Calories Overload!

It is really not easy to keep within 1800 calories! And I don't even mean 'special occasions' like when I'm back at my mum's.. Example of a regular 'good' day:

Breakfast: a slice of wholemeal bread (74) with peanut butter (75) and a cup of milo (100) - 249 calories

Lunch: white rice (normal portion) with a chicken/fish/egg dish 520 calories 

Dinner: white rice (normal portion) with a chicken/fish and a vegetables dish 520 calories

Snacks:

1 cup of low-fat coffee-flavoured milk 193

Isotonic drink (100+ after exercise) 83

Banana 67

Grapes 111

Hot green tea 5

Pokka sugarless green tea 0

Total for the day = 1648 calories. 

And that is my minimum if I don't take any junk or extra snacks!! One junk snack will tip the total over the top!!

But since I'm breastfeeding, I will definitely top up to 1800 if I haven't hit that by after dinner. And I definitely eat something whenever I feel hungry, cos I don't want baby to end up hungry too!

But... Imagine how difficult it would be to lose weight just by dieting if I were not breastfeeding.. Calorie intake probably shouldn't exceed 1500..? Aiyo.. Hope I manage to slim down while still nursing so that I won't have to suffer hunger! 

Today is the third day that I have seriously tried to keep to 1800 calories.. And the first time that I succeeded..  

Monday: had kaya buns for breakfast. Many calories.. Then as I was inexperienced and unprepared and had just started eating dinner at 6pm (instead of 9pm), I was very very hungry by 8pm.. By then I was only left with my daily portion of grapes for a snack.. Ended up eating cup noodles at 10pm : /

Tuesday: had McDonalds hotcakes meal with mocha frappe for breakfast! Sure die of course... But at least I had better control over the distraction of calories for the rest of the day, and I wasn't really hungry at night.... But but but I still felt like eating something! If I felt hunger, I would have eaten, no question, because I need to eat for my baby. But.. not hungry!! Urmm, ended up eating some chocolates.. : (

Today, it's 8pm now, and I have only consumed 1361 calories!! My grapes are still waiting for me, which is another 111 calories... Then I can still anyhow eat another 428 calories!! And I am NOT even hungry! (But gotta make up to 1800 no matter what. Cannot risk meimei's well being.)

Learning points: 

1) One high-calories meal is enough to bust the total for the day. Especially when I can't just skip meals for the rest of the day because I'm breastfeeding. 

(I will skip meals if I indulge earlier in the day when I'm no longer breastfeeding!!)

2) Need to plan how to spread the calories over the day in order to keep within the max, without having to go hungry. 

(Once I stop breastfeeding, I don't mind going hungry!!)

3) Need time to get used to eating different amounts of different types of food at different timings. 

(The body is amazingly adaptable!)

I must endure..!!

Electronic Weighing Scale

Came across this website where the blogger slimmed down from 90+kg to 60+! 

She started on her journey in 2008, so it's not a very updated blog, but it was still a nice read. And I got a very good piece of advice - get an electronic weighing scale! 

http://kaithequeen.blogspot.sg/2009/05/how-to-get-started.html?m=0

Using my old weighing scale, I thought I had dropped 2.5kg to 57.5kg... But ya, that type of reading has too much room for error.. Human error.. Deceiving myself.. Parallax error.. Etc etc.. Electronic one is more accurate. 

Sigh. Wayyyyy to go......

Changes in Routine for a Slimmer Mummy!

Used to eat dinner at 9pm after the boys went to bed and I finished nursing meimei (who is usually already very sleepy by 7pm+ and has to wait for her brothers to go to bed at 8pm before I can attend to her). Then still had to wait a while for the food to settle before going for my run at 10pm : (

Now I eat dinner with the boys at 6pm. This means that I can go for my run once I settle meimei around 9pm. 

It is definitely less demoralising cos I no longer have to run so late. 

Otherwise I would reach home around 11pm, and after cooling down, only finish shower around midnight. (Soooo late!)

It also means I'm eating more healthily since I won't be eating hawker food for dinner anymore. Additional bonus of eating less cos I'm not a very good cook, ha! And it's fattening to eat too late at night! 

(Previously I looked forward to having a nice yummy albeit sinful dinner at the end of a stressful day. But now I'm more stressed about being fat.)

But since I'm breastfeeding, I shall allow myself to eat a small supper at night.. something like yogurt, banana, milo, plain crackers, etc. 

The second big change in routine is to do a exercise DVD in the afternoon. Initially I was hesitant about how this would affect the kids. But then I thought, if I heard about another sahm taking a one-hour break to do her own stuff every afternoon, I definitely wouldn't think it was too much!

