Good morning all,

Weight this morning is the same. But not worried about it at all. Yesterday was not a FD for me. I decided to make a quiche without the pastry and ended up making a frittata instead as it was easier to do. I used leek, mushrooms and tomatoes as the fillings and then 12 eggs and divided it into 4 when cooked. Served with a greek style salad of tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, kalamatta olives, celery and fetta. Came in at 270cal for the frittata and 53cal for the fetta.
After two walks yesterday and having extra calories added to my day I still did not go over my calories for the day.

LJoyce I like your idea of using beans to thicken sauces. I am doing something similar with soup. If I add cannelini beans to the soup it makes it a thick creamy consistancy without the use of real cream. The pumpkin soup I make is just delicious doing this.

CalifD, Red miso (Aka Miso)can be used too it just has a lot stronger flavour. The brown miso you have may be white miso but just a little older. White miso is not really white in color it is a brownish colour, but it is not as dark as the red miso. White miso in Japanese is Shiro Miso, red miso is Aka Miso so if the Japanese words are on your packet you can see by the label.

Thin, My goal weight at this time is 75kg. But my ultimate end goal is 60 or even 57 if I can do it. I am making little goals for myself as I will then feel as if I am achieving something rather than looking at that final goal which is such a long way off. I am only 5ft 2in and I think my weight could go down to 50kg.

sorry got to go we are off to the baseball!! talk later

Just got home from a family brunch at Hahndorf. I elected to just have a pot of tea this morning as my day always seems to go badly if I eat either a cooked breakfast or pancakes at that hour of the day. Instead of being a substitute for lunch it seems to spur my appetite on.

It’s a beautiful spring day here so I think an afternoon in the garden is warranted.

Hope you all have a nice Sunday.

Hi again, well back from the baseball and our team was playing in the grand final. They were undefeated all year but today could not do a thing right. Last night was the awards night where many of the players won awards and they partied too much after and it showed today. All is good though. It was a friendly game and everyone was still happy in the end.

Yes Cinque, I was going to give some information on adzuki beans but had to leave in a hurry in the end.
Adzuki beans are a main stay food in Japan. You will find them in many foods both sweet and savoury. “Anko” is the Japanese word for red bean paste. There are two varieties of Anko, “Koshian” and “Tsubuan” Tsubuan is the sweetened red bean paste that is chunky while Koshian is Tsubuan pushed through a sieve to take out the beans skins and is therefore a smoother texture which is commonly used for Japanese confectionery.

Ingredients for Tsubuan and Koshian.

200 g Azuki beans (200 g = 7 oz or a little bit less than 1 cup which is 220g)
Water
200 g granulated sugar (200 g = 7 oz or 1 cup)
Pinch Kosher salt
Soak the azuki beans overnight (8-12 hours).
next day – Rinse azuki beans.
Use a big saucepan/pot because the amount of azuki beans will double after cooking. Put washed azuki beans in the pot and pour water till 1-2 inch above azuki beans. Turn the heat on high.
When boiling, turn off the heat and cover with lid. Let it stand for 5 minutes.
Put the azuki beans into a sieve and drain off the cooking water.
Put the azuki beans back in the pot. Add enough water just to cover the beans and turn the heat on high. Once boiling, turn down the heat to medium low and keep it simmering.
Once in a while push the azuki beans under the water with slotted spoon. Water will evaporate so you need to keep adding water to cover just above the beans. If you put too much water, the beans will move and break. If you need to leave the kitchen, make sure to turn off the heat. You will be cooking for 1+ hour.
Pick one azuki bean and squeeze it with your fingers. If it is smushed easily, it’s done.
Turn up the heat to high and add sugar in 3 separate times. Stir constantly. When you draw a line on the bottom of the saucepan and see the surface for more than 2 seconds, add salt and turn off heat. Anko will thicken more when it cools.
Pour into a container to cool down. Do not leave it in the pot. Cover with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge to store after cool down. If you aren’t planning to use it all at once, you can divide it into 100g packages. Wrap in plastic bag and store in Ziploc Freezer bags and can store in fridge for a week and freezer up to a month.
You can then put through a sieve to make the paste.

