Sweet Potato Toast anyone?

2^nd November 2018

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting a tomato in a fruit salad.

Day 1 tracked, not perfect but honestly tracked and that’s better than I’ve done in a good while!  Cracking day of meetings, Thursday might be the longest but it’s full of laughter and this Thursday it ended with cake!  One of my lovely members had made the cake from the front of November’s WW magazine, she’d also made the ginger scones from the comfort cook book they were delicious.  Everyone is raving about that cook book, it has everything from pizza to pie, which is pretty perfect.

November is vegan month apparently and one vegan idea I came across when I was searching for meeting ideas last week was sweet potato toast!   You slice the sweet potatoes into equal slices like slices of bread, then place on a baking tray (I’d put on a wire rack on a baking sheet so they cook all round).  Bake in a preheated oven 350F for 15-25 minutes or until potatoes are tender but not cooked all the way through, you can roast dry or with a little oil.   You can flip them over halfway through if you want to.

Once tender but not completely cooked, remove from oven and allow them to cool.   If you’re storing in a container but a sheet of paper towel in the bottom to collect any moisture.

When you’re ready to eat them, take a couple of slices, and pop them in the toaster to warm through, I fancy mine warm and crispy, I can’t wait to try it out.  Then decide on what to toast your sweet potato toasts with.  I’m needing avocado on mine and apologies to all the vegans out there but I need an egg too.  There are so many other options though, your imagination is your only limit, no imagination just google sweet potato toast toppings or check out pinterest. 

Now for some useless information, Sweet Potatoes aren’t actually a potato, they are a root potato and then are a good source of fibre and vitamins B and C, high in beta-carotene (antioxidant) which converts to vitamin A once eaten.  80g of sweet potato counts as one of your five a day – ordinary potatoes don’t count at all so they are worth having a try.

The skin doesn’t have to be removed if you’re baking or frying them, and you can roast, bake, fry, boil, they really are versatile.  As for Smart Points, 100g will cost you 3SP and they are delicious. 

Ooo I need some in my life now, I hope Co-op has some, otherwise I feel a trip to the supermarket coming on. 

I’ve pre-cooked some chicken in the slow cooker yesterday, I put breasts on top of a Maggi seasoned cooking paper, then I put another one on top and left on low and slow for about six hours, then shredded it with two forks, it’ll taste excellent on a bed of rice with some roasted peppers, or well there’s plenty I can do with it and it’ll keep for a few days in the fridge – 3-4 days according to the internet gurus.

If you cooked that on a Sunday you’d have chicken for lunch till Thursday – not a bad idea.

Right I’m off to get my day started, I have work to do, then my usual massage lady couldn’t fit me in so I’m off to try a new place one of my members has opened https://www.facebook.com/labellewednesfield/ I’ll let you know tomorrow how I got on!

Here’s to honestly tracking again today, too easy to not bother!

Just say NO!

1st November 2018

Autumn – the season that teaches us that change is BeYOUtiful.

It’s the 1^st of the month, chapter 11 of 12 of the year, how would you like this chapter to read?  I like the idea of ‘NO’vember especially after listening to so many of my members last night say they’re struggling with ‘picking’ at night or eating too much bread because it’s nice and easy.   Maybe like me, you need to have NO excuses this month, what would you benefit from the most by saying NO to this month? 

If I’m saying NO to excuses, I also need to say no to the extra glass of wine, no to the picking on moms treats after I’ve had that wine, that’s for starters.  Instead of doing these things I could start saying YES to things, YES to weighing and measuring my food/drink – I’ve just started by measuring out a jug of 2SP skimmed milk for my cups of tea today, then I’ve tracked 3SP to include the cup I’ll have at meeting.  I’m going to say yes to tracking on my app, I’ve just done that too, I’ve weighed myself and logged it then tracked my milk.   Knowing I’m going to do that means I’ll have mostly zero foods for breakfast and no butter on the bread I have.  All these YES’S will help me start to finally see a change on the scales, I do not want to end this year in the next stone bracket up and I know I will if I don’t lose some weight before Christmas. 

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
				1	2	3	4
	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
	26	27	28	29	30	1	2
	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
	31	1

They say it takes 4 weeks for you to notice a change, 8 weeks for your family and friends and 12 weeks for the rest of the world, I’m mostly interested in me noticing the difference – which would be 29^th November, but I’d quite like my nearest and dearest to notice too so that’s Christmas week, another important day for me is 1^st January because I want to still be in this stone bracket I am now and if I get a grip now, that’s possible.

 This image came up yesterday in my memories on Facebook from 2016, this was me before and after 4 weeks on plan throughout October 2016 so I absolutely know I can make a difference this month by focusing on the end result and all the steps in-between.

Is it going to be easy – probably not, I need my head to click but it won’t do that until I start doing it, until I start to feel the benefits, I want to be my best self again and that isn’t a number on the scales, it’s a feeling and that feeling comes from eating better and taking care of myself.

I’m hoping to get mom out a little again after we had to go to the dentist yesterday and I convinced her to pop into Springhill Mobility shop whilst we were over that way, perfect because I could park right outside.   When we first went in she was adamant she didn’t want a walker, but once we’d (thank you to the lady who owns the shop for her patience and support) chatted to her about the benefits of taking any help you can get when you need it, we came home not just with the Mercedes of walkers, a new walking stick with 4 feet for stability and posh new socks, but she’s having a super new chair being delivered on Saturday too.  I know if I can just get her out a little, she’ll get some fresh air, move a little, interact with others and her general health will improve and hopefully she’ll lose a little weight and be more mobile for it.

Now I’m not prepared for a day on track!  But I have leftover stew which I could have for my tea, that’s only about 5SP a bowl, I could even have it for lunch and not think about food at all today!  There’s only a couple of slices of bread so if I don’t replace that today, I won’t be able to did bread and butter in my stew, if it ain’t there I can’t eat it.

What you going to say no to this NOvember?  Oh and we’ve all tried that, ‘I’m not giving anything up any more because it’s not sustainable and doesn’t last’, ‘resolutions don’t work’ blah, blah, blah, well you know what, if you’re not losing weight, whatever tactic you’re trying at the moment isn’t working either so maybe we all need to start practicing the ART OF NO more!