Is Halloween as scary as the scales ;)

31^st October 2013

Beginnings are usually scary and ends are usually sad, but it’s everything in between that’s makes it all worth living!

 

Are these scarier than Halloween!

 

Happy Halloween!  Have you carved out your pumpkin?  More importantly what have you done with the insides of it, did you cook it up into something delicious, if yes – let me know.

 

What about a nice simple Filling & Healthy pumpkin curry, and the only ProPoints in it would be the mustard oil for 4pp, so perfect whichever plan you’re following!

 

Pumpkin Curry

1/2 Kg Pumpkin

1Green chilli

Ginger  Chopped

1/4 teaspoon Turmeric Powder

1 tablespoon Coriander seeds

1 tablespoon Mustard oil

1/4 teaspoon Cumin seeds

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves to garnish

 

·        Peel and cut the pumpkin in cubes.

·        Cut the chilli in half, remove the seeds and chop.

·        Heat oil in a frying pan add cumin seeds let them splutter.

·        Add green chilli and let them brown.

·        Add the pumpkin, turmeric, ginger and coriander seeds.

·        Toss a little, cover and leave to cook over a low heat until the pumpkin is tender and the water has been absorbed.

·        Garnish Pumpkin Curry with coriander leaves and Enjoy with brown rice (60g dried weight = 6pp if ProPointing).

 

I may do that one myself at the weekend, as I’m at a training day all day tomorrow, and of course I have five meetings today so a tad busy.

 

Yet again I’m a proud leader as one of my members is in the Christmas edition of the Weight Watcher magazine, I sat and cried with pride as I read the letter her gorgeous daughter Charlotte (age 12) had written to her mom and sent to Weight Watchers, it’s a very emotional letter that makes you realise it isn’t just the person with the weight issue that’s affected it’s their loved ones too!  Charlotte is a very special young lady; she also sent me a letter two years ago that still sits in my office reminding me that I make a difference.

 

My cousins in the magazine too, she’s the gorgeous lady in the red dress on pages 96-98, I haven’t had chance to read the magazine through yet, but I’m looking forward to having me a sit down and a cuppa at the weekend whilst I do.  Until then though I have two very busy days ;) thankfully I’m all organised, kitchens full of F&H ingredients, I fancy making the Donor Kebab recipe from my recipe sheets, I’ll post it at the end if you can’t find it.  I’ll have ith with Actifry chips I think instead of pitta, right I need to get myself sorted, can’t be sitting here in my PJs all day, I’m not off sick now J

 

Have a healthy and happy day, focus on Eating Gorgeous and as always BeYOUtiful. xx

 

Donor Kebab

Serves 4, F&H or 4pp's per serving

 

1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
500g extra lean mince beef (16pp)

Preheat oven to gas mark 4/180C.  In a large bowl, combine the dried oregano, dried Italian herbs, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. Add the beef mince and mix thoroughly for 2-3 minutes. Take out all of your beef mince and mix thoroughly for 2-3 minutes. Take out all of your aggression on the kebab mixture, punching and kneading until no air pockets remain and the kebab meat is extremely smooth.  Shape the seasoned mince into a loaf and place on a baking tray. Bake in the middle shelf of the oven for 1 hour 20 minutes, turning the loaf half way through the cooking time to ensure even browning.  Once cooked, remove from the oven and cover with foil. Allow to rest for 10 minutes. Slice the donor kebab as thinly as possible and serve with pitta and salad.  NOTE: On F&H you can have WW pitta bread, if doing ProPoints you will need to add extra pp's for the pitta bread.

 

 

Awesome members & self-fulfilling prophecies.....

30^th October 2013

Alice: “this is impossible” The Mad Hatter “Only if you believe it is!”

My first day back at work yesterday and it was fabulous, I do love my meetings, my members are awesome – all of them and it was great to be back there with them enjoying their smiles at the scales, even those that hadn’t lost were smiling because they’d mostly enjoyed the ‘not losing’ part.  I was reminded of how fantastic my members are doing on their weight loss journey’s, another 136lb added to their total weight loss, the wonderful Jane received her 8 stone weight loss award last night, she’s doing amazingly well and I can tell she’s made lifelong changes that will ensure it doesn’t go back on.  Emily is 1lb from her goal weight having lost just over 5 stone and Louisa also achieved her 5 stone award yesterday  - just inspiring all of them.  Of course it isn’t just the big losers who are awesome, it’s all of my members because everybody’s journey is individual to them, two ladies spring to mind Julie and Vicky, both joined me having tried before but never keeping the weight off, however this time they know if they want the weight to stay away, the changes they make have to be for life, they both attended all through the kids six weeks holidays knowing they were just doing their best to maintain the weight they’d already lost as they were doing too many things with the kids to focus on weight loss in the holidays, however know in the run up to Christmas they’re both refocused and losing again.  These are just a snapshot of the fantastic members I have and there are many more, all of which I’m extremely proud of!

