Monday morning again...

30th November 2015

Don't get your tinsel in a tangle.

It's only the start of Advent tomorrow! I've decided to start December with giving my liver a rest, I'll be having an alcohol free week and drinking plenty of water, then Sunday I have my day spa treat with my mate who I haven't spent a day with for a long time so I'm very much looking forward to it.

Yeah this week can be all about eating healthy, getting lots of water into my body and doing a 'healthy' time of cleanse, no silly gimmicks, just eating good wholesome, home cooked food, steering clear of the processed stuff and hopefully staying within my points!  That's the tough part isn't it, eating healthy is easy peasy when you love delicious good food, but eating the correct portion sizes, that's not so easy, not for me anyways! 

Whilst reading my magazines yesterday, I found a recipe for blue cheese bites, they'd using tortilla wraps they'd cut out circles to put in a jam tart tin, pressed them into the tin and put blue cheese and walnut as a filling then baked in the oven, I like this idea, thinking the fillings could be changed to suit, but it could work out lighter than pastry cases for sure.  It'd be nice with ham and eggs in I bet, options are endless, nice nibbles for over Christmas.

I had a lovely day yesterday, spent the morning sorting the kitchen, then cooking a beef stew in my slow cooker, whilst I made a roast chicken dinner, which I have to say was amazing!  I didn't make my soup but that's on the list for today, tomato soup, thinking I might roast the tomatoes first, but maybe not as the member that bought some in for me to try hadn't roasted hers and that was delicious.

The one thing I am going to focus on more this week, is eating mindfully, actually sitting down and giving it some attention, that's where I've been slipping lately, so now the kitchen table is clear, I'm committing to eating all my meals for a week up that table!  I know that's going to be difficult for sure!  But that's me putting it in writing, so here's to a tough week, but hopefully worthwhile and enjoyable too, a week where I'm going to take time out to sit and enjoy my meals, a week where I'm not going to drink anything stronger than coffee and a week where I'm going to focus on cooking delicious, nutritious food in the correct portion sizes.  So what's on the menu, mmm well, I've got my stew, I'm thinking some fish, spaghetti, ooo yeah, I'll made a spaghetti dish.  I'm thinking a meat-free day too, I've bought some quorn chicken style pieces, I also bought some oatcake things, and I want to try and recreate the savoury chicken pancake thing I like that Waitrose sells.  I've just looked online and it says "Skinless chicken fillet enrobed in a cheesy bacon sauce wrapped in a pancake and finished with grated cheddar cheese and chopped fresh parsley."

Looking at the ingredients its chicken in a cream sauces with a bit of bacon, cheese and egg)  I will just do chicken in a cheesy sauce, that might be tea, but I might use the leftover chicken from my roast dinner, and save the quorn for another day, maybe make a curry with it or a carbonara.

Anyway that's me off to get me another pint (of water), I have a busy day today, lots of work stuff to do!  Yeah it's my day off! Hey Ho ;)

Happy Monday BeYOUtiful.

Showing some #WWStrength

29th November 2015

The mind is like a parachute.  It doesn't work unless it's open.

I do love Sundays and Mondays in my world, they're my weekend now I work Saturday mornings, I don't even have to get dressed if I choose not to.  I will be doing so today though, I've got today planned, well sort of.  I need to sort all the handbag stuff again, can't move in my office and bedroom!  Waiting for the food bank people to call me back about dropping it off so if they do, I might take that today out of the way.  Then I plan to give my kitchen a good tidy so that I can make a delicious chicken dinner, tomato soup and a beef stew, who knows, I might even bake some muffins for my mom. 

I did my supermarket shop yesterday and oh the temptation, it's everywhere and it's so hard to resist, they have all that party food stuff in the cooler section, there's all those delicious cheeses, and then there was a massive bag of dry roasted peanuts and salted peanuts half price!  I had them in my hands and I weighed up the reality of the situation, if I took those home, they're not lasting till Christmas, I'm eating them before the day was over, I'd actually be better off buying a smaller packet and paying more because at least that way, I'm not gaining weight because of them!  I put them back on the shelf, showed my #WWStrength there didn't I!  That's what we need to focus on this next month, all those moments we resist temptation, it's okay to also give into temptation at times too, I bought some salted popcorn instead and they hit the spot for a lot less points!

I'm finding it really difficult to track right now, mostly because I have so much going on, yeah that's an excuse, but it's mine and I'm sticking to it.   The truth is though, I'm not gaining, so not tracking isn't the end of the world because I'm still making wise choices, I'm still pointing my meals 90% of the time, this ensures I'm staying healthy, oh and it was a very healthy shopping trip yesterday, so it's all positive.

