Banana's on Turkey anyone - it'll make you smile!

14th April 2012

When the world says, "Give up," Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."  Author Unknown

Well I’m a happy bunny this morning, started off thinking I was just a little crazy, got straight out of bed at 6am, made a cup of tea, logged on to write my blog and instead logged onto the self assessment inland revenue site and started doing my tax return!  Am I mad, starting Saturday with tax, most people usually put it off until the last minute – I’m not most people ;-)  I’ve been waiting to get it done out of the way so I knew exactly what I owed.  I’ve been self-employed for 6 or 7 years until last July when Weight Watchers took us on as employees, so my return was only from April – July, which meant I had no idea at all how much I’d owe.  Obviously from the happy bunny comment it isn’t as high as I’d expected so I’m smiling this morning.  Just hope I’ve done it right - they’ll soon let me know I’m sure!

At least I can now afford the washing machine that I ordered this week, the one we’ve got is washing the floor as well as the clothes every time its used ;-) even though I tried to convince mom that was a good thing, she was having none of it.

I ended up having a real lazy day yesterday, which I knew I would, after being tortured in Whacky Warehouse and leaving with our ears ringing, we had lunch at the Broadway which I have to admit has much improved, the food was very good, my mate had toad in the hole and it looked amazing, actually it tasted pretty good as I pinched a bit of her Yorkshire pudding. 

Today is my “getting on it” day, once I’ve finished blogging, I’m moving on to planning, I’m going to plan my meals for the next few weeks, write a shopping list, go shopping, then tomorrow I’m going to do cooking.  It’s taken me all week to get my head in the right place, have to admit the meetings have really helped me as well as my members this week.  I’m so happy with my life and who I am that I need to find other reasons to lose weight other than “because the chart says so” or “because I wanna be slimmer”, because if I’m 100% honest, when I look in the mirror I love what’s looking back and me, I always smile at my reflection, even when I’m looking rough.  So my motivation is going to my health as I mentioned earlier in the week, I started reading up on some stuff last night, it’s all extremely interesting.  I was reading to find out what’s good for you and what helps which symptoms and I got to reading about depression.  I’m very fortunate in that I don’t suffer, don’t get me wrong I have days where I’m grumpy but I’ve never had depression and openly admit I can’t imagine it, although I have realised from talking to others that it’s a chemical thing.  This book was saying how depression is rising and they believed it was connected to what we eat, the more processed food you eat the more likely to get depression.  Book was obviously full of lots of statistics which I don’t need to share, but it is also full of lots of nutritional information which I will be reading.  So in a nutshell, I have condensed two pages about Serotonin which is the happy chemical below;

Serotonin can only be made by the brain.

Foods rich in the amino acid tryptophan help the brain to make supplies of serotonin.

Serotonin is associated with lifting the mood, decreasing feelings of stress and tension and helping us to relax. At night the brain converts serotonin into melatonin, which helps keep your internal clock on form and gives you a good nights sleep.

Bananas
Turkey
Cottage cheese
Sunflower seeds
Brown rice
Peanuts
Soy products

Well I’m already happy, but I don’t think you can be too happy and with the menopause around the corner determined to make me a grumpy bird having hot flushes, I’m gonna be prepared, I’m off to buy those items above, I’m thinking turkey casserole with brown rice and a banana a day to keep the mean menopause away.

Right I’m off for a 1-2 hour walk with Alfie, he’s whining in my office door, he’s a clever dog, knows its Saturday and my day off, so he will take me miles.

Enjoy your day. x