"I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love eating. Hot, rustling chips with slightly too much salt on them, a piece of crisp-skinned duck or a round of thick white toast dripping with butter. Sometimes I just have to stop what I am doing and make a bacon sandwich or walk down the road to get a piece of cake. And although I prefer to eat something with a perfect provenance and made with the very best ingredients, I am not half as fussy as I could or should be. The way I look at it is this: a slice of commercially made chocolate cake might not be as good as a home-baked one, but it's better than no chocolate cake at all."
I object to this bit here though:
"I also discovered one or two helpful things. The first was the question of whether I was actually hungry or just thirsty. Now, I like to think I'm a fairly bright guy, but I have to admit to getting these two confused. So often, when I thought I was hungry, my body was just telling me it was dehydrated. This, more than any other single thing , is what has helped me to lose fat. In other words, next time you think you need a Mars bar, a pile of Pringles or a slice of cheesecake in between meals, try a glass of water or juice first. You might be as surprised as I was. To give you a clue, I downed over 600 litres of Evian in 2002...The other thing I discovered was water. There was never a day when I drank less than 1.5 litres of Evian, sometimes as many as three. The downside is that I pee like a horse. "
I think this is completely wrong. If you are dehydrated, you will feel thirsty. Most likely what is happening is that the water or juice is itself staving off the writer's hunger pangs.
I just don't understand this whole drinking water fad. Drinking something when you are not thirsty is so unpleasant. How does anyone make himself do it? I would have thought a gastronome like this Slater fellow would have recognized that. And the other downside, having to go to the bathroom all the time, is also awful. The few times I've tried to take up drinking 8 glasses of water a day, I've immediately given it up.
"Here is exactly what I ate last year...
I ate 72 kilos of fish (not counting 40 fish fingers and 472 pieces of sushi) which is only slightly less than the average polar bear. In fact it actually comes in at just over 200g a day. I should explain, quickly, that fish, rather than meat or poultry is my protein of choice. I love its silky texture and the fact that it is light on the gut. Gram for gram I ate more smoked salmon than almost anything else (9.7kg, I know it's hideously expensive, but I don't smoke or drive a car, so give me a break), hotly followed by rollmop herrings at 7.3kg. The reason for this is my habit of having a little of each as I'm preparing dinner. Light as they are, they soon add up. I also managed to swallow 12kg of mackerel, most of which I grilled so that the skin was all black and toasty, 4kg of halibut (and rather a lot of Hollandaise sauce), 2.5kg of cod, 16 dressed crabs, 17 whole plaice, 13 sea bass, 3.5kg of smoked mackerel and 194 oysters. I saw off 10 squid, five grilled sole, 1.2kg of skate and 500g of salt cod. What I didn't eat much of were scallops (a measly two) and tuna (of which I am honestly not fond). I did manage 472 pieces of sushi, seven bowls of moules marinière (two of which came up again), and 3.7kg of salmon, (which didn't). The best fishy thing I ate all year was a crab salad at Nahm in the Halkin Hotel, though it was difficult to
beat the piece of halibut I cooked at home with bearnaise sauce and green beans
from the garden..."
The description of the other things he ate is just as good.
No comments:
Post a Comment