Still going strong

I'm almost at the half way point now folks and almost on the home straight. I feel like I've become a little on the boring side on this cilly diet, and because as I said right at the beginning that I'm a creature of habit I've now adapted my food habits and it's all quite boring - but safe.

So today was (do I even need to say it?) the breakfast - have any of you tried this? Because it really is heaven and such a great way to start the day, and it will fill you up until lunch time, and when you do try it you will finally see why I rave on about it so  much.

Lunch was jacket potato with tomato and philadelphia - seriously yum, but I am slightly worried about the calorie content of this little gem, I might have to re-think lunch and go back to a salad option. Lunch generally is so geared towards gluten rich foods - sandwiches, wraps etc it's quite hard to think of a healthy alternative. Perhaps I should think about cooking some rice and vegetables in the evening and taking that to work instead...

Tonight was the night when I met up with my old school friend, so it was the Itsu evening - most of the menu was fine and gluten free apart from the obvious (like dumplings etc), so it was a lot of rice and fish funnily enough.

Another Cilly weekend

The weekend was relatively harmless, I had the breakfast on both days (of course). On Saturday I went to The Dean Street Townhouse for lunch, and was amazed when I was assured that I could have any of the main courses. I went for the burger (obviously sans bun) it was good, not amazing, but it did manage to fill me up for the rest of the day, so that made things easy. On Sunday I went to Leon for lunch, and although I had already been recommended to go there by another cilly, I was still amazed at how much of the menu was gluten free - and it felt good to be able to choose, and not be so limited. I opted for the very delicious and filling Aoli chicken with brown rice and coleslaw. Supper was seabass and broccoli. 

Even though I don't necessarily feel like I am loosing weight, being cilly is definitely making me  eat more healthily, and fresher. I think because it's such a pain to check all the ingredients you tend to keep things simpler and then maybe stick to what you know and like. There will definitely be some things that when I stop being cilly I'll be looking forward to eating again (like some cereals) but I can't think of anything that I miss that much, but I will absolutely cut out a lot of the bread and more wheaty food that I used to eat that I'm not really missing at all.

 

Bean a bit boring

Yes folks, I knew it - the new granola in the breakfast, too good to be true. I love how the breakfast just keeps getting better and better. I think we've reached the best it's going to get now... but didn't I say that at the start? I actually could probably just eat that three times a day.

Lunch was hilariously uninspiring and so boring, you might just give up on me at this point, but it was strangely quite nice, and apparently one of the most healthy meals you can have (so there) - a bowl of baked beans with three tomatoes in it. What? It was quite nice. And cilly, silly. Oh I almost forgot (how convenient - again!) about the naughty pack of salt and vinegar snack-a-jacks I had just after lunch. It just doesn't get more inspiring that that on a Friday does it?!

This evening it's sea bass and broccoli and maybe some baby corn depending on how adventurous (hungry) I'm feeling, and washed down with a lovely chilled glass of white. Perfect.

Thursday already

Where's the week going? I can't believe it's Thursday already. For only the second time this week I had the proper breakfast with all the usual ingredients, still yummas.

I met a friend for lunch and had a very big, filling (and probably a little naughty, but still cilly) steak and chips - it was so nice but so filling it has pretty much seen me through until this evening.

Probably more habitually than anything else I came home and went into the kitchen, I really fancied a bowl of cereal, and to be really honest with you I did think for a millisecond about cheating ( I know, don't hate me)  - I thought to myself you'd never know, as long as I didn't tell you, but what would be the point of that? There would be no point in writing this blog and telling you all about my cilly time if secretly I was sneaking myself whatever I fancied. So I had a bowl of the new gluten-free granola I told you about that I ordered from Ocado. Oh em gee. It was so incredible, I must be just a slave to anything breakfasty - I loved it. It was everything I love- nutty, very fruity and cinnamon flavoured. 

Can you imagine how that's going to be in the breakfast? I can't wait, I might actually have to have that tomorrow so I'll report back.

Cilly - it’s been over a week

Crikey I was so focused on those damned creme eggs yesterday I missed my own anniversary. So it’s been a week – it actually feels longer, but because of the discovery of bread and chocolate it feels less bleak than at the beginning – you can always rely on me to find the easy way around any diet.

I really haven't been feeling that hungry this week, I'll put that down to the fact that I've actually been eating proper meals, and I haven't been doing as much exercise, although I did my weekly kettle bell training class today but I was able to go home and have baked beans on (gluten-free) toast.

I had a friend over for supper, which I thought was easier than eating out, and cooked a really great meal, you would never have known that we were eating gluten-free. I rustled up organic chicken breast, baby new potatoes, baby corn and peas followed by (okay this bit wasn't that exciting) strawberry yogurt.

