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What is it they say about counting chickens? I have eaten for England today and yesterday. Gold medal stuff. Two retirement dos and magnificent buffets! I just HAD to sample almost everything at least twice. I reckon I have eaten my own body weight in canapes. Well, they are so little - and so moreish! Quail's egg, anyone?

Back on the carrot and coriander soup tomorrow. Might as well finish today as I started it - eating too much!

Moooooooo!

Me too! But I LOVE the sound of your soups Aswan! If O had that instead, I might not feel the need to chew the cud all day.

There have been a lot of birthdays in the staff room this month, and I find myself indulging in a small bit of cake with my cuppa...and that road leads to...

At last! I have the grazing under control!

My saviour has been soups, V8 juice and egg white omelettes, coupled with chewing gum. I put my Benefibre in the omelettes, and the soups contain lots of fibre, so the constipation is a thing of the past, also. Lost 2 kilos the last week after a plateau which lasted nearly a month with the same kilo going on and off. I am also doing more exercise - that is, if shivering counts as exercise. I am bleeding well freezing!

Hi guys, Im new to this forum and had my sleeve done 4 weeks ago. THank you for the posts I have found them really helpful.

I have developed this "COW syndrome" and it is worrying me quite a bit but the tips on here are great! I'm really going to try some of them right now!

I have stalled the last fortnight and not dropped any weight at all since the 10KG I lost in my first 2 weeks. I had been really bound up and not exercising much so I thought that might not have helped but I really need to stop this constant grazing and focus on my fluid intake.

THanks again!

You'll get harissa in any Middle Eastern store, or possibly even in a Greek store. We've a lot of international students here, so it's readily available in all supermarkets.

aswan thanks for posting ..I'll be having a go very soon

aswan wrote:

Right. This is the harissa I use - http://www.mybelazu.com/details/rose-harissa.html Cots a bit more than some others, but worth it!

Unfortunately they don't deliver to Oz and have no Oz supplist - but I'll probably be able to find some sort of harissa in Perth.

Thank you for the recipes - doing the whole pureed stage with only 2 soups that I know how to cook would be a real challenge, you've added another string to my bow. From the sound of it these would blend up and still be yummy.

Thank you.

Achara.

Right. This is the harissa I use - http://www.mybelazu.com/details/rose-harissa.html Cots a bit more than some others, but worth it!

Harissa and chickpea soup

Spritz pan with oil, gently sweat a couple of chopped red onions. Add a chopped butternut squash. Cover in vegetable stock. Cover and cook until tender. Liquidise untill smooth. Add a tin of drained chickpeas and a tablespoon or so (depends how hot you like it) of harissa paste. Bring to a simmer and stir in a por of low fat creme fraiche or Quark. Best eaten with khobez or flatbreads of some sort (but not too many!).

Spiced lentil and tomato (Hasa Tamatat ma' Hummus)
Cook 2 chopped brown onions in a tablespoon of oil until beginning to caramelise. Turn heat way down and add 3-4 crushed garlic cloves, a crushed piece of ginger, 2 teaspoons of ground cumin, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, a couple of chopped chilis (less or more to taste). Saute for a couple of minutes. Chuck in a cup of red lentils (or brown, or puy - depends what you have), a large tin of chopped tomatoes (or a kilo or so of really ripe fresh, a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste, 1 teaspoon or so of brown sugar, a pint or so of veg stock. Bring to boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 1 hour. Blitz with a stick blender and add a tin of chickpeas, or previously cooked chickpeas. Bring back up to heat and chuck in a whole bunch of chopped coriander (cilantro Stateside). Sniff, taste, drool and serve!



Both the above taste better if kept until the next day. I do not tend to measure anything - I just chuck and go.

Full of protein and really filling.

Aswan

You've open the door now you HAVE to post the receipes. I have got to the stage where its getting boring

Aswan those sound YUMMY - any chance of posting some recipes? I'd be especially interested in the spiced lential and tomato, and Harissa with chickpeas. I have to admit I don't know what 'Harissa' is - but I love me some chickpeas :)

I'm afraid I can make 'curried califlower' and 'curried pumpkin' soup... both involve cooking the vege with curry paste and then blending. I'm not such a good cook.

Achara

• Harissa with chickpeas
  
• Spiced lentil and tomato (Hasa Tamatat ma' Hummus)
  
• Minestra
  
• Pea and ham
  
• Egyptian bean and veg (Ful Nabed)
  

I love making soup!

Well done on making the soup... I think I overdosed on soup pre surgery and post that I haven't touched it since.
What type of soup did you make? Maybe you could inspire me to make some.....

Spent the day making gallons of low cal soup and freezing it in small batches. Of course, I had to sample it all! Result - couldn't eat anything else all day.

[quote="aswan"]I am finding that eating seems to trigger me to want more. So, I have devised a plan, which I have instigated over the last two days: my dietician woud hate it!

Get up and drink a small fresh orange juice with my Spatone in it. Have a ciggie. Cup of strong fresh coffee. Bliss!

