Dieting When Travelling - restaurants and home

Angela, the large lady on the left, in red at Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters club. Between 2018 and 2019. Before Covid-19 when we met at the Community Centre

How to Diet - or avoid putting on weight while travelling?

I started by looking at restaurant menus. Read restaurant menus in advance. Check the calorie count of different dishes.

Compare the calorie count of the drinks. Water. Fruit juice. Cocktails. Wine. Sweet wine or dry. Beer. Coffee. Coffee with milk. Hot chocolate - watch out!

Eat less, move more.

Take a walk to or from the restaurant.

Share plates. Order one portion between two of you.

One starter between two.

The good news is that several UK restaurant and pub chains will start giving dogie bags. From mid 2021 or later.

Angela After 2021 about June 20th.

Lunch at home. The dips were bought from Huber's in Singapore.

Let me tell you how I did it. First you need a good enough reason. Not just, 'I would like to wear that dress.' I was weighing I didn't know what, and had to wear caftans to be sure the sleeves would fit over my arms. I bought cape blazers which don't fit over the upper arm, just the shoulder. I was

 I had a good reason to slim. I wanted to lose weight to look good in the photos at our son's wedding. September 2019. I used to swim intermittently. I ate lots of pizza and samosas and chocolates at Toastmasters International meetings.

The Slimming Mantra

'Move more and eat less.' So said my husband. I was moving a bit more and eating a bit less, every now and then. We had to change that to every day.

The motivation came with the start of Covid-19. Danger, or rather risk factors, were being older and overweight. I could not change my age, except by lying, but that would not change my body. I could, however, change my weight.

I started by swimming. I used to swim when I felt like it. I often postponed until later in the day. It sometimes rained in the afternoon. I changed to swimming in the morning.

Swimming pool at a condo in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Slimming By Swimming

I was swimming most days. 

 I knew I had to increase the number of widths. So I increased gradually. Each month I added an extra width.

Slimming By Moving

While waiting for the lift, I walked up and down. Walking to the swimming pool and back increased my steps. So swimming every day not only increased my swimming, it increased my walking.

When I woke at night, or early in the morning, I kept moving. I twirled my ankles, cycled with my legs in the air. I lifted one leg when I was on my side. Anything to keep moving. 

When I remembered, such as right now when sitting at y laptop, I swayed from side to side, or lifted my feet off the floor and taped my feet together.

I weighed myself every day and wrote the result in my diary.

It was easy to see that when I ate out at a restaurant I put on weight.

I cut out eating out. When we had a stop for coffee and cake, my husband and I ordered one coffee and one cake. We looked up the calorie counts. He had two thirds. I ate one third.

I hope this helps you. To motivate you. You should consult your doctor who may give you a diet sheet, taking into account your needs and medication.

Diet

No Sugar

Elevenses at 11 a.m. each morning, consisting of half a biscuit with a smear of soft cheese, an apple slice, and half a teacup of apple juice and a glass of water.

First I cut out sugar in my coffee. 

Less Alcohol

I cut out alcohol altogether some months. Otherwise I limited myself to wine with one meal at the weekend and only half a glass.

Useful Websites

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9704925/Pizza-Express-Wagamama-lead-way-doggy-bag-revolution.html

Angela Lansbury's Successful Dieting

 https://how2getout.blogspot.com/2021/06/how-i-lost-so-much-weight-down-to-480.html

About the Author

Angela Lansbury, is a semi-retired travel writer still researching bucket list countries and seeking out the special, unusual, people, places,  landmarks, hotels, museums and trails, fabulous foods, recipes, clothes and online souvenir shopping.

Angela Lansbury is a member of Toastmasters International.

About the Author Angela Lansbury

The Author - Quick Quotations

Angela Lansbury B A Hons  is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books. 

About Angela The Speaker & Trainer

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Vice President  Public Relations, Immediate Past President. VPPR

Former Area Director S3. Club Coach for Nee Soon South Toastmasters Club.

Also Member of: TCA Toastmasters Club; Singapore Online Dynamic; Harrovians UK

BHA

Past meetings have included Garen Tee on using story telling in business, on 

bha.learncool.sg/meet/bha . 

Recent meetings of BHA included an educational session on using Powerpoint for posters.

