Yes there are apps for everything nowadays, Daily Dish is in essence a personal shopper slash recipe provider for those who are "too busy" to shop. Ok fair enough however, the sevice comes with a pricetag and quite frankly I could spend that cash more effectively. So instead of paying someone else to shop for me or plan recipes out for me, when I can't get to the shop there's online ordering and delivery from many stores these days.
As for the 30 min meals....challenge accepted! I will create my own meals and recipes and aim for the 30 min cook time although I will be checking commentary on the Daily Dish to see whether all meal cooking times are truly 30min. The DailyMich meals will never take longer than 45min but with Winter looming I know a hearty caserole or 2 will be on the books.
Becausd I'm a major foodie the recipes I will be sharing tasty, hearty, flavourful yet healthy meals. For the first month to 6 weeks the meals will lean towards the banting style of things as I'm looking to shred a few pounds but I will always make a carb recommendation to accompany the meal for those who are so inclined.
Day 1
Breakfast: Fried Egg & 3 Rashers of lean back Bacon (Fried in coconut oil)
1/4 Green Pepper(substitute for slice of toast)
Spices - Sundried Tomato & Garlic Salt
Cayenne Pepper
Lunch: Tuna Salad
Lettuce, Tomato, white onion, pimento stuffed olives, cucumber 1tbsp Mayo, 1 can Tuna
Daily Mish Dinner Number 1
- Creamy Chicken Nut Ratatouille
(Serves 2)
200g Deboned Skinless Chicken Breast
300g Zucchini
60g White Onion
60-80g Button Mushrooms
20ml Coconut Oil for frying
Cayenne Pepper, Oregano, Lemon & Garlic Salt
Sauce:
25g Cream of Chicken Soup powder
80-100ml water
35-50ml Cream
20-25g Peanut Satay( Peanuts,ginger,garlic,chilies,vinegar,canola oil,antioxidant:TBHQ,stock,curry paste,salt,gelatins,citric acid blended in food processor then chilled) or buy in store "Sauceress Sauces" is proudly South African and available in most Spar's, Pick & Pay's, other brands make similar so any peanut Satay will do
Chop the Zucchini, Mushrooms and onion ibto thin slices, debone and skin your chicken if not bought pre-skinned and deboned. Cut chicken into strips or cubes down to your own preference.
Heat up pan, with coconut oil. When hot add onions until browned, slowly add chicken cubes and spice generously with Cayenne pepper, lemon & garlic salt and oregano. This should take 3-5 min depending on the volume of chicken. Now that the chicken and onions are spiced and browned it's time to add Mushrooms and Zucchini now reduce heat and stirfry.
Whilst this is in pan add the chicken soup powder, water, mayo and cream together and stir well finally add peanut satay and stir until dissolved. Turn your attemtion back to the pan. Once colour starts changing on Zucchini we will be ready to add the sauce mix.
Add sauce mix being up the heat to med-high 3-4 and wait for it to thicken, stir throughout takes approximately 2-3 minutes. Taste and serve! Delish
I know I can’t speak for
everyone but in my opinion there has been a slight shift in global
consciousness over the last few years. The worldview I have and surely
many of my friends and colleagues have is vastly different from that of
generations past. I also tend to look at investing and investment
strategy a little bit differently. When I consider what looks viable for
future growth, I take a minute to think about the world and where we as
a society are steering it. One particular sector, which I believe has the potential for
exponential growth over the medium to long term is Biotechnology. Now
obviously everyone reading this not a Doctor, Scientist, Biologist,
Researcher or Pharmacologist, so to elaborate properly on my position I
want to break it down in layman’s terms. Let’s firstly look at describing Biotechnology - in it’s simplest form, it literally is technology that is based on biology. Biotechnology
harnesses cellular and bio-molecular processes to create and further
develop existing treatments, procedures and products that not only help
to improve our lives and longevity, but in recent years also the health
of our planet. As published in a recent article by Deloitte, out of the top 10
Pharma products by sales in 2014, the majority of them were biotech
drugs. These included monoclonal antibodies and recombinant products.