Go to work. More coffee. Ciggie. Bugger about until first lecture at 10. Breakfast: 100% whey protein drink = 26 gms protein drunk throughout lecture. Water and ice cubes to crunch until next lecture at 12. Banana on way to lecture hall. 1pm: Lunch - rice cakes (only I eat 6!) with ham, tuna or hummus, baby tomatoes, salad. 2pm: water, coffee or herbal tea, ciggie. Crunch ice cubes, 2 rice cakes until 3.30pm. Eat lf Greek yoghurt on way to lecture hall. Water through lecture. Go home around 5. Coffee or herbal tea, ciggie. 7pm dinner. Whatever I have cooked for OH - only less of it and no potatoes (he likes spuds with everything). Then I get the munchies, so resort to V8 juice - and that makes me drink more water.

I only work 3 days a week, so I need to try and keep this up on the other days. Another thing: I have frozen grapes, mandarin segmentsand melon which I suck still frozen.

So far, although it has only been a couple of days, it's working. However, it is cold, so think I'll swap the lunch for some home-made soups and swap the ice cubes for chewing gum.

I am the world's laziest person and really need to up my exercise, but I always manage to find something urgent to do instead - like dusting lightbulbs (I kid you not!).[/quote]



This really did make me chuckle...I am loving it!

Sounds like you have it under control at the moment. I agree with the being cold thing.... goodness, hasn't it changed in the last week or so... heating on! I have bought some tinned soup for work, so I am hoping that will help me get warm. I have noticed as I lose weight I do feel the cold more and more... this time last year, I was still walking around the house in one layer... not this year...lol!

I also like the idea of frozen fruit... ain't you the clever one! =]

I am finding that eating seems to trigger me to want more. So, I have devised a plan, which I have instigated over the last two days: my dietician woud hate it!

Get up and drink a small fresh orange juice with my Spatone in it. Have a ciggie. Cup of strong fresh coffee. Bliss!

Go to work. More coffee. Ciggie. Bugger about until first lecture at 10. Breakfast: 100% whey protein drink = 26 gms protein drunk throughout lecture. Water and ice cubes to crunch until next lecture at 12. Banana on way to lecture hall. 1pm: Lunch - rice cakes (only I eat 6!) with ham, tuna or hummus, baby tomatoes, salad. 2pm: water, coffee or herbal tea, ciggie. Crunch ice cubes, 2 rice cakes until 3.30pm. Eat lf Greek yoghurt on way to lecture hall. Water through lecture. Go home around 5. Coffee or herbal tea, ciggie. 7pm dinner. Whatever I have cooked for OH - only less of it and no potatoes (he likes spuds with everything). Then I get the munchies, so resort to V8 juice - and that makes me drink more water.

I only work 3 days a week, so I need to try and keep this up on the other days. Another thing: I have frozen grapes, mandarin segmentsand melon which I suck still frozen.

So far, although it has only been a couple of days, it's working. However, it is cold, so think I'll swap the lunch for some home-made soups and swap the ice cubes for chewing gum.

I am the world's laziest person and really need to up my exercise, but I always manage to find something urgent to do instead - like dusting lightbulbs (I kid you not!).

I'm also a grazer... lately life hasn;t been going so well and I have been losing the battle, so I bought some of those flavoured cardboard rice cracker things - they are my 'chips' for when I get home from horrible horrible work in the evenings. They are actually quite tasty. When I have the mental energy to get back on track they will be gone, but in the meantime I can eat 4 of those for 90 calories and be full til dinner time.

(Note, the lollies and chocolate are being stubborn... i haven't managed to kick those this week) :(

Hey Aswan,

not sure if this will help or not, but when you are in 'cow' mode could you graze on protein? Cold meats, cheese, nuts etc? Damage limitation?

If I get itchy fingers, I tend to go for a slice of ham, pork... some babybell cheese... prok scratchings ... it does help!

Or... get a glass of water and drink instead of eating... if it like a head hunger, at least the drinking - hand to mouth action - might passify the brain?

Dunno? They work for me...

Good luck! =]

Ice cubes, huh? Just heading for the freezer......!

Hi Aswan

I'm a fellow cow sometimes, and it's a hard battle to fight. I chew gum a lot - but it has to be the pellets to give me the initial crunch factor. Fussy, eh? LOL Yep, and ice cubes too. Hope these 2 'tricks' work for you...

Thanks, 100%er. Odd thing is that I wasn't a grazer BEFORE my sleeve.

I've been chewing gum today - again; something I've never done in my life, and tonight I've made up some ice lollies from sugar-free cordial. Should be fun, as it is only 9 degrees here and I am flaming-well FREEZING!

I've come to the conclusion that I just need to chew on something.

Sorry to hear you SOS Aswan.

I have found this small thread.... like a lot of threads on here, it's stuff we know, but it is good to reread and consolidate the knowledge.

http://www.gastricsleevesupport.com/t5542-suggestions-for-grazing?highlight=grazing

You have done so well so far, I know your pro-active action will help you through this stage.

Could somebody post links to any threads that may help me get back on track, please? Over the past two weeks, I have developed Cow Syndrome - that is; constantly grazing!