Friday 21 February 2014

Eat your heart out :o))

Hello and welcome to some more new readers. A comment from Tina yesterday was quite amusing, I will answer her question.

Your meals always look good, but I was a bit puzzled by you saying there were enough chips for lunch and tea and you were not sure if you need a dinner now, how many meals a day do you have? 

There are so many different words for the meals we have here in the UK, breakfast is simple enough but then there's the midday meal which is known as either lunch or dinner, then some people call their evening meal tea or dinner, yet when some people say tea they mean afternoon tea before the evening dinner!

We have breakfast, lunch, dinner. Although we usually call dinner Supper! 

Oh forgot that there's supper too, so we could be eating all day long, breakfast, elevenses, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, supper.
We'd soon be lardy lumps! Lard, that's what started this comment!



Hi Tina, 
I usually have three meals a day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But, sometimes I have two breakfasts, the second one two hours after the first. If I start with bran flakes I am usually hungry again so I have a snack. If I start with porridge that will see me through to lunchtime.  I suppose you could call the second breakfast elevenses. Lunch is something not too filling because I don't want to spend the afternoon stodged up, and doing physical work after stuffing my face makes me feel sick. Mind you, a big salad doesn't take long to go through, no stodge in that. My mum always used to say, 'sit still and let your dinner go down', I was always the first to ask 'please may I leave the table.' Mind you things have changed now, I don't bolt my food any more, like everything else in my life, eating has slowed down to a more leisurely pace. 

I take lunch when my body tells me it's hungry, which could be any time between 11.30am and 1.30pm, depending on how much breakfast and elevenses I have had. I would rather have several small meals than three humungous ones. There was too many chips for one meal, so I split them into two portions. When I got home it was late afternoon so I warmed up the rest in the microwave and had them for tea. Posh folks would call that high tea. 

I knew that was not going to be enough to see me through to bed time. My first thought was to top it up later with rice pudding, but when it got to 7pm I didn't fancy it, so I had some home made carrot soup with a slice of wholemeal bread instead. 

When I was young we had dinner at lunchtime, and tea when we got home from school at 5pm. We never used to have supper, it wasn't really needed because mum always served up big meals, even though they weren't always the healthiest. Lots of bread and potatoes. If we were hungry before bed time we had a sugar sandwich. 

When I was working, driving all day, my meals were very haphazard, snacking most of the time because there was no time to stop and have a sit down meal until after the days work. Even then I couldn't stomach what they served up in transport cafe's, so I made my own on a little camping stove in the cab. 

Right, to the present day. My eating habits have drastically changed for the better since I have stopped driving. Now I know what is good for me, I am able to pick and choose what to eat, and when to eat it. I know if I don't eat for three to four hours I am going to feel lousy, I am going to feel faint. I know if I go out anywhere I need to take a sandwich, a banana, and a drink. I don't rely on getting something from a shop. I don't buy ready made sandwiches, they are prepared in a factory, and shops sell stodgy snacky things, not good. 

Small amounts often are better than whopping big meals, but, I can eat a big plateful of steamed veg or salad, and I know it will not bloat me. So Tina you won't become a lardy lump if you stuff yourself with veg and salad. Lay off the meat, pies, puddings, cakes, flans, pizzas, pasties, and anything bulked up with pastry. Bulk up with pulses, chick peas, any kind of beans though wash the sugar off them, porridge oats, wholemeal rice and wholemeal pasta. Don't snack on biscuits, crisps, fizzy drinks, choccy bars. Snack on nuts and fruit. Only eat when you are hungry, when your stomach is grumbling. When you are full stop. Keep reducing the amount you eat and your stomach will shrink to accommodate smaller meals. 

