Week 1 diet

There are only two words describing week 1 diet: LIQUID and HARD! I know this is kinda funny, but very true. It is mostly puree-based (so if you like something crunchy and going to do this diet, you might as well forget about crunchy every other week...) - hence liquid; and I can't say it is so little food, but it is hard to fit in 7 servings of food a day, which are not such a nice 'consistency' (to be very honest, I am not very fond of purees ever since I had to recover from wisdom teeth surgery) - hence hard. 

So below all the meals (the menu) - not in order I ate or they are present, but in random order more or less, with pics. Then some tips on cooking them. Then the reflections of each day.

THE MENU


Gazpacho - a portion. I forgot about chives and didn't have cilantro or rice vinegar, I also overdid it a little with cayenne pepper (I have very low tolerance for hot-spicy food), but oh well. But it more reminded me of a processed salad than a real Spanish gazpacho, but still OK (if you like fresh salads and don't mind them in a puree form :D). Extremely easy to make: just dump everything in the processor and press "play" :)

Sweet Potato Corn Pudding - it turned out to be less like a pudding, more like porridge, but still good. I actually liked the taste and was positively surprised with that. Never ate sweet potatoes before, so this is a first. I didn't steam the potatoes though, but simply backed them till tender in the oven - I still don't have a steamer. Next time I will try to blend the ingredients to get a more 'pudding' texture. This is a bit more difficult/long to prepare, but I figured I would prepare lots (3-4 at a time) to save time. I then got 2 portions in the freezer (can unfreeze and warm them up in couple days and they would still be fresh) and 2 portions left in the fridge.

Blueberry Applesauce - really yummy, but it turned out too much. 4 apples (I baked them) and 100 gram blueberries ended up to be almost 400-500 ml, rather than 230... But at least it was a good start of the day - sweet and juicy. One advice though - eat it fresh! Apples don't keep so long after you cut or blend them (they change colour into this horrific poop-like brown...), and if you prepare apples (steam or bake them) the night before, it is not such a hard thing to prepare the sauce for breakfast for example. But it tastes so so so much better fresh. But I might try fresh apples next time...

Veggie Protein Soup is so far my absolute favourite on the menu in week 1. It is also liquid, but at least it is a soup - it is the consistency I am used to in soups. And I love chicken. I have to admit, I took a bit more chicken than there was in the recipe, but well it's not like I'm adding ham or something... The soup is also very easy to make, and I think I would even continue making it outside of diet. :) So I just took two small carrots, grated them; one and a half celery stalks - chopped them in the food processor, cut the frozen chicken into cubes (frozen so that it doesn't spoil, I put it in the freezer), dumped all of it in light chicken broth. While it was seaming, I chopped handful of broccoli and added to the soup too (almost right away), then some parsley in another 10 min, and voila!  In the process of making:

Final result:

Carrot Parsnip Puree is probably my least favourite on the menu for week 1, but it's not too much of it, so I can bear it (I noticed, it is much nicer cold than hot/warm - at least for me). The soup makes it possible to survive the rest :) For a bit of a taste I also added a little bit of parsley into the mix. This is a box of 3 portions:

Chocolate Pudding - God! It is good. I had a great desert with my tea. I used strawberries instead of chestnuts (I have not been able to find them) as Tracy suggests in the Eating Plan - and I found that absolutely yummy. Dates were kinda rough, so they had some problems to mix with the test of the ingredients. But all in all it turned out to be great. Also a recipe to remember for other occasions. :) This is a box (sorry - not so nice-looking) of two portions:

Power Juice - the only part of the diet I have not tried, as a) I don't have a juicer, and b) even though Grünkohl (Kale) is traditional (North) German cuisine, I was not able to find it now. So, decided not to bother. And in general it is a lot of food as it is. May be the next Nutrient Boost Week. :)

About drinks. As I am a tea addict, I drink tons of it a day. Mostly different herb tea mixtures. To keep me warm and cozy.


SOME TIPS ON COOKING

Equipment

• Food processor!!! Do get a food processor if you don't have one already. It is nearly impossible to cook all this without it.
• Blender (if not combined with food processor, and sometimes a hand-blender might be useful as well)
• Juicer (multi-juicers are always good!)
• Steamer (electric or simply one to use in pots) 
• Water boiler / electric kettle - would save your time when you need to boil something, normally it boils water pretty fast
• Chopping boards, knife, some bowls, etc.
• Vegetable peeler
• Apple cutter is a really useful gadget - especially when you have 4 apples to dice and fast!

