Day 26

Food:
Breakfast (big): bacon, avocado, scrambled eggs, small portion of nograinola, white coffee (coconut milk). It's cold, ok? I've heard that cold people should eat more fat, so I'm trying it.
Lunch: chicken and plantain, with real lemonade (no sugar)
Cinema snack: NOT icecream... Nothing!
Dinner: nograinola with the rest of the strawberries, some dark chocolate.


What I'm grateful for today:

• life in general (I've just eaten breakfast, I'm in a very good mood ;) )
• plans with friends (a rare treat)
• "I am Iron Man." That's how I feel about my taekwondo belt. 
• Super hero movies in general, but especially the ones that make you feel like a superhero too as you walk out the cinema
• A wonderful date with a wonderful guy seeing a wonderful movie. 
• Resisting the icecream at the cinema

Things I am not grateful for:

• having a sniffy cold :(

Day 25

Food:
Breakfast: black coffee, chai tea with coconut milk, scrambled eggs, bacon, avocado
Lunch: AWESOME BRAKFAST LUNCH no-grain-ola (turns out a whole banana in this is a bit too much banana. There are never too many strawberries, however).
Dinner: sesame and mushroom beef stirfry with a mango juice. Yummy restaurant food!
Pudding at home: small portion of nograinola - there are strawberries to use up!

Things I'm grateful for today:

• an unexpected day off, due to a teachers' strike at the uni where I was scheduled to teach
• cheap, ripe strawberries (1kg for approx £1.20! In April!)
• unexpectedly cheap coconut milk (they had the price written incorrectly on the shelf, so I got 4 cans for about half price!)
• scoffing dark chocolate last night to celebrate some good news*, and waking up this morning with less spots on my face than I went to bed with!
• seeing a snake! Just like you'd expect in Latin America! It was only my second, and (thankfully) wasn't a python though. 

* no, dark chocolate is definitely not whole 30, especially when it (sadly) contains sugar (it was the healthiest stuff I could find though. If you're in Colombia look for "Santander," if you're related to me expect some being sent to you in July :D ) but it was 1) definitely celebration-worthy news, and 2) my whole 30 buddy has reverted to eating white rice for lunch everyday as she was getting too skinny. I still win, right?

Day 24

Food:
Breakfast: bacon (!!! to celebrate St George's day yesterday), scrambled eggs, avocado, chai tea with coconut milk.
Lunch: Steak, avocado, lettuce, carrot, mayo.
Dinner: tuna, avocado, mayo

Things I'm grateful for today:

• very quick delivery of gas canisters when I ran out having just barely warmed the bacon
• HOT SHOWERS (I got 2 canisters when I re-ordered - can't let my brother suffer the cold showers here!)
• finding a cheap source of ripe (but not bruised) avocados - only a block from my flat!
• assorted very good news from various people

Day 23

Happy St. George's Day!

Food:
Breakfast: small black coffee, big black tea
Lunch: steak, lettuce, carrot, mayo, lots of chai tea with coconut milk
Dinner: scrambled egg, and 'breakfast' (coconut, grated apple, shredded coconut, cinnamon)


Things I'm grateful for today:

• covering an old class and getting on with them just as much as I used to
• starting back at uni (teaching, not studying)
• phrasal verbs and compound nouns  (otherwise known as "hilarious ways to confuse your students"
• my boyfriend
• my freedom
• knowing who I am, and mostly being ok with that

Day 22 + bonus recipe!

Food:
AWESOME BREAKFAST: No-grain-ola! (I think I invented that name) Also known as nut-ola! (the internet invented that name a long time ago)

Recipe of wonderfulness:
One grated apple, half a sliced banana, a handful of sliced strawberries, just under half a can of coconut milk (instead of yoghurt), and a mixture of chopped and toasted brazil nuts, almonds and desiccated coconut (instead of normal granola). Layer them nicely if you have witnesses, or forget presentation and stir it all together if you don't.  You can use real yoghurt if you have access to it. Use whatever (healthy) nuts you think would taste good. The same goes for the fruit (eg: no strawberries, the whole banana, and lots of cinnamon).
Yes, this is incredibly calorie dense (and relatively high-carb), and no, it's not something that we should eat everyday. However, on special occasions (such as when your boyfriend keeps going on about how wonderful granola is), it's perfect <3

Served with a cup of chai tea (with coconut milk) and a couple of slices of bacon (because a. protein should be an important part of every meal, and b. BACON).

Lunch: the same (I had half a banana to use up!) but without the bacon :( I am now extremely full. Oops :D
Dinner: small steak with lettuce and mayo. Still too full to eat anything else!


What I'm grateful for today:

• BACON (yes, again)
• AWESOME BREAKFASTS
• yet more awesome people coming to visit me in Colombia (still waiting for brother first though!)
• being able to eat granola for breakfast again (sometimes, even though it's not real granola)
• my boyfriend, generally
• my boyfriend being really smart, both in the school-type way and in the emotional intelligence way (I guess a decade studying philosophy and ethics will do that to you)

Day 21

Food:
Breakfast: hot chocolate made with coconut milk
Post tkd snack: large pear (my first in over  year! Wish I'd had some good cheese to go with it)
Lunch: BACON with avocado and lettuce/mayo salad. Seriously, bread just used to get in the way of the bacon/avocado goodness. Chai tea with coconut milk (because bacon and cinnamon actually go really well together).
Snack: (because it goes well with knitting) chai tea with coconut milk
Dinner: steak, lettuce and carrot salad with mayo and avocado. The last of the borscht.


Things I'm grateful for today:

• being able to experiment in the kitchen and have fun
• having a bed to climb into after my walk home from tkd in the rain followed by a cold shower (brrr)
• BACON
• There only being 9 days left. I want some real chocolate!

Day 20

Food:
Breakfast: mocha (hot chocolate made with 1/4 can of coconut milk, plus instant coffee :D )
Lunch: huge squash pancakes topped with ALL THE STRAWBERRIES, a sliced banana, and coconut cream. Awesome, if lacking in protein. Black tea.
Snack because it's raining and I still eat emotionally sometimes: small steak, fried slices of squash, some avocado and mayo. Green tea.
Dinner: strawberries and coconut cream (I lied about ALL the strawberries before)

Things I'm grateful for today:

• getting the hang of bananas (I feel like my evil twin from another dimension whenever I eat one, but still...)
• pancakes - in any form, a pancake is something to celebrate
• strawberries - so hard to find here! Either over ripe, or mostly white, or hideously expensive. I got 'lucky' today (and only had to visit 3 shops to find them!)