I hope that has answered your question, what was the question bye the way? ha ha. Thank you for giving me a topic to write about. The sun is shining, the washer has stopped so I need to go and peg the washing out on the line. Things to do, a bit more gardening today, get out while it's nice. I would like to go out for a long walk but I have commitments here, but I can find plenty to do. Goodness, I have just noticed that the dust is almost an inch thick on the mantlepiece, oh well not to bother, another job for another day. The windows need cleaning first. Keep chipping away at things. I am not superwoman, people take me as they find me. My house is full of love, if not that pristine. 
Have a nice Friday. Toodle pip.  

23 comments:

  1. I find I eat more if I have to take certain medication which is a constant battle to keep the weight down.

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  2. You have omitted High Tea which is very different to Tea is it not ? :-)

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    1. High Tea, isn't that what posh people take at The Ritz? I think of it as cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off, and a choice of cupcakes with lashings of cream oozing down the sides, and tea in china teacups, served up by dashing young men in white suits and bow ties. I may have got it wrong, I can only afford to look through the window, ha ha.

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  3. I forgot to mention Brunch. Is that breakfast and lunch combined?

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    1. Beverley here: Brunch is a combination late breakfast/early lunch that is popular on Saturdays & Sundays here in the States. Most people are off work those days and want to sleep in so this works out great.

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  4. I have breakfast (slice of toast), dinner (which is really lunch - fruit and crisp bread, tea (which I suppose is really dinner as it is the main meal of the day but we eat at 5pm) and finally supper which is just a snack. I don't eat between meals.
    Love from Mum
    xx

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  5. It's all very confusing for us natives because it also differs from family to family, region to region. My daughters teacher had never heard of 'supper' until she moved up north. To us supper is just a light snack before bed, a biscuit and milk for example. At the weekend when we could stay up late we would call it a midnight feast, even though we had it 10 :o). We always call our main meal 'tea' if it is eaten before 6 and with the kids. After 6 without the kids = Dinner. Lunch is always lunch to us, but my mother calls it dinner - which always confuses my daughter. Mid morning snack used to be elevensies but now it's popular to call it brunch (our local cafe provides a 'brunch' menu which looks exactly the same as lunch menu but smaller portions haha). At least breakfast never changes. Debbie x

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    1. Ha ha, now I'm even more confused.

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    2. Beverley here: In the southern States the last meal of the day is called supper. My dad, being the southern gentleman he was, always called it supper so Mom has always called it that as well. People in the rest of the U.S. usually call it dinner, especially if it is served in the early evening.

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  6. Thanks for replying although I think you got a bit carried away, I didn't need a lecture on what I should or shouldn't be eating!!!!!!!

    The lardy lumps and number of meals comment was meant to be humorous, I'm well aware of what is healthy and what is stodge!!!!!!

    Off to eat Supper, apparently I'm quite posh by calling my "tea" or "dinner" that!

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  7. When we moved from Scotland to England I had to change what I called mealtimes. In Scotland, we always ate breakfast, dinner in the middle of the day, tea at 5pm and then a light evening snack called supper. When we moved down to England, it was breakfast, lunch and supper. With the hours my husband works, we eat our main meal at around 6.30 so I have a light afternoon snack when my son comes home from school.

    Like you Ilona, when we are out and about, we take our own food and drink, partly to save money and partly because it's healthier. I can't eat heavy, fatty food any more (must be getting older) - it just makes me feel terrible.

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  8. Up here in Lancashire its breakfast, dinner and tea and a bit of supper before bed if you're still peckish. Apparently, the way to eat (for us hard grafting Northerners int' mill) is a big hearty breakfast to see you through til dinner time, a big dinner to get you through the afternoons work and a light tea when you get home from work because you're not going to burn it off.
    People still eat in that pattern but it doesn't suit modern life now that people don't do manual jobs. It might explain why people struggle with their weight.
    I know what you mean about the truckers 'lifestyle?' i end up having 4meals somedays and only 2 on others which along with irregular shift patterns and mealtimes or snacking til the food has gone can't do anyone any good.
    Dave.

