128. Easy Way To Avoid Processed Food

This is the best way to avoid processed food in my opinion. Especially if you have a busy lifestyle: Make two meals for 4 in one day.

I find it’s just as easy to make two meals, as one, so do all your cooking together, and then all you have to do is heat the food up for the next four days (if there are two of you).

My friend is able to get by on two bananas every lunchtime. So she just has porridge (oatmeal) and a proper meal at home. I don’t mind bananas, but two at once is a bit much, so I have other fruit and a potato or Ryvita.

But the good thing about making two different meals together, is that you can cheat and include some of the same ingredients.

I prepared a general bowl of chopped mixed vegetables which I divide in two, then I boiled potatoes to make mashed spuds for both meals. I microwaved chicken and minced pork separately, and ended up adding sweetcorn to the white sauce made for the chicken, and adding extra red peppers for the tomato sauce made for the minced pork (masquerading as minced beef!)

So I ended up with chicken and Vegetable Pie and I called the other one Italian Pie, because it was like Bolognaise, but with mashed potato instead of pasta. And the spuds were not mixed with milk or butter, and they still had their skins – very healthy! Who says you have to stick to traditional recipes?

The whole lot didn’t take more than 45 minutes, yet it saved me loads of time for the rest of the week. Normally when I lose track of time, and look in the fridge when my tummy starts to rumble, I don’t fancy cooking, and am tempted to go out and buy something, invariably processed. That’s when I try to justify it to myself and say “Well I’m allowed one take-out once a week”, but I’ll conveniently forget that it’s the second time that week. This way, you can be lazy and still avoid processed food.

127. Back Home

I’ve been away looking after my sick parents. They usually take turns to be ill, which is handy because they can look after each other, but it was bound to happen that one day they would both be ill at the same time. But now they’re doing ok.

Glad to report that they both eat a healthy and varied diet. It meant I had to fit in and consume bread and cow’s milk occasionally. They were ill; they didn’t need me complaining about food.

I’ve put a bit of weight back on, but I don’t think it’s due to my diet, but simply lack of exercise.

126. Back To The Food

2 Fried Eggs
Truck load of Bacon
8 pork sausages
Fried Bread
3 Croissants

then for lunch
pizza,
ice cream...

I'm kidding of course.

To be honest I can't remember what I ate today because I'm writing this in a week's time on August 8th! So how come it says July 25th?
Ahaah! I have found a way to travel through time, but sadly only on blogs!

I will get back to my routine asap (I have been good, except for when I ate tuna late last night and couldn't sleep at all).

125. Don’t Punish Yourself

You should never ban foods completely if you are only intolerant to them, because elimination diets lead to cravings.

If you are allergic however, the reactions are a lot more serious and could do you harm, but then you would already know that and stay well clear.

If you’re intolerant to wheat or sugar for example, then having them once in a while is not going to have a lasting detrimental effect to your health, but you may see signs that your body is protesting. With me, I get itchy skin whenever I eat wheat.

If you have terrible will power, then one might lead to two or three, etc, and you’re on the slippery slope, but if you need to, apply common sense in these cases.

But never feel guilty for having the occasional treat. Guilt leads to low self esteem which can make you fall off the wagon completely. Emotions have a lot to do with over eating, or eating the wrong types of foods, and we need to look after our emotional health as well as our physical health.

I’m a great believer in the two being interlinked anyway, and there is a lot of evidence to suggest this too. I definitely ate the wrong things when my emotions were all over the place.

124. Food Diary

Porridge

Apple

Decaf

Pizza (yeah, but it tasted a thousand times better than if I ate it every day!)

Apple

Green Tea

Cottage cheese, flax oil, onion and chives with 2 x Ryvita

2 plain oat and rice cakes

cornflakes and soya milk

123. Owning a Dog Will Improve Your Health

I know only too well that dog walking is brilliant exercise for you and a great way to improve your metabolism, so you’ll lose weight, but Patti Lawson’s book The Dog Diet goes into much more detail of how her dog Henry helped her improve her figure.

For more details go here:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070719/FEATURES10/70719054/0/FEATURES10

122. Food Diary

Cornflakes (run out of oats)

apple

Camomile Tea (run out of Green tea)

Prawns mayo and Baked potato

Cranberry juice

Strawberries

Avacado

2 dried figs

omelette with mushrooms and mixed peppers, goats cheese

Camomile tea

121. Test Your Nutritional Knowledge

Here’s a test to see if you’re doing everything you can to improve your diet. I got most of them right, but not all of them.