The paste can then be used as a filling for many foods.
Taiyaki are fish shaped cakes with Koshian filling ….https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiyaki
Dorayaki are two small pancakes with the filling sandwiched in the middle..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorayaki
Yokan is a Japanese sweet …https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%C5%8Dkan
Mizu Yokan is the same sweet treat with chestnuts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Df2tvb2S4
Daifuku mochi is another sweet treat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daifuku
Anmitsu is a popular dessert https://discoverjapannow.wordpress.com/tag/anmitsu/
Red bean soup…..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_bean_soup
Anko Dango – dango with anko spread on top …https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dango
There is also red bean icecream and red bean pancakes, but these are just a few of the things that you can do with Azuki beans.
Hope you enjoy these!!

Good morning all.

Thinatlast I had such a chuckle at your wine posts. My wine tasting is based on the following theories – White wine: does it taste like vinegar or not? Red wine: does it taste like dirt or not? If the answer is in the ‘nots’ then it’s drinkable. I am such a connoisseur….haha. I actually had a glass of red on Saturday when OH took me out to lunch. It took me an hour and a half to drink, not because it wasn’t nice but because my minimal alcohol consumption these days meant I enjoyed and savored every small sip.

Over the last 3 days I’ve had a weight gain of just under 2kg which has left me scratching my head as to why – surely not the one glass of red ! Hoping it may be just fluid retention and will disappear without too much effort.

Its the second week of school holidays and MissD has arranged for more friends to visit and 2 sleepovers so another busy week in our household. I also have 2 meals out this week so will be fkexible with FDs.

Have enjoyed reading posts but no time to comment on individual postings. Its 5.45am at the moment and I am looking after one of missDs friends for the day as her parents are working – she is being dropped off at 6.30am.

Happy Monday everyone ☺☺

Here’s an article about health benefits of the azuki bean: https://draxe.com/adzuki-beans/

Some of these benefits apply to beans in general, but perhaps the azuki has some special properties?

Good morning,
Just had a lovely breakfast after a good fast day. Glad you enjoyed yesterdays review. 😉

Gday, your scales are just jealous of all the fun you have been having, and are being naughty.

I have read that adzuki beans are gentler on the digestion compared to other beans.

Takini can be tricky. Thanks to Middle Eastern shops here I buy lovely fresh stuff (I couldn’t believe the difference after what I used to buy in Central Vic) and I lay the bottle on its side in the pantry and keep rolling it over so the tahini moves and doesn’t separate. I used to make yummy tahini biscuits and a tahini cake too, but now I use it for hummus or tahini sauce and I also have to be careful it doesn’t become rancid. I can see how sesame oil would be a good substitute!

We had a very loud thunderstorm here last night, and lots of lovely rain on my dry plants!

I’ve got a busy fast day, so cheers to those of you fasting today, and cheers to those of you having a normal eating day!
Note to self: Savour every bite like Gday savours her wine.

Good morning all,

Beautiful morning here in Cairns. I woke up around 6.00am and just had to get up, could not stay in bed on a beautiful morning like this. Now it is 7.00am and I want to walk but my neighbour cant walk until 8.00am so having a green tea while typing this.

CalifD, I checked out your brownie recipe and want to try it. I am just not too sure about the dates though. I have not heard of them so will have to research if I can get them here.
I too gained a little weight over the weekend…..bummer! But today is a FD and tomorrow too, so that should help get rid of it.
I bought tahini a couple of weeks ago and so far have not opened it and am wondering if I have wasted my money as I also have started using the sesame oil for flavouring instead. I might be able to give the tahini to one of my friends.

Gday, I dont drink red at all but I have a passion for champagne! The worst of the alcohols I believe as there seems to be more calories in champagne.

Arelkade, from memory Forster is a lovely place. I had relatives living there at one time and visited them when I was young. Now they are living south of Newcastle, around Toukley.