Now you’re thinking, what the hell does that mean, monoclonal antibodies
are developed by cloning of cells. Recombiant products are also derived
from DNA technology these are then used in the treatments for
degenerative diseases, we have come a very long way from when we
originally started with stem cell research. Cancer, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Hepatitis C figured most prominently
in the list of the most sales-generating drugs. Sadly I am sure this
comes as no surprise, as most of us have been affected by Cancer maybe
not directly but we all know someone who has Cancer, had Cancer or has
it in their family. The most well-known degenerative diseases include:
Alzheimer’s Disease, Cancer, Diabetes (Type II) ALS(Lou Gehrig’s
Disease), Heart Disease, Huntington’s disease, MS, Parkinson’s,
Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid arthritis, but these are
only the most commonly known and by no means the only one’s society has
to worry about, the list of degenerative diseases has been on the
increase over the last to decades, medical sciences need to advance at
astronomical rates just to keep up with the needs of an ever growing
population.
To give you an idea of where Biotech is in monetary terms, Biotech
drug sales were an estimated $289 billion in 2014 and are projected to
grow to at least $445 billion by 2019.That’s an increase of 53% in
revenue over 5 years. In addition, biotech’s share of worldwide
prescription drug and over-the-counter pharma sales is projected to
increase from 23 percent in 2014 to 26-30% in 2019. If the fundamental impact that Biotechnology has had on medicine is
not enough to warrant your consideration, perhaps you are more of an
environmentalist and would appreciate what this sector can and does for
our planet. Biotech crops contribute to reducing the environmental impact of
productive agriculture, and as a result it increases global food
security without the need for increased land clearance. Insect resistant
crops offer an alternative to chemical inputs on some crops and have
allowed development of more targeted, flexible, effective and
sustainable integrated pest management programs.
Biotech applications in the R&D pipeline : disease resistant,
drought and stress tolerant crops, offer additional opportunities to
increase global food security while further reducing the environmental
footprint of agriculture.
It has also made significant strides in helping to sustain and
protect our marine life, over the last 5 decades most of the worlds
coral reefs have died and continue to die at an incredible rate, Biotech
has made it possible for our future generations to yet again be able to
enjoy some of natures most beautiful organisms, not only are we
currently replanting coral that has been grown using biotechnology,
marine biologists have also been able to simulate what they call “Ocean
simulator tanks” that mimic what ocean water conditions will be like in
the years to come, this helps them to manipulate the newly developed
coral genetics to prepare them to adequately survive these environmental
changes. Yes, our species have ruined this planet and ourselves through
technology, but it is this same technology that will help us repair,
restore and rejuvenate this planet and ensure the survival of the human
race.
Just a short and sweet one today, Monday was a wash! Yes
the day was a 0 on a contract and I have decided to expel it from memory. Well
not quite but I sure wish I could.There is a lot happening in the financial world right now, with
investors looking for the next best thing, emerging markets have seen a lot of
growth over the last 2 quarters and we are hoping to maintain this going
forward.
Unfortunately here in SA our strengthening Rand has lost a
lot of ground in the month of August, predominantly relating to the ongoing
Hawks Vs Gordhan saga.
Sufficed to say, it was a busy busy day at the office. I
had a bit of a food wobble as well. With all the chaos, I was unable to eat at
my regular intervals. I did manage to keep my water quota in tact and did go
for my 2km walk, so that was a bonus. After work, I got to Betty (My little
Sandero) and noticed that the remote didn’t work, I manually unlocked the car
and to my shock horror realised that I had left the lights on accidentally and
that she was dead!
This would’ve been absolutely fine, except that I had
taken my jumper cables out of the car on Friday when I went to get a new tyre
and didn’t; put them back in. The mission to find jumper cables began…strange
as it may sound 5 out 6 people don’y have jumper cables, or at least that was
my experience. I eventually had a chat with the hotel security staff and they
offered to have their CID team come out with a Jump Kit for me. This was at
5:05PM, at 5:45PM I had reached my limit in patience and decided that I would
call my insurer: 1st for Women – after 6 failed calls/dropped calls
whatever you want to call it, I eventually spoke to someone and they requested
the roadside assistance. At 6:55PM the roadside assistance guy arrived, he gave
me a quick jump and I was off. I work in Green Point and live in Hout Bay, it’s
roughly a 30-40min drive.
Now yes in fairness I could’ve still gone to gym and
returned home at around 8:45PM-9:00PM (1hr gym session and 50min to get there
and then back to my house) then gotten the camera ready and cooked a healthy
dinner but I didn’t…. Instead I succumbed to temptation and got myself some
comfort food in the form of a McDonald’s Big Tasty Burger. Yes I know 800 Calories
in one burger, but I really did not give a fuck at that point.
I have to say after 20 days of no carbs that burger was
like a blessing!