It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas isn't it, we watched another movie yesterday, Shelby, a Christmas dog tale, really lovely.  I need to start wrapping the pressies I've got, although I'm being a lazy mare I think this year, tissue and bags, less hassle, love the wrapping at the start, then have a bad back by the end ;)

Right I'm off, lots to do and in the mood to do it for a change, it may be raining outside but it's all sunshine in here!  Enjoy your Sunday BeYOUtiful whatever you have planned. xx

It's not called Weight Losers!

28th November 2015

Whatever you are - be a good one!

I had a lovely day yesterday, some real me time, a little bit of shopping, not too much though, we're not a fan, me and my bestie, we realised after about the first ten minutes!  Of course there was lunch involved and I have to say the Wine House at Lichfield is delicious and the service was excellent, a lovely couple of hours spent eating and catching up, just what the doctor ordered, so to speak.  It is possibly my most favourite way to pass the time, eating delicious food with excellent company, yep takes some beating that does.

We had a beef and prosciutto ham stew and it was delicious, I'm going to attempt to recreate it as best as I can this weekend, the vegetables were all cut really small and it had small silver skin onions in it, not sure if I can get those (I don't want the pickled variety) but even if I can't I'll have a good go and a delicious stew.  I might even try dumplings, haven't made those for years, but mmm that would work, although I think I haven't made them for years because I'm not that struck on them.

https://www.justgiving.com/Mymom so we did it, I'm amazed, thrilled, proud and grateful £3k raised in 6 months for Alzheimer's - just incredible, actually phenomenal, I can't thank everyone enough!  Just shows what you can achieve when you put your mind to it and get support ;) a little like Weight Watchers, that's the philosophy really isn't it, after all everything is easier with support.

I think at this time of year it's really important to remember it's not called Weight Losers, there's so much out there trying to get us to eat it or drink it.  Heck we stood in the queue in M&S food hall yesterday and I was jittery surrounded by shortbread in glittering lanterns, chocolate sprouts, the most beautiful chocolates, biscuits, luckily where I was queuing, I couldn't see the sweet, Christmas type spirits or I think I'd have caved!  Temptation is everywhere and resistance isn't easy, so let's focus on the 80/20 rule, trying to make healthy choices 80% of the time and giving yourself a break if you slip up the other 20%, not 80% booze and 20% food as suggested by my lovely friend Natalie, although I did like that idea A LOT!

 

In addition to my stew I'm going to attempt, this will hopefully keep me on track and resisting all that temptation, I'm going to continue to make soups, and also look at finding me another recipe to try, think I might be getting my delia mojo back, that stew needs mustard mash I reckon, mmm. 

Anyway short and sweet this morning because I have a meeting to go to this morning, we're in the actual church again because it's their Christmas fair, there are quite a few church Christmas Fairs on today, so have a look and go check them out, AND for my Bloxwich members, Santa will be on his sleigh from 10-4 today on the high street!

Right I'm off as I have to load my car (I want a sleigh!) and go go go to work ;) get it lol.

Have a wonderful weekend, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, I think I might do a little wrapping this weekend too. 

Wise words...

27th November 2015

Too many people undervalue what they are, and overvalue what they're not.

On Wednesday Jeremy Vine had chef, writer and campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on his show in his "What Makes Us Human" series.  I loved it so much, I've listened to it again and typed it up to share with you, today I think he says so beautifully everything that needs to be said;

Nothing makes us human more than cooking, the act of turning raw ingredients into something delicious or at least more delicious than the ingredients on their own.  Arguably this is a scientific truth, it's now widely recognised that the application of fire to fish, meat and vegetables, by making food more digestible and its nutrients more available has played a vital role in the evolution of our brains and our intelligence.  But just as importantly, it's a cultural truth and a profound one.  All living creatures eat of course, but humanity is alone in making the act of eating about than far more than essential nutrition for survival and I'd argue that we need it to be about more than that.   Food is at the heart of families and friendship.  It's a vital shared experience that bonds human beings together playing a part in all the most important moments of our lives - births, marriages and deaths.  One of the most memorable meals of my life was the one I knocked together at two in the morning for my wife and the midwife who'd just delivered our first child at home, sausages with creamed spinach, not a combination I'd put together before or since but somehow just right for that amazing moment.  Most of us still choice to mark those moments of high family emotions with the sharing of great food, often very specific dishes carefully selected to suit the occasion, to continue a tradition or to honour a person.  In our family the birthday boy or girl is always allowed to choose the menu for their birthday tea or supper.  Chloe will have fried plantains, Oscar a fish if he can catch one, Freddie his beloved lasagne and if Louisa wants sausages and mash with unlimited ketchup followed by ice cream, well she can have that too.  One these occasions food is no less an expression of love, than a hug, a kiss or a cuddle.  And great meals don't just take place on milestone birthdays and festive holidays either.  The best kind of contact with the most special kind of food can be informal, the Sunday lunch when the kids who've flown the nest, turn up in the hope of a hearty roast.   The cake baked in a bit of a rush when a friend says they're going to drop by.  Sometimes however, it seems to me that we're in danger of losing this relationship with food that's so fundamental to our nature.  Many of us are moving away from a sense of occasion around food as we navigate through our busy days via takeaway coffees, desk bound sandwiches and microwave ready meals, simply fuelling up whilst on the go, gratifying only our immediate appetite.  At the same time some of us obsess over food, employing it as a badge of identify, looking to it as the answer to all our problems, investing it with transformative powers  that are just now realistic!  We ask food to paper over the cracks in our lives, or to fill a void that we're too frightened to confront.  You might argue that this imbalance is part of what makes us human too, whether by losing touch with something that is such a simple source of health and happiness or by freighting it with too much angst and anxiety.  We humans are quite good at messing ourselves up around food, fortunately we're also pretty good at learning, growing, trying something new, making amends.  I'd like everybody to discover or rediscover the simple but profound satisfaction of putting together an uncomplicated but tasty meal and sharing it with somebody they care about.  So if it's a while since you've made time to cook, don't be daunted by the prospect, pull out a few of the cookbooks gathering dust on your shelf or get online and browse until you find something that looks delicious and achievable.   Then send a text to a friend, a sibling, a parent, a grandparent, someone who's happiness makes you happy too, it only takes five words - "fancy popping round for supper?"

