Kiwi Bento

I tried to live the low fat lifestyle, like a good citizen, I knew that fat was bad and cholesterol was even worse. Biggest no no was saturated fat, so all those animal fats had to be consumed in minimum quantities, except for "good" fats, like fish oils, plant fats were good for us too. Or SO I THOUGHT!

One day I read a book, (uh oh) it was just one guy, sitting down for over five years, reviewing a huge amount of scientific papers,medical, nutritional, biochemical papers all relating to diet and metabolism. The book was the summation of his findings backed up with scientific literature. The author, a scientist, had a reputation in the journalism world for exposing "bad" science and bad data, people who fiddled the numbers to get the results the wanted. So he reviewed with a very critical eye and discovered some very amazing things.

This book was a complete revelation for me, it really has changed the way I think about food.

If you don't read the evidence its hard to believe the conclusions because they go against everything we've been told, but basically fats are good, all fats except trans fats are good, in fact animal fats may eve be better for us than plant fats. (Animal fat is not all saturated fat either, loads of animal fats contain 1/3 unsaturated fats!) Cholesterol is good, we need heaps, it protects against loads of diseases esp strokes.

Cholesterol is only harmful (and then only a minority fraction) when its oxidised and your arteries are inflamed. What causes the inflammation and oxidation? Sugars. We all know that diabetics can suffer loads of complications because of excess blood sugar, in fact diabetics are more likely to have a heart attacks.

Excess sugar consumption is whats driving the obesity epidemic, its also causing loads of disease.

So I've decided to change my diet, I've cut out sugar. So I've cut out bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, chips crackers, cereal, sweets, and most fruits. It sounds drastic, but after reading the evidence I was convinced that it was better for my body. I don't count calories, I just make sure its all low in sugar or carbohydrates that easily convert to sugars. A surprising side effect I've noticed from eating no sugar is that the desire for alcohol has really dropped. I've had maybe one glass of wine a week, and I don't miss it.

A typical day of food might be:

Breakfast:
Eggs, omelet or scrambled with some sliced mushrooms

Lunch:
Lamb and spinach salad with cheese (Camembert, Havarti or blue!)

Dinner:
Turkey curry made with coconut cream with cauliflower and green beans.


Snacks:
Nuts and seeds (macadamia, almonds, walnuts,sunflower pumpkin), Boysenberries with cream, chicken, or the odd Bier stick.If I'm desperate for something sweet I make some sugar free jelly with berries in it and serve it with some cream. Or I have a wildberry tea!



Lack of rice had made my bento's a challenge indeed. So from now on its Low Carb Bento. I may even have to rename my blog :-)

Last month I announced that on June 1st I would put all my followers into a draw for a Brand new Bento Box.

Tada! - well after drawing a randow name out of a basket (you'll just have to trust me on that! lol) I have a winner. LIGHT YAGAMI!
To claim your prize just leave your detail in the comments section, my comments are moderated so your details will be private.!

Thanks to everyone who joined up to follow my blog ;-) I really ought to do a few more posts.

These crazy noodles have been catching my eye at the Japanese market for some time now. I finally bought some and they have been sitting in my kitchen for some time as I tried to pluck up the courage to try them. (shelf stable for a year! wohoo!)

A couple of things had me worried, firstly the smell. According to Internet sources they were going to smell bad. (Its just the solution they are packed in, if you rinse them really really well the smell should go away). Secondly they were going to be slimy.

Konjac noodles are about 96% water and 4% soluble fibre. Almost no calories either. So I was willing to overcome obstacles to see if this could be something I could eat a couple of times a week to get extra fibre and cut back on calories

First I opened the noodles, drained and rinsed them. Yes they smelled, a weird smell, it reminded me of very strong flavoured prawn crackers. I rinsed them in warm water, but the smell still lingered, not as bad though. By the end of rinsing the smell was okay, but still there. I think I should have rinsed them in boiling water.


But it wasn't so bad that it was off putting.


Other rumours on the Internet tell me that lightly sauteing them is best. I used a spray of rice bran oil and fried them up with some oyster mushrooms, a dash of teriyaki sauce and a dash of sweet chili sauce.


And here they are cooked, they look okay kind of like a glass noodle/vermicelli kind of pasta.

Texture is different to what I'm used to, you can't really chew on them. They just break in half so you end up chopping them into smaller and smaller pieces in your mouth.

Taste wise, they just tasted like sweet chilli sauce and teriyaki to be honest, it was only the texture thing that was hard to get over, there was still that slight fishy smell, but you couldn't taste it.

Will I eat them again? Yes, they were okay. I want to try them in a soup, I think slurping them down with some broth will work quite nicely. I just have to get over the texture thing. Its like tofu, when you first try it, its a bit strange to your mouth. They were not as slimy as I imagined they would be. I can get used to this stuff. I'm going to try damn hard too because calorie free noodles = awesome!!!!

Just found a link to a blog where these babies are referred to as Miracle Noodles LOL now that's marketing

*** Update - I rinsed these with boiling water and soaked them for a bit before rinsing again. Much better. I also cooked them up with some pasta sauce , diced onions, peppers and broccoli. It was great and no smell!


Don't forget to sign up to follow this blog and go in the draw to win a Bento Lunch Box!

I have a BRAND NEW Bento box and you could WIN it! All you have to do is follow this blog by the 31st of May and you'll be in the draw. I really want to meet more Bento enthusiast's so feel free to forward this to any other Bento obsessed peoples! (Current followers will be in the draw too!)
On the 1st of June I'll randomly select a follower and announce the winner. If you've won you'll have a week to claim your prize so make sure you check back in June. (And yes I'll post overseas too)

Mmmm Golden brown goodness. Then I put them in my bento.Under the lotus root is some spinach cooked with sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds and a bit of teriyaki sauce. Yum!
Lotus root tastes pretty good, its got a real mild sweetness to it. It reminds me of the mystery vegetable you get sometimes when you order tempura at a Japanese restaurant. Y'know that one that tastes a bit like something you know but you cant put your finger on it.
I've also heard a rumour that they're great in soups!

How to make miso!

I love miso, its easy, tasty and makes me look like a genius in the kitchen. My husband loves the stuff and is so impressed I can make it, so no one tell him how easy it is mmmmkay!