First in the battle against the baddies is to gather the goodies
The war against the baddies begins by having the goodies abundantly available so I’ve compiled a shopping list. You will probably have some of it already.
Shopping with a halo 🙂
You can swap things out (not like crisps in place of apples or wine in place of water though), you can religiously follow or just use what I write and eat as a guide. Up to you.
The main thing to remember is if you want to lose weight you need to change something.
If you move more (a lot more) and eat less AND/OR differently consistently you will lose weight, look better, feel better and depending how far you choose to go really make some massive changes to your health.
So here is a useful shopping list. A list of things that you can use for an instant snack, to throw together something quickly to eat, or to take your time to make a meal.
We need to have something easy and fast when we are hungry before we are tempted by fat, salt and sugar laden snacks and quick bites – stodge by any other name!
Packet of sea weed – Nori sheets work best.
The main meal recipes I suggest for the next few days are;
Im loving the Nike Training app (OK loving it is reaching – I love it AFTER I have done it!!) also the ‘7 min WC’ app – I can never find an excuse not to find 7 minutes for that one 🙂
Who are we to judge?!
I would like to have a bit of chat about people who judge – does that mean I am judging them? Maybe, maybe – anyway here goes…
The way we live, the way we eat is often in question– we are what we eat, we hear that all the time.
Actually we are made of what we eat and do and think and say and experience.
That’s obvious isn’t it?
A LOT of people seem to think that their way is the best way and so they preach. I know, I know – if someone asks me about health I tend to go on and on (sorry friends) and give advice freely when asked by anyone (I also charge, its my job). BUT I’m talking about those who insist “100% this” is the only right way or “100% that”, or “80/20% is the perfect way”.
We are all different. Not just in what we need but in what we want, what works with our life even our age and state of health.
Of course we can all change, we could be flexible, change as needed, listen to our bodies and minds. I also believe that for me (the only example to use) 100% anything is not right.
Being a classic miss-matcher if I put a rule on myself (or if anyone else tries to) I usually break it. If I decide on Tuesday we will eat such and such on Friday – there is NO WAY we will be eating that on Friday. Its a bit of a standing joke in our house.
I must just say at this point that I believe eating fried foods, food with all the nutrients boiled out of them, dairy, sugar, white stuff, lots of meat and alcohol as well as not exercising and leading a stressful and/or anger fuelled life (and any combination of that little lot you choose) is going to end in tears – and health problems.
There are other ways to live and eat and some people don’t know them (some choose not to want to and they have that right – though when it effects others they could have the right to mention it!!) hence, when asked, I go on….and on.
Anyway. To state my point of view; I believe that a very high raw plant based diet, higher in veggies than fruit, is the best way for me and most people – if this choice is taken with knowledge and attention to advice. I believe that the more food and drink you take in that nourishes your body the better.
For me eating a plate of stodge, say pasta, is a wasted opportunity to a) enjoy something more delicious ( lets face it, its what you put on it that tastes good) and b) to notch up another “portion” of fantastic nutrients – so in place of the pasta I would probably use spiralised raw courgette for example. The sauce would be a divine blend of veggies, garlic, oils and herbs. If I wanted creamy (love creamy!) it would have nuts and maybe nutritional yeast and lecithin in there – so all the yumminess without guilt – ah, guilt thats another thing (another time).
I believe we need to use supplements, I do and I send them to my kids and check that they take them. I use spirulina, wheatgrass ( fresh when possible, frozen when not and powdered when neither are available), spray Vit. B12 and Vit D.
I take MSM, Maca and a mixed green powder with algea, acai, and allsorts of other great stuff in it sometimes (I swap and change and remember and forget with these).
At the moment I am taking Co-enzime Q 10, 5HTP and magnesium ( spray oil and tablets with B6) and a high dose of Vit C; because I am recovering from extensive stress and burnout.
I use frozen pollen when Im in France and so can get it.
I drink herbs as tea (plus lots of different red and green teas), drink lots of water and do not buy ready meals or anything really that I think is bad. I drink green juices and green smoothies by the pint. Lemons, limes and apple cider vinegar are always to hand.
I eat out sometimes and don’t stress about it, I eat at friends houses and love the food they have prepared with kindness for their guests. I drink wine. I drink a tiny coffee most mornings ( OK I smell it a lot and sip it a little then throw it away having had what I want from it). I practice yoga sometimes, I meditate, I dance around the kitchen a lot, I feel huge love and happiness and, sometimes, have to wrestle myself from the clutches of sadness.
I do the best I can for me and my family and my friends and my clients.
Often and for long periods I only eat a raw plant based diet which includes nuts and seeds, sea veggies and draws upon a lot of experience and knowledge (and relies on my super fast blender, food processor and dehydrater). I am happy with that – I just don’t make it a rule!!
Of course I could and should “do better” in someone’s eyes, on the other hand I’m probably a mad, hippy, health fanatic in someone else’s eyes too!
ONE OF OUR RAW FEASTS
A little bit obsessed!
As long as I can remember I have been at least a little obsessed with food!
I do remember being hungry as a child and I was not deprived, just burning it off fast and hungry before each meal – how often are we really hungry before we eat? Not often, try it and see.
I had to go straight to dancing school after school. When I was younger I was delivered and I remember being given Rivetas that my mother was piling cream cheese and pineapple on, I think there could have been butter too – Riveta wasn’t really advertised as it is now as a be all to all people base for fine concoctions, way back then it was just about diets.
The topping sends a mixed message – but as the skinniest kid in class thank goodness for a Mother who was ‘on a diet but just couldn’t resist’. I still love the sucre/sale flavours!
As I grew older I had to get to dancing myself so the minute the bell rang I ran as fast as I could – a few miles across flat planes, across town, up hills, to get there in 15 minutes, about 3 or 4 miles I’d guess.
Usually I had taken nothing to eat. A couple of hours of dancing at least, then a trek back to town and the bus home, just waiting for fooooood!
Home was a funny place, not always happy, a lot of tension and conflict going on. I often spent sleepless nights working out how I could support my siblings and myself on the pocket money I saved every week (religiously I squirreled it away, just in case).
I always started with a base of a massive white sliced loaf because it was cheap and would fill our tummies; there were bags of apples and bananas too. ….
I still wake in the night and work out food for the next day, make up recipes, analyse the day before, NO sliced white loaf now but the bananas and apples figure, somewhere behind the green leaves and celery.
The other day Robin was watching me and asked what I was doing – “counting my portions” (I was counting on my fingers) I do it every day, smug when I hit ten or over, less so when 7-10 and fed up with myself (I’m working on that flagellation thing) if I don’t make 5.
That is a rare occasion these days but when staying away or travelling it can be REALLY hard to get those portions in! In the UK it is not so bad with the brilliant motorway service stations where they have M&S and Waitrose salads, washed fruits and peeled, chopped fruits but when we are going through France it is really tough.
You have to go off road and find a market or super market then find somewhere to wash the stuff – or eat bananas which is fine for the first one or two.
OR be organised and take stuff with you – even after all these years and hardly ever managing to sort myself out to take something for between school and dancing I still rarely get it together.
So that is something I will be working on “being prepared” and delicious recipes to travel with – that means they last in a very warm car or on a very cold ferry, are delicious, nutritious and easy to eat without setting up a picnic table/ getting it all over you, and without having a bag of slimy washing up to do in a hotel room – or worse, forgotten about and to be discovered weeks later, under the seat, when trying to find out “what that smell is”!
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