Cheat week!

The time is nigh! I am going to Turkey for a week in about 16 hours
It's the first time ever I'm going to fly anywhere
And its my first real vacation outside of Denmark, I've been to Prague twice but with school though

Anyway I'm going to put the diet on halt for a week as I want to sample the Turkish cuisine so here comes the cheat week!

I will see if I can remember to take some photos and post when I get back

See you all in a week <3

Preoccupied much?

Sorry for my absence, I have been a bit preoccupied with getting ready for my vacation to Turkey ( I'm leaving this Saturday) but here is a couple of photos from the last few days

Smog others, my favorite sort of beans, black beans - and a few things from cheatday

IT'S TORAI MAIL! (bad topmodel pun i know!)

So this is the announcement i was talking about yesterday.

About a month ago i was approached by Pareto Nutrition who'm i had talked a bit back and forth with before on twitter at such (reminds me, follow me on twitter @Dummiesworld ) i usually post new blogposts on there when they go up.
But Pareto asked me to be a part of their questionaire series "5 Questions With: " which showcases up & coming 4HB bloggers, and i was of course happy to participate.

It's generally about who i am, and what i have achieved so far on the 4HB lifestyle.

but definitely go check it out: http://www.paretonutrition.com/blogs/news/6364834-5-questions-with-dennis-jakobsen

And while i'm at it, once again i would like to recommend The PAGG Stack from pareto, its the best stack i have tried, and the people over at Pareto are really friendly and helpful <3
http://paretonutrition.com

//Torai

Tropical Punch!

Tonights dinner was delicious!

I started with mixing the usual massaman curry paste & oil in the work, then added:

• A handful of Kebab meat
• A handful of Pinto beans 

let it cook through and get marinated in the curry
i then added

• A handful of mushrooms

and let them fry off.
Now comes the tropical bit!

• 50-60 grams of pineapple (canned in own juice)

other than that:

• 1½ handful of peas
• a cup of vegetable stock (a cube dissolved in a cup of hot water)
• Salt & pepper

and then i let it all simme and reduce down until it was done

The end result tasted amazing, the pineapple really did the trick, a bit of sweetness and a bit of bitterness, it really made the dish, i shall call it.. Tropical Punch


Now that i have your attention i will be making an announcement/post tomorrow about some lovely news regarding publicity for my blog and general info about me! :D

Meat lover

Might have gone a bit overboard with the meat today ;)
I only decided on adding ham after I had defrosted the frikadeller (danish meatballs)

But fried off a large handful of mushrooms in massaman curry, added the ham and a bit of corn since I ran out of soaked beans
Seal.ed with salt and pepper ofcourse

Sloppy Joe's

A little meat fry-up with a baguette
Started as usual with curry paste dissolved in the hot oil in my wok, mixing it up a bit today though, used Red Curry paste - its lovely with minced beef

400grams of minced beef
a handful of mushrooms
a cup of pinto beans
a cup of corn
a veggie stock cube
a teaspoon of red curry paste
2 tablespoons of canola oil

warmed half a baguette because i was feeling naughty

Heat 'n' Eat

Had been out for a long walk today so I made a heat & eat dinner with pre-made danish meatballs, a can of baked beans and some edamame beans

I'm getting psyked for 11th of august, my first ever flighttrip and my first real vacation outside of Denmark
I'm going to Alanya in Turkey with 5 friends and we got a sweet apartment/hotel at Panorama Garden

Le din-din on cheatday number.. whatever

Yet another Torai concoction 

Added 2 teaspoons of massaman curry paste and half a tablespoon of curry powder to 3 tablespoons of oil and let it dissolve to a nice "marinade"

added 400 grams of ground beef and let it cook through

3 sliced mini/thai eggplants

a handful of mushrooms

a handful of pinto beans

a handful of peas

half a veggie stock cube

a beef stock cube

seasoned salt and pepper

a splash of skim milk for thickening

added 2 crushed cloves of garliv in the end for some extra zing

the bread is the cheatday element

New PAGG experience

So for the last couple of weeks I've been taking the PAGG from Pareto Nutrition and i must say it has been quite the improvement from the Health Spark ones i had before.
Better results and better allround experience.
For one, my pee no longer smells like mushrooms.. and i don't get acid reflux at night anymore, my weight results has been good
And they are pretty too!! xD

They have a nasty taste though... i only noticed this when i already put the pill in my mouth and fondled around for something to wash it down with >_< but it was the same with the healthspark version

So definitely worth the slightly higher price for a more pleasant experience


if you want to order some, you can click the picture below

Let the cheatday commence!

