16th February 2011

"We love: that's why life is full of so many wonderful gifts". Rumi

Check me out, yesterday I made parmesan and sun dried tomato bread rolls, they worked out at two for 9pp but they were delicious especially warm out of the oven. They were my first attempt at bread so next on the list is pizza base, but not this week and I’m away the weekend so it’ll go on the to do list.

Do you miss fish and chips from the chippy, remember you can make your own version and they’ll probably taste better, for crispy coated fish, dip fish fillets into beaten egg white, season with garlic, mustard powder or chopped herbs and the dip them into brushed breadcrumbs. Bake for about 20 minutes until the topping is crisp. For chunky chips peel some big potatoes and cut lengthways into wedges. Par-boil for a minute or two, drain and spritz with WW oil spray. Bake for about 30 minutes until brown and crispy and you have a healthy version of the chippy takeaway.

Another quick supper is quick chicken, remove the skin from the chicken portions, roll each piece in a mixture of breadcrumbs, chilli, black pepper and finely grated parmesan and bake in a hot oven for around 45 minutes.

If you’re hungry when you get in from work or collecting the kids from school but dinners a few hours away, have healthy snacks to hand, low fat yogurt, fruit, veg sticks, cherry tomatoes, crackers and wafer thin ham or if you do want something with chocolate make sure it’s within your allowance, a Weight Watcher bar for 2pp or the new cookie bites for 1pp, curly wurly 4pp, crème egg 6pp!

Lunch time can be a problem for a lot of you, so if you do go to a sandwich counter near you, tell them exactly what you want on the sandwich and watch them make it in front of you! If you’re making your own go for low fat spreads, use a really strong cheese as you won’t need as much. Bulk out the sandwich with lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, beetroot or any salads and always use lean cuts of meat on or cut the fat off. Of course your still allowed a treat in your lunch box, again make sure it’s within your allowance, and why not earn a few activity ProPoints by going to the gym before or after work, maybe parking as far away from the office as possible, or nipping out for a stroll in your lunch hour. Even little tweaks like standing up whilst on the phone, using the toilet that’s furthest from your desk or filling your water at the cooler on the other side of the office all help towards you ‘moving more’ and if you’re wearing a Weight Watchers pedometer you can watch those steps clocking up and enjoy seeing them turn into activity ProPoints.

Old habits don’t disappear without some effort and they need to be replaced with new habits, the habit I’ve been working on for the last three weeks is cooking at lunchtime, as soon as I get back from my meeting I put everything down and go to the kitchen to decide what to have for my lunch and dinner and I get that sorted before I go to do my paperwork, because I’m as important as my members and if I’m not taking care of myself, why should I expect my members to put themselves first either?

So make today, “take care of you” day! They seem to have days for everything else so why not. Let me know what you’re going to do today to take care of you, write it on our facebook wall and have a caring day xx