Next BHA meetings, always first Wednesday evening, 7 pm Singapore time. Next meeting is  the third Saturday afternoon, June 19th 2pm Singapore time.  Inauguration of the new committee was by the incoming Director of S, plus a lively speech on teamwork.

Next meetings will be on these dates (unless a national holiday in Singapore or worldwide)

Themes and word of the day are tentative

2021

JULY - JUBILANT JULY

Theme/WOD Jubilant

WORKSHOPS & EDUCATIONAL SESSIONS (based on level one of Pathways)

1 Your first speech or role EASY ENGLISH LANGUAGE (Articles A and The, Plurals, Tenses, Pronunciation, Singlish)

2 CHOOSE YOUR PATH

Wed July 7th 

Saturday 17th

July 4rh American Independence Day.

2021 AUGUST - AWESOME AUGUST

1 Pathway Level 1 Introductory Speeches

2 Evaluations

Wed 4th

Sat 21

2021 SEPT - SUPER SEPTEMBER

Wed 1st

Sat 18th SPEECH CONTESTS

Humorous Speech Contest

Table Topics Contest

2021 OCT - ODD OCTOBER

Wed 6th

Sat 16th

2021 NOV - NOVELTY NOVEMBER

Wed 3rd

Sat 20th Wed

Diwali Hindu Festival of lights Nov 4th.

Nov 25th American Thanksgiving.

Hanukah starts 28 Dec 8 days until Dec 6. Jewish Festival of lights, celebrated by Jesus.

2021 DEC - DARLING DECEMBER

Wed  1st (Hanukah if not previous month. Festival foods.)

Sat 18th

Speech on 

JAN 2022 - JOYFUL JANUARY

Wed Jan 5th New beginning - forget the past

Sat 15 Long-term plans = for the future/Chinese New Year (CNY for short)

2022 FEB FUN FEBRUARY

Theme Love and romance - Chinese New Year

Feb 1st and 2nd are holidays - do we move this Feb 2nd meeting date?)

Wed 2nd (Valentine's Day Mon Feb 14)

Sat 19th

2022 MAR - MARVELLOUS MARCH

Theme

Wed 2nd

Sat 19

March 1st is Christian Pancake day. 

2022 APR - APRIL'S AIMS

Wed 6th

Sat 16th

Muslim Ramadan 1-30 April.

Jewish Passover (Seder meal=Last supper) April

 16

2022 MAY - MODERNISING MAY

Wed 4th

Sat 21

2022 JUN - JUBILANT JUNE

Wed 1st

Sat 18th

Jul 6, Jul 16, Aug 3, Aug 20, Sept 7, Sept 17, Oct 5, Oct 15, Nov 2, Nov 19, Dec 7, Dec 17.

Angela The Blogger 

Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

See many varied posts such as the post on sculptor Tom Harvey.

Please share links to your favourite posts. 

Life Hacks: How to Open a Can Of Food Without Openers in an Emergency, and a wine bottle with t a corkscrew and tell Irish Jokes

The comments are hilarious.

When would you have a can and no can opener?

Your budget allows for buying a can of tinned food from a nearby shop but not a can opener.

Hotel
When travelling to a hotel where you might arrive after the restaurant has closed. If you are lucky you may be in a five star hotel which has 24 hour room service. But if its late and you are tired you don't want to wait 30 minutes whilst they cook up a meal. You may also be unwilling to pay their inflated prices and risk getting spicy food or food not meeting your diet requirements.

Moving House And/Or Overseas
When moving house which may be overseas and your kitchenware will take 3 weeks to arrive.

When popping down to a corner shop when you are in a guest house and the corner shop sells cheap cutlery but no can openers.

Hotel
You are in a hotel and have a can of food. The hotel has cutlery but not tin openers.

Emergency Bag
In Japan which is prone to earthquakes I am told everybody keeps an emergency bag by the front door to grab when they rush out in an emergency.

Swiss Army Knife
We used to travel with a Swiss army knife which includes a can opener.

Then planes started banning knives.The first time we lost a knife. The second time we were carrying a stamped self addressed envelope just in case we accidentally took something we needed to post home. Sure enough we did. The Swiss army knife still in the suitcase from the last trip by train within the country and the trips in the car.