Thanks CalifD for the link to the Azuki beans. There is so many benefits there I am now going to find them at my local Japanese grocery store and add them to my diet a lot more.

Hahaha Penguin, so true with the wine!! I had a little chuckle thinking about it.

Cinque, I wish we had some middle eastern shops here so I could try more of those wonderful flavours.

Gday,what a top post!! a big congratulations goes out to you today. How inspiring to read about your now baggy tent like clothing. I am looking forward to doing the same thing too one day very soon.

Well I went for my walk on my own and that is a big thing for me. I dont usually have the motivation to walk on my own and it is my neighbour who pushes me to go with her. But this morning she was out when I looked over so decided to go on my own. I am quite pleased with myself.

I started this post early this morning and now here it is 10.00am. I had forgotten to hit the submit button before going on my walk so I have just added more after reading everyone else’s posts.

Fast Day Monday for me……have a good FD to everyone who is a Monday faster!!

Penguin and GDSA, loved the wine appraisals!

Cinque, are you fasting again today? I must have misread that.

GDSA, I do sometimes note a significant gain when I drink alcohol. But, as it’s an infrequent habit now, it seems to drop off quickly. I hope you had a lovely day with your new love.

JJulie, it’s fun to walk with someone but I also enjoy being alone with my thoughts and walking alone. Sometimes I take my iPod and do a Spanish lesson. Do you have a beautiful place to walk? All the best for a great FD for you and all the Monday fasters!

Hi All,
I’m not fasting today, that word ‘fast’ just snuck itself into a sentence where it wasn’t needed! But cheering you on Stay!

And lentils in a meaty sauce should work well, hope it does!

Gday, what a gorgeous closet cleanse! Doesn’t it just make you so glad for 5:2.

I made the savoury pumpkin pie but very disappointed with the pastry, should have used that Hairy Bikers one, but also should have baked the shell blind, even sitting on a hot pizza stone didn’t work. Soggy bottom.
Today I’m cooking a big pan of chard leaves as they are starting to bolt, and then off to pick up little Miss 3 and keep her overnight.

Cheers

Hi SHs

I just had a routine GP visit and decided to park near the surgery and go for a walk. The GP is in a beautiful (and very expensive) suburb and it was lovely walking along tree lined streets with beautifully maintained historic houses an stunning gardens. It’s very flat compared to where I usually walk around here, but the change of scenery made a nice change.

JJ – thankyou so much for the info on cooking adzuki beans. At the moment I am going to try and use them in savoury dishes as I don’t relish adding that much sugar to my diet. But I might get around to doing sweet dishes in the future.

Cali – thanks for the link. Amazing how many micro-nutrients there are in a bean. It’s confirmed just how good they are for us. I originally increased my consumption because I like the taste, I prefer them to most meats and I needed a very high fibre diet to manage IBS and I didn’t want to add more grains to achieve this.

Cinque – I had a quick look online and have found there are 2 middle eastern grocers in Adelaide, just in suburbs that are a long way from me. I will get to one when I have to be over that side of town for some other reason – then I can get some split fava beans, plus anything else I fancy.
Sorry to hear about the pastry – your soggy bottom comment reminded me of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d2aBkiwXwg

GDSA – Cleaning out the fat clothes is really cathartic. I kept 2 oversized windcheaters but apart form that all my large clothes are gone. With all that room in the wardrobe you’ll be able to find some op shop purchases to fill the gaps. That’s fun too – especially as it’s mainly the small sizes that get donated to op shops as most people’s weight is going up not down.

THin – I do that with clothing too – take the wrong size into the changing room. I also remember the fist time I took a bunch of clothes in to try on and everything fit – I nearly cried as I couldn’t remember he last time that had happened.

Stay – enjoy the day with your granddaughters. If your kids love hommus then I think legume and pulse dips are the way to go. Team them with some microwaved pappadams and they’re getting lentils too without even knowing it.