So how did I do at the scales on my return, well I weighed in the Tuesday before I had my operation and in the two weeks since then I’ve lost 1.5lb, that’ll motivate me to lose a bit more before Christmas, I have 7 more weigh-ins before them!

I decided Monday to try Filling and Healthy and I posted on Facebook in a group, “Right in typical Monday style - I need to get on this! 8 weigh in's till Christmas, I want to do F&H from now to then 100% get on my case ladies!”

The first response I got from the amazing Alison was, “What have you got planned Beverley? X”

I remember sitting there thing “Oh, plan – mmm I haven’t!” So I waffled some reply about not really being good at planning, but that I only had F&H foods in my fridge, blah blah blah”

It then made me stop and think and realise, if you fail to plan – you plan to fail, what was I expecting to happen, magic F&H meals to appear and make my fat disappear!  Well that wasn’t gonna happen was it, okay I may only have F&H foods in the kitchen but let’s be honest with myself, if that’s the case and I don’t think about it, then I come in hungry and nothings planned or ready am I going to stand in the kitchen thinking, “what shall I cook, what would I enjoy”, hell no I’m not, I’m going to grab the Weight Watcher loaf of bread and make a ham sandwich – yeah that might be filling and healthy but is it going to satisfy me emotionally not just physically – I can confirm the answers a bit fat NO!

 

I took on board what she said and I sat and planned the next few days, it’s not Wednesday and this morning before I leave the house I’m going to plan the next few days again, I have lunch planned already, leftover curry as I had my beef stew yesterday for lunch and tea.

I’ve also been noticing the last few weeks people saying stuff like, “I just can’t do it”, “I’m hopeless at this weight loss, I always fail”, “I get to a certain weight and I just can’t lose anymore” or similar, they’re dangerous thought patterns, you can turn them into self-fulfilling prophecies!  WHAT you may be thinking, yeah I remember the first time I heard it too, I was like a what prophecy, so here’s the explanation; The self-fulfilling prophecy is a statement that alters actions and therefore comes true. For example, a person stating “I’m probably going to have a lousy day,” might alter his actions so that such a prediction is fulfilled by his actions. This may be an unconscious gesture. A person who might espouse a self-fulfilling prophecy in a positive way “I’m going to have a great day.” might act in ways that will actually make this prediction true.

You get it now, if you didn’t before?  

Remember what you think is just as powerful as what you eat!

If you expect to fail you probably will, however if you believe you will succeed, then watch this space…..

On that note, have an amazing day, eat gorgeous, BeYOUtiful because as always you are so worth the effort.

xx

Got my Cooking Mojo Back!

29^th October 2013

 

“We probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do.” - Olin Miller

 

Back to work this morning, it seems like forever since I broke up for my surgery, and I can’t wait to go see all my lovely members.

 

I made the most of my last day off yesterday by spending some time in the kitchen, I put the ingredients for the Scouse recipe in the slow cooker (it tastes fab but it turned out as more of beef stew than Scouse), the I made a Jafrezi and spinach and tomato Dhal to diet for, if I do say so myself!  Oh see what I just did there, accidently but I’m leaving it, I meant “to die for!” But to be honest if that’s what ‘diet’ food taste like, it is a great reason to lose weight, it was delicious, the first time I’ve ever cooked a chicken curry at home and been pleased with the outcome, here’s the recipe I used and adapted to suit me.  I didn’t ProPoint yesterday as doing Filling and Healthy, but I’ve just worked out the ProPoints for you.