We were able to go back through security and post it and then come back through security.

Granny's Tips
I plan to be the perfect President of the club and the grand granny who has an answer for every question. Here's one of those 'I wish I had known this earlier' moments. How to open a can without a can opener. Holding a meeting and buying a can of fish to provide a quick nutritious protein meal. Arrive at a hotel after the restaurant has closed. I wish I had known this when i moved house and unpacked the tins of food but a half hour wait before we found the can opener.
Another tip - always keep an old knife, for and spoon in the bottom drawer of your kitchen. Then you have something to hand out when your spouse or handyman (or woman or person) asks do you have a knife, or fork or spoon, without damaging your best crockery.

Open Champagne And to go with the food, several, seven, ways to open a bottle of wine or Champagne without a corkscrew!

Tell Jokes Whilst you are waiting for somebody else to risk damaging their body or their clothes, here are some Irish jokes:
An Irishman take his car into a garage. The mechanic says, 'I'll put my head in here and try to fix. You tell me if the indicator is working or not.
The customer replies, 'it's working, it's not working; its working; its not working.'

https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/craic/irish-jokes-best

Useful Websites
https://vinepair.com/articles/7-ways-to-open-a-bottle-of-wine-without-a-corkscrew/

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Easter Cakes, Hot Cross Buns, Simnel Cakes and Panettone, From England, Europe and Worldwide, Could Survive The Spring Season Sales

Problem
What are hot cross, buns, simnel cakes, panettone? What can we have that's different next Easter, or buy discounted after Easter?

Fruited mini Hot Cross Buns in Waitrose. Photo by Angela Lasnbury. Copyright.

Answers
Hot Cross Buns
Hot cross buns - what are they? Basically, just sweet buns either plain or enhanced with currants plus a seasonal browned top so you can cut a cross in it. Why a cross? Nowadays, in Christian countries and Christian communities, representing Easter.

Cross?
The two factors are the cross on top and serving them hot with butter, because Easter can be a cold time of year, so it's nice to have a hot bun for tea, with your tea.

The cross is not usually a T- shape or cruciform but like a plus sign or X, depending which way the bun is placed on the plates. It can be seen as a religious symbol if you like, especially at Easter. However, why waste a good bun the day or days after Easter.

However, if you wish, you can make a lop-sided cross which looks more like a cruciform. I think it just looks untidy. Traditionally, just a neat, even cross with fur even sides is acceptable to those whether religious or not.

During Easter or afterwards it can be served to people of other religions or no religion, or other times of year. The cross serves as a convenient marker for dividing a bun up into four. Why divide it? For four children, or two or three or four adults watching their figures - meaning diets or budgets.

Round Buns Or Square?
You could buy or make square buns or round buns. If you like to think of it that way, the round shape is also a pagan or pre-Christian symbol of the renewal of life in spring, so a circle is seasonally appropriate for springtime. However, there's no law banning eating eggs, or having rabbits and others items which are symbols of spring at other times of year.

Bargain Buns
It's just that the shops have overstocked on these items at Easter, you might be able to pick up a bargain after everybody has spent time and money on the holidays and the shops want to go onto the next week's novelty.

Waitrose Easter Simnel cake. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Buns, bargain are not, are a cut-price item, even at full price. If your budget stretches to cake, at checkout I found Simnel cake.

Simnel Cakes Ingredients
Simnel cakes in Waitrose were 'spiced fruit cake with citrus peel and topped with marzipan. They had me when I read 'made with marzipan' topping, my favourite. Icing is just sugar with water, bad for the teeth and diet and too much makes you feel ill. However, marzipan is ground almonds mixed with sugar, which gives you some variety of flavour, some protein, and is less sickly. Yummy.

Other research tells me that a traditional simnel cake can have a central layer of marzipan. That sounds better.

Easter Decorations
Easter cakes can have twelve (or unlucky thirteen!) knobs of icing or marzipan or iced marzipan on top representing the twelve disciples, or twelve disciples and Jesus, like the markings on a clock face. Unlucky thirteen comes from thirteen around a table being believed by the superstitious to be unlucky as it is a reminder of the Last Supper, which was a Passover meal.

