Elmari’s Weekly Banting Diet Diary: Week 11
Follow Good Housekeeping’s senior Afrikaans editor, Elmari Potgieter, as she shares her Banting weight-loss diary: the highs, the lows and everything in between
Still going strong
I am blessed to have had another excellent week weight-wise in which I lost 1,4kg, which means I am now 15kg down in total!
I am actually quite surprised, because it was a very difficult week for me. Apart from having a really heavy workload, I had to sort out my visa applications for my overseas trip. (You might remember from my first blog post that I wanted to lose 10kg before going to Ireland. I am leaving on 27 April.) I realise this makes me sound completely ungrateful (in Afrikaans you would say, ‘dis soos om met ’n witbrood onder die arm te kla’), and I honestly do know that I am privileged to be able to go overseas, but it really felt as though I was never going to see the end of it.
Also read: 16 local sweets and snacks South Africans living overseas miss the most
The visa blues
Because I am first going to Paris and Amsterdam, then to Ireland and then to London, I need a UK and a Schengen visa. (Fortunately, I don’t need a visa for Ireland.) I am going to stay with friends in Paris, Amsterdam and London, so I needed formal invitations as well as other documents from them. France in particular makes it very difficult for people from other countries to visit if you don’t have a hotel booking! It was (and still is) nerve-racking. I went for my UK visa-application appointment on Wednesday and have to get that visa first before I can apply for my Schengen visa.
I got home late every night this past week and simply didn’t have the energy to cook. That meant that I relied heavily on the Banting Revolution Nut Loaf that I got from Checkers, and things like tinned tuna, sardines and middle cut, as well as salami, cheese, salad leaves, cucumber and lots of tomatoes. (Have I ever mentioned that I have a bit of a tomato addiction?) On Wednesday evening I broke my no-alcohol-during-the-week promise and had a double whisky.
Because I felt so anxious and stressed, I cancelled concert plans with friends at the last minute (I still feel really bad about it) because I just really needed to do nothing. Absolutely nothing. I basically binge-watched series the entire weekend.
Also read: This is what you should eat when you are stressed
Sometimes you just shouldn’t cook!
I did, however, cook one night of the week, and that was almost a disaster.
Just to show you that my head really was in another place, let me show you the consequences of trying to cook when you really shouldn’t:
Yes, my favourite oven casserole dish broke in half after I took it out of the oven and accidentally put it on a hot stove plate, which I had forgotten to turn off after boiling eggs for the next day’s breakfast! My housemate, Richard, said that from now on I should please warn him whenever I switch on a stove plate so that he can try to stop more mishaps from happening! Fortunately, the bobotie inside the dish was fine. It is a lovely, very tasty recipe that I will definitely make again, and that I can strongly recommend. It’s a recipe by chef and food stylist Nina Timm that I got from the website hometimes.co.za.
Ouma’s bobotie, now with a Banting twist
Makes 6 portions
I left the fennel and almonds out because I didn’t have any, and I replaced the 5ml chilli powder with 1ml cayenne pepper. I used psyllium husks to thicken the meat mixture, and I used six jumbo eggs. It sounds like a lot of eggs, but it makes for a lovely golden topping. I also didn’t have pork mince, so I just used 900g beef mince. The recipe doesn’t mention the baking time, but 45 minutes did the trick. It will be great served with cauliflower rice, and you can even make yellow ‘rice’ with it, but I was too lazy for that.
Ingredients
45ml olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 to 3 cloves garlic, crushed
5cm piece ginger, peeled and grated
2 green apples, grated
20ml curry powder
5ml garam masala
5ml cumin
5ml fennel
5ml turmeric
5ml chilli powder
600g beef mince
300g pork mince
10ml salt
20ml tomato paste
200ml water or stock
30ml Banting Blvd Cinnamon Breakfast Porridge or psyllium husks
6 to 8 eggs
100ml milk
100g almonds
2 to 3 bay leaves
Method
- Heat the olive oil in a pot and sauté the onion, garlic, ginger and apple for about 5 minutes.
- Add the spices and keep stirring to prevent the spices from burning.
- Add the mince and stir it with a fork to loosen the meat.
- Cook for about 15 minutes, then add the tomato paste, water or stock and porridge or psyllium husks and cook until the mixture has thickened.
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Transfer the meat mixture to a casserole dish.
- Whisk the eggs with the milk and pour over the meat. Top with the almonds and bay leaves, and bake until set and golden brown on top.
More ‘cooking’
Over the weekend I also made chia and coconut porridge, which reminds me a little of sago pudding. I have been wanting to try chia seeds and googled some recipes. The porridge is very easy to make and is really satisfying. The nice thing about it is that you just gooi everything together, leave it in the fridge overnight and the next morning it’s ready!
I found this recipe by Jonno Proudfoot of Real Meal Revolution on Checkers’ website. I left the sweetener and almonds out and added 5ml vanilla extract. It tasted lovely with some raspberries. According to Jonno, you could also ‘add some ground ginger for a more aromatic twist. Orange zest and cinnamon as a combo are also a massive win’. The recipe says it makes two portions, but I divided it into four portions and it was more than enough for a filling breakfast. You can keep it in the fridge for three days.
Coconut and cinnamon chia porridge
Makes 2 portions
Ingredients
400g can coconut milk
⅓ cup chia seeds
1 tsp cinnamon
stevia or xylitol, to taste
a handful of berries
a few tbsp double-thick Greek yoghurt
10 whole almonds, roughly chopped
Method
- In a bowl, stir together the coconut milk, chia seeds, cinnamon and a little sweetener. Add enough sweetener to suit your taste but try going without.
- Leave it to stand in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight. The chia will absorb the liquid and plump up.
- Serve with some halved berries or blueberry coulis, a few spoons of Greek yoghurt (if you’re shedding kilos) and the almonds.
Okay, that’s all for this week. Please hold thumbs that all goes well with my visa applications!
Diet start date:
1 January 2017
Weight loss this week:
1,4kg
Weight loss so far:
15kg
Also read:
Elmari’s weekly Banting Diet Diary: Week 10
Elmari’s weekly Banting Diet Diary: Week 9
Elmari’s weekly Banting Diet Diary: Week 8
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