Will be doing my exercises after lunch, when Didi and Meimei are napping and Kor Kor is watching his daily dose of DVD. Thus I'll only be 'neglecting' him for 30 minutes max. Not too bad la, he will get a happier mummy in return, heehee :p

By exercising in the afternoon (instead of at night), I will be making full use of the increased metabolism for the rest of the day. (Exercise ups the metabolism which stays up for quite a while even after the exercise ends.)

Having done my exercises early in the day, I feel good for the rest of the day too! : ) I can also have a proper rest at night and prepare for the next day's play activities. 

But I'll still be continuing my runs! Running = calorie buster!! Die calories die! But will cut down la, maybe just twice a week since I can only run at night. 

Exercise Part Two - DVDs

Started borrowing exercise DVDs from the library 2 weeks ago and I have found them to be very useful! Especially since I can't go to the gym or meet up with friends to play sports. 

I will be using different DVDs every few weeks since they are from the library. No point buying cos from what I read, the body adapts to physical training very fast, and thus it's more of a workout by not sticking to one same workout. I'll do a simple review on each as I try them. 

This was the 1st DVD I tried. It was way too fast for me to keep up. It's not about the fitness level (which can be trained).... It's my poor coordination.. Cannot catch up! That's why I like running haha  

A friend recommended taebo and I happened to come across this! So lucky! : )

Much easier to keep up. The instructor herself just had a baby 10 weeks before she did this video, and she was very encouraging throughout the exercise. Still a good workout though! Muscles aching everywhere :p

10-minute workouts - very suitable for me! Cos I have to keep pausing to attend to the kids :p The instructor is also very nice : )

I wanna try a proper taebo DVD soon!

Counting Calories

No, I'm not counting every calorie that goes into my mouth. Instead, what I usually do is to do a tally at the end of the day to get an idea of my calorie intake. Gosh, I didnt know that some foods were so high in calories! Eg lor mee is 500+, fried fish bee hoon soup is 700+!! In contrast, fishball bee hoon soup is only about 300. Drinks is another 'hidden-calories' killer.. Since I realised this, I have cut out Pepsi which I used to drink 1-2 servings everyday, and cut down on other soft drinks, juices, milo (which I started drinking a lot when I was doing confinement) and coffee. I now drink sugarless green tea when I need a cold drink, and hot green tea in place of milo and coffee. 

I have been using the iDAT app by HPB to keep track of calorie intake. It's very useful cos it includes most local foods. Another useful website is this

http://www.nutrition.com.sg/do/dolocal.asp

As I am breastfeeding, I need to consume a minimum of 1800 calories per day (according to many websites). Thus calorie counting also helps me to make sure I'm eating enough to produce good milk for my baby. 

Exercise Part One - Running

I started jogging in early June, and now I'm up to 5.5km. I attempted to go for a run every night but sometimes did not manage to do so as I had to factor in meimei's feeding times. For instance if she had not woken up for her feed by 10pm, I would forgo the run as it was too depressing to go out so late. 

However, even when meimei's feeding time wasn't an issue, I also ended up going out around 10pm.. The boys went to bed at 8pm.. I finally had time to attend to meimei.. She fed till about 9pm.. I ate dinner (which my hubby bought back)... Rested a while for the food to settle.. 10pm left house.. : (

 

And because I planned to run every night, each day I felt crappy thinking 'still gotta go run at the end of the day...'....

After 3-4 weeks of this, I decided to only run on alternate weekdays. Thus I was able to have a better state of mind on the other days - 'ahh.. I can rest once the kids go to bed'.. It was easier to get by with days of rest, and I looked forward more to the runs : )

I also discovered that isotonic drinks are quite high in calories! One can is about 190 calories..!! And a run of 5km is only about 300 calories lor... But I still drink some la, cos I must make sure I'm in the best state to produce good milk for my baby. Just not drink too much, and only drink if I run at least 5km. 

I am also using a very useful app called Runkeeper. It uses GPS to track the distance covered and also provides info like duration, elevation, pace, etc.. And it's free! 

My Weight Loss Journey

Gosh! It has been 4 months since my last post! That was about the time when I started going to my in-laws' every weekday in anticipation of meimei's birth. I was probably too tired to blog then. 

Now, we have settled into a routine with 3 young children, and my foremost concern is my weight and size. As with everything else that I do, this means a lot of reading - books, magazines, Internet. I'm only at the beginning of the journey, but I'm confident I will definitely lose all the baby fats (though I might not get bak my prebaby hips), so I wanna share my 'tricks' here for others who also want to slim down : )

Some history first: I started exercising when baby was 2 months old. But I only ran 3km once a week for the first two weeks, partly to ease into the habit and partly to allow my body to get used to the physical exertion. 