I did manage to cleverly dodge a curve ball today, and I think you'll be quite impressed - I've recently got in touch with an old school friend and we've been meaning to get together for a while, so we've arranged to meet up for drinks. Today she emailed me to say, let's meet up for wine and pizza (oh dear), it felt a bit awkward to explain that I'm cilly, but equally I didn't fancy another night of torture in a pizza restaurant smelling all that baked dough and peperoni. I suggested we do Itsu instead, which went down well - phew! I know from my friend that the sushi in Itsu is held together with wasabi instead of soy like most places. Of course I will check this when I get there, as I am sure there will still be things that I can't eat, but I'm already looking forward to it.

Ocado you cilly dream

So right on time this morning the doorbell went and all my gluten-free shopping arrived. Brilliant, it really couldn't be easier or more convenient.

I put the shopping away, had the breakfast (only yogurt, flax and honey today because I wasn't feeling that hungry), but I ordered some gluten-free granola from Ocado, so looking forward to testing that out, for some reason I couldn't order the one I love on-line, slightly worried about the change but lets wait and see, after all look what happened with the flax seeds.

I cooked some corn-fed, organic chicken last night which I made a salad out of this morning and packed it for my lunch. Oh, I forgot to mention over the weekend I discovered Cadbury's creme  eggs were gluten free, this has ended up being a massive downfall as yesterday when I was in Tesco's (I conveniently forgot to tell you this yesterday when I was all 'potato and avocado' health, health, health) I bought 6 creme eggs- It's not my fault! Candice asked me to pick one up for her whilst I was out, and I thought I'd treat myself too, and then buying a packet was much more economical that just buying 2. So you can imagine, I've eaten 5 creme eggs in 2 days. This non-sense has to stop and there will be no more 'treats' like that, but it is good to know I can have some chocolate (that tastes good) if I get that urge. Actually, maybe it's not that good to know.

Back to work

I was quite looking forward to getting back to my little routine, but after the weekend and expanding my horizons with my cilly eating habits, I decided I should shake it up a bit. I also decided that a trip to the supermarket was much needed as my fridge was starting to look very sorry for itself.

For lunch I went back to Tesco's, but this time I knew what I was getting and it was a totally different experience from the meltdown moment of last week. On my lunch list was a jacket potato, an avocado and some philadelphia, easy (and delicious) - now I'm starting to find my feet, I realise it's just a case of programming yourself in terms of what you can eat and how you think about food. 

After lunch I thought I'd order my shopping from Ocado, and it turned out to be the best decision I could have made (apart from the fact that I don't actually have to carry it) - they have a gluten-free button, so when you tick that you know everything you're ordering is gluten-free. Easy.

I ordered plenty of fresh vegetables, fish and Nando's inspired chicken (the muffins really weren't cutting it).  I stopped off at Sainsbury's on the way home to get something for supper (Ocado were delivering in the morning),  I ended up in their 'Free From' section and spotted bread - which I had totally put out of my mind, but when I saw it was gluten-free I had to go for it.

When I got home I put a slice in the toaster, but impatience (and hunger) got the better of me, and I buttered a piece of bread whilst it was toasting and added cucumber and cheese - woah! It was amazing, just like normal bread, and soft - I couldn't believe it. The toast though, yuk, it had a really strange smell when it was cooked, I can't explain it but no, not good. I also bought some muffins.

Sunday Funday?

I knew Sunday was going to be a relaxing day, and besides I had now eaten out twice and I knew it wasn't actually as bad as I was anticipating. As it turns out I ate out twice on Sunday - breakfast and lunch. Breakfast was good and being Cilly makes me feel like I have the right to order what I like whether it's on the menu or not, and I really like that - I did spot a wheat-free muesli on the menu and thought that was perfect, but it turned out that it was wheat-free but not gluten-free. So I was a tricky customer and ordered plain yogurt, fruit and honey which is almost my amazing breakfast. My breakfast partner ordered toast for us to share (obviously I couldn't) and I thought that would be really testing, but it's weird because when you're on a diet it's so easy to cheat, and I would have done. But this is different, when it's really clear what you're not allowed your brain can just block it out and I really wasn't that interested in the toast.

Lunch was Nando's, which I hadn't really been to before but seriously it's perfect for us Cillys - they are really knowledgeable about the menu and what's gluten-free, and they take it seriously, they made sure that they cleaned the grill when they cooked our chicken, and the waiter explained clearly what was and wasn't gluten free, and  I was definitely surprised by how much of the menu was gluten-free. Go to Nando's Cilly's go!

