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indigo.becki

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Eat dinner like a pauper

Green bean, potato, fennel salad with smoked ocean trout and whipped tarragon feta
Green bean, potato, fennel salad with smoked ocean trout and whipped tarragon feta

So the Chinese have this saying – which I wrote in my last post – “eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a merchant, and dinner like a pauper.”

Why? Well it’s all in the aim to lose some excess pudge. And if you want to look at it all science-like, there’s a host of biological substances that are regulated by not overeating too late.

Practicing what I preach (which I assure you, I can fall off the wagon sometimes), I wanted something light – and tasty – for dinner. Can’t beat the crunch of fresh fennel and perfectly blanched beans in combination with the soft potatoes and textural smoked fish.

Recipe directions

Cashing in on the way boiled floury potatoes go all creamy and kind of dress a salad in one, I used them as a base, and while warm tossing with blanched green beans, shaved fennel, a grind or two of black pepper and pieces of smoked ocean trout. Just season the water you cook both beans and potatoes in and you wont need to add more salt. Use oil from marinated feta to add some moisture and help the texture.

Then in a separate bowl, whip together marinated feta (I love Meridith Dairy’s Goat’s feta) and finely chopped french tarragon (this herb is a wonderful accompaniment to fish). Use a touch more oil to thin out the consistency if it’s too thick. Top the salad with whipped feta and finish with a flourish of a little more oil. Lovely.

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Responses to “Eat dinner like a pauper”

  1. wondermeant

    Dearest foodiecure

    I have been most inspired by this and your last email and have been testing the theory.

    Not only have I physically lost weight but I have SO much energy! The only issue that’s coming up is that, where I used to go to bed with a full stomach and sleep heavily on a sort of food coma, I now struggle to sleep waking up at 2/3/4am full of energy, hungry and ready to go

    …note time if email:-(

    Thoughts?

    Regards Kate

    Kate Ellis. Drama Coach. Writer. Ph: 0431 068 121 Email: fullbodiedproductions@gmail.com Blog: http://www.wondermeant.wordpress.com

    ‘The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery’. Anais Nin.

    Reply
    1. foodiecure

      Hi there Kate! Thanks for dropping by and your feedback. Well that’s great news you’re experiencing more energy, but I share your pain with the waking up. On further research, it seems that you may be eating just a little too light. See, even though we’re asleep, we still need some energy in the form of glycogen (converted from glucose) to keep us functioning.
      I recommend keeping meals light still – eat until 80% full is a good guide, so chewing food slowly is beneficial right here – just make sure you have a bit of protein in there and before bed, try having a glass of milk (if you tolerate it), or soy milk or other nut milk with a small amount of honey and pinch of cinnamon.

      The protein and calcium will help settle you, the honey will give a little bit of energy and combined with protein will be a slow release so you don’t get a peak – keeping you awake – and the cinnamon will warm you from the inside, especially those kidneys promoting a nice deep, pleasant sleep.

      Also, I’ve recently discovered how good Vitamin B’s are for the adrenals. Most of us are overstimulated most of the time, so supporting the adrenals is a must when promoting good sleep. Try having more brown rice in the diet for this.

      Look after yourself,
      Becki xxx

      Reply
      1. wondermeant

        BLESS This is fantastic advice! thank you hon x

  2. sue

    I’m a little confused about your food ‘advice’. One moments you’re saying “…..or sugary cereal drenched in fridgid milk from another species.” So this would seem you are apposed to consuming animals milk? And yet in your posting Eat Dinner like a Pauper you’ve added feta to your trout dinner. Hello! what is feta made from….. er animals milk……

    Reply
    1. foodiecure

      Hi Sue! Thanks for your comment, and I apologise for the confusion…I can totally see how that would be! So, basically I’ve gone on a journey with food, trying out different doctrines, testing to see what works and what doesn’t. I was vegan for a while there and bought into a lot of the emotion. While I still am very passionate about animal rights, health and environmental implications, I have made my peace with animal products in my diet. See, it didn’t suit me to be vegan/vegetarian – despite doing all the right things with regards to nutrient profile. My resolve is to consume a little animal products, and choose wisely. There’s a term I sometimes adopt to explain plant-based diet with minimal animal products: ecotarian or flexitarian.

      In wise decision making about my diet, I often choose goats milk cheese over cows milk cheese because it’s better on the environment, the industry is smaller (thus kinder to animals), and goat milk is far more digestible and beneficial to human biology. I also choose smaller producers of these cheeses, like Meredith Dairy and Holy Goat, both local to my state in Australia.

      So to answer your question, when I wrote that first quote, I was pretty much on the vegan bandwagon, there was some emotion involved. I have written a few vegan-based blogs and while I stand by what I wrote because I try to provide an alternate way of looking at it, however ultimately allowing readers to make their own choice. I can only recommend, based on research, clinical and personal experience.

      Lastly, I am a student of Chinese Medicine which advocates vegan-based diet by default. However, that’s presuming our parents and ancestors had this same diet. In short, cellular memory dictates we should be eating a diet 80% in line with our heritage. Mine, being Italian/Australian means that switching to vegan/vegetarian just didn’t gel. Yin Yang theory – of which Chinese Medicine is also founded – is all about balance, and that is what I have found beneficial to my own health and practice in Chinese Medicine nutrition. Those aware enough can find their own balance when listening to their bodies needs.
      Hope that clarifies things for you. Look after yourself, Becki x

      Reply
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