Good thing was, my stamina and muscles adapted pretty well. I guess mentality plays a big part, cos I do like running and I see myself as a lifelong runner. Unfortunately, my knees didn't take it so well.... I suffered very bad pain during and after the runs.. Initially I attributed to i) age; ii) weak joints due to pregnancy & childbirth; iii) too much sports in my younger days.  

But very luckily, the pain disappeared after a few weeks! Perhaps it was due to the glucosamine supplement which I started taking recently... But I think it was probably because the pain was caused by the sudden increase in exercise.. :p I am very happy, and shall continue taking glucosamine just in case. Prevention is always better than cure!

Oh ya. My weight at 2 months post- baby was 60kg..... >.<

My aim is 50kg. So that's 10kg to lose. No fixed timeline cos I'm still breastfeeding and baby's health is priority. Not gonna do anything funny until I wean her around 1 year old. 

Cooking for The KINGS

Seriously very fed up liao. I can understand and accept it if the boys have certain preferences and only want to eat a few selected dishes. BUT they can wolf down one dish the previous week and totally reject it this week..!! What the...??!! And yes, this applies to pan-fried foods as well..! I think the only food they will eat happily everyday is perhaps... urmm.. I can't think of anything! I am SURE they will get sick of 'favorite' foods such as crispy chicken or french fries if I serve it to them everyday.. because the appeal of these foods must be largely due to them being forbidden and thus 'luxury' items!

I have thought of two more methods to try. If they still do not work, I shall just give up lah. Anyway my tests and experimentation will have to take a backseat once Meimei is out, cos it will be the confinement auntie doing all the cooking. I considered still cooking for the boys while the auntie cooks for hubby and me, but seriously, who am I kidding? As if the boys will eat... Once I tell them 'no, these dishes are not for you', they will definitely decide they cannot eat anything else but auntie's dishes!

[Anyway, who am I kidding? How to give up? Once the confinement period is over, if I don't cook for them, who cook??]

First method to try: Western recipes. So far I have been using bento-style i.e. Jap style, and Chinese style. But the boys usually do not eat much rice.. though sometimes Jiale finishes his rice and not touch his meat/fish/vegs.. don't ask me why.. I think he does it just to make me happy.. >.< So maybe I will replace the rice with potato or other starchy foods.

Second method to try: Continue Chinese style cooking, but instead of serving individual portions on their plates, I shall serve the boys only their rice on their plates, and they take the meat/fish/vegs they want from communal plates. Like the way we eat when I cook for all four of us or when we eat at my in-laws. Not very hopeful for this, cos Jiale doesn't eat much either when we are at my in-laws... And I think Didi tends to copy his behaviour.... Haii...

Just try, see how : /

One-Week Activity Log

Too difficult to do a proper activity log! Kept forgetting to take photos or to note down what we did :P So here are the few photos I did take, and my inspiration for some of our activities/books we are reading.

Monday morning: Messy play with milk, dishwashing detergent, food colouring

Sticker play in the afternoon

Did a jigsaw puzzle together

Tuesday afternoon: Did 3 sticker books with Jiale while Didi was napping. No morning play that day as I had a gynae appointment.

He asked to play with flour : )

Playing with Geomag

Hao Xue Bao talking pen

Wednesday morning paint play with marbles & other round items

New Chinese nursery rhyme sound book which just arrived in the mail

We definitely did a lot more than what the above pictures showed. Other than the main activity in the mornings, it was hard to remember to take photos each time we engaged in an activity. Other than the child-led activities we did, I used the book 'Playful Learning' as a guide to choose our library books and activities.

In the picture below of the library books we were reading last week, the Big Cats and Cheetahs books were a follow-up on our recent visits to the zoo and Jiale's interest in these animals, and the Monster Trucks book is his all-time interest. The other books were recommended in the Playful Learning book, which has themes such as 'Mathematicians at Work' (Black Dot Adventures), Scientific Investigations (Cloud Gazing, The Life Cycle of A Seed), Exploration of Art & Artists (Open-Ended Art Explorations), Growing Globally (Wake Up, World book on how children around the world live, My Map Book), Nurturing Young Authors (Making Lists), etc.