So, i moved my cheatday to friday's.. just because it makes more sense, since its the day my family goes shopping for the rest of the week, and we have had a tradition to get either candy or chips on friday's since i was a little boy
Also i'm at 13kilo's lost (28.6 pounds)

Anyway, i missed last night dinner update so here goes:

As per usual, dissolved some massaman curry paste in 1-2 tblspoons of canola oil, about half a teaspoon as i was going for a slightly less spicy taste than yesterday
fried with the oil mix:
1 handful of mushrooms
2 sliced chicken sausages
½ a handful of slice/shredded ham

let that simmer for a bit and then added:
1 handful of pinto beans
1 handful of peas
½-1 teaspoon of curry powder
half a granulated veggie stock cube
and a dollop of milk to thicken (i always use skim milk)

let it all cook through and enjoy!

Back in business!

Ladies and gentlemen, I am back!

I had a bit of a vacation, plus i've been sick for a few days. Tried to write an update but it wouldn't publish on the lousy connection
I'm going on vacation again in 2 weeks though, a full week in Alanya, Turkey! its gonna be hell on earth with the heat xD

I've lost 12.2 kilo's so far (26 pounds!!!)

Here's a snapshot from tonights dinner
Dissolved half a tablespoon of massaman curry paste in some oil.
Added:
4 sliced chicken sausages
half a teaspoon of curry powder
1½ handful of peas
2 handfuld of pre-boiled sliced cauliflower
a granulated veggie stock cube
a splash of milk to make it thicken

Greasy coconut

so i tried out cooking with coconut milk
aaaaaand it didnt go well

I've never used coconut milk before, so i had NO idea how fatty it was, appearently you can put it in a bowl in the fridge over night and the fat solidifies on top and you can easily remove it.

If only i had known that before i started cooking.. first i thought i had poured in too much oil without thinking about it.. and i let it boil for ages to try and reduce it because it seemed to watery.

The taste was great but i had to remove as much fat as possible with a spoon

i fried off some sliced meatballs in oil and green curry paste, added some slice thai/mini eggplants.
added a can of coconut milk, 1½ handful of mushrooms, half a sliced/julienne'd cucumber and a stalk of lemongrass and let it simmer

Revenge of the chorizo!

So i had another go at the chorizo last night and it was pretty good

added some oil to my wok and dissolved a spoonful of Massaman curry paste in it

while it was heating up i de-skinned the chorizo (im not a fan of the skin) and sliced it
slapped the sausage in the wok at let it cook through - then added 2 handfuls of mushrooms, handful of beansprouts and a handful of big white beans and it it all cook through

was pretty delish

A chance to give back

People have been so kind and supportive over the last month or so regarding my weight-loss journey.
So when i found a small opportunity to give something back i grabbed that opportunity


I was ordering some E-Liquid for my mom's E-Cigarette, an electronic cigarette which she can smoke indoors without the foul smell of ashtrays and smoke - and you can use them everywhere, even in non-smoking areas.. and as far as i know its far less harmful than normal cigarettes - so its a good way to try and quit or atleast cut back normal cigarettes

To the giving back part: i was reviewing my order and noticed under my account on Liberty-Flights.co.uk that i could create an "affiliate program" which supposedly offers 10% discount to people who use my discount code when ordering.. so i made one

So if you are looking to buy an E-Cigarette or restock E-Liquid.. check out Liberty-Flights.co.uk and use the discount code "ToraiGivesBack" when ordering for a 10% discount

I will keep my eyes out for more ways to give back to the community in the future so keep your eyes open for more discounts.

//Torai <3

Neglect

Hi there!

Sorry for neglecting the blog for the last few days - i've had a lot on my mind
But i should be back in business!


i cheated today, but only because my dinner was a failure..
i had put some veggies over to boil, and i went to take a shower, right before that i ask my mom if she could start cooking the chorizo sausages.
When i come out of the shower the veggies are done, and the sausages have gained color on both sides.
So i assume they are done, and plate up.. get to my room, start eating some of the veggies, and then bite into the sausage.. only to be utterly disgusted.. it turns out my mom had just set them to low heat to simmer.. so they were all raw inside and i nearly threw up..
i went downstairs, threw it out.. and grabbed a bowl and filled it with frosties & milk

but atleast my breakfast/lunch tasted good (i woke up late)
chicken sausages with fried mushrooms & beansprouts, seasoned with salt, pepper and paprika

Stuffed Portobello mushrooms

Bought some portobello mushrooms since they were on sale, never had them before - so i looked around the web for cooking suggestions