 

Murgh Jalfrezi Recipe (20pp total)

4 chicken breasts (4 x 165g = 16pp)

1 cup chicken stock

3 onions

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

5g ginger, finally chopped

2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 green pepper, finely chopped

½tsp ground cumin

½tsp ground coriander

½tsp turmeric

Finely chopped chili (optional)

1 tbsp vegetable oil (4pp)

Black pepper

Salt to taste

 

1.    Cut the chicken into small pieces and set aside. Chop the onion into strips and brown in vegetable oil for about ten minutes, stirring to ensure they don’t burn or stick, add a bit of water if necessary.

2.    Add the chicken, garlic and chopped ginger and brown over a medium heat for about 3 minutes.

3.    Add the peeled and chopped tomatoes, finely chopped green pepper and a cup of chicken stock.

4.    Stir well and simmer over a medium heat for about 10 minutes.

5.    Add the spices and chili (if being used) and stir again.

6.    Check the salt and, on a high heat, cook until the liquids have reduced and thickened.

 

Dhal with Spinach and Tomatoes (22 pp Total)

½ tsp fenugreek seed, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 4 curry leaves
½ onion, finely chopped
½ tsp each fresh ginger and garlic pastes, a little chilli [chopped)
200g red lentils, (washed) (18pp)
½ tsp turmeric
salt, 150g tomatoes (chopped or tinned), 1 tbsp tomato puree
shredded spinach

1 tbsp vegetable oil (4pp)

1 tsp garam masala (optional – but made the recipe for me)

1.    Heat a little mustard/vegetable oil and add the seeds and curry leaves and cook until the seeds pop

2.    Add the onion and soften, then cook in the ginger and garlic

3.    Add the chilli, lentils, turmeric, 350ml water, cover, bring to the boil and then simmer uncovered until the lentils are almost cooked

4.    Add salt to taste with the tomatoes and puree and continue to cook

5.    Add garam masala and stir through

6.    Add shredded spinach and warm through to wilt

 

One of the tastiest meals I’ve made in the last few weeks, served it with brown rice.  For tea I used some leftover potatoes and mashed them, boiled some sprouts and sliced them, chopped some spring onions and fried it all up in a teaspoon of oil, with 1/2tsp of cumin, 1tsp mustard seeds and I added a bit of marmite towards the end and a handful of sliced ham which I chopped up.  Again delicious.

 

My breakfast had been a 3 egg omelette with leftover peas in and 2 crumpets with marmite on one and tomato puree on the other.

 

So that was my F&H day and I enjoyed it so much I’m going to do it again today, I have beef stew (scouse) ready cooked for my lunch and leftover curry for my tea, mmm nice.  I might even have the leftover bubble and squeak for my breakfast, that or mini shredded wheat, might give mom the squeak as she’s not a fan of beef.

 

Right I better get this show on the road, I’ve almost forgot what I do in a morning to get ready for work – oh yes, it starts with changing out of my PJs into real clothes!

 

Have a fabulous day, healthy and happy all the way, take care of you and Eat Gorgeous. Xx

 

Remember you’re worth it!

F&H Frugal Fortnight about to start....

28^th October 2013

The only thing that stands between you and what you want out of life is the will to try and faith to believe it’s possible.

Well I don’t know what’s going on with me but I woke up at 1am and could not go back to sleep, lay there for 3 hours before eventually drifting back off until just before 7am, so glad we’d had another early night.  Although lying there for 3 hours listening to the wind and rain, I heard another kind of noise and I think we may have a creature living in our loft, will get my brother to go check it out for me, because I ain’t going up there to be confronted by a squirrel or something even worse!

Had a lovely few hours yesterday morning going back through my Facebook posts, looking at all the comments I’d posted that had come from mom’s mouth!  She really does come out with some pearlers, I went back and tagged her on them so they’re all on her Facebook page now – which she actually won’t use because she ‘doesn’t do computers’ but it’ll be a place I can go and smile when I need cheering up, I’ll probably copy and paste them too and make myself a little book of them.  If you’re not easily offended and you’d like to have a chuckle, add her as a Friend “Hilary Longsden” and over the next few days I’ll go back even further and tag her on some more. 

We had visitors yesterday too, so for lunch I cooked Lynne and I Sirloin Steak which I’d treated us too from Aldi, mom and young Jen has sausages, I have to say Aldi food has impressed me so far and those steaks were amazing!  That was my last indulgence, as this month is going to have to be a frugal one as I will only get sick pay (which ain’t worth having really from what I’ve heard) so watch this space for a very F&H frugal fortnight!

