I've been having problems with weight gain for a couple of years and no matter how hard I have tried to diet, nothing has shifted the extra pounds. Some of the gain is down to some of the medication that I have to take and having a metabolic disorder hasn't helped either.
Anyway, a couple of years ago my daughter Sarah gave me a book the she got when she attended Slimming World and she did lose a stone when she followed it so I had a read and thought I'd give it a go. I'm certainly not off to any weekly meetings because I don't want to be weighed in front of everyone and I can't afford it either so I'm going it alone at home.
I have found that this way of eating does actually work and I haven't felt hungry at all. It is called 'food optimising' and you have either 'red' or 'green' days. On a red day you can eat as much lean meat, chicken or fish as you want and you have to have what are called 'healthy extras'. On green days, you can eat as much pasta or rice as you want and as much fruit and vegetables or vegetarian dishes as you need to fill yourself up.
Eating this way, I have found that I eat less bread and fats but I can still have a varied and satisfying diet without the need to weigh or measure or count calories. As I love fruit and vegetables and enjoy vegetarian dishes anyway it really suits me. There are odd days when I mix things around but I have found that sticking to the main principles the diet is really working and I have already lost a stone. There's still a long way to go but browsing through cookery books I have come up with lots of inexpensive and tasty new dishes to try and I'm also experimenting with 'quorn' and TVP (textured vegetable protein made from de-fatted soya).
Of course summer is easy with a plentiful supply of vegetables and fruits but I will have to come up with some good alternatives for the winter. I'll let you know how it goes.
Friday, 29 July 2011
Thursday, 21 July 2011
A good threat works wonders!
I'm usually a quiet, easy going person but there are a few things that really get me going and then I take the appropriate action.
However, there are some things that I can't really do much about apart from issuing a few stern warnings followed by a threat which is always seen through and it nearly always works.
I'm not talking about the actions of people here, nor animals or birds but plants. Yes, that's right, plants. There have been occasions when a plant hasn't done very well in the spot where I've put it so I move it to a more suitable part of the garden and nine times out of ten, the plant does very well.
But there's always one that does it's utmost to defy me. I have had plants that have flourished for a couple of years and then stopped flowering for no reason. I give them bucket loads of TLC coupled with some stern warnings and wait for the next flowering season, but still nothing happens. Then they get the threat. I tell them that if they don't flower next year then I will dig them up and plant something else and this has always worked for me. Last year Nellie Moser (a clematis plant that has large flowers with a dark pink stripe in the middle of the petals) only put out one flower that looked rather pathetic. I never had time to do much with it but as I was tidying it up in the autumn I did tell it that if it didn't flower this spring I would dig it up and put another one in it's place. This spring it was completely covered in flowers and was the most spectacular display it had ever given.
A few years ago Sarah and the grand-children gave me an orchid for Mother's Day and sadly, the last one they had given me did not survive despite me being very careful with it so I knew I would have to be extra careful with this one in order not to upset them. After the first lot of flowers finished I did what it said in the book and it did flower again but not very well. Since those flowers finished it has done nothing! I have fed it and cared for it as the book says and it has grown a couple of leaves in the last eighteen months but no flowers.
It was time for me to issue the threat and so I did. I told it that if I didn't see a flower very soon it would be banished to the coldest window sill this winter or even worse, I would put it outside. The threat of that has shocked it into producing three flower stems that are just beginning to poke out from the leaf base.
So next time you've got a plant not doing very well, threaten it with something horrible because it works for me!
However, there are some things that I can't really do much about apart from issuing a few stern warnings followed by a threat which is always seen through and it nearly always works.
I'm not talking about the actions of people here, nor animals or birds but plants. Yes, that's right, plants. There have been occasions when a plant hasn't done very well in the spot where I've put it so I move it to a more suitable part of the garden and nine times out of ten, the plant does very well.
But there's always one that does it's utmost to defy me. I have had plants that have flourished for a couple of years and then stopped flowering for no reason. I give them bucket loads of TLC coupled with some stern warnings and wait for the next flowering season, but still nothing happens. Then they get the threat. I tell them that if they don't flower next year then I will dig them up and plant something else and this has always worked for me. Last year Nellie Moser (a clematis plant that has large flowers with a dark pink stripe in the middle of the petals) only put out one flower that looked rather pathetic. I never had time to do much with it but as I was tidying it up in the autumn I did tell it that if it didn't flower this spring I would dig it up and put another one in it's place. This spring it was completely covered in flowers and was the most spectacular display it had ever given.
A few years ago Sarah and the grand-children gave me an orchid for Mother's Day and sadly, the last one they had given me did not survive despite me being very careful with it so I knew I would have to be extra careful with this one in order not to upset them. After the first lot of flowers finished I did what it said in the book and it did flower again but not very well. Since those flowers finished it has done nothing! I have fed it and cared for it as the book says and it has grown a couple of leaves in the last eighteen months but no flowers.
It was time for me to issue the threat and so I did. I told it that if I didn't see a flower very soon it would be banished to the coldest window sill this winter or even worse, I would put it outside. The threat of that has shocked it into producing three flower stems that are just beginning to poke out from the leaf base.
So next time you've got a plant not doing very well, threaten it with something horrible because it works for me!
Monday, 18 July 2011
New boys on the blog!
These two little chaps are the sons of Nutty Norah and are this season's youngsters. At the top is Jack in the Box getting his tea from the larder while his brother, Wee Willie is checking his pockets to see if he has left any nuts in there!
Jack is keeping his eye on his tea while Wee Willie demonstrates acrobatics as he tries to raid the bird's nut feeder.
Sunday, 17 July 2011
Back bloggin' again!
After being 'off blog' for a while I am pleased to announce that I can now return to regular blogging. I'm not sure if the problems have been fixed completely but I have discovered a way around the main issue of not being able to sign in properly or comment on other blogs thanks to a friend of Emma's.
It seems that the problems don't arise if you disable the 'stay signed in' box so I'm going to give it a go.
Perhaps no-one has missed me (I am not sure how many people take a look) but from tomorrow 'normal service will be resumed' and the usual mixture of rantings and ramblings will be back!
See you soon!
It seems that the problems don't arise if you disable the 'stay signed in' box so I'm going to give it a go.
Perhaps no-one has missed me (I am not sure how many people take a look) but from tomorrow 'normal service will be resumed' and the usual mixture of rantings and ramblings will be back!
See you soon!
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