And i decided to stuff them - i didnt have any ground pork at hand (tried normal white mushrooms stuffed with pork before and loved it) so i used some "frikadeller" a danish meatball instead

Ground 2½ frikadeller with the mini chopper
added 2 tblspoons of cottage cheese
plus 2-3 white mushrooms
and minced it all up

then i peeled the portobello and drizzled them with oil and seasoned with fresh ground pepper and salt

slapped them in the oven for about 15 minutes untill the stuffing started turning goldenbrown

tasted really great

New PAGG starts today

So I received my new PAGG supplement last week and I'm switching today

It's supplied by Pareto Nutrition you can find a link for them in the sidebar (you possibly need to disable adblock to see it)

But I have high hopes for these, I heard they shouldnt give you acid reflux like the ones I used last month from HealthSpark plus there's only 1 pill per meal instead of 2

But I will report back when I've tried them out for week or so

Waste of money - and clarification

So i bought the Omron Body Fat Monitor and thought yay what a great investment.. bullshit
It only goes up to 199kilo's - and im 225

So thats $45 i wont see again.. because i cant send it back, it would cost just as much as buying a new one
It's stuff like this that makes me lose hope, and make me feel like i want to give up

By the way, there seemed to be a misunderstanding when i asked for a helping hand with clothes the other day.. i didnt mean "hey buy me vacation clothes" i mean - i still need new clothes for exercise - i would just love to get a t-shirt and a pair of shorts before i go on vacation, so i can use it on my vacation as well as when i get home and pick up my exercise again

"Hey how can you afford a vacation?" this vacation has been in the planning for a long time, even before i thought about changing my lifestyle - and i had some help paying for it, but give me a break - its the first ever vacation im going on that isnt related with a school-trip..
I'm going to Turkey with 5 friends.. the only other place i have been was Prague with the community college like 5-6 years ago

No breakfast? YOU ARE INSANE!

Skipped breakfast today, didn't really feel hungry at all, but had a nice bowl of reheated chop suey for lunch..

Bought some new oil today instead of the grapeseed I have now, only reason is.. it was 4 bucks cheaper
Got canola oil because its just as healthy as other oils, doesn't really have any flavor and its hella cheap

Right now I'm boiling some veggies and serving it with some of those spicy beef rolls I've used before

Random blurbs

Lost 2 pounds today, and yeah when i get my Body Composition Monitor i will stop the daily weigh-ins and stick to weekly weigh-ins on cheat day before breakfast

made more chop suey today since its easy and its what i had at hand
used same method as last night

im not going for a walk tonight, and didnt last night either since i busted my foot on sunday's walk and its still sore

I really wanted to get a pair of shorts and a new t-shirt for my vacation to Turkey next month, EDIT: what i mean is i've asked for clothes to work out in,  fx. in my /r/Assistance post on reddit and i would like some new clothes before my vacation (already payed for) so i culd use it both for my vacation and my work outs
but i cant afford it, so if someone feel they could afford to help me out (the clothers is ofc also meant as something i can work out in), theres a few t-shirts and shorts on my Amazon wishlist or the site http://bigteeshirt.co.uk  has some fairly priced stuff
Amazon should auto-fill my address but if you find stuff on another site and need my address comment or email me at dummiesworld@hotmail.com

I've also thought about my cheatday.. i need to restructure it - ive been gorging too much, fx. last saturday i had bread and cereal for breakfast, pasta for lunch and a pizza for dinner.. snacks was a bag of chips, an energy drink and a cheeseroll
So i'm thinking 1 cheatmeals, 2 at the max and 1 snack

Wok you 2! The chop suey sequel

So had the wok out again, and opened up a bag of chop suey veggies like the ones i used last week and used about half a bag, enough for 2 meals, and stretched some kebab so a 400g bag will eventually have given 6 meals

But to the suey!

Started the wok of at low heat, last time I burned the curry paste and ruined the wok (I returned it for a new one) and slowly increased the heat while mixing the curry & oil

Added 2-3 tblspoons of oil, a tblspoon of Massaman curry paste and stirred it until it was dissolved and looked like sauce
Then I added the meat and cooked it through and got it all covered in the curry mix
I now added the veggies
Half a bag of chop suey mix
A large handful of white beans
50-100 grams of grated Chinese radish (daikon)
2 teaspoons of soy sauce

I let it all cook through and then added a deciliter of water with half a beef stock cube and half a chicken stock cube dissolved in it
Let it all simmer and reduce until there is very little "sauce" left

I must say the radish/daikon tasted a lot better grated instead of the big chunks

Time for change

I think its time for a change in my diet, not so much what's in it, but the quantities.