I loved the wine appraisals. Penguin I think the red wine with tiles needs to be modified – not if you have white grout! I miss wine – especially a nice mellow red wine on a cold day. Drinking alcohol with my medications is not recommended because the drugs put a strain on my liver so I gave up alcohol about a decade ago. I will have a few sips of champagne or wine on a very special occasion – but that amounts to about a glass a year.

I had a terrible afternoon with food yesterday – every time I came inside from the garden I raided the kitchen. Not unhealthy choices, just too much food. I’m doing a FD today to get things back under control. I have a lunch out on Wednesday at an Italian restaurant which I’m now stressing about, but I think I just need to choose something sensible from the menu in advance and stick with it.

Hope you are all having a nice day.

Thanks for the offer Thin, menu link is below. Normally I have either pasta or pizza at this cafe, but this week I want controlled eating on my NFDs. As far as I can see I only really have 2 options if I want to avoid a lunch laden with white flour. Minestrone (hold the bread) or steak & salad (hold the chips). As I never cook steak at home, but often make minestrone, I’m leaning toward the steak & salad. It’s meant to be a nice spring day here on Wednesday so that meal should suit the weather too.
They do sometimes have specials – usually a salad or soup but I won’t know what until I get there.
https://www.zomato.com/adelaide/lucias-pizza-and-spaghetti-bar-city-centre/menu#tabtop

14 hours into my Sunday night – Wednesday lunch fast. Fluids only. A weekend of eating OH’s offerings has put weight on. It looks like I am back to the routine of fast, lose weight, put some of it back on, fast again . When I was losing weight the graph showed a downwards saw tooth line. It looks as though the method of keeping it off will be one or two total fasts each month. I am quite happy with that, I have grown to like the fasting feeling and it is good for that other class of gut microbes who do the repair work when we are fasting.

Thin – most Italian restaurants in Adelaide are also more expensive than this. Lucia’s is literally a “hole in the wall” cafe in the central produce market. All of the cafes there are quite basic in decor, with most needing to put their tables in the walkways, but they offer nice unpretentious food at very good prices. Because the tables are in the walkway, you sit there eating with people wandering by with their bags full of fruit and veg from the market stalls.
http://www.adelaidecentralmarket.com.au/traders/lucias-pizza-bar/

Quacka – hello, welcome to the SH forum thread. Glad to hear you have been sticking with 5:2 despite the wobbly moments – we’ve all had a few of those.

Penguin – fluids only until Wednesday – I don’t know how you do it!
Did that weekend of overeating happen to include kefir curd tarts by any chance?

Hi everyone
Today has been a FD for me, think I managed ok, bit of a struggle at times not to open the pantry door – felt better knowing I can relax tomorrow. Feel good within myself as it’s now the end of the day – now 8pm on eastern coast of Australia.
All your posts are so easy to follow and full of information, & happy banter, very enjoyable – thank you all!

Cinque. I would say break a leg tomorrow, if that expression works in your hemisphere.

GDSA/Thinatlast. My wardrobe is like that. Very satisfying, but replacing them is a problem. A conventional size these days seems to be made on the assumption that chest and waist sizes are the same. I am slowly, and happily, exploring the concepts of “slim fit” and “tailored fit”, which is nonsense really because at 6’5″ and 220 lbs I am not slim. There really is a size “Extra large, slim fit”.

LJoyce. Kefir curd tart, a large one, took two days for two of us to eat it. Also leek and bacon pie (quiche) and red wine. Woe is me, I am undone.

Good morning all. Quick post to say my 2kg weight gain over the weekend has miraculously disappeared this morning – yay. Surprisingly as i took MissD and her friend out for an icecream treat yesterday and I caved in and had a magnum…..mmmm it was yummy.

Welcome Quacka. I’m sure you will find the forum beneficial to supporting your 5.2 journey. We’re a great bunch of ‘losers’ with a wealth of information to share so please dont hesitate to ask away.

My kiefer is going well and i now have an ongoing supply for my daily smoothy. No longer buying Paris Farm yoghurt LJoyce.