Daily Food Diary
Water 2.5l (I compensated and drank an extra 500ml with my
burger, to aid digestion)
Tea: 2 cups green tea, no sugar, no milk
Coffee 2 Cups, 1 brown Sugar, Milk
Food
1 Medium Sized Apple
1 x Big Tasty Burger
Jawbone UP3 Tracker Data:
Step Goal: 6500Actual: 7775
Sleep Goal: 7hrActual: 6hr
Resting Heart Rate: 64 Bpm
Highest Measured Heart Rate: 81 Bpm
Tuesday Day 21
Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, I
have a beautiful feeling everything’s going my way. Yes indeed, this Tuesday
morning was started with clear skies and a glorious view on my drive to work.
I was feeling energized and ready to tackle the day. Only
one more day till I could actively start incorporating alcohol back into my
eating regime and 3 weeks of for all intent and purpose sticking to my diet.
Work is work and play is play yes, but sometimes I get so
upset at the sheer volume of mediocrity I am faced with. People so bloody
complacent and content in doing the very least possible. Arghh this is what
causes a person to snap! I don’t know I tend to live by the mantra when it
comes to work that “ Make your presence known and your absence felt” if you
live your life that way, you will always be an asset to your business and in
demand for future prospects. I believe no matter what position you find
yourself in that you should immerse yourself in it and become the best in it. I think I need to patent that slogan, as my peers from various other industries are already using it in their motivational talks - pay me my royalties guys...
Evidently that is not what the rest of society believes and it fucks me right
off. Can we please get a grip and start being contributing members of society,
or is that too much to ask?
I had a great lunchtime stroll down Somerset Road and have
managed to cut my walking time down to 22min, bearing in mind that I am in full
office attire and can’t very well run or work up too much of a sweat in them. I
have made a decision to start changing into another set of clothes for the walk
when I return from Jhb on the 11th.
It was also back on track with the food day here’s the
breakdown:
Water: 2l
Tea: 1 Cup Green Tea
Coffee 2 Cups, 1 Brown Sugar, Milk
Breakfast: 1 Boiled Egg
6 Strawberries
Mid-morning snack: 80ml Yoghurt
Lunch: Tuna Salad
Lettuce, Herbs, Cherry Tomatoes,
Carrot Shavings, Beetroot Shavings,
Onion
1/2 can of tuna (in
water).
5ml Mayo
Dinner: Chicken Stir-fry(Great mix to have with some noodles making it a Chicken
Chow Mein for the rest of the fam)
100g Chicken Breast
50g Cabbage,
40gCarrot,
40gOnion,
40g Mushroom,
30g Bean Sprouts
20g Sweet Corn
10ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Soy Sauce
Salt & Pepper
There is no video today as I was crammed for time, besides, everyone of you knows how to chop, and that is all a stir fry is, getting your ingredients together, chopping them up and frying them. Starting with the onions folks, then add the mushrooms, then the meat and then everything else and Viola you have your meal!
Jawbone UP3 Tracker Data:
Step goal: 6500 Actual: 8928
Sleep Goal: Actual: 3h46m (Not great at all, couldn't turn my mind off been worrying about a friend of mine who's gonna have a baby soon - positive vibes to the universe that all goes well)
Today's exercise was something different, I did a little bit of a cardio dance work out at home, it'll get the blood pumping guys, try it if you wanna pump up that booty! Hey O hey o!
The “Hawks” investigation of Finance MinisterPravin Gordhan is having a bit of a
ripple effect. This has caused a clear rift between state and business. Weeks
after the worst performance in an election, the ANC is succumbing to even
further internal divisions – Cyril Ramaposa(believed to be a possible candidate to replace Zuma after
he steps down as the ANC’s leader and eventually as President.Openly declaring his support for
Gordhan is just one thing.
We need to root out whether this public dispute is of a
personal vindictive nature or whether there is legitimate cause for concern, to
the best of my knowledge and based on what has been made public by the press,
this all started when Zuma was pressured into hiring Gordhan in Dec 2015 –
after the Nhlanhla Nene debacle.
To give you some background,
Pravin Gordhan ran SARS as Commissioner between 1998 and 2009, he later oversaw
it politically when he was Finance Minister between 2009 and 2014. Moyane was
appointed as SARS boss back in 2014 to allegedly clean up “the mess” at SARS,
After his recent re-appointment as Finance Minister Gordhan
pleaded to Zuma to fire the country’s Tax Chief, Tom Moyane, now whether this
was a legitimate request, as Gordhan’s spokesperson Phumza Macanda has stated, or
simply an effort to prevent certain facts to come to light remains to be seen.