Gluten-free Chinese - y to the u to the m

Saturday spent was visiting my family in Kent, I knew this was going to be the hardest point of my cilly life so far, and in fact it started even before I'd left London. I was on the phone to my Mum on Saturday morning and she told me that she was going to order a Chinese take away from Sun-do for us all for supper, and this is after I'd told her I was gluten free! I hadn't had a Sun-do take away for probably 10 years, and it's amazing. Almost good enough to fall off the wagon for (don't worry, I didn't) So what could I have - plain rice and some pak choi?

The day was great,  a slightly painful lunch with everyone helping themselves to slices of  an amazing smelling quiche and bread, whilst I was crunching on rice cakes and tomatoes. Afternoon tea was cake and biscuits, so again I was on the rice cakes, but by this point I was glad I wasn't scooping up all of those calories and feeling  bloated.

Come the early evening we were starting to think about  supper, well I was anyway - I was so hungry. We (OK, I) went through the take away menu to write down what we were going to order - there were quite a few of us, so the idea was we'd order quite a bit and then share everything. My plan was to write a list and then call up and put a star by everything I was allowed, so when it arrived I would know exactly what I could have. But you will never believe it -when we ordered and I explained I could not eat gluten and they said they could make everything except the prawn toast, the spring rolls and the noodles gluten-free. I was absolutely not expecting that, at all.

It was one of the best and freshest Chinese meals I'd ever had - the sweet and sour prawns were fresh king prawns (with no batter) in an amazing sweet and sour sauce that was a much thinner sauce than you would normally get, but that made it so much better and so fresh tasting, the lemon chicken was tender chicken pieces with a wonderful thin fresh lemon sauce - we were all  so pleased that the meal had been made without gluten, and we all enjoyed it so much more than we'd expected. Gluten is so over-rated! Pah.

My first weekend

So, this was always going to be the hardest time - the weekend. No longer  responsible for my own Cilly diet and I was having to rely on others to support and advise me. Friday night was my first eating out experience, which actually wasn't too bad, but you will laugh when I tell you where I went (not my choice) - Pizza Express. It couldn't have really been less Cilly-friendly, obviously all the pizza's were off my menu. I was told by my semi-knowledgeable waiter that I could order any of the salads which they would make sure were gluten free, so I guess this meant taking or changing some of  the ingredients. I ordered a warm chicken salad that was amazing. In reality it probably wasn't amazing, but it felt like it was the first proper meal I had had since the start of my Cilly life. Being a Friday night I was desperate for a glass of wine, and I was fairly sure that I was told some wines contained gluten, so I asked the waiter which of the wines were gluten free - he came back moments later without a clue. Well, that meant I couldn't have wine then, how could I if I couldn't be sure? - after all I'm cilly now, so I settled (rather begrudgingly) for a vodka, lime and soda. Half way though my meal (and my drink) I got a text form my friend to say all wines were fine and it was the vodka that I had to watch out for. Doh.

Wrong, Cilly

What a difference an A makes... I was wrong, I got confused with my soy and soya. I know now that I am allowed soya, and I'm not allowed soy - rack up the cashews! This would all be made so much easier if products labelled the packets, we see the V for vegetarian sign plastered everywhere on packets, on menus but the gluten-free sign is a rarity. I'm meeting up with my Coeliac friend tomorrow and I'm definitely in need of a refresher course.

Meltdown

Perhaps it's the tongue-in-cheek cockiness of the way I signed off yesterdays blog, but overnight the cracks are beginning to show. I think it's because I was feeling tired and instead of just going to bed, I wallowed in my tiredness and that is never a good thing. And I ate both of the muffins. 

This morning I remembered that I had some cashew nuts at home, which I thought would be a perfect snack during my day, but when I looked at the back of the packed (after the crisp incident I have learnt how important this is) I saw that they contained soya which I know I am not allowed, as well as rather usefully mentioning they also contained nuts. So at lunch time I went to Tesco to see what gluten-free snacks I could buy myself, armed with my Coeliac food and drink directory book I was looking forward to jazzing up my lunch with some new and exciting treats. My enthusiasm wained instantly with the complete lack of labeling on the back of the packets, and the book although useful doesn't list all of the products, unless they actually aren't gluten free? But surely raisins aren't. Plus as I was having to read the packets so carefully I was being pushed and shoved out of the way by all of the lucky people who were able to quickly 'choose' what they could have. It was then I realised that I had lost my ability to choose what I could eat and was limited by my lack of knowledge and bad food labeling. I came away with a banana, some salt and vinegar snack-a-jacks and some cashew nuts. Dull dull dull.