Another view is that you should have eleven knobs, minus the one for Judas. Oh, dear. The good news is, if you buy a cake and it has only eleven pieces of marzipan on the top, you have not been short-changed, and the person making the cake didn't try to sneakily eat a bit of the decoration hoping you wouldn't notice. Since Easter 2018 is already over, you can bake your own cake with however many decorations you fancy.

On the other hand, over in Europe, the Orthodox Easter comes later, and you still have a chance to buy traditional foods from their bakers, or be served some in a coffee shop, restaurant, hotel or a home.

Superstition, Symbols and Christian and Jewish Numbers
Jewish? Yes, Jesus and the disciples were Jewish, worshipping one God, unlike the Romans and Greeks and pagans who had many Gods. The number twelve was also a symbol of the twelve tribes, and twelve in the Jewish temple known in the Greek language as a synagogue or meeting place, from the Greek words sun, meaning meeting, and again, bring together.

Twelve, like the old British shillings and pennies, was easily divided into four. It is easy to cut a cake into twelve slices. Every guest gets a piece with the decoration.

No greedy person cake take an over-size slice or double portion without being noticed. That includes you, when guiltily finishing up the leftovers.

Conversation and Cake
If you wish your cake to be a seasonal symbol, to please or entertain your guests, who enjoy entertainment or history and other cultures, you have plenty of conversation to go with your cake.

Instead of Simnel cake, or in addition, another novelty cake is Panettone.

Easter Panettone in Waitrose. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyrigtht.

Panettone For All Seasons
Panettone was once exclusively found in Italy, Spain and Latin American countries, such as Venezuela, especially as the Christmas cake. However, it has appeared in supermarkets in the UK in the last decade. Now the British buyers and the English speaking buyers are accustomed to Panettone. I have seen it sold in supermarkets and Italian restaurants and cafes worldwide.

Panettone has been stocked in Tesco and other supermarkets in the last two or three years in London, England, and in Singapore. At first there was one full size plain Panettone. Then small medium and large. Then plain or chocolate. Then budget, medium price and expensive, in thin card wrapping, with a small ribbon bow or a fancy gift tin with wide ribbon and a huge bow.

Panettone lasts forever in a tin, especially if still sealed in the inner wrapper. I was eating one a year later.

After two years, another panettone, stored in the heat overhead, was dry or tasteless even when dunked in coffee. When I was coughing and stuck in with snow outside I discovered my old, dried-up panettone in a tin. In desperation, I made it into a mock layered trifle with yogurt and jam. It depends how fussy and desperate you are. My family flew in from overseas, like knights to the rescue, frowned at the last dried half inch, looked at me as if I was a lunatic, and threw it in the bin.

Reduced Price Panettone
Anyway, you can see that last week's panettone, at a reduced price, could come in handy - especially if you are a survivalist. Americans are familiar with a history of disasters, ranging from earthquakes in California to the notorious Donner Party (stranded in the snow, trying to go overland to California, mostly died and suspected of murder and cannibalism).

Leftovers For Survivalists On Strict Budgets
Survivalists are realists or pessimists, depending on your point of view. Survivalists believe in be prepared, like boy scouts. Survivalists are determined to survive disasters. Survivalists are people who stock up with food and drink for nuclear war, flu, flood and fire. Not to mention seige by terrorists, government, the plague - which is still prevalent in Africa, plagues of locusts, collision with a falling star, aliens who can be bribed by cake, such as panettone, whatever.

Waitrose, this year, 2018, stocked a different Easter version of Panettone. Be prepared. Buy panettone. Not one. Two.

How Do You Spell Panettone?
At first I had trouble remembering how to spell panettone. I had to check back on a packet each time I typed the word. Now I have made myself a memory aid. I think of panet and tone. Panet-tone. Panettone.

Only one n in pane and only one n in one. Pane-tt-one. Panettone.

One and Ane. Ane and One. Pane-tt-one. Panettone.

So there you have it, three 'Easter' delights to buy or make any time of year, buns with crosses or patterns on top, marzipan topped simnel cakes, and panettone, the high cake.

All suitable for Easter, discounted after Easter, but enjoyable all year.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have several more posts on foods for Easter and Christmas, English and ethnic food, as well as destinations in English speaking countries and Italy and Spain and Portugal and learning to speak Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and other languages. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.


Update

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When