For most of the topics, we did not go very deeply into them. Some of the books were too advanced/wordy for Jiale, so we just read through. Mainly, it's a guide for me to introduce new ideas/concepts to him, so that we are not stuck on 'academic' topics. I did a few Themed Learning with Jiale before, but it's not often that he gets so 'obssessed' with a topic that it's worth a theme on its own. So in between such 'big' themes, I shall just do small bits here and there with him. If he shows more interest in anything, I will then go further with him. This method also allows me to have a clearer idea which books to borrow from the library, cos it's very difficult to go browsing with the boys in tow! Now I just reserve online and collect the books from the service counter.

For the Seeds topic, we grew a few green beans and the boys water them everyday. One of the seeds did not make it and I explained to Jiale that it did not get the nourishments (nutrients or sun or water) it needed and thus it died. For the Ten Black Dots book, I gave the boys black dot stickers of course :p

Extension of My Map Book - I drew the plan of the boys' bedroom. I could see the quietly amazed & incredulous look on Jiale's face as he watched his 'room' appear on the paper.. it was priceless.. the moment you know something has 'clicked' in a child' head : )

Why My Kids MUST Sleep Early

Main reason: they wake up around 7am no matter what time they go to bed the previous night.

To me, there are three main types of bedtimes for children (around Jiale & Jiahe's ages): 1) Early - 7pm+ (or earlier!) to 8pm; 2) Still-ok-early-not-too-late - 8.30pm to before 10pm; 3) Late/very late - after 10pm.

I am ok with them sleeping at 9pm+, even if it's every night, if not for them waking up so early the next morning. Even though there are cons such as me having to work till later, there are significant pros like the convenience of going out for dinner/other family activities (as it is, we never go out in the afternoon/evening, only in the morning, except to the grandparents'), the kids spending more time with daddy after he comes back from work (but it also means less time for daddy to rest after a long day at work), etc. BUT but but, since the boys stubbornly wake up early (usually before 7am), a 9.30pm means TWO whole hours less sleep every night...!! No no noooooooo..! I strongly believe that sleep is the most important contribution to a young child's growth.. no need to do learning aids or learning activities - I believe the child can and will still find ways to learn at a very fast speed... no need to prepare special or nice food for him - I believe he will eat when he is hungry or wants to eat.. But the parent must be in charge of sleeping habits, because a child can stay awake till very late and is likely to want to stay up even if he's tired.

If they go to bed very late at around 11pm, perhaps they might wake up later in the morning. I have no idea cos it has happened less than.. urmm.. 5 times since Jiale was born..? Once was at my brother's wedding dinner.. and the Chinese New Year reunion dinners (in bed by 11pm).. But I think it's way too late for a young child if that is the regular bedtime.

Since Jiale stopped napping willingly/easily recently, the boys' bedtimes have become earlier at 7.30pm. Not that Jiale die die will not nap, but after coercion and threats and scoldings etc, he will probably only fall asleep at maybe 4pm+..? That might work for him.. but poor Didi will also be wanting to play with Kor Kor as they sleep in the same room, and a 4pm naptime is way too late for a 21-month-old who wakes up at 6am+. Then they wake up around 6pm... and end up going to bed around 9pm... which brings us back to their early wakings in the morning.. the amount of naptime remains the same for Didi, but his night sleep has been shortened..!

Total amount of sleep does not differ much for Jiale - he goes to bed later at night but it is made up for by his afternoon nap. But it means a lot of unpleasantness for him and me every afternoon - scoldings and tears and anger etc : (

Alternative: let the boys sleep in separate bedrooms. We have three bedrooms but one is reserved for the coming baby. I don't like the idea of co-sleeping or sharing our room with the kids but I have considered letting Jiale take his afternoon nap in the master bedroom. That will take Didi out of the problem. But still have to scold Jiale to make him sleep : ( Unless I lie down with him - less scoldings.. but this arrangement will fall apart very soon.. Once Meimei arrives, I will be on call 24/7 to attend to her.. Given that Jiale will take at least 30 minutes to fall asleep (since he's being forced to nap and not really tired in the afternoon), it is very likely that I will be activated by Meimei.. end up Kor Kor still not napping and I waste the time lying there waiting for him to sleep.

Anyway it's not that I don't LET him nap. I ask him umpteen times every afternoon whether he's tired and wanna nap. I remind him a zillion times that if he's tired, he can nap in my room or on the sofa anytime. But I do not try to MAKE him nap.

I am actually very satisfied with the current arrangements. I do not know whether it's related to him dropping his afternoon nap, but I see that he has been more lovey-dovey toward me and more loving toward Didi and more well-behaved in general since around the time I stop forcing him to nap. Might be just a coincidence.. or maybe it's because he has more alone time with me now.. and less scoldings from me to force him to nap.. and more time for him to be alone to play, to think, to be quiet. It also gives me time to do certain learning activities with him which are too dangerous/difficult to do together with Didi.

