added some Huon smoked salmon and a few teaspoons of Philadelphia extra light to the top of one half of the omelette and ground some black pepper. When about 95% set it was time to fold in half and transfer to a plate.

Quite delicious!

Product review: Queen Maple Flavoured syrup

I thought I would try a new product with my Dukan pancakes. It is Queen Maple Flavoured Syrup. It is an Australian made product that I was able to buy from Coles.


It is sugar free (sweetened with Sorbitol and Sucralose), but has some carbs (5g/35 g serve) and does provide 77kJ of energy which you will need to work off some how. It certainly looked and smelt similar to Maple syrup and with my pancakes and yoghurt it made a nice change for a weekend treat.

Orange yoghurt cake

Page 149 of Recipe book

In a mixing bowl I placed 3 eggs, 150g Forme Vanilla yoghurt, 1 cap orange essence, 1 sachet
(8g) dried yeast, 4 sachets native and 4 tablespoons white wings cornflour.













I mixed with my hand electric beater for about a minute then poured into a loaf tin that had been lightly sprayed with oil.


After 45 min at 180c it looked like this: about a 50% increase in volume and browned all over.











I allowed it to cool and then sliced it in half







I then mixed 1/2 tub Philadelphia 1/2 cap orange essence, 2 teaspoons Forme vanilla yogurt and 2 sachets natvia and used this to fill the cake.The cake was a nice change, but I hadn't let it cool enough before filling.

Small pancakes

Oatbran pancakes are delicious but fiddly. The recipe is simple (see below), but they tend to fall apart when you try to flip them. You can push them together and they do re-fuse, but it is a disappointmnet in the morning that is avoidable.

Solution- try dividing the mix into 3, making the flipping manageable. Also remember to keep the heat to medium so the oatbran has time to cook and set, helping it hold together.




Then serve with yoghurt- yum!





Quark recipe
150 g BD farm Paris creek German style Quark (no fat), which is a third of the 450g tub
1 egg
Oatbran (1 1/2 for attack, 2 tablespoons for cruise)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons natvia



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Lemon chilli prawns

I found some special sprinkle for seafood, but it was full of sugar, so here is my take on the sprinkle's ingredient list, reinvented for Dukan and my herb garden!

A sprig of lemon verbena (~15 leaves; this was originally lemon myrtle)
a handful of coriander leaves,
three sprigs of parsley

Chopped together

Then mix with:
4 sachets of natvia
a teaspoon of dried chilli,
a 1/2 teaspoon of crushed garlic,
a teaspoon of horseradish
a sprinkle of lite salt
a teaspoon of maize cornflour
The juice of one lemon

Allow this to steep with defrosting cooked prawns before plating up for serving.




A nicely zesty combination!

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Cooking meat while at work

Okay, this is a tip for all those who are trying PP days while at work. It also assumes that you have access to a sandwich press at work.

I think we all agree that freshly cooked meat tastes the best, and reheated offerings are often disappointing. Well these last few weeks I have been exploring the use of the sandwich press as a device to freshly cook meat in my work's kitchen.

The meat I have been cooking is lean chicken thighs. This is the way it works....

At home, I prepare the thigh meat. If the thigh is not well trimmed of fat, take the time to trim (so that you don't have to wear the fat yourself). While you have a knife there, try to make the thigh even in thickness, adding a few extra slits in the thick sections to fully open out the thigh.










Lay an individual thigh out on Glad bake (or alfoil).

Season the meat lightly with Masterfoods Morrocan seasoning (I tried another variety recently and it was not even close in flavour).









Wrap it up - I tend to use the 'fish and chipper' wrapping technique where you start at one corner, fold in the edges and then roll. Imagine the size of your work's sandwich press and try to get a parcel of that size.

I then put the parcel in a plastic luchbox or baggy for the trip to work. Chicken left at room temperature, particularly after it has been handled, can be a microbial mine field, so keep the chicken cool during the trip and at work and cook it that day.










To cook the parcel, first warm up the press and put on any exhaust fans. Place the parcel in the press and put on a timer for 5 minutes (I use a timer on my iPad) but if the parcel is thick, I go up to 7 minutes.

When the timer goes off, turn off the press and transfer the parcel to a plate. You can leave the meat for a few minutes at this stage or eat straight away. Check that the sandwich press is still clean.

The meat will be swimming in its juices when cooked and although this juice is tasty, this will be high in fat, so keep consumption of these juices to a minimum. I tend to eat the meat while still on the paper and in its juice and then wrap the whole lot up when I am finished and pop the excess in the bin.









A cooked lunch at work in under 10 minutes with very little mess. Very nice.

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Mousse!

Elena had a great mousse recipe that I must share. Very simple. Aeroplane lite jelly crystals are dissolved, cooled and then whisked with low fat vanilla vanilla yoghurt and chilled. I had a mango mousse tonight and it was quite delicious!

Elena makes special layer variety with jelly on the bottom and the mouse on the top. Here are her instructions.