I've gained 4 pounds in two days, although 2 of them was from cheatday its still too much.

So I'm cutting down portion sizes, atleast when it comes to meat and eggs. So from now on only 2 eggs in the morning instead of 3, less meat when doing stirfry's, about 200 grams lasted me two meals before, I want it to last 3

As a result of this my breakfast omelet was a bit smaller than usual, but beefed it up with lots of mushrooms and beans.

If you have any thoughts on this or any tips, please leave a commen or email me at dummiesworld@hotmail.com
You can also tweet me @dummiesworld

Oh hello there

Totally forgot to post this morning
Gained 2 pounds from cheat day but as always that's to be expected

Had a great breakfast omelet today, mushrooms chicken sausages and beans as so often before, but today I added a crushed clove of garlic and half a fresh red chili, it was amazing

Right now I'm having leftovers from Fridays wok experiment for dinner

Cheat day #4

So cheat day 4 has arrived, still at 7.9 kilos lost total, hoping to get a hormone boost from cheat day and possibly hit 10 kilos before the 3rd (which would be my 1 month day on the slow carb diet) other than that just a normal cheat day, a bit of bread, a bit of pasta, a bag of chips and I think ill order a wholegrain pizza for dinner

Bought an organic energy drink, I've tried it once before and it tastes awesome

Catch you on the flip side

Wok you man!

Bought a small wok pan today, damn its very different to cook with a pan so thin, the whole kitchen was engulfed in smoke when I put oil and curry paste in the pan :P

Also bought a new curry paste, asked the lady in the shop which would go well with beef since that's what I eat the most
She recommended the Massaman Curry Paste which tastes really well and is really mild heat-wise compared to the red one

I added 2-3 tblspoons of oil to the wok, and a tablespoon of curry paste - let it dissolve to make a "sauce"
Added 150g kebab meat, a handful of black beans, and a handful of sliced mushrooms and let it all cook through
I the added the white veg known as Daikon, also known as Chinese radish.. its basically a giant radish with no pigment, tastes like a normal radish almost
I let the radish fry for a few seconds so it wouldn't go all rubbery and stay crisp

The radish flavor didn't suit this dish though, but that's what this journey is all about, trial and error

Oops

Cheated a bit today, forgot the morning weigh in, and I bought a sausage roll (kinda like a hotdog) but only because I missed breakfast and I had to go down town and get my new passport :/

Dinner + lunch

Two birds with one stone

Fried mushrooms, haricot verts and black beans, added a teaspoon of curry powder, paprika and a veggie stock dissolved in a deciliter of hot water.... And let it reduce voila

Spicy beef rolls on the side

Omelet du fromage!

I'm just loving omelets lately, such an easy way to get your breakfast, fry some veggies, fry some meat and then add eggs easypeasy

I lost 400 grams and I'm now at a total of 7.9 kilos lost :D

Didn't write much last night because my lunch and dinner was both leftover chop suet

Le omelet

Simple matcha omelet with mushrooms chicken sausage and beans

Crispy on the outside gooey on the inside

Chop Suey a'la Torai

Bought this bag of mixed veggies today for only 2 bucks!

But as mentioned 200 times I don't eat chicken, so I used 200grams minced beef instead with 2 sliced "meatballs" as well

First, fried the meat
Then added a stock mix (1 deciliter of water with a veggie stock cube and a teaspoon of red curry paste)
Added the veggies and a sliced red chili
And last I let it all simmer for 5-10 minutes

Get Yo' PAGG on!

So as i mentioned a few days ago i was looking around for which PAGG stack to get for next month
and i went with the stack from Pareto Nutrition.

1. They have great deals like free shipping worldwide when you order 2+ months supply
2. I've read tons of recommendations about PAGG and most of them point toward pareto
3. I had a quick chat with Lucas Starbuck from Four Hour Body Couple and he recommended it aswell


You can order yours here (disable adblock if you cant see it):

Dinner Day22

Boiled mixed greens with "medister" a danish sausage somewhat like a kielbasa I would guess 

Poor man's matcha whisk

I couldn't afford a real chasen whisk when I ordered my matcha (green tea) so I had to make do with what I had

"Poor man's #matcha whisk" on YouTube

My breakfast omelet resembled a pancake a bit because of the matcha I put in it :P but matcha gives a great taste

Dinner Day??

