YUCK! Quinoa Milk SUCKS! (Days 37-39)
Day 37
Almonds soaked in water
After yesterday’s long overdue workout and meal out at Tayyab’s in Whitechapel, my weight increased 0.4kg to 66.6kg while my Body Fat decreased 0.5% to 16.7%. My Body Water and Body Muscle both increased 0.3% to 57.2% and 43.3% respectively. After last night’s Chana Dal I feared it might add some flab to my belly, but it seems not, as Hamzah pointed out, it seems it was a good source of protein after all. Protein my body put to good use after the workout earlier yesterday.
I started my day with the same breakfast as yesterday, whilst also snacking on some almonds soaked in water.
Red lentils,, wholegrain basmat rice, black olives and vegetable juice
Red lentils, wholegrain basmati rice and salad
I exercised again today similar to yesterday’s workout.
For lunch I had red lentils, wholegrain basmati rice and black olives with vegetable juice.
For dinner I ate red lentils, vegetable curry and salad.
At night I snacked on some nuts, dates, fruit juice and hazelnut milk. Maybe one too many!
Day 38
Vegetable soup
I had the same breakfast as the last couple of days.
For lunch I had vegetable soup.
In the evening I was invited with my wife and the rest of my family to my aunt’s house for an Eid al-Fitr dinner. It was an extended family kind of event. As people had been fasting all month, my aunt had created a meat feast to delight her guests. There were numerous dishes to indulge in but all meat based: lamb shoulder, lamb chops, chicken, mutton mince… you name it, it was served!
My sister, mum, nan and wife stood outside my aunt's house arriving for an Eid dinner
Unfortunately, I couldn’t feast on hardly any of the variety that was served up. So I started eating what I could, the salad, and then that awkward moment came… when everyone starts to realise that your plate doesn’t quite look right, then comes the curiosity, then comes making the big deal about the whole thing. I had wanted to stay under the radar about my vegan experiment in front of my relatives. See I hadn’t been to my aunt’s house in 15 years or so. Back then I was a bit of an odd one out of the family, particularly the males and even more so amongst the second generation of cousins who were born in the UK because of my devoutness to my faith. I was extremely religious and being brought up in the UK at that time it wasn’t so common for young people to be so religious. I just didn’t want to continue to project an eccentric image! So I tried my best to play down the unwlecomed attention. I explained it was an experiment that would be over within a couple of days as I was most likely only doing it for 40 days and it was already day 38. In Punjabi my uncle jokingly remarked: “Ali! Tu Hindu Ho Gaya?!” (Ali! Have you become a Hindu?!) I said, “No, why do you say that?” He said “Hindus do 40 day fasts called chalisa.” I replied that I didn’t know that. Which at the time I didn’t. It’s only after researching my a recent blog post did I discover how widespread 40 day fasting in one form or another really is around the world. Ahh… if only I had known what I know now and I could’ve responded with a smarter answer… Oh, no! Stop it Ali! That would have only reinforced the image I was trying to shed!
Anyway, after my Mum and some of my relatives made a big deal about the whole thing, my aunt was very kind in offering me some daal she had made the day before. As it wasn’t meat she didn’t think anybody would have appreciated it with all the meat that she had on offer. How wrong she was. It was a mix of two dals. One was moong dal and the other one I can’t quite remember what it was (the meal was on 11th September 2010 and its now 5th January 2011!). But it was so nice, I asked my wife to try it and suggested that we should also experiment with mixing two types of legumes and pulses in one dish. Another great daal culinary experience!
Day 39
EcoMil Quinoa milk. 0% Soya. 0% Cholesterol. 0% Gluten. 100% Disgusting.
My breakfast and morning routine was the same as the last few days.
For lunch and dinner I ate urid dal with wholegrain basmati rice.
I exercised again today, just as the last couple of days.
Today I tried Quinoa milk for the first time. I think I can honestly say it is the most disgusting thing I have ever tried. I really can’t remember trying anything as horrid before in my life! It was so bad it almost put me off Quinoa in its whole form! I felt sick for a while, the smell in my mouth just wouldn’t go and almost every aroma reminded me of it! So this is the first vegan alternative to milk that I can honestly advise to keep well away from. ABSOLUTLEY DISGUSTING!