The 7.30pm bedtime works great for Didi too. Even though he usually takes a 2-hour nap and wakes up at 3pm+, he is usually behaving in a 'drunk' manner by 6pm. (I am very lucky that Didi doesn't get cranky when he's tired - he just goes nutty and cute-drunk, haha. I was once very worried that he was intoxicated by the cooking wine I used for their dinner.. but I realised he behaves that way even when I don't use any cooking wine that day, lol.) And since the kids are in bed so early, I am happy too! Daddy is happy too - though he doesn't get to spend much time (if any) with the kids after work, urmm he's not the bleeding-heart type of daddy la... no great desire to play with them every night :p

Speaking of Didi.. I asked the PD whether being tired is related to having fits.. and the PD said yes it's related.. cos I noticed that both times that Didi had the fit, he woke up very early (5am+) that morning. So now I get very nervous when Didi doesn't get enough sleep. As a matter of principle, I don't like to carry the boys now that they are so big. Furthermore, because of my pregnancy, it's dangerous to carry them too. But now, especially after the second fit, I often carry Didi if I see any/a litte sign of him being tired even though he rarely asks me to carry him anymore. I am scccccaared : ( Luckily I am already in the last leg of my pregnancy and Meimei won't be too small even if I pop now.

The only problem now is when we visit the grandparents during weekends. By the time we leave after dinner, it's usually 8pm+ at the earlier, which means the boys only get to be in bed around 10pm, after their milk and bath. Plus it's more difficult to get Jiale to go for his bath since he's tired and cranky by then. (Unlike Didi, Jiale goes crazy-cranky when he's tired.) And he's super tired, cos he would have been awake since 6am+ that morning with no nap. At the grandparents', we also keep asking him whether he wants to nap, and the answer is usually no. I guess I can force him to nap, but I don't think it's fair to him since napping or being forced to nap is no longer part of his daily routine.

Really felt so terrible and so guilty and so apologetic towards Jiale last night, seeing him so exhausted after coming back from the grandparents. He only went to bed at 10.10pm : ( I have thought about it and decided that the parent(s) have to do something about it and not just keep letting the same thing happen. I shall think hard about what to do.

4th Week Food Diary

It's the end of 5th week and I'm just writing for 4th week :p Oh well, with Jiale no longer taking afternoon nap, I don't have as much time to blog nowadays : /

As it was the CNY week, I didn't cook on Monday (Chu 2). And cos we didn't do grocery shopping the previous Saturday (CNY eve), I had nothing to cook for Tuesday lunch and we ate at Sakae instead.

I was very unwell on Thursday, so all meal plans for that day also went to pieces.. On Saturday, it was Didi's turn to be very sick, so I only cooked porridge with steamed fish or steamed egg for the boys' meals that weekend.

Just decided I am gonna stop posting food diaries. It's getting boring and I really don't have time. Having the idea to do a weekly activity diary instead. Hmm. See how. 

Tuesday dinner: Stir-fried pork with kailan, Cooling winter melon soup

Wednesday breakfast: Cheese toast, banana, avocado dip, yogurt

Wednesday lunch: Steamed chicken thigh, Chinese cabbage with dried shrimps

Wednesday dinner: Stir-fried asparagus with prawns, Old cucumber in pork broth

Friday breakfast: Kokokrunch in milk, banana, hard boiled egg

Friday lunch: Noodles with fish & button mushrooms

Friday dinner: Steamed eggs with fish, Stir-fried pork, Pork bones with lotus root soup

Saturday breakfast: Cheese sandwich, yogurt, grapes

Sunday breakfast: Strawberry cake, banana, yogurt

3rd Week Food Diary

Didn't take notes after each meal this week :P Lazy, plus since I am not gonna stop cooking a dish just bcos of lukewarm responses anyway. But it's pretty obvious that the boys like panfried chicken or fish and steamed fish. Didi is a confirmed soup lover, while Jiale will usually finish his bowl of soup too.

From no veg dish for the first week, to some sort of veg for the second week like edamame or steamed broccoli, this week I have started cooking a veg dish for lunch. So it's one veg dish and one meat/fish dish for lunch, and one meat/fish dish and a soup for dinner. Usually there is some veg in the soup, and sometimes some veg as part of the meat dish too. Still not good enough la, cos often I realised there's no greens for dinner......... But it's very difficult to cook so much for two young kids! And I don't wanna eat my own cooking everyday! I wanna eat carrot cake and fishball noodles and satay!!

