Tour de Chippie 2011

As it is national chip week plus I have not had chips for weeks, I am doing Tour de Chippie 2011.

The plan is 7 days and 7 different chippies, as a bonus 7 different meals (if possible due to my strict limited food options). These are proper chip shops (may be also serve other types of take way) but not fast food chains.

* Tour de Chippie is as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle, any changes to your diet and/or exercise should only be attempted after consulting your medical professional.

As part of my normal training I build up my effort, so I am easing in to the chip week with the chip efforts increasing to the end of the week. Days 1 to 5 are based in Hampshire with the last 2 days being set up north with the last day being in the most appropriate pla(i)ce to finish the challenge.

Day 1 (Monday) = Chips and Fish Cake

After a few miles ran I headed the 1/2 mile to the chip shop in North Hampshire, luckily the wind was blowing in the wrong direction so I did not smell the chip shop when out running. There I had chips and fish cake which I ate outside in the fresh as I did not want to smell my new car out. This is the only fish I normally have so I thought it would do me some good due to protein and omega fish oils.
The chips and fish cake tasted nice possibly a bit expensive for the amount/quality.

Day 2 (Tuesday) = Chips and Pea Fritter

After work I headed straight to the chip shop that is closest to my home. This chip shop normally wins all the local awards so I decided to try something different with my chips, a pea fritter which I thought would be a bit healthier as was in the vegetarian section of the menu. When I got home I added to this baked beans a some brown sauce. The pea fritter was a bit different then what I was expecting as must have been concentrated peas as the flavour was really strong. The chips tasted nice and where slightly thicker than most but are expensive for the amount.

Day 3 (Wednesday) = Chips and Spam Fritter
Today's chip meal is my favourite combination in the last year or so, so I really enjoyed this compared to the new option I tried yesterday. To make a change I and to fit in to my training I had this at lunchtime but had to wait a few minutes to get my spam fritter freshly cooked to order, so I got a few supplies from the tesco express next door. As it was raining I sat in a bus shelter eating my chips and spam fritter and loving it. The chips tasted nice and was slightly more portion size than the previous places which was topped of with a big spam fritter on top, mmm. This is the best option so far.

Day 4 (Thursday) = Chips and Curry Sauce
Today's lunchtime option was introduced to me a few years ago by some relatives in Ireland and is surprisingly a good combination. This chip shop generally has the biggest portion size in the area but there was a separate menu option for chips in tray with curry sauce (or a few other sauce options). So was smaller than a standard chip portion there but this was still about the same amount of chips for about a third of the price and tasted nice and was not as greasy as previously had from here. The curry sauce was tasty but was not too hot but spicy enough. As it was a nice fairly warm day so I sat outside sitting on a half missing park bench in the sunshine eating chips with curry sauce.

Day 5 (Friday) = Chips and Battered Sausage
Today's lunchtime option was a classic choice for me. As the chip shop was in a built area I drove to a nearby park and was walking round there eating them. So I got a bit of exercise and found a new park I had not been to. The chips tasted nice and was not as greasy as previously had from here, although they looked the smallest portion so far but the meal cost about a third less than those at the start of the week.

Day 6 (Saturday) = Chips and Home-Made Shepard's Pie
Today's option was a large portion of chips shared between three and home-made (made by my brother) shepard's pie and gravy. The chips were nice tasting and where a big northern portion :-)
However the shepard's pie was nice with cheese in the mash on top of the veggie mince, my only problem was there was onion in it!!! I had to have extra chips to take the taste away :-)

Day 7 (Sunday) = Chips, Meat and Potato Pie, Scraps, Gravy and Mug of Tea
As I was up in the seaside resort of Blackpool after doing a half marathon, I had to get some chips on the Golden Mile. This was the last day of national chip week so I splashed the cash with lots of options and sitting inside.

After a few minutes deciding what to have due to all the tasty options available with my chips I had a nice meat and potato pie, topped with some scraps and then some proper northern gravy with a mug of tea to wash it down. This had essential carbs, protein, fat, sodium and anti-oxidants to help the recovery process after the half marathon.
I still had my race top, number and medal on (underneath tracksuit) while eating the chips that's how dedicated I am.



Day 8 (Monday) = Chip Detox Starts :-)
Anything but chips!!

Post Chip Week Review

I successfully completed ALL the set chip targets this week including the bonus 7 different meals.

This actually made me think more about what I was eating and adjusting the rest of my daily nutrition to balance it out. Plus it gave me incentive to do more training to feel that I "earned" them rather than felling guilty for having them. Strangely I was quite restrained as I did not have a large portion of chips to myself at any point during the week.

I enjoyed all of the chip meals but I think the best were on the last day perhaps due to feeling I really "earned" them.

More shockingly I actually lost 1 lb (0.45 Kg) this week (Chip Week Tuesday to following Tuesday) on the chip diet but I did do a lot of exercise as well.