Weigh In Friday - It's a wrap!

It's the last Friday of the month. Time is really whizzing past. Why, not so long ago, we were celebrating Chinese New Year.

I have some news. A while ago, it came to my attention that my stomach thingy (gastritis/bloating/headaches) has improved tremendously. Don't get too excited. I'm not 100% cured. But I rarely get headaches and my bloating has decreased in volume and frequency. When I realised that headaches were no longer the norm for me, I starting really enjoying myself. It's so good to go to sleep and not wake up with a headache. It's so good to eat and not worry about headaches or stomach aches. Is this what it's like for you guys? It's so wonderful. I hope I continue to improve.

I've been following my new doctor's advice. I take one capsule of low acid medication once a day. I don't avoid any food other than my known triggers. I also try to re-introduce food I had been avoiding back into my diet to see if I can eat them again. Guess what? I can eat bread and noodles again. Let me repeat. I can eat bread and noodles again.

This was the first burger I tried. Because it was the first burger since July 2015, I decided to be careful and ordered a petite burger from The Union. It's smaller than my fist. I think it's chicken with avocado. It was so delicious I almost fainted.

Because I loved the burger so much I went back to The Union to try the regular size version. It was a bit too much for me. Hubs had to finish it for me. Still tastes good.

I tried MacDonald's breaded salmon burger as well. The first time I ate it, I thought it tasted really good. Then I made the mistake of eating it again. I don't know what happened but the second one tasted horrible. Anyway, I'm over the breaded salmon.

So I went from zero burgers since last July to 5 burgers in February. I can't even remember what was the fifth burger I ate. It was that forgettable. Anyway, I think I got over the thrill of eating burgers again.

Eating out is so much easier now. I can go to a food court and get a bowl of noodles. I no longer have to stand at the entrance of restaurants and scan the menu for something I can eat.

This was signature noodles from Xin Wang cafe. Eating this plate of noodles was a wake-up call for me. It was loaded with msg and I did get a small headache. I still need to be smart about my choices.

This is minced meat noodles from Eat. It didn't give me any trouble. To be honest, I'm not so crazy about noodles. I love bread more than noodles.

I still can't eat rice. My stomach cannot stomach rice. I no longer question why I can't eat rice. I'm just grateful I can eat bread and noodles. I'm still avoiding coffee/tea and dairy. The doctor actually told me to specifically avoid coffee and tea. So I'm listening to her. I really miss my morning lipton sweet tea.

Now the bad news. My appetite has increased 100 times. I rarely feel hungry(because I keep eating). Now that I can eat so many things, I have trouble controlling myself. My weight has gone up again. My shorts and pants don't feel loose anymore. I stare at my porky tummy everyday but it won't get smaller. Despite my twice a week 5km run and once a week Pilates, I continue to balloon. Very soon I will gain back most of the weight I have lost.

My current weight is 58kg. Mind you, this was taken after a 5km run, a pee and a poop. I don't dare to weigh myself after a meal.

I want to say this is a happy problem. After all, I'm a lot better. That's the most important thing for me. Once I get used to having the freedom to eat most food, I hope I will be able to control my diet better.

I am still drinking my oat milk and I wanted to record down these two new brands I tried so I'll remember in future. Pacific oat has this weird sweet taste. It grew on me though. 

NaturGreen choco oat is horrible. I must remember never to buy it again.

By the way, I wonder if any of you guys are into wraps? Before I could eat burgers and noodles, I was able to eat wraps. Sometimes we make our own wraps. My girl who hates to eat rice finds wraps agreeable.

We get the wrap from the supermarket and my girl pan fries it. Then we add some lettuce, tomatoes,  stir fried chicken and mushrooms.

Wraps sold at kiosks or cafes are ridiculously priced. Where I live there's chicken kebab which costs $5.30! This one above, I can't remember where I had it, maybe Skinny Market, or the price but I know it's expensive. But it's quite large and I saved one for another meal.

In Singapore we have a local wrap called poh piah. The skin is quite thin and breaks easily. It's filled with cooked turnip, carrots, bean sprouts, egg, grated peanuts and a black sauce. Some versions have prawns/Chinese sausage. My mother used to make poh piah during qing ming festival which falls in early April. I always thought it was part of the tradition to make and eat poh piah during qing ming. I mean, my mother never made poh piah except during qing ming. As it turned out, no one else I knew did this. I discovered this when I was 18. I was a student then and back then on school days, me and my bff took turns to provide lunch for each other. On poh piah making day, I asked my friend to let me try her version of poh piah and I would make one for her. After much confusion, my bff realised my mistake. She told me poh piah had nothing to do with qing ming and her family has never made poh piah before. It was a revelation. Anyway, my mother doesn't make poh piah anymore. It's too much work. If I ever feel the desire to eat one, there's a cafe near my home where I can get it. It's nowhere near as good as my mother's. The turnip is machine grated and often tastes mushy. My mother would cut the turnip by hand.

All these talk has made me hungry for wraps. Maybe this Sunday, I'll make some for dinner.