Had planned a proper dinner for after the zoo trip on Wednesday, but I felt too tired, so I let them eat macaroni cheese instead. A junk food, no doubt, but I managed to sneak in avocado, hee hee!

There was also no proper lunch on Friday cos we went to Scoop of Art cafe before the library that morning, and the food was so yummy that all of us ate a lot at 11am+. Urmm, also no proper dinner on Friday cos I forgot to buy tofu and I was lazy so just gave up and gave the boys pizza :p

In the past, I used to give one processed food with the other proper foods to entice Jiale to eat. It worked quite well, probably because he was still young and i was feeding him. So as long as he was willing to open his mouth, i could feed him veg and meat together with the fishball etc. But now I realised whenever he saw fishballs or hot dogs, he would refuse to eat anything else. So I no longer serve any processed food when I cook for them. Unfortunately they ate a lot of fishballs for the two reunion meals! : /

[The food I cook for them probably seems very basic and easy... I see so many nicer photos of nicer food on FB.. but I am really not good at cooking... So my poor boys have to make do... : /]

Monday breakfast: Spinach bread, avocado dip, hardboiled egg, blueberries

Monday lunch: Stir-fried sweet peas & broccoli, pan-fried chicken

Monday dinner: Steamed fish, papaya corn yam broth

Tuesday morning: Carrot bread, fried egg, avocado dip, banana

Tuesday lunch: Kebocha shitake pork, chinese cabbage with dried shrimps

Tuesday dinner: Mochiko chicken, papaya fish soup

Wednesday breakfast: McDonald!

Wednesday dinner: Macoroni cheese with avocado

Thursday breakfast for school: Salmon mayo sandwiches, cheese stick

Thursday dinner: Pan-fried crispy fish, Liu Wei Tang

Saturday breakfast: Peanut butter sandwich, fried egg, yogurt, grapes

Sunday breakfast: Cheese sandwich, gingerbread man cookie, yogurt

Book: French Kids Eat Everything

I really wish my boys would eat everything too! But I think I have to wait long long... especially since they are actually not as picky an eater as their mummy...... :P I don't like to eat vegs, absolutely hate beansprouts, garlic, onion etc, have never tried common slimey stuff like sashimi or offal or oysters, and will never ever try exotic slimey stuff like escargots, and the list goes on and on..

OK, back to the book - it's about a Canadian mummy who moved to France for one year with her French hubby and two kids aged five and two. Her kids were picky eaters as in the elder girl refused to try new foods and only liked food like french fries and pizza, while the younger one used to eat everything but started imitating her sister when she got older (sounds just like my Jiale and Jiahe!!). On top of this, the full-time working mum often just cooked pizza or pasta for their meals as she was tired after a day's work, and it was common practice in North America to eat these foods regularly.

But when the family was in France, she realised that French kids had very different (and much healthier) dietary habits. One of the main points that's relevant to my situation is that instead of grazing (or frequent small meals that's recommended in many parenting books), the French culture was to give the children (actually, even the adults too) three main meals plus a big snack. So, the schedule would be like this: 7.30am for breakfast; 12.30pm for lunch; about 4.30pm for a big snack; 7.30pm for dinner. Though it means that the children sometimes have to go hungry between meals, it also means that they eat more and eat better at the proper mealtimes. The rationale is that it is ok for children to feel hungry at times, and it becomes a cycle - habit to eat more at mealtimes--> won't be that hungry between mealtimes. And because high-satiety foods are served at mealtimes, they feel satisfied for a long time (as opposed to snacks-type of foods).

[The no-snacking between meals was feasible because everybody, including childcare centres, grandparents, other parents, was doing it. It would not work if you were against snacking but the childcare teachers were feeding them!]

As for being willing to try new foods, according to the author, it's very much a cultural thing, i.e. everybody (all parents inclusive) serves their children very varied foods since young. And because everybody is doing it, the children sorta expect to be trying new foods.. they are used to it and all their peers are doing it too. The relevant point here is that researchers have found that children need to see the new food many times (can't remember but I think the book mentioned it's at least 7 times) and to taste the food at least 10 times before they might grow to like the food. If the child says he doesn't like the food the first couple of times it's served to him, we aren't supposed to believe him :p So, I have decided to be thick-skinned and just keep serving him all the stuff which he has indicated he does not like, haha! Given that I cook each dish at most once a week, it's gonna take us a looooooong time to cover each dish 10 times! (actually will be more than 10, cos he might not even taste it the first few times)

The last point which I shall include here, is about parents' priorities. The author compared North American and French mothers, and concluded that while both cultures loved their children very much (of course), the mothers' priorities were different. While the North Amercian mothers had no time to cook proper meals because they were busy ferrying the children around to their enrichment classes etc, the French mothers made it their priority to cook. Being less concerned about 'enriching' their children's brains, either by sending them to classes or engaging in learning activities or even playdates with them, they used the time to cook instead.