I think I've messed up the day-count a bit, I started the 4th which would make today day 21 if my math hasn't abandoned me :P

Dinner, I mixed up some spices that I normally wouldn't have used together, which was basil, paprika and curry powder - it was quite good

With the spices was fried mushrooms, celery, spring onion and ground beef
As I've done before I added a cup of water with a veggie stock cube mixed in and let it reduce down to a stew like state

Salad on the side

Green eggs & "ham"

Green Tea Eggs! Added some of my matcha (powdered green tea leaves) to this mornings eggs

It didn't work out as green as I was hoping, but its impossible to get high grade matcha on a budget

But it tasted quite awesome, and on the side is fried chicken sausages (yes I use them a lot but they are
cheap and I don't eat regular chicken) mushrooms and pinto beans

Cheat day bullets dodged

I only gained 300 grams since yesterday :D

Even after I had both bread for breakfast, rice for lunch and a quite cheesy pizza for dinner.. and then I snacked on a bag of chips, an icecream and winegums

Now.. BREAKFAST and I've got an idea for my eggs, stay tuned

Cheat day #3

Let the feast commence!

Or well all I got lined up for today is some breakfast rolls, a frozen pizza and a bag of potato chips

I've been looking at PAGG stacks the last couple of days, the first month's supply I got from a friend.. I didn't really think about the high pricing
I found the cheapest solutions I could (I doubt it can get lower) either £50 (about $77) for one month or 3 months for £125 (about $195)
That's about 1/4th of what I have left after paying my bills

Dinner Day20

A curry/stir fry

Fried:
Handful of sliced mushrooms
A couple of sliced chicken sausages
A bit of kebab meat
2 teaspoons of curry powder

Then added a handful of black beans, peas and a cup of water mixed with a veggie stock cube and a teaspoon of red curry paste and let it all simmer down to a lovely "curry"

Dinner Day19 + Morning Day20

I lost a total of 15 pounds now! (6,8kg)

Yesterday I made another batch of my Bolognese, my mom had some and my brother dropped by, they both loved it, but it means there was very little left over for today :(

Not really hungry this morning after the 1.5 liter of water, so thinking about skipping breakfast

Simple salad

A lettuce mix, added peas, black beans, chicken sausages and mixed with a bit of oil, salt and pepper

"Half" cheat day

Celebrated my grandma's 80th birthday today, I had a few crackers, a muffin and a beer

Dinner was a simple bean and snack/snap pea salad with chicken sausages

Morning Day17

Lost 500 grams - at a total of 6.6 kilos :)

It's my grandmoms 80th birthday today, so I will be busy, and I might cheat a little bit

Dinner Day16

Chopped up and fried mushrooms carrots and spring onions, then added beans, meatballs and 2 deciliter of stock mix (1 veggie stock cube and a teaspoon of red curry paste) and let it all simmer and reduce down

Tip: boil the carrots first, they were very hard even after simmering a good 10-15mins

Oh happy day

So today is a bit better than yesterday - i lost 400grams, and i got my phone exchange for a brand new one ^_^
And the GPS works!

Breakfast was leftovers from lunch yesterday, and so is lunch today ^_^

Dinner

Simple and easy

Storebought spiced beef rolls with boiled greens & beans

Day 15

Kind of a sucky day, gained 700 grams and found out the GPS in my brand new phone is faulty.. so now I guess I have to send it of to repairs before I can begin to track my walks on endomondo again

Eggs failed again, wanted an omelet.. ended up with scrambled

Lunch was decent boiled som frozen cauliflower, carrots and brocolli

Minced half a celery stalk, a carrot, handful of mushrooms, a spring onion and mixed it with 200grams of minced beef and made patties out of it - it was quite loose, maybe I will try and add an egg next time to keep it together

Reworked lunch for dinner

This was my leftovers from lunch with some shredded carrots with lemon juice.
And spinach with a bit of oil plus salt&pepper

Beef & mushroom "stew"

Today's lunch was sort of a stew

Contents:
2 handfulls of sliced mushrooms
A spring onion - chopped
3 sliced radishes
Salt & pepper
Black beans
200grams of minced beef
1 tbl spoon of tomato purée
1 vegetable stock cube
1 teaspoon of red curry paste

Add the mushroom ,onions and radishes to a pan with some oil and season with salt & pepper - let roast until the mushrooms are nice and golden.

Now add the beef and leet it cook through, no browning

While the beef cooks, dissolve the curry paste and stock cube in about 2-2,5 deciliter of hot water
Add the stock mix, tomato purée and beans to the pan, stir and let it simmer and reduce until most of the liquid is gone

Would go great with pasta or a simple baguette

Breakfast Day14 - Damn eggs

I wanted eggs with this but they kept breaking when I wanted to flip them :(

So its just mushrooms, pinto beans and beansprouts spiced with curry powder and some leftover frikadeller (danish meatball kinda)