Must dash, looking after MissD’s friend again today – 6.15am drop off.

Califdreamer. Just switched on the eveningTV news. It sounds as though a large part of California is on fire again. You OK?

CalifD, I too am seeing these reports. The map of the fire areas is showing so many fires that they seem to fun from Napa to Redwood Valley then east of there in a line from Penn Valley up to Paradise. This looks so devastating I hope there is no more life lost. I believe we are all concerned for your safety as well. So stay safe please.

Cinque, I hope your procedure is going well and isn’t too uncomfortable for you today. You’ve been on my mind all evening.

We woke up this morning to news that our niece and her husband’s home burned to the ground, and they and their daughter and dogs barely made it out. Things that they were carrying in the back of their pickup truck actually caught fire from flying embers but luckily they were near a fire truck which put it out. They lived in an area on the outskirts of Santa Rosa with lots of trees all around the property. When they were looking to rent the house a couple years ago OH and I remarked that it wouldn’t be a very good location if there was ever a fire because the aren’t a lot of roads in and out.

When we went to bed last night we had no idea about the fire. It started around 10PM and spread very fast because of wind. There are now several fires in the area and the last I’ve heard none were under control. OH’s sister is in a care home and was also evacuated and being moved to another facility. The niece and her husband are in a hotel provided by their insurance company. Another niece’s son was evacuated at 2 am. We’re over an hour away, in El Dorado County, and no fires here but we could smell smoke this morning. Just very stressed with all of this going on.

Over 20,000 people have been evacuated and at least 10 are dead. https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/western-wildfires/one-killed-major-wildfires-ignite-overnight-across-northern-california-n809206
There is also a big fire in Southern California. Very scary.

I think I will try this Azuki Bean Miso soup….https://www.thedailymeal.com/adzuki-bean-miso-soup-recipe

This recipe of Azuki Bean Stew sounds great too, but I dont think I would make the dumplings to go with it……https://recipeland.com/recipe/v/adzuki-bean-stew-2825

This Azuki Bean soup sounds good too…http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/adzuki-bean-soup-115996

Glad I found this recipe for Sekihan (lots of great japanese recipes from Nami and her cooking site) https://www.justonecookbook.com/sekihan-japanese-azuki-beans-rice/

Julie, thank you for the adzuki bean links. I see them in tins in the grocery stores but can’t remember seeing the dry ones. I just ordered a couple pounds of dry ones from Amazon. I’m anxious to try some of the recipes, probably the savory.

Stay, I had never heard of a Thermomix before. I don’t think they’re common here. Amazon has one, but very expensive. https://www.amazon.com/Thermomix-TM5-Vorwerk/dp/B07454RNZQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1507606492&sr=8-2&keywords=Thermomix
Are they really worth that much money? 😮

Penguin, how is the water fast going? I don’t know how you do it. Thank you for your concern about the fires. And thank you to LJoyce too. (I’m just catching up on reading.)

Hi Everyone
Calif, Im glad to hear you are not near those devastating fires and that your family members are okay. yes, the thermomix was expensive but I do use mine a lot.
lilymartin, hi, Im also in the challenge but find it hard to keep up with so many people (this is hard enough for me in here lol)
LJoyce, I have a lovely walk with a hill or 2 in my neighborhood and have just downloaded an app which will tell me how long it is. I love walking it with my daughter after dinner.
cinque, hope all went well with you today x
Gday, isn’t it great when a magnum helps you lose weight haha. My weight was down from yesterday even tho i didn’t have a FD in the end
Hi Quaka, good to hear you have been doing this for 6 weeks. How is it going? where in australia are you?
I was so hungry yesterday and didn’t stick to my fast day. My granddaughters both didn’t eat snacks they said they wanted and i polished them off and that somehow gave myself permission to eat even more. So today is a CD as i knew Id have morning tea with some ladies from my church. I did have lunch with a friend at her house but it was ham and salad, so all good there.
Tonight I’m going to Pilates, only my 3rd time but I’m enjoying it.
Tomorrow I’m going to http://www.tulipfestival.com.au/ with my daughters and daughterinlaw and 3 small granddaughters, so that should be great as the weather is looking sunny
Have a great day everyone xx