Still going strong

I'm starting to get in to the swing of things now, and because I'm planning so well I'm already starting not to think about it too much, which I know is the key to success (well at least I hope it is). I'm sure I'm right in thinking that if you obsess and think about it too much you end up wanting what you can't have - and that's when it all goes wrong. If you do the planning carefully then you don't think about it, there's no obsessing and then you don't get the cravings.

So as you all know I had the muffin again last night, which I took a picture of for you to see (below), what I realised afterwards is that I didn't give it any scale, so you can't see how small it is, but if I tell you that it's on a side plate then you probably get a good idea. As the night before I also had a packet of crisps, which I really want to cut out as they're not very nutritious so I'm on the hunt for a better supper idea but until tomorrow night I'm on the muffins. 

Breakfast (obviously) was great this morning, although I did suddenly remember that I had bought some flax seeds to add to it which I hadn't been doing, and thought that now breakfasts will never be the same again.... but flax seeds are uh-maz-ing - I've never had them before but I was really surprised, in fact I think they made the breakfast even better if you can believe that. I also washed it all down with a vitamin c tablet . I know - you hate me for being so brilliant.

My Cilly Fridge

Day 2 folks!  As predicted, I was beside myself with hunger when I got home yesterday, as I got off the tube I felt like I couldn't walk fast enough to get to my front door, I threw myself into the kitchen and pretty much slam-dunked the muffin straight in to the toaster. It was nice, but small so (almost without thinking) I grabbed a packet of crisps to round off the meal, and half way through eating them I was struck with horror - I hadn't checked the packet, I wasn't sure that they were gluten-free! I had just supposed that they would be, could I have really eaten gluten on my very first day? With relief as I turned the packet over there was a gluten free sign with a tick next to it - phew. But come on, I need to be more careful than this.

So today, is the same as yesterday - the breakfast which I love, and the soup for lunch - which today was also accompanied with a small bowl of carrot and suede mash, OK a weird combination but I am just finding my feet with this... I did a Kettle weight class at lunch time so I had to have something more substantial than yesterday - so it's the muffin again for supper. It might sound boring that I'm repeating the diet almost exactly from yesterday, but you'll get to learn that I'm a creature of habit and this is just me getting in to my comfort zone.

Because I threw away everything that wasn't gluten-free it's perhaps a little sparse, but here's a picture of my Cilly fridge - hopefully I can update this over the weekend with some more exciting bits and pieces, and by that time I will probably need a few Cilly treats in there too,  I'll have to see what Waitrose has to offer in the way of their gluten-free section again.

What a Cilly breakfast

I've reached lunchtime on my first official day, all's going well. I had the breakfast which is so good I don't think I'll get bored of it until the month is over, and it's so filling. Having said that by noon I was hungry and did have total food envy when Candice in my office produced a chicken sandwich she had bought in for lunch - I had 2 clementines to satisfy my urge for food.

It's now nearly 2pm and I've just had my pea and ham soup (well half of the pot, the other half is for tomorrow's lunch) and I'm feeling good. I realise now that I need to plan what I'm having for supper before I get home as I'm quite sure that I'll be really hungry by that point - I do realise that this isn't about me starving myself just changing what I eat, but until I get used to what I have I think I'm automatically going to eat less until I get used to what I'm allowed, and start to get into a routine.

So, supper I think will be a gluten free muffin with cheese, tomato and lettuce. With a yogurt to follow (all the yogs in my fridge are gluten free, I've checked). I've got to think about what I can snack on more carefully - I guess nuts are good, and fruit.

My Cilly Life

So tonight at midnight I officially start my Cilly Life. I've pretty much been gluten-free since the lunch yesterday, but we agreed that I have a couple of days to trial it and get used to what I'm allowed as well as the last few 'treats' which so far have been a chocolate bar (weirdly as I'm not massively in to  sweet treats) and bread - I just had to have 2 last pieces of toast with Marmite. Other than that these last two days have been pretty Cilly. My breakfast this morning was yum (gluten free muesli, yogurt, half a banana and honey) and seriously filling. I suspect the sausage that I had for lunch might not be allowed (as of tomorrow), but the mash and beans were definitely fine.

So I have a feeling I'm not going to find this as hard as I first thought, having said that I haven't started properly yet and I have been on the treats. Time will tell. I have already decided that careful planning is the key...

First supermarket shop

So after lunch I went to the supermarket with my Cilly friend- we decided that she should come with me on my first shop as I was pretty clueless in terms of what I could eat and what wasn't allowed. Surprisingly it turned out that there was a lot on my usual list that I could eat, and thanks to the gluten-free isle in Waitrose there were substitues for some of the things that I couldn't have - like muesli, and what wasn't cilly friendly I didn't care too much about anyway. I'm rather excited about the challenge and having to be so disciplined - let's see how long that lasts.