Breakfast and TOTD

My breakfast today is mum’s microwaved low-carb cake, 2 half-boiled eggs, half an avocado, a handful of walnuts, groundnuts and almonds, plus some pressure-cooked chickpeas. It’s a wholesome low-carb, high-protein and high-fiber meal that keeps me full without snacking in between meals 💪

Mum’s low-carb mug cakes are my favorite. She makes it with coconut or almond flour, extra virgin coconut oil, a little honey, sugar-free cacao powder, milk, a pinch of salt and baking powder. Simple ingredients, but super yummeh! 😋

My Tea of the Day (TOTD) is a liver-loving tea with dandelion roots, jasmine buds, rose buds and red dates — a fragrant and comforting herbal blend to enjoy with my breakfast. 🌸🍵

Back in KL, Saturdays and Sundays were usually our eat-out days with the girls and their dad. Here in Ipoh, life is much simpler and slower-paced. We mostly enjoy home-cooked meals and only head out to restaurants or cafes when my brothers or daughters come back to visit, or when relatives and friends drop by. ❤️

Different seasons of life bring different kinds of joy. Sometimes, happiness is found not in fancy meals outside, but in a simple breakfast prepared with love at home. 😊

My High Protein Breakfast

My breakfast today. 😊

Two soft-boiled eggs topped with crispy meat floss, chickpeas with melted butter, and half a steamed sweet potato with grass-fed butter.

A simple breakfast that's high in protein, packed with nutrients, and keeps me feeling full and satisfied for longer. Lately, I've been trying to cut back on bread, refined carbs, and other UPF, while focusing more on whole, nutrient-dense foods that help support steadier blood sugar levels and overall health.

It's not about cutting out carbs completely—it's about making healthier choices, one meal at a time. Here's hoping these small, consistent changes will help bring my HbA1c down over the coming months! 💪😊

My High Protein Breakfast & Lunch

Today after attending strength training class with my mum 💪✨ I had a simple high-protein lunch—canned sardines with pressure-cooked chickpeas. Dessert was plain sugar-free yogurt with soaked chia seeds.

I actually wasn’t very hungry because my breakfast was already very filling and satisfying.

Breakfast was quite a feast 😋

2 large soft-boiled eggs 🥚, walnuts, roasted mixed beans, decaf coffee with milk + ground chia seeds ☕, fruits 🍎, boiled chickpeas… and the star of the morning—

a super low-carb, super yummy pandan coconut mug cake made by mum 💚

It’s basically a microwave mug cake made with coconut flour, egg, coconut milk, fresh pandan juice, and a touch of gula melaka syrup. Soft, fragrant, and guilt-free comfort food. 

Sardines may be simple, but they are a powerhouse food:

🐟 High-quality protein

🐟 Rich in omega-3 fatty acids for heart and brain health

🐟 Packed with calcium (especially when you eat the soft bones)

🐟 Low in mercury compared to larger fish

🐟 Very affordable and convenient

And canned sardines aren’t unhealthy like some people assume—in fact, canning preserves most of the nutrients, and it’s a safe, practical way to enjoy fish without added fuss.

👉 My high-protein breakfast + lunch kept me full all the way until dinner

No cravings. No snacking. Just steady energy.

Food really is fuel—and when you get it right, your body quietly thanks you 💛

Lunch today - canned sardines with chick peas.

Low-carb coconut pandan mug cake, microwaved for 2+ minutes.

The cake was so delish that mum made it again this morning, and this time, she made a bigger portion, in a Pyrex, microwaved.

Low-Carb High Protein Breakfast

My simple, hearty breakfast today — pressure-cooked chickpeas with 2 eggs.

Mum soaked the chickpeas overnight, and this morning she pressure cooked them for 30 minutes until they turned soft and creamy. She added turmeric powder, homegrown curry leaves and a little salt for extra flavour and goodness.

This will probably be our main plant protein for the next few days. Honestly, cooking chickpeas is so easy with a pressure cooker — no fuss, nutritious and budget-friendly too.