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  9. Thanks for the reminders and ideas Ilona there's more than one person that reads your blog and I'm all up for ideas and reminders through your blog I read daily and a couple of others I've learnt or got the idea I don't need snacks between meals if I don't have the food I'm not gonna die simple basic food for meals Also a lot cheaper and it's fuel that's all I need plus I have other things on my mind like my bank balance I'm getting older and I need to take care of myself no one else is gonna do it why didn't I see this before like really get it I do now :) Louise

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  10. Here in the US we have breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some people call dinner supper. The other day I was thinking about teatime
    and didn't know if the official teatime is at 3 or 4 pm? When you say tea I know you usually mean your evening meal, dinner.
    At least that's what I think it is. So tea at 3 or 4 pm is just a little party with tea and cakes, sometimes small sandwiches?
    I used to do that for my daughter and two of her little friends when they got home from school. They loved it.
    I know what you mean about cereal. When I eat it I am hungry pretty soon after. We try to eat some protein for breakfast to hold us over until lunch.
    When I was growing up my uncles were Norwegian farmers (but in the US) and they ate breakfast, lunch (really a snack after a few hours work in the fields, usually sandwiches, cake and coffee) then the big meal at noon called dinner, then another "lunch" out in the field like the morning one, then later supper, a smaller version of dinner and then.......another thing called "lunch," a snack of cake or cookies before bed! I know they worked very hard so burned up all that they ate and needed a lot of food for fueling themselves. The poor women never stopped cooking and taking food to the field!
    We also always take a small something and a water bottle with us when we have to go "to town," which is 30 mile away. We will not
    buy fast food or food from a gas station. It's awful. We very seldom eat dinner or lunch in a restaurant. I guess you can call us food snobs for we love to eat good meals and we love to cook as much as possible from "scratch," as we say.

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    1. That's a great comment Caterina, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I think of teatime as being about 4pm, as that''s the time the kids come home from school. If tea isn't ready they usually raid the fridge for a snack to keep them going. When we came home we went out to play and mum would call us in for tea.

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  11. In Australia, it's breakfast, or brekky between 6am to 9am, depending on life times. Lunch at midday. And dinner at about 6pm-ish, or tea time in the olden times. Morning tea about 10.30am, afternoon tea at about 4pm. Supper is a munch of biscuits or fruit and cocoa before bed, but only if hungry!

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    1. I knew someone who ate an apple for supper. I couldn't do that, it would keep me awake all night.

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    2. My Mother always ate an Apple before bed! I could never, Apples make me hungry! But if it was an Apple Pie, I would be happy, and satisfied!

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  12. Somone once told me the main evening meal was 'dinner' if its cooked and 'tea ' if its not. I still get confused!
    In NZ they also have Smoko (sometimes called morning tea or elevens here in the UK)

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    1. Hi. Actually that makes sense. You don't cook your tea, you make it, and cook your dinner. Never heard of Smoko before, that's a new one.

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  13. Even though I live in the US, my mother (and her family) always called lunch "dinner" and she still does. It confuses my kids. I always have to remind them that she means lunch. There were a lot of Irish immigrants in her town where she grew up and I am thinking that maybe they picked that up from them. No one else I know says that. I eat an early breakfast, then a light lunch and a full meal for dinner and that's usually around 5:30-6:00pm. I guess it depends on where you grew up as to what you call these meals. We sometimes go to brunch on a Sunday because that's a common thing for cafes and restaurants around here to offer on a Sunday. The menu is usually breakfast stuff and lunch stuff also.

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  14. I believe the term "dinner" for what we call lunch originated with the farming communities. They had to eat a big meal at noon because they
    had hours and hours of work left afterwards.
    Another curious thing I hear the Brits say is when they call Christmas dinner, Christmas "lunch." But it's a big meal so how could it be called lunch? Maybe because it's in the middle of the day. And I think they also call any Sunday dinner, Sunday lunch.
    Language is fascinating, isn't it?

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