There has been an ongoing battle between the SARS boss and
our Finance Minister, predominantly Monyane side has claimed that this is
regarding a KPMG report that they want to release which will reinforce the
allegations of a so-called “rogue investigative unit that was set up within
SARS” and that this was overseen by Ivan Pillay – a close comrade of Mr.
Gordhan’s
While the Gordhan side, claims that the whole situation is
relating to the operational overhaul and certain report disclosures Moyane’s
camp want to make. The truth I believe remains to be seen.
According to a Sunday Times
article in late January of this year, “there were 2 independent probes that
preceded the KPMG report, which forced several former SARS officials close to
Gordhan - including Pillay and former risk and enforcement executive Johann van
Loggerenberg - to resign after the rogue unit was uncovered.” - Cited from
Sunday Times Article 24 January 2016
The unfortunate thing here
is that we as the public, do not have enough information to make informed
comments. There are ties to all sorts here, Moyane and Zuma go as far back as
their days in exile. Zuma and Gordhan also once allies, worked together in the
ANC's underground operations in the 1980s, but in recent years have fallen out
several times.
SARS as a whole has been plagued by scandal for a long time
and quite frankly there may yet be more skeletons to come a bouncing out the
closet. For whatever reason, if there was a need for an additional
investigation unit during those years – which were very politically volatile.
This would’ve been to uncover upper-level corruption.
There are so many social and economical concerns here, on a far
greater scale. The most unnerving thing here is what our Foreign investment
sector will do, yesterday we saw the sale of quite a few shares in the local
banks by foreign investors, the Rand has also weakened substantially in the
month of August. On the 15th a dollar cost you R13.24 and it looked
positive, checking the markets this morning, 31st August a $ runs at
R14.52. It may just be time to
hold your dollars again people, because I don’t see the downward trend stopping
any time soon.
Our agricultural industry is still suffering with the
effects of the drought and has projected 0% growth for the year, the continuous
protest actions, from both public and private sectors over the last few years,
coupled with political instability that currently gets hyped up in international
news papers regarding the “tiff” between our President and Finance Minister is
surely not instilling confidence in investors, add to that the Gupta’s who are looking
to sell all of their shares in South African Business is just another factor in
this potjiekos pot we call the South African economy.
What a bloody mess Friday turned out to be, I started the
morning off by trying to find a tyre replacement place, eventually got sorted
at Superquick in Sea Point. 900 Bucks later I had a new tyre. Bleh! Not the
best way to start your day, especially not a week before payday.
Anywhoo, the diet damage done by the previous evenings
shenanigans also played heavily on me, so much so that I decided to do another
semi-fasted day.
I had my 2l of water and split a summer salad into 4
portions. I also ensure that my apple was split into 2. This pretty much made
up my daily meals. Now I have been told by one of my mates, who is a dietician
that this could work for some but not necessarily for all - she has advised that fasting even for short periods of time may actually halt my metabolism entirely - Bleh, okay then, thanks for the heads up love, unfortunately I don't have 2k right now to run a full blood panel and see exactly what would work for my specific body - for the most part
though I feel that I am trying and eventually will stumble onto what works for me - this is about a change in general and not so much a diet, yes I want to kick the pounds too, and with enough exercise I'm sure they will abate. I am seeing centimeter loss and lets face it, most sports professionals/trainers etc will tell you that the real results you will only start noticing in yourself between 4-8 weeks, so we still have a ways to go.
I am back on the alcohol free stint until Wednesday of
next week. That makes 22 Days yes, but remember I lapsed on Thursday so I had
to add another day.
So regardless of having had several explanations I was still very dismayed and completely thrown by the lack of
weight lost over the last 2 and a half weeks but have been told that this could
also be linked to my current emotional state. I guess that’s valid, but
didn’t quite realize how big of an effect your emotional state/well-being has on
weight loss – until I started researching this.
In particular I was floored to find the clinical trials
and psychological studies that had been done over the course of the last 2 decades. These were done on a variety of people trying to lose weight. All different shapes and sizes as well as racial demographics. Some only wanting to lose 5pounds others 100pounds.
It was strange to find that a whole lot of them showed that a real key to weight loss was not diet or exercise, but is instead a person's
emotional state. A recent study inclusive of questionnaire discovered that 90 percent of the
participants ignored the psychological link between food and exercise.