I added a couple more recipe sheets to my website yesterday http://www.happyowls.co.uk/recipes.html

Filling and Healthy Meal Ideas

Filling & Healthy Sweet Stuff

There are also a couple of ‘cheat eat’ ones on there if anyone’s as skint as me!  Christmas is only 8 weeks away!  I know we’re trying to pretend it isn’t but it is?  8 more weigh in’s for me and I’m hoping being frugal will help on the scales too!

Here’s to having a fabulous day, focusing on the F&H and the Healthy & Happy.

BeYOUtiful & Eat Gorgeous Xx

 

 

I went a little nuts yesterday!

27^th October 2013

If you wait until you can do everything for everybody, instead of something for somebody, you'll end up not doing nothing for nobody. Malcom Bane

 Had a nice chilled day yesterday, took Alfie for a short walk round the block, then spent hours crafting in my office.  Had a couple of delicious meals, brunch was crumpets, eggs, spinach and mushrooms, then for dinner I made chicken breast stuffed with spinach and pepper dew peppers wrapped in wafer thin ham, served with Actifry potatoes and carrots and sprouts with a little bit of gravy and it was delicious.  All of it filling and healthy except for the 1pp spent on gravy, the oil used came out of my daily allowance. 

Then it all went to pot, I found a bag of salted mixed nuts in the drawer – one of my favourite snacks, that normally I know better than to buy, but I’d craved them whilst poorly so bought a bag when in Aldi on Friday!  I’ve just worked the ProPoints out on my calculator and the 150g bag was 27pp, that’s a day’s allowance on the ProPoints plan – OUCH!  So thanks to that and my wine, my weeklies have all gone, but you now what – they were delicious, I really enjoyed them and I won’t have any again for a long time, Christmas will probably be the next time I bother.   

I’ve noticed that on Facebook lots of people beat themselves up for overindulging after the event, whether it’s eating a family sized cake because it was there, ordering dessert when you were out that you hadn’t planned on having, or having a takeaway on your way home from work, I think as  long as you enjoyed it that's all that matters, it's the reasons that we eat that are more concerning than the actual food.  If you didn’t enjoy it then ask yourself why you ate it in the first place and work on changing that behaviour.  If you enjoyed eating it but you’re not enjoying how it’s making you feel afterwards (i.e. bloated, sick, nauseous) then maybe realise that the eating isn’t worth the after effects and work on changing that habit.  Or maybe you enjoyed eating it but you don’t enjoy not being able to get in your clothes, or the number you see on the scales each week, then maybe you have to make a choice!

It’s about how you feel, if you feel fabulous and have the odd over-indulging session then it’s not an issue at all is it, however if you don’t feel fabulous, if you realise that how you feel miserable / uncomfortable / ……. ‘insert here how you feel’ for the 23¾ hours of the day you’re not enjoying that moment of overindulgence, then you really do need to do something about it.  Easier said than done I know, but the first step is always to acknowledge something needs to change, then you can move onto the next step which involving changing.

So yesterday for me was transition day to get me back on track, other than the nuts I ate F&H and enjoyed it, I got my brain working again and thinking about what I could have, how tasty it would be and whether it would keep me satisfied for any length of time.  Today I will still to F&H 100% and won’t be eating no bags of nuts worth 27pp!  

As a very BeYOUtiful, wise lady posted on Facebook yesterday;

New week, new start? Remember you can draw a line and start again at any point... why wait till tomorrow or next week? Start again right now!!  The beauty of Weight Watchers is that I know one bad week doesn't mean a bad journey. 

Everybody starts a diet on a Monday don’t they, well how about we all change that right now and make Sunday the day with get Healthy & Happy and make wise foods choices, maybe even move our bodies a little bit more, if it’s raining outside – find something to do inside that burns some calories.

Go make me proud

Have a fabulous day. Xx

BeYOUtiful & Eat Gorgeous

If something looks too good to be true - it usually is!

26^th October 2013

A healthy attitude is contagious but don't wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier. Tom Stoppard

I had my massage yesterday and it was awesome, really helped to loosen up my shoulders and legs, then I nipped to the shop for supplies and who’d have thought that carrying  a few shopping bags to the car could put strain on your neck!  A few more days of healing needed I think, an easy weekend for me for sure, although I’ve been awake since 2.30am for some reason, so I decided to get up, I can have a snooze later if I get tired again.

