The Whole30

I'm currently reading this book.

 I've had it on the kitchen shelf for a while but decided to save reading it until after our usual, although slighter than previous years, Christmas excess and my wander back into eating foods I should know by now are not good for me.  I have noticed that once you fall back into old eating habits it is a hard slippery climb back to get yourself eating properly and healthily again, and of course we have had to eat up all the bad things that were lurking in the cupboards ... haven't we!!  ;-)

I was just wondering if anyone out there has read this book and done the 30 day programme and if it worked for them?  

I am thinking of doing it myself as a kick start to getting me back to good habits, healthier eating, and even more importantly to me feeling good.  It seems very Harcombe like and that suits me.   So I have put a big ring around the 1st March on the calendar as it seemed a really good time to start.  The first of March is on a Tuesday so the Monday would be my day zero, a chance to menu plan, examine all the foods we have in store that would be suitable, and thank goodness, there is a lot in the freezer and cupboards that will be, but possibly more importantly this week I am going to see what we have in that might tempt me back to the 'dark side'  ... I don't think there's too much.  We don't buy processed junk foods, sugary drinks or cakes, but I do know there are a few things that I like that are really classed as processed food so it would make sense to add them to this weeks menu plan and thereby remove them from temptation for the coming month.

I have just printed out and gone through the pescetarian/vegetarian/vegan shopping list and there is such an abundance of food that I can eat and that we do already have in store that it should be no problem to do this even with our current 'Year of Without'.  The things I have crossed out with my marker pen were just things that I don't like or can't eat due to allergies.

If you would like more information on The Whole30 click HERE.  I haven't read much of this yet but it looks interesting.

Sue xx

My Last (on purpose) Meal With Cream

This is photographic proof of my last meal made knowingly with cream.  

Whether this will be forever or just for a few months I have no idea, but I'll not be buying any cream again in the foreseeable future.  No doubt eating out, or some other such eating away from home  occasion may see cream slip into my diet ..... but it won't be on purpose.

It was supposed to be just a run through of  photos of one of my favourite recipes for a blog post, one that I've not eaten for a long time, but as it turns out it's photographic evidence of the last tub of cream that will be gracing the shelf in my fridge.

I looked at the ingredients after taking the first photo and decided that a whole salmon fillet, even though it was a relatively small one, was just too much to use for one simple pasta dish.  I seem to have my 'Frugal February' head on at the moment, so I decided to cut it into pieces for that nights pasta dish and a couple of strips to be used the next day.  Suzy flashed through my head and her brilliant blog Sudden Lunch, so I decided some purposeful leftovers were the order of the day.

While the brown spaghetti bubbled away in one pan, I 'fried' the onions in some water and then added the chilli flakes and after five minutes the salmon pieces in the other.

I added the cream, not knowing then that it was to be for the last time, a dash of lemon juice and gave it all a good stir just before I added the now cooked spaghetti and a good splash of the cooking water to thin the sauce down a bit.  Then Parmesan style cheese was stirred in.

The finished meal was lovely and extremely tasty.  

It would have looked so much better with some colour, a handful of frozen peas or some broccoli would have enlivened it no end, but I completely forgot until I came to take the photograph and realised how dreary it looked!!

Within an hour of eating it I was sorry.  I was hot, so much so that I thought the chilly conditions outside the house had lifted and the milder weather was back.  I stepped outside on the patio and saw the frost on the grass, saw my breath as I spoke to the dogs .... who thought this impromptu breath of fresh air was brilliant, and I realised that it was just me that had warmed up not this little portion of North Wales.

I sat in a glow of warmth, that meant not many logs were burnt over the course of the evening, all the internal doors were flung open to allow the heat from the log burner to diffuse over the whole house, and I sat drinking ice cold water ... lots of it.

By bedtime I was still feeling uncomfortably full, slightly heartburny (nope, I know that's not a word but it makes sense to me) and generally just YUK!!

I lay in bed hand on tummy, which by now was gurgling dramatically, as if telling me off for putting it through this upheaval, and read through some of my current healthy lifestyle books.  I've listed them in the sidebar, with links to their Amazon pages so you can read some more about my current reading, but I'll talk about my current favourite tomorrow when I'm a bit further into it.

I still felt yuk when I turned off the bedside light at midnight.

This is what I go off when I've eaten the wrong foods.

Suddenly my wedding and engagement rings are really difficult to remove.  To get them off I would have to put my hand under warm soapy water and tug.  Usually if I'm feeling good, have been eating well or am just frozen to the marrow, they slip off comfortably when I want them to.  Not too loose to lose but they just slide off with a gentle pull.

I react quickly when I eat the wrong foods and it takes me a day or two to get over them, today I can still taste the creamy pasta sauce, most likely that's all in my head, as I have cleaned my teeth three times since I ate it and drank copious amounts of water and black coffee.  Maybe it's my brain implanting in my head the knowledge that me and cream just do not get on.  