Okay, so yes. I am an emotional eater, yes I have been sad and angry
recently. Yes my personal life is an absolute disaster right now…so maybe I need
to start seriously focusing on getting my mind right too. The truth is that
there are a lot of logistics involved in happiness. So I will now start
actively trying to sort out my “shit”. We all have baggage, some only a handbag
others a duffel some even vans and vans full of baggage. So in an attempt to
“declutter” my personal baggage I will work on some much needed emotional
stability, with my recent relocation, being away from my kids(they are furry)
and trying the long-distance thing with my boyfriend it has been putting a heavy strain
on my chi. Furthermore missing friends and family is hard, but there are always
ways around things. I need to go and set a realistic game plan into motion to
figure out what I want in life and in love.
Jawbone UP3 Data:
Step Goal: 6500Actual: 6628
Sleep Goal: 7hrActual: 4h22m
(Bleh)
Food Intake:
2l Water
Coffee: 3 Cups, 1 Brown Sugar,
Milk
Woolies Summer Salad with 1 can
of Tuna(in Water)
1 Medium Apple
Saturday Day 18
The day started out fairly
normal, I did my washing and went for a stroll in the vineyard. I saw the
strangest thing ever! A Hadeda chasing Ducks out of a tree! Yes you heard me
right. Now this is not something you see in Gauteng people. You may see ducks
on a pond but certainly not in high trees.
A lot of my day was spent on
studies and binge watching Felicity. There are so many now famous actors who
had small roles in that show. It’s actually funny that I didn’t remember them
before now.
Here’s a quick list of the stars
and their most recent shows.
Bethany Joy Lenz – Hayley in One
Tree Hill
Tyra Banks – Top Model and now
her own Talk show
Donald Faison – Best known as
Turk from Scrubs
Eddie Cahill – CSI NY, Under the
Dome
Christopher Gorham – He played
Harrison in the 2000’s tv show Popular and now recently played Auggie in Covert
Affairs and can be seen as Wyatt in Heartbeat.
Simon Rex- Scary Movie 3,4 & 5
Amy Smart – Many movies,
recently played Allison in Justified
I didn’t feel like cooking at all this weekend, I did make
myself a 2 egg omelette in the morning, filled with mushroom, onion, green
pepper and cheese. But when it came to lunch and dinner I opted for a delicious
Caesar Salad from Woolies which I split over the 2 mealtimes.
Jawbone UP3 Data:
Step Goal: 6500Actual: 4991 (Epic Fail)
Sleep Goal: 7hrActual: 8hr40m
Sunday – Day 19
Sunday started out all smoggy – for all intent and purpose
it looked like it would be a day spent indoors, but with some luck this swung
around and by 12PM the sky was clear. For me it was a day of reflection and some
much needed introspection. I took a long stroll in the garden, past the pond through the vineyard – after which I spent some
time with my awesome neighbours (They are horses by the way). There are 5 of them, right next door and they are super friendly. I don't know there is something about stroking a horse and looking into it's eyes.
In the afternoon I went to spend
some time at my dune. There were
some gorgeous sail boats sailing on the turquoise water – I want one!
That is something I love doing, sailing, yes it's hard and yes we got stuck on a hobie cad in Mauritius for a while, a loooooong while. But sailing is a blast, fishing and diving are blasts too and they all go hand in hand together. Don't get me wrong I'll take a speed boat too, but sailing with wind, is just something else. Ideally I would like to get a combination boat, with sails and a powerful engine.
A song in particular that helped me today with my "introspection" is 'Catch & Release" - Matt Simons Do yourselves a favour and really listen to the words, ah, such a great song.
The food day was pretty boring but at least I cooked again.
Breakfast - 2 Egg Omlette Cheese, Tomato, Mushroom, Green Pepper Lunch - Green Salad - Lettuce, Cucumber, Onion, Cherry Tomato, Feta Dinner: Beef, Green Beans & Baked Mushrooms Ingredients: 100g Tenderised Steak 80g Portobello Mushrooms 80g Green Beans 30g Grated Cheese 5-10g Cream Cheese 5-10g Pesto (Mine is made with Red Pepper, Garlic, Cashews, Spices and Extra Virgin Olive Oil) 10ml Sweet Chili Sauce 10ml Soy Sauce (Can be reduced salt soy too)
Here's the video, it really is super easy! Remember to liven things up through spices.