Whilst I was at the Chi Rooms, a mom came out of the treatment room with her little boy, he’d been really good in there playing with toys whilst mommy had her legs waxed or whatever she had done.  He spotted the tub of treats on the counter and they gave him a lollypop – his face lit up with joy!  That’s my friends is where it all starts, what chance have we got really but to have a love of food?  It starts from the day we are born doesn’t it and throughout our lives food is continually used as a treat / to make us happy / as a reward / to cheer us up etc etc etc and so continues to build our emotional attachment with nice food. 

Of course it’s not a bad thing, as long as that emotional attachment doesn’t start to become a problem, unfortunately for a great number of people it causes a weight problem which is then difficult to get to grips with.

Not easy living life a human being is it!  It’s a damn sight better than the alternative though!

Now and again I see posts on facebook showing great ProPoint finds and sometimes they’re right but sometimes they’re wrong, one that I noticed the other day was for gravy granules by Goldenfry, they’d put that you got 10 x 5g spoonfuls for 0pp – nope unfortunately not -you might get 10 x 5g of made up gravy for that!  I bought a tub in Home Bargains yesterday to check and the nutritional info on the tub states “made up as directed” and you’d use 4 tsps (20g) to make 250ml which would be 3pp, so yes you could have a couple of tablespoons and call it zero, but that wouldn’t be enough for a meal.  I’ve checked on Weight Watchers esource and it’s incorrect on there too, they’ve got it as 10 x 5g spoonfuls for 0pp but that isn’t for the granules trust me it’s for the gravy.  If it looks too good to be true – it usually is, even Weight Watchers esource has mistakes on it, and I will inform them of this one.

Packaging can be very misleading and the most misleading line on there is probably when they use the “made up as directed” line!  It especially gets people with pasta pots and supernoodles I’ve noticed a lot with my members, it’s when water has to be added to a product that confusion sets in.  It isn’t that the water mades it more ProPoints, it’s that they’ve worked out the nutrition of the food from it’s ready to serve / cooked condition rather than its raw state.  I hope that makes sense!

Anyway as of today I’m back on track, I’ve had my time off due to being poorly, and I’m happy to say I didn’t gain weight, I didn’t lose it either but hey ho.  I’ve decided to do Filling and Healthy for a few days so that I’m eating super healthy and controlling my intake of  treats/junk/wine etc.  I’m also not 100% so eating really well can only help my recovery and I want to keep things simple and you don’t get much simpler than the Filling & Healthy plan.

I think I’ll go back to sharing my meals/tracker with you for a few days to encourage me to stay on track – it’s amazing how much better behaved you are when you’re sharing, I know one Debbie who’ll be glad I’m doing that!

So here’s to a day of Eating Gorgeous, healthy and happy all the way.  Have a great day. xx

 

 

Be careful what you wish for cos you just might get it!

25^h October 2013

 

Just because something is not happening for you right now, does not mean that it never will.

 

 

Good morning Gorgeous!  Be careful what you wish for because you may just get it!  A few weeks ago I remember being super rushed with loads to do and I thought to myself "I'd just love a week of doing nothing!"  Well I've just had one thanks to my surgery and personally - you can keep doing nothing for any great length of time, it sucks!  I've missed walking the dog & weighing my members, hell I've missed everything about my life as I know it!  Yeah doing nothing is most definitely overrated.  

 

As it had finally stopped raining yesterday, I ventured out with Alfie for a walk and a bit of fresh air and it was lovely and I'm sure mom enjoyed having the house to herself for a bit too even if she wouldn’t admit it.  

 

I've missed cooking, I love to spend time in the kitchen, of course I enjoy it more when I have more time but even when I'm busy, I get satisfaction from putting together a meal, knowing I'm taking care of myself.  

 

Sitting around for a week has really affected my body too, my knees are all achy and sore from lack of use and my shoulders are stiff.  Our bodies are meant to be used not to be constantly sat in front of a tv. Daytime tv should be banned lol, at least I can say I didn't stoop to watching that ;) but I am guilty of watching episode after episode of friends, still funny even though I’ve seen them all before.  