• Tupperware - any containers: choose appropriate sizes. I prefer to go for portion-sized containers, so you can easily take one or two with you to work.

Preparation - this is essential! Try to find time to prepare: do your homework.

• You need to get a shopping list ready (NB! Mistake in the groceries list on TA community website: it lacks broccoli on the list and adds garlic, which you don't need in week 1). 
• Do your groceries a little in advance - so you are sure you have everything. Get an extra on each (e.g. carrot, onion, etc.) - if your onion is bad and you have only one, there is nothing you can do.
• Plan to find 2-3 hours on cooking to prepare the meals for at least a couple days - that would save your time over the week. I would not go for cooking food for the whole week, as there is a danger things might spoil till day 7, unless frozen... But again, fresh is always better than not!

Cooking

• Power juice is definitely the thing which should be drunk fresh!
• Blueberry Applesauce is also nicer fresh, so either start a day with it (I do) or the other way around, have it as a snack before bed. Do not overdo cinnamon in it, unless you are a fan of it.
• Do several/all recipes at the same time.
• Try to think of efficiency and how you can reduce the time on cooking. Multitasking is essential!
• Calculate how much ingredients you need. Most of the recipes are for two portions, so it is really easy to prepare them twice as much for four days.
• Start with all the prep needed: 
• put the sweet potato/es to steam/bake
• (you can also bake/steam apples for then preparing the Blueberry Applesauce at the same time)
• put water to boil in kettle for boiling carrots and parsnip for the Carrot Parsnip Puree, in the meantime peel and large cut carrots and parsnip, and when water is boiled, put them to boil (I added light stock, which intensified the taste a little)
• if you did not find roasted tomatoes, you might need to roast them yourself (simply bake tomatoes, cut in halves and seeded on a tray open side up for 25-40 min depending on the size of tomatoes)

• While everything above is preparing, start with Gazpacho
• as I written above, just dump all the ingredients in the food processor, and pulse. This should take around 10 minutes or so (if you already have roasted tomatoes). You want a puree consistency, so leave it in there for some time. Then separate into containers.
• By this time the carrots and parsnip should be ready, take the cooking stock into a separate bowl, blend the vegies right there in the pot, adding some of their cooking stock till it is of the desired consistency. I also added some parsley for taste - was really good. Separate into containers.
• Now you can start on the Veggie Protein Soup 
• put the required amount of stock to boil (this can easily be done for the whole week and then frozen)
• chop carrots, celery (in food processor this would take seconds), chicken - put into the stock
• now take the corn off the cob - this is NOT for this meal, but for the Sweet Potato Corn Pudding
• then chop the broccoli and dump into your soup.
• Take the (by then cooked) sweet potatoes and corn, puree in the food processor, separate into containers.
• Your soup should be ready by now too - so separate into containers (and freeze if you want).
• Start with your Chocolate Pudding 
• melt chocolate - on slow heat
• in the meantime put the strawberries (I took them instead of chestnuts, easier and tastier for me, but blueberries and raspberries would do too), pitted dates (I chop them in small pieces, as they are a bit too rough and take some time), coconut flakes, and cacao powder in the blender and blend (I add some water right away too)
• add chocolate, blend and it is ready.
• You then you would only have Blueberry Applesauce to cook (but I do it fresh every morning and using an apple cutter, it really takes only 10 minutes) and Power Juice (again fresh every morning)

REFLECTIONS


Day 1. After day 1 of TAM diet, I have to say, I am feeling good. I don't particularly like the Carrot Parsnip Puree (it is primarily cos I simply don't like boiled carrots), but all the rest is manageable, and the soup and choco pudding are magnificent (and I feel kinda guilty eating all the chocolate and coconut - I don't even eat sweet stuff every day in my normal diet...). I actually feel like I am actually gaining weight. I am not hungry at all. It is honestly hard to find time to eat so many times and so much food. :) Is this really a diet?... I calculated - we are supposed to eat about 1.5 liters of food (I am not counting juice). I know it is low fat and all, but that's a lot... I think I had a bit more even.

Day 2. Still food is enough, though feels much less than the first day. Or may be I made mistakes calculating portions, so make sure you make even portions.

Day 3. This is when cravings start to come in. I simply want some diversity, not anything unhealthy... So I allowed myself to crunch on a carrot and an apple separately. I guess, that's not so bad.