Gosh, that sounds familiar! I felt that I had no time to cook as I wanted to bring the boys for outdoor play etc, or to let them make a mess playing which meant I had to spend time cleaning up, or to sit with the boys for 'homelearning'.. But if instead I prioritize their meals, I do have a lot of time! This is my 3rd week of earnest attempts to cook properly (very tough because it's not just about time you know. It's that I am a lousy cook and it's killing many brain cells to cook properly!), and I do find that it's getting easier and taking less time. (In fact, I am contemplating making nice nice bento-decor lunches for the boys, hee hee.) The boys have also adjusted to seeing mummy slog spend a long time at the kitchen counter washing, cutting, cooking. While they used to go crazy everytime I started cooking, suddenly feeling and proclaming they were starving to death (regardless of what time I cooked or how recent their snack was), they have become accustomed to waiting for their food (especially their lovely breakfasts! So happy to see the boys looking forward to my daily creations!).

I am considering following the French meal schedule, but I wonder how feasible that is. The good thing is I have almost 100% control over what time and what they eat since they are not in school yet. (The once-a-week playgroup does not include meals and though the teachers do give them simple snacks like crackers/fruits, I have been preparing snacks for the boys to bring to school since a couple of weeks ago.)

The boys' current eating schedule:

180ml of milk when they wake up around 7am --> Breakfast is served around 7.30am, latest by 8am --> After I finish washing up the breakfast mess and preparing the ingredients for lunch, I offer them food again, around 9.30am. This is usually a selection of foods like fruits, cheese sticks, biscuits, raisins, Happy Munchies --> Depending on how much they eat, I will usually offer fruits around 11am. At this time I remind them that they will not be given any more food till lunchtime --> Lunch is served at 1pm --> If the boys fall asleep fast, they usually wake up around 4.30pm and I offer them a snack, usually fruits. If not, they have to wait for dinner, which is usually served one hour after they wake up from a late nap --> Milk after dinner, no more food allowed after dinner. (Sometimes exception is made for fruits)

So, they are having at least two snacks between breakfast and lunch, within 5 hours! Hmm, after I write it down, I think I should combine these two snacks into one mid-morning snack around 10am. But my main worry is Jiale not getting enough fruits (since he gets constipated and he doesn't eat vegs).. so I feel the need to keep offering fruits to him.. Actually, so far this has worked quite well for his constipation : ) If I don't serve fruits (i.e. a snack) between meals, how to get fruits into him? Since he and Jiahe both like fruits, they might eat even less for their main course if they know they will definitely get fruits right after the main course.. (even less??? omg omg) I shall ponder more on this.

It's not very hard to shift their lunchtime forward by half an hour to the French lunchtime of 12.30pm.. but... can they tahan not eating from 8am to 12.30pm?? And we don't have time for a mid-afternoon snack since the boys usually take quite long to settle down to nap and then they nap about two hours.. But then they also don't have dinner so late.... Hmm.. if I serve dinner at 7.30pm, can I still get them to bed by 9pm? (both for my mental health and for them to get enough sleep since their biological alarm clocks ring loudly by 7am every morning.. even when it's wet and gloomy and so dark I have no idea how they know it's 7am..!!)

This is mind-boggling and brain-cracking and very chim. I doubt a rocket scientist can solve this >.<

2nd Week Food Diary

Repeated some of the previous week's recipes which the boys liked. But their preferences seemed to have changed in the space of just a few days! Sigh, when will I ever be able to figure it out? : /

(We had lunch at the zoo on Wednesday, and Thursday breakfast was sandwiches which they brought to school, but they were ugly looking sandwiches cos we only had 3 slices of bread left, so I didn't take any photo :p Thursday lunch is always takeaway chicken rice cos I am not at home to cook while they are in school (and no, no way am I gonna give up my morning off to rush home to cook. Chicken rice is good, thank you very much). Saturday lunch was yummy sushi at Sakae after grocery shopping. The boys had their Sunday lunch & dinner at the grandparents' - i.e. I didn't have to cook!)

Monday breakfast: Cheese toast, hard boiled egg, banana

Jiale: Finished the toast & banana. Didn't eat the egg at all.
Jiahe: Finished almost everything plus kor kor's egg.

Monday lunch: Steamed seabass, steamed broccoli

JL: Said the fish was nice and finished all! Didn't touch the broccoli.
JH: Finished almost everything.