 

So I'm finally out of my pyjamas, and I’m being treated to a massage today courtesy of my helpers, that'll hopefully loosen up some of these stiff muscles, I’m so looking forward to getting back to normality, I will take it easy still, not planning on climbing any mountains or cleaning the house from top to bottom but I should be ok to knock up a meal and walk Alfie.  Feels good to be getting better and goes to show that living the healthy and happy life and Eating Gorgeous helps with recovery.  

 

I can’t wait to get back to my members next week and hear how they’ve all been getting on in my absence.  I’ll be happy to tell them all I’ve maintained, I had my cornflakes yesterday (overrated and will be giving the rest of the box away) and for lunch I had leftover cottage pie with baked beans because I was assured the combination was lush, I’m not sure, I like pie and I like beans but together mmm nah not for me, created quite a debate on Facebook about it though!  I much preferred it with a pile of veggies like I had the day before.

 

I love how we all have different tastes, I love to try new foods and I’ve found myself a recipe for Scouse, never had it before but have heard a lot about it and I’m pleased to say it’s a Filling & Healthy recipe as well as being sensible on the ProPoints too.  I’ve put the recipe below if you fancy having a dabble. 

 

Have a great day, it’s raining again here – boo, but it is October and Bonfire Nights not far away, the weather always gets rubbish around now so it can make the bonfire events wet!  Eat Gorgeous my lovelies and always take care of you because you already know what’s coming next – YOU’RE WORTH IT!

 

Scouse

Serves 3, F&H or 11pp per serving

 

420g Lean Diced Casserole Beef (16pp)

600g of Potatoes, Diced (12pp)    

5 or 6 Carrots, Sliced

1 large Onion, Sliced 

6 Beef stock cubes (3pp)

2 tsp Olive Oil (3pp)

 

Spray Olive Oil in a large pan and heat.  Add the beef and cook on high to seal it.  Drain any fat and add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes.  Add the carrots and potatoes and add enough hot water to cover.  Add the oxo cubes and stir.  Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 3-4 hours until the liquid reduces and it goes really thick – you know when it’s ready as you can stand a spoon in it! Delicious the next day.

 

 

Spoilt is how I felt yesterday - that's a nice feeling :)

24^th October 2013

Power is not about exerting our will over others, it is about being in complete truth with yourself.

I’m so blessed, I really am, it’s been lovely to get cards through the post instead of bills and yesterday my gorgeous helpers who are the best in the world and I’m lucky to have them sent me a card with a voucher to my most favourite place on earth – The Chi Rooms where I go to have my massage, I was overwhelmed by their generosity and touched by how thoughtful the gift was, aren’t I lucky.  Who’d have thought they’d be perks to being poorly, my house is full of cards and flowers and that makes me smile.

You do a lot of thinking when you’re sat around off work, so I've decided when I'm back to 100% I'm going to stock my kitchen cupboards with filling and healthy foods, that way I'll only have those foods for meal options.  As I've not been out and about, we've been living off what's in the house so it'll be pretty empty by then. 

My bestie sure can cook - haven't had a meal cooked for me since I don't know when, it was lovely.

 

I will own up to a none F&H or ProPoint day yesterday though, my bestie turned up with meals on wheels ;) she bought us a shepherds pie for lunch which we had will lots of veggies, and also a vegetable pizza for tea which mom and I shared.  I’d had branflakes, banana and yogurt for my breakfast so in fairness it wasn’t too bad.   I’ve just had cornflakes for my breakfast because I was craving them when I was really poorly, don’t remember the last time I had them and they’re a bit boring I have to say, the best bit of the bowl was the milk and spoonful of sugar I added, would rather have yesterdays breakfast any day.

Some beautiful magician needs to invent something that looks and tastes like that pizza I had yesterday with half the calories in though, it was amazing!  Mom and I had half each of a 14in pizza and it was to die for, no idea of the ProPoints but half was probably my entire daily allowance!

So back to this Filling & Healthy business, one question keeps springing to mind with me and that’s “When did we stop trusting ourselves?”

I hear so many people say, “I wouldn’t know when to stop!” when they’re told to eat until they’re satisfied. 