Stage (1) Jelly.
Take 1 pack of the Airplane low calories jelly and follow instructions. It makes 500 ml of jelly. Pour into containers. Add Gogi berries (not for PP days). Make sure jelly sets in 4 hours in the fridge).

Stage (2) Mousse. Dissolve 1 pack of the Airplane low calories jelly powder in 250 ml boiling water. Let it cool down till room temperature. Add 250 ml of no fat low sugar vanilla yogurt and mix with the hand mixer until the mixture is fluffed and ~ 650-700 ml. Add on the top of your jelly.

The containers can be glass – for after dinner treats - or in plastic Glad 175 ml containers – for taking to work.


Ready for dessert...




Or to go on the road!

Fish for one

I need to thank my friend Elena for this idea of how to prepare fish for one in a quick and easy way. The trick here is to use your sandwich press or jaffle maker to quickly cook the fish in lemon.

Use alfoil or Glad bake as your lining. Slice a lemon into about 8 thin slices. Put a thin layer of lemon down, Add a fish fillet of your choice, season, and then put the next layer of lemon on. Wrap carefully and place in the preheated sandwich press.

Cook for 5-7 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish fillet. Then rest in the parcel for the same amount of time. Next unwrap and enjoy a fishy treat for one. This is really worth a try.

Wrapped




and then unwrapped - don't eat the lemon.




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Salmon roll

A lovely lunch for work.



Spread out smoked salmon in a single layer. Then spoon on a line of philadelphia extra light and roll.



Once rolled, I slice into bite size pieces and pop Into a lunchbox with a cool lid.

You can add lemon zest to the cheese too, but I don't often get time.

9/10.

Location:Park Ave,Semaphore South,Australia

Peter's pancakes

Oat bran is the cornerstone of the Dukan diet. There are many ways to have your daily dose but the tricky oat bran galette is a recipe that any serious Dukan dieter needs to master.

Peter likes a thinner oat bran pancake requiring a little modification to the recipe. He also gets up early so I make a weeks worth and store in the fridge. He heats a pancake each morning in a plate for 45 seconds and then serves with yoghurt.

To make a batch, I mixed 6 eggs, 12 heaped dessertspoons of oat bran, 6 teaspoons of cornfour (maize, not wheat), 2 heaped teaspoons cinnamon, 3-4 tablespoons natvia, 300g Paris creek German style quark and up to a litre of Vanilla no-sugar yoghurt (Nestle diet in this batch) to make it a thinner pancake mix. If you leave this for anytime, the oat bran absorbs the fluids and the mix will continue to thicken, so the amount of yoghurt varies depending on the delay between mixing and cooking. The addition of cornflour gives more structure and cohesion to the mix and minimises ripping of the pancake

I have three non-stick frypans going at once on a medium heat on my gas stove. I then spray with oil and wipe with kitchen paper. I then add the mixure spreaing out with a spoon to be about 0.5cm thick.

They usually take about 5 minutes per side. I don't flip until I can shake the frypan and have the pancake shift in the pan, that is it is largely set.

From this I made 8 pancakes, 5 for the fridge to allow Peter to have a daily pancake and three for our breakfast on Sunday morning.

I stored the remaining pancakes in a sealed plastic container for on a sheet of kitchen paper. Sometimes I make more and freeze a box for a later time.

Baked egg custard

I made this recipe often when I was in my Cruising stage last year. It is a tricky one as the proteins in the egg need to be treated gently and allowed to set the milk slowly otherwise they denature and the custard separates. I think I have the variables right now.

First I heat my oven to 150C and place 4 x 300 ml custard bowls in a deep tray and then fill around the dishes with warm tap water.

To make 4 x 1 cup serves of baked Egg custard, I first put 1 litre UHT skim milk into a 2 L pyrex jug and then heat for 4 minutes in the microwave on high. Stirring, I then add 12 sachets of Natvia (yes I am a sweet tooth) and 4 caps of vanilla essence. Then USING ONLY A FORK, I gently mix in 4 eggs only until the yolk was incorporated (too much mixing or too aggressive mixing and your custard will separate).

I then poured the custard into the 4 dishes that are sitting in water in the oven. I then sprinkle with a pinch of nutmeg and bake the custard for 1 hour at 150C. At higher temperatures the custard will again separate.

Here they are. Peter and I like them 6.5/10 as a winter dessert, but Dan will not eat them anymore (perhaps because I had so many separated ones while I was working out the recipe).

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Prawns for lunch

I had some left over raw prawns from a dinner party last night so gently cooked them in my non-stick frypan with a 1/2 teaspoon Massell low salt chicken stock powder and a rounded dessertspoon of Philadelphia extra light cream cheese. Twist of pepper on the top and lunch is ready. You could add garlic, ginger, chilli, coriander, etc, but I chose not to this time.

Quite nice and simple and ready in 5 minutes. 7/10.

Last night I had the prawns skewered and seasoned with a hot Cajun spice (Masterfoods)  then BBQed and served with a dollop of Farmers Union Lite Greek Yoghurt alongside natural oysters, with salt and lemon, as an entrée. That was good 9/10.