So no more cream, I have already cut right back on wheat, I have found with previous experimentation that I can eat just one wheaty thing a day and feel okay, anymore and I have similar symptoms to above but without the blocked up nose.  Oh ... I forgot to mention that didn't I !!

Around fifteen minutes after finishing my tea I was blowing my nose for England (or should that be for Wales).  This morning I sound like I've discovered a penchant for nose pegs .... and there are lots more tissues available in the bin for starting the fire tonight.

So off my menu now -

Cream

Milk 

(not used since last August)

Meat

(not eaten since January 2011)

Wheat en masse

(I can get away with once a day)

Sorry if this has been a rambling and possibly boring post for some of you, but as this is my diary I needed to get it down to remind myself in the future.  (That's how I know I gave up milk last August and meat way back in January 2011 .... by hopping back in the archives,)

Now ... back to my new book, I hope it helps.

Sue xx

Everything's Food .....

 

Everything seems food related at the moment .....  mmmmm biscuits!!

 

I haven't had an alcoholic drink in over a week ......

 

This is soooooo true!!

 

 

It used to, but I had my first cup of coffee since the weekend last night, and do you know what it wasn't that good!!

 

 

 

Don't throw the apple ..... pass it to me ....chomp, chomp, chomp.

 

Mmmm ......Lovely :-)

 

 

 So true!!

 

I've not been in or to a MacDonald's for years, I cannot honestly remember the last time I crossed their threshold.  We used to take the boys for birthday 'treats' or once during school holidays.  Now it seems to be normal to go weekly or even more, not good in my opinion.

 

I guess everything seems to be food related at the moment because nothing solid, except a couple of little celery sticks that I use for stirring my juices, has crossed my lips since Sunday night.  But we're doing well, really well, Lovely Hubby caved in again last night and had another banana, but I've been amazingly good and feel on top form.  Tonight will be the first time we eat anything solid as we are just starting to move to juices during the day and an evening meal or at least one meal a day and the rest of the time juices.

 

The meals will be focused around vegetables with a small amount of light protein, fish, chicken and eggs for me ... and do you know now I've typed this I'm really looking forward to it tonight. 

 

I have started a Blog about our Juicing but it's not public at the moment, I really didn't know if anyone would be interested .... or if we would even last a full week, but we have almost and I'm so pleased.  So if you are interested and would like to have a peek let me know and I'll 'bite the bullet' and open it up to public viewing.

 

Sue xx

 





The Year of Less - Less Food

 

How little is less?

 

This was my cupboard last night, this morning I am slowly but surely working my way through the shelves, looking carefully at each and every item in there.

 

In this Year of Less we want to re-jig our diets, relying less and less on pre-prepared, packaged foods and cooking from scratch, so it's important for me to go through our cupboards which yes, are ridiculously full, and keep only the foods that fit in with this way of eating.  Obviously we are not throwing food away willy nilly, those foods that we have decided not to eat will be sold on our next car boot sale, only foods that actually need throwing away will be thrown away (and no I don't stick religiously to 'best before' dates I use my commonsense, my eyes and nose to determine what foods are safe to eat).  The money made from selling off any foodstuffs will be added to our £2 Housekeeping tin to make this last longer.

 

 

 

This was how it looked when I had emptied just the lower shelf, somehow it looked even more spread out all over the worktop, and this was after I had thrown away some foods that had gone off (a couple of jars should have been in the fridge after opening....oops).  Foods in the bin, jars in the recycling box.  

 

Now I am on for the second shelf and it's contents are all over the worktop, I am Blogging while the shelf dries after a thorough wash.  While I'm doing this I'm also sorting foods into types and storing like with like, it will make for a much easier rummage through cupboards while we chomp our way through the contents of them all.

 

Using most of this food up before we go shopping for similar will make the £2 House Keeping Challenge last even longer, and now I am getting to know exactly what I have in stock I will be able to meal plan that much more effectively, and see the contents of the shelves go down in a very pleasing way.

 

Yesterday I had a good sort through the larder cupboard ...

 

 

..... freeing up lots of space and managing to fill some baskets for the car boot sale with over £20 worth of food and thats a lot of food when I've priced most of it at just 20p each (they are out of date items, so I will have to sell them cheaply).

 

I am constantly sorting and re-sorting at the moment, since this picture was taken I have already moved the pasta sauces over to the other cupboard to be with the tins of tomato puree and chopped tomatoes, hopefully it will all make sense when I finally finish :-)

 

The shelf will be dry now, so it's back to work I go.

 

Sue xx

Back in Action

I got up bright and early yesterday all keen to Blog, to be online, to check this, to read that and found to my dismay, nay to my horror that those dreaded words were on the computer 'No Internet Access'....what!!