LJoyce, I thought that maybe they were less expensive there than here. It looks like they were invented there. Do they actually have a heating element or is it just the friction from the high speed blending that causes the heat? The Vitamix blender advertises that you can “cook” soups in it, but it’s the friction of the blending that heats things and takes some time of running it for it to become hot. If they can do a lot of meal preparation automatically, that would make them quite valuable.

I have a blender and a food processor but use the processor much more often, except for smoothies and things that really need to be pulverized. I love the blender stick for soups and things on the stove.

Our microwave broke a week ago. We had it for close to 15 years and use it multiple times each day. When we open the door it turns on and runs with the door open. Very dangerous I think! And it won’t turn off unless we close the door. The turntable hasn’t worked well the whole time we’ve had it. It gets repaired and then stops working a week later. So we decided it was time to replace it and went to find one the same day. It’s being delivered and installed tomorrow. (It’s one that hangs above the stove, between the cupboards.) I never knew how much we depend on the microwave until we were without it for the week. What did we do before they were invented? 😁

Lilymartin, it’s good to see you posting here. I see you over on the monthly challenge threads and a couple of others. This is a nice group for support and there are several members here on maintenance, so they have lots of good suggestions. And they show how 5:2 can be a way of life, not a yo-yo diet like most of the things I’ve tried in the past. It’s reassuring to me to see on a daily basis how they’re doing it and that it can be done long term.

Lindsay – glad you got through the colonoscopy prep ok. Hope your results are ok too. The effect of the last 2 days may well have effected your fluid levels, so you may find your weight is more promising in a few days once your diet returns to normal foods.

Stay – enjoy the tulips – they look fantastic.

JJ -thanks for all the adzuki bean links. I bought enough beans to try 2-3 recipes. I’m thinking I’ll try making the hommus and a cooked bean meal.

Cali – I think the thermomix also cooks soup with friction in the way you describe. (I’ve only seen soup demonstrated when it comes to cooking.) Although it might be better to ask StayinThin as she has one, so can probably fill you in on how it works and what makes it different to other blenders. I think they are popular in the vegan and raw food community as they have a good reputation for making excellent nut butters.
I often see those microwave above the oven arrangements in American home renovation shows that we get here. I’ve never seen it here – we usually just have the range hood extractor above the stove and put the microwave somewhere else in the kitchen. I carefully designed a large appliance cupboard for my kitchen that is about 1.3metres wide, goes from benchtop to the top of the overhead cupboards and has a pair of hinged doors that fold open. The back of the cupboard has 4 power points and a halogen downlight in the top of the cupboard to light the bench space. My microwave is on the middle shelf and I have enough room on the benchtop for the airfryer, toaster, food processor and electric mixer. All the smaller appliances (and I do have a lot) are on the middle or upper shelves.) It’s my favourite section of the kitchen because it gives me so much functionality. I spent a long time on the design to get it just right. Because of the arthritis, lifting heavy appliances out of cupboards is difficult. If I had to do that every time I wanted to use the mixer or food processor, I just wouldn’t bother most of the time. It’s definitely something I will want to have installed in any future kitchen. It’s one of those things that once you get used to the convenience it’s hard to contemplate going back.

Lunch out tomorrow and I’m still uncertain what I’ll choose but I’ve narrowed it to three sensible options, so it will depend what I’m in the mood for when I get there.

Hi, I fasted today. It felt good. I’m getting back to my favourite weight. Yes I went a bit over goal weight this time around with all that got in the way of 5/2. It’s a relief to see the scales doing what they always do when I follow the plan. When I’d complained.to Mr M that my pants were too tight, he said confidently that they’d go back to fitting better with a few weeks of 5/2. This has been true. 5/2 is forgiving.