Happy Friday BeYOUtiful, I'm off for lunch with a friend, but I'll be 'cooking' a new recipe this weekend for sure and sharing it with the one person I love the most on this entire planet.

BeYOUtiful - can I just not spell!

26th November 2015

Dear you, make peace with the mirror and watch your reflection change.

What's the difference between beautiful and BeYOUtiful?  Can I just not spell? I think it all started because I wanted people to realise they're more than just a face, more than just a body and that you are who you are and that is enough.  You don't need to be prettier, thinner, better, you're good enough. 

Don't get me wrong that body of your matters because it's part of you and you want it to be as healthy as it possibly can be, I mean look at what it can do, it's legs carry you around for starters and if you're a woman it's capable of creating a child!  That's amazing! 

So for me when a member tells me, they've learned to like themselves, that's the best sentence I hear, and I never tire of hearing it.  We should all love ourselves, whatever our bodies look like, yet our image still has such an impact on the thoughts and behaviour of so many of us.

So embrace your BeYOUtiful, see the amazingness that is you, focus on positive thoughts and change your perspective of your world and see how your world changes.  If you truly love that reflection in the mirror, you're going to start being nice to yourself and when you're nice to someone you behave differently towards them, you take care of them better, it makes a massive difference.  You forgive those you love quicker than those you don't so much!  So if you aren't in the zone and staying on track right now, if you are in that "BeYOUtiful" place, you'll be more inclined to give yourself a break for eating those biscuits and get back to balancing it out with a healthy stew for dinner. 

When was the last time you really looked at yourself in the mirror, what goes through your mind when you start face to face with that person?  Do you like them?  Do you smile when you see your own reflection or do you immediately find fault with the way you look?  Change your thoughts and watch that reflection change as the quote says above, instead of standing there picking out the faults, criticising your hair, nose, thighs, etc, stand there and smile, don't let that internal critic of yours take control of your thoughts, because it will get stronger and take over your life if you let it.  Instead, focus on your positives, not just the physical ones,  you're more than just a body remember!

We're critiqued, criticised and judged enough in every other aspect of our life's, quite often harshly, so let's not be doing that to ourselves too.  Don't let the media and society dictate how you should look, what you should where, how you should behave to fit in, what do they know.  Chose to be your own self, you're truly BeYOUtiful real you, the version you were born to be.  I did after years of trying to change and fit in and be like everyone else and it turned out people actually kinda liked me, (that was a relief!)

Focus on the healthy and happy, you don't have to have an eating disorder to have disordered eating, and yet disordered eating can really take its toll on our mental, emotional, and overall well-being.  It's not necessary to get on scales every damn day, it's not important what the numbers say so much as how you feel.  It's more important to be mindful of what you are eating, to enjoy what you're eating and not just to eat it because it's "low in points or calories".  It's more important to sit down and pay attention to what you're eating rather than eating on the go, standing up, watching tele and even forgetting that you just ate. 

Start listening to that BeYOUtiful body of yours, hear what it says, are you really hungry, did what you just eat make it feel better or worse?  Will eating that doughnut because you're upset really make the situation better?  Would you have been better off taking your BeYOUtiful body for a walk round the block to give it a little exercise and your mind time to calm down?

Yes you can be healthy and happy at any weight, happy people make healthier choices, and BeYOUtiful people well they're the best kind of people ;)

Have a great day. I don't know if any of that made sense, but I'm not even going to read it back, cos in my head it did ;) and that's all that matters to me, it's my crazy blog after all, I don't need to be understood all the time and neither do you.