Tuesday 5 June 2007

Thank goodness for the Beach Body Diet

I was quite heartened to read in this week's Sunday Times Style magazine about the Beach Body diet. Normally I would avoid any radical diet, aka the cabbage soup diet like the plague. But this one did generate some interest purely because I wouldn't have to starve myself. Severe hard core diets have never appealed to me. Start on Monday 4th June. Oh, but it's Anete's birthday. Well I will just have to be resolute and determined and stick to fish (grilled or baked preferably) and for dessert no cake, just fruit, I said to myself in a stern teacher-like tone.

So with a mixture of renewed enthusiasm and determination, I embarked on an agreeably managable Beach Body diet. For breakfast, I opted for millet porridge, with a sprinkle of organic nuts and a droplet of honey. Lunch. I couldn't be bothered cooking, the appealing lentil and gingery orange soup, so I opted for a packet of miso soup and munched on a couple of oatcakes topped with small pieces of goats cheese. Yum! Afternoon snack; a handful of sunflower seeds and a small apple - protein and fruit, yee-ay I'm loving it! I spent the afternoon milling around Earls Court at the Pulse craft and trade fair, a source of inspiration and creativity but left me feeling ravenous. I spent the last hour before exhibition closing time, hovering hungrily around the edge of Earls Court near the food stands. Pizza Express (hmmm smell of freshly baked pizza). Crussh bar, healthy stuff. I looked in my purse and realised I only had £1.50 so grumpily I settled for a cup of earl grey tea which left me buzzing because I'm not used to drinking any form of caffine now.

That evening I met the girls and Anete, the birthday girl, at a tapas place on Marylebone High Street. Anete had a nice day. Two of her friends had taken her to Claridges for English tea, lucky girl! So they had eaten their fill of cucumber sandwiches, scones and cakes and wanted to snack. I ordered a tapas which on the menu for me resonated Health Supreme Status. Tofu with strips of pepper marinated in a light sweet and sour ginger dressing oh and feathered in presentation with bounding green watercress. I couldn't go wrong. Protein and veg. I was stunned when the minature square dish was plopped in front of me with its designer presentation of two measly pieces of tofu and five slivers of red pepper delicately flavoured with this sweet and sour ginger dressing. Beautiful to look at, tasted delicious too but I felt hugely cheated by the ant-size portion. I was still hungry after that so when one of Anete's friends suggested eating birthday cake at their pad I thought to myself, oh-oh detox going to pot, I'm going to enjoy this. And you know what - it was well worth it! When this large, perfectly rotund cheesecake graced the coffee table it was sheer elegance. It exuded this wonderful fresh aroma. To look at it truly was the most perfect cheesecake I'd ever seen. Delicately laced with redcurrants on top and surrounded by a daisy chain of raspberries and blueberries, this organic amaretti cheesecake was a delicious sight. It could have passed for a wedding cake. When I sunk into its lush yet light layerings, the cheesecake melting in my mouth like smooth ice-cream I can honestly say for the first time in my life, I had stopped to fully appreciate food.

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