 

As it was our first 'Fast Day', (we are both starting the 5:2 way of eating), I wanted to be busy, to have my mind kept off food, so the dogs were walked for longer than usual, the chickens cleaned out more thoroughly then usual and then fed, (normal rations much to their disgust), and then I came in to have a cup of coffee (I drink it black so can have as many as I like....phew), whilst sat sitting with my coffee I put the tele on, see I was already missing my lit up rectangular screen, and what should be on but the daily omnibus edition of 'Come Dine with Me'....mmmm lovely a whole hour of watching food preparation and eating, I watched it all  sipping on yet another cup of coffee to keep those hunger pangs away, I was determined to have my breakfast as late as possible.  This programme is my new secret obsession, more for the food than the flippant remarks, but I love it.

 

Then I threw myself headlong into cleaning, the whole house was hoovered, not just the rugs, the whole house.  All floors, skirting boards, nooks crannies, walls corners, curtains, furniture ...... I even pulled the fridges out!!  Then everything was mopped, at this point the dogs were slinking around thinking their worst nightmare was happening .... and happening NOW.   First Mum with the hoover and then with the mop, why they hate the mop I have no idea, if someone from the RSPCA came round you would think I was a secret 'hit the dog with mop'per'.  They took to their beds, then when I arrived to clean their beds they took to the sofa, when I arrived to wipe down the sofa they gave up the will to live and went and sat by the back door, driven from their own homes by this whirling dervish that used to be their Mum.

 

I gave in and took them for another walk, this went down very well and doggy smiles returned.  When we came in they got a chew each and I got my longed for bowl of Oatbran Porridge, with another cup of coffee and another sit down in front of a 'Sky+'d edition of 'Come Dine with Me', I know how to torment myself  properly I do!  :-) 

 

I spent the afternoon finally sorting through the spare room and actually pricing things up as I put them into boxes ready for our first car boot sale of the season in a couple of months.  Lots more things to add to my page at the top of the Blog later, it made me happy and stopped me thinking about food.

 

Last night we finished our first 'fast day' with a lovely meal, one of our favourites although made with less oil than usual, Mediterranean Veggies with Salmon fillets.  I would have taken a picture but there wasn't time!!

 

 

 

Instead you can have a picture of these, veggies that Lovely Hubby found still in the soil when he turned two of the beds over for me last weekend.  Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth these were added to a big pan full of Beef Stew that has so far fed LH twice, with another portion nestled in the freezer for a rainy 'non-fast' day.  It all helps the £2 housekeeping  money last that little bit longer.

 

Today we both woke up feeling great, I mean really great, we had a brilliant nights sleep and feel so refreshed.   Today is a day of eating normally and then we do it all again tomorrow as we have decided that mostly we will do this on Tuesdays and Thursdays to leave the weekends free for the odd bit of chocolate, a sneaky bag of crisps and a bottle or two of home brew especially while the rugby is on.

 

It really is the kind of 'diet' that would suit most people as for five days out of every seven you are just eating whatever you want to eat, although if you are doing it for the weight loss side of things it is wise to be slightly cautious and not live on double cheeseburgers :-)

 

Today I'm taking it slightly easier and YES, as you can see the internet is back.  As soon as he got home from work LH nipped up into the loft and played with a few wires, unplugged and replugged the thingymajig in (technical term for a watcha macall it), and it all sprang back to life.   Next time he said this is what you do, explaining what to pull out and put in and then climbing down the ladder......yes that will be right, me climbing up the rickety ladder into a loft space full of spiders and cobwebs, or maybe I'll just wait for my hunky hero to come home from work and do it for me and in the meantime get on with some dog terrorising cleaning again.

 

It's surprising how much you can fit into the day when you are off line!!

 

Sue xx

Reading and the 5:2 Diet

 

I've just finished reading the book at the top of my sidebar, The Joy of Less, it was a wonderful read, I was going to offer it on here as a little giveaway, but you will have to hold on a little bit as Lovely Hubby wants to have a read.  I think he wants to understand this mad woman that is turning out cupboards and going through the home with a fine toothcomb, jettisoning all manner of things.  Oh well it may rub off on him and help him sort out the 'ManShed' before our next move. 

 

Now I'm reading The 5:2 Diet Book  (I'll pop a link on the sidebar) to get a different opinion on The Fast Diet book by Michael Moseley that I was also reading last week, both books are so cheap at the moment, much less than I paid!  They are both really good reading, and in fact as I have decided to go back to the 5:2 way of eating, are proving a brilliant tool to help get me in the right mind set, once you start it's easy and very enjoyable, as usual for me it's the starting that's the difficult bit.  It seems to be everywhere at the moment, mentioned in magazines and newspaper and even on the television.  I watched the Horizon programme that highlighted this way of eating last August and trialed the diet then, although really it's more of a way of life than an actual 'diet', the health benefits are what most folk do it for and that includes us ......yes, LH has just decided that he is joining in too.

 

So with all this book loving I am reading way past my bedtime, Friday night saw me reading until 3.30am and last night it was 2am!!  So in the mornings if I had an alarm clock ...... 

 

 

 

... it would look something like this :-)

 

What are you reading at the moment?

 

Sue xx