Besides being an excellent source of plant protein, chickpeas also have many health benefits:

• Rich in fibre, which helps with digestion and keeps you full longer

• Helps stabilise blood sugar levels due to its low glycaemic index

• Good for heart health as it may help lower bad cholesterol

• Contains iron, folate and magnesium, which support energy production and overall health

• High in antioxidants that help reduce inflammation

• Supports gut health by feeding beneficial gut bacteria

• Helps with weight management because it is filling and satisfying

• Naturally low in saturated fat and contains no cholesterol

• A good source of complex carbohydrates for steady energy release

Simple food can be some of the healthiest and most comforting meals. 😊

Low Carb Meals

When I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2000, I did tons of research on this disorder and from what I gleaned from the internet, it is a hormonal and insulin disorder that would affect fertility and other diseases.  

With daily exercise and following a strict low-carb diet, I managed to shed some weight and my hormones started to stabilize. It wasn't an overnight cure but required lots of hard work, discipline, and a life-long lifestyle change.

22 years on and I'm still on a low-carb diet, albeit not as strict as I used to be. And I'm still exercising almost daily.

Below is what I usually eat on a daily basis.

Hubs bought Hakka noodles and curry noodles for lunch from Restoran Ipoh Sedap @ SS2 PJ and I replaced the noodles with coleslaw. 
Oh yeah, if you're craving for some authentic Ipoh Hakka noodles, Chee Cheong Fun and curry noodles, Ipoh Sedap is the place to go to. Hubs loves the food from this restaurant.

For dinner, I ate the Hakka fish balls and meatballs with blanched greens.

My 'chap fan' dishes and replaced rice with coleslaw.

The only occasion when I'll eat rice is when there's fried rice (parboiled rice or Basmati rice). And the most that I'll take is just 3 tablespoons of fried rice.

Sri Lanka apam with egg, my favorite. This is not exactly low carb but it's much lower in carbs and calories than other Indian rotis.  Apam is prepped with ghee, which is a healthier alternative to packet oil.  I also love Rawa Tosai.

Keto-friendly brekkie - smoked salmon on Egg Benedict with Hollandaise sauce and a refreshing nutty salad.

Yesterday's lunch was coleslaw with chicken rendang, kailan and cili fish from hubby's central kitchen.  The mil cooked the spam and fried egg for breakfast.

Yummy for the tummy, from hubby's central kitchen ~ aromatic Nasi Jagung (sweet corn rice cooked with ghee and spices), cili Mackeral fish and stir-fried kailan.

Spicy and appetite-whetting cili fried mackerel fish.

Coleslaw omelette, cooked by chef S, for her school lunch box. She cooked extra for my brunch.

As you can probably gauge the size of my meals from the photos, the portions are befitting a 4 to 5-year-old child, thus my size.  I think I've inherited my mom's DNA as she also has a tummy as small as mine and is even skinnier than me 😁

Monday, 17 October 2022

Classes are held online every Monday for Cass. In between classes today, she cooked konjac noodles and shared them with me.  She added a packet of plain noodles (sans the seasoning), lettuce, frozen garden peas, two eggs, and some leftover takeout chicken.

For the soup, she used Melaleuca's Simply Fit instant vegetable dashi. 

Our brekkie today - spinach konjac noodles and healthy banana bread from Front Room Cafe.  Konjac noodles are my guilt-free way of enjoying instant noodles. They're keto-compliant, full of fiber, and may help lower cholesterol. 

Love this instant vegetarian dashi from Melaleuca.  Cass loves to cook konjac noodles with this vegetable dashi.   It's priced at RM76.40 for a pack of 30 sachets.

My stock of different flavored konjac noodles (spinach, sweet potato and carrot), which I ordered from Lazada.  At RM7+ a pack, the konjac noodles are very versatile - they taste great when cooked with clear soup, broth, dry or stir-fried.

Lunch for Cass is an egg mayo sandwich from Tedboy. I got this from our neighborhood supermarket.