Monday dinner: Chicken tofu, chayotes corn mushroom soup

JL: Ate a lot of the chicken and this time he tried the tofu! : ) Finished his soup.
JH: Finished almost all his food.

Tuesday breakfast: Peanut butter sandwich, fried egg, caramelised banana

JL: Finished the sandwich. Didn't want to try the banana. Ate a bit of the egg.
JH: Finished almost everything plus some of kor kor's egg and banana.

Tuesday lunch: Kabocha mushroom pork, spinach with wolfberries

JL: Ate two portions of rice with some gravy from the pork dish. But didn't eat any meat/veg at all >.<
JH: Finished two portions of pumpkin. Spat out the spinach (???). Ate some minced pork. Spat out the mushroom (which he ate a lot last week!).
[I used fresh shitake mushrooms last week but dried chinese mushrooms this week cos I ran out of the shitake. Perhaps the chinese mushrooms were harder and not so nice? Shall buy shitake mushrooms again soon.]

Tuesday dinner: Crispy panfried fish, apple corn chicken soup

The boys loved the fish! Lackluster reaction to the soup.. again.. Shall give up this soup for the time being.

Wednesday breakfast: Peanut butter sandwiches and tuna sandwiches

His Royal Highness Jiale finally ate the blueberries! He used to love them when he was younger.. then he stopped eating blueberries.. But never mind, Didi happily gobbles up any leftover blueberries!

Wednesday dinner: Mochiko chicken, black bean cuttlefish soup

I made a mistake with the chicken - I think I used too much egg & flour.. shall try again soon. It was edible la, but I think it would be a more accurate experiment if at least the recipe were adhered to haha.

Thursday dinner: Sauteed shrimps with mushrooms, pork bones lotus root soup

Hmm, dunno why, Jiale didn't want to eat dinner at all.. Even before he saw the food he was saying he didn't want to eat..... He did come to the dining table eventually but... He usually loves prawns but he was sian sian towards tonight's dinner.. boo hoo.. Dear son, prawns are not cheap ok.....

(The lotus root soup was very bland! I don't add any salt to the soups as the recipes do not include salt. But I think that wasn't the problem.. the problem was probably the lotus root.. I bought a packet of pre-cut, pre-boiled lotus root cos it's not always possible to find lotus root at the supermarket, and I thought if it worked, it would be very convenient! But unfortunately, the flavour suffered and I would not use this again.)

Friday lunch: Braised french beans with bee hoon

Jiale requested for this when he saw the picture in one of my cookbooks the previous day. Hubby managed to help me buy french beans from the provision shop downstairs.. But I didn't have tung hoon and didn't realise it till I was about to prepare lunch, so I used bee hoon instead. Anyway Jiale bluffed me lor.. he said he would eat the beans but he refused to try them at all! : ( But I shall try this again with tung hoon.

I also let the boys try Campbell cream of asparagus after they had enough of the bee hoon. As part of my attempts to get more greens into Jiale, I wanted to try cream soups. Because Jiale simply refuses to touch the vegetables when I serve them as a separate dish or when they come as part of his soup! I thought cream soups might work since they are sorta 'pureed' into the soup.. and yes, he liked the cream of asparagus and even ate the asparagus pieces! Next, I shall make the soup myself! Didn't wanna waste food and money cooking the soup myself before getting some assurance that he would eat it.. :p

Friday dinner: Claypot rice, chicken vegetable soup

Jiale had the same reaction as the previous day's dinner.. Said he didn't want to eat even before laying eyes on the food.. SIGH : ( I suspect he has realised mummy is up to no good.. no more of his usual favorites of chicken nuggets etc.... I guess he's moody..

Saturday breakfast: Salmon mayo sandwich & scrambled egg

Happy that the boys were ok to eat salmon mayo! Salmon is a brain food! Yippee!

Saturday dinner: Stuffed hairy gourd, crispy panfried fish, spinach & prawn balls soup

Dinner with daddy. The fish is a tried and tested dish. First time cooking the hairy gourd dish, which was stuffed with minced pork + carrot + mushroom + spring onions + dried shrimps... a lot of work!! *perspire* Luckily I only tried to do this when hubby was around.. it's too much work to cook this dish just for the two boys! At least I had an appreciative customer who would finish the food.

(Dunno why I am unable to scroll below the picture below to write.. gosh.. Never mind I shall not kill my brain cells.)

Happy that I managed to get the boys to eat avocado! Spread the avocado on the bread and added some cheese in between before grilling the bread. Yumz! : )

Sunday breakfast: Avocado cheese toast