Give yourself a little credit here, maybe you’ve just spent too many years on diets being told exactly what to eat and how much and have lost faith in yourself and your ability to know what’s right for your body.  Well it’s time to get that faith back and realise eating gorgeous works, being both healthy and happy will get you where you want to be.  By focusing on Filling and Healthy foods it provides a quick and easy way to pick the foods that are not only the most nutritious but also the most satisfying and you’re body will learn to self regulate you with portion sizes, if you’re still not sure and don’t trust your body to say stop, weigh some portions, or look at your plate and ask “Is this too much?”  Both ProPoints and F&H work when followed correctly, if you want all the science behind it, this is a great article to read;

http://www.weightwatchers.co.uk/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=51841&sc=808

So I’m off to write me a shopping list ready for me to get losing a few pounds before my Christmas hols, oh my word I’m not going to tell you how near that is, but trust me – it’s near!

Have a truly delicious day J

Slept like a star fish :)

23^rd October 2013

“Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” - Michael Jordan

 

Good morning, I’m smiling this morning despite the bruises – why?  Because I finally got to sleep flat like a starfish last night, haven’t been able to do that since my operation, been sleeping upright and that’s not comfortable.  It’s the simple things in life we take for granted it really is!

 

I did some reading yesterday of simple healing foods, how certain foods can help your health, for example the simple banana can help with stress or anxiety, with only 14 g of natural sugar, a medium banana fills you up, provides a mild blood sugar boost, and has 30% of the day’s vitamin B6, which helps the brain produce mellowing serotonin, getting you through a crisis peacefully.  A can of tuna apparently can help cure a bad mood because a can has about 800mg of omega 3s, which research suggests may treat the kind of blues that leave you feeling low or anxious. The fatty acids in fish have been endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association as an effective part of depression treatment, says Elizabeth Somer, RD, author of Eat Your Way to Happiness. For a seafood-free way to get happy, nosh on a small bagel. The 37 g of carbs will give you a dose of mood-boosting serotonin.  The humble pear has 5 g of dietary fiber, much of it in the form of pectin, which helps flush out bad cholesterol, a risk factor in heart disease and A 3-ounce serving of turkey has nearly all the tryptophan (an essential amino acid that helps the body produce serotonin and melatonin, hormones that regulate sleep) you need in a day, says La Puma. Studies show that people who suffer from insomnia are deficient in tryptophan.  Finally The 37 g of carbs in a medium potato can ease a tension headache by upping serotonin levels, as long as you keep the fat and protein below 2g.  There were obviously loads more but thought I’d offer you a taster.

 

The one thing that I did notice is of course if you eat a balanced healthy diet of good food, then you’re setting yourself up for a healthy body and mind.  If you’re unsure of which are good and which are bad, that’s where Weight Watchers have done the work for you, just focus on foods that are Filling & Healthy and you’ll not go far wrong.  My mates been focusing on the more this last week and she’s really noticed the difference to her moods and energy levels, usually she’s the kind of girl who’d opt for a bar of chocolate or bag of crisps over a meal.  So yep it makes a difference, we are what we eat.

 

So as you can imagine now I’m getting my appetite back, my food imagination is running wild, still struggling with the whole digestion thing but it’s improving, so I’m planning lots of meals for me to cook in the coming weeks, one I’ve found that sounds delicious is this one, it’s a F&H recipes so hasn’t been ProPointed and it would depend on which chicken pieces and the weight of them as to how many they would be anyways ;

 

KFC Copycat recipe.....

 

The lady (thanks Sam) who gave me this recipe makes this up in large quantities then separates it into small bags and freeze it, so when she wants some crispy chicken she takes a bag out of the freezer...defrosts really quickly.....

 

Chicken skinless breast fillets or legs

2 cups of W.W breadcrumbs,

4 tsp of Paprika,

2 ½ tsp of Salt (she doesn't use the salt),

1 Tsp Pepper,

1 tsp dried Thyme,

1 tsp dried Oregano,

1 tsp dried Tarragon,

½  tsp Garlic salt,

½ tsp Onion salt,

½ tsp Celery salt

Egg

 

mix everything up in a large bowl then separate into smaller bags, when ready to use dipped your chicken breast pieces into a whisked up egg then place in the breadcrumb bag mixture and shake till coated , spray an oven dish with some healthy oil then place in dish cook at 150 degrees fan oven for about 25mins turning half way through

 

...........if using mini fillets ( kids love these) then only about 15 mins cooking time......ENJOY. :-)

 

Right I’m off, have a fab day and Eat Gorgeous always.

 

You’re already amazing, you don’t need to change, just be healthy and happy and take care of yourself - you can’t say ‘beautiful’ without saying BE YOU!  You’re already GOOD ENOUGH xx