Although some of the answers made me laugh out loud.

http://www.denverpost.com/fitness/ci_6376039

120. Food Diary

Porridge

apple

Half avacado

Green Tea

Flax oil cottage chees and Ryvita x 2


Green Tea
beetroot

apple

Baked Potato with chicken and green beans

Green Tea

Porridge

119. Garlic Healing Properties

I’ve found an interesting thread on various people’s experiences with using Garlic for its healing properties.

It’s at: http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/garlic.html

People use it to cure colds, moles, herpes, toothache, and to prevent mosquito bites, and fleas and ticks on animals!

There is also a benefit to crushing raw garlic, as opposed to simply cutting it. The anti oxidants are released only when the cloves are crushed, so it is good just to chew a clove of garlic.

118. Food Diary

Porridge

Green tea

Apple

Beetroot

Omelette with mushroom and red pepper

Banana

Green tea

Apple

3 bean salad with salmon and broccoli

Porridge

117. The Secret Revealed!

Ok, How can I put this delicately?

Flatulence is caused by sugar! It’s true. I’ve been carrying out a very precise experiment all last week and for the last three days I have eaten broccoli and brussels sprouts, and not had the slightest rumble or trapped wind.

I’ve discovered that the dreaded fart monster is only around in the presence of sugar. I will highlight the details of today’s diet later, and you will see that fruit is ok, and let’s face it – sugar is in many natural foods, and our bodies all need sugar, but ADDED sugar seems to be the main culprit.

I tried the experiment with baked beans, but it didn’t work the first time, as they are drenched in a cocktail of sugar and salt. I then tried beans rinsed in water and it worked. Try it for yourself. You’ll be amazed!

And like I said earlier, the consequences of cutting out all added sugar from a diet will drastically cut down the chance of many horrible diseases, not to mention keep weight down.

It takes a bit to get used to, and the hardest for me was cutting out all sugar from tea and coffee, so for now I just have green tea.

But how disciplined are you? My friend claimed to join my experiment, saying it didn’t work after only two days. Why? She’s been eating chinese food! It’s FULL of sugar! And all processed food is. I stuck to non-processed food, mainly fruit and veg (which most people associate with flatulence), protein and smaller quantities of complex carbs.

116. Breakthrough Discovery!

I have just dicovered something that will rock your world!

Not only will it enrich your life, but it will stop bloatedness, and therefore pain, it will make you lose weight and prevent hundreds of potential illnesses.

But I'm not divulging my secret just yet - I've been testing it out the last few days, and am going away for the weekend, where I will continue to test it out, and bring you my verdict next week!

115. Food Diary

Apple Juice
Porridge
Peach

Decaf Coffee

Plain rice cake

Banana
Cottage cheese and flax oil with Ryvita

Fennel tea

Apple
Baked potato with goats cheese

114. Food Diary

Porridge

Green Tea

Apple
Omelette with goats cheese, mushrooms and red pepper

Banana - (that I just kept having a bite of throughout the day)

Green Tea

Apple
Chicken and broccoli

Green Tea

113. Natural Appetite Suppressant - No Pills!

I told you about Hoodia Gordonii, the African appetite suppressant plant that you buy as pills. But they are quite expensive and can cause bloating. Other chemical pills that claim to do the same thing could have unknown long term side effects, and are also expensive.

But you can create the same effect - (without the bloating!) with just a bit of light exercise every day.

All you need is a bit of discipline and you can suppress your appetite substantially enough to eat up to a third less.

You need to walk as briskly as possible for 20 minutes three times a day. On the third day (or whenever it is comfortable to do so) you tighten your stomach whilst you walk - not immensely, just mildly. This all depends on your level of fitness, but it should never be painful.

You then stretch for another 20 minutes as soon as you finish each walk. A ten minute low impact arms and legs routine followed by ten minutes of abdominal crunches - NOT sit-ups. Again - only doing what you are comfortable with.

Never attempt the exercises without the 20 minute walk. You need the warm-up to limber up the muscles, and make stretching a lot easier.

It's better to do exercises that feel too easy, than too hard. It's the regularity that is important. If you do these ab exercises three times a day, you will naturally feel full quicker, after a meal.

I often do this routine when I start to feel hungry too often and on the very first day, the only carbs I need are fruit! It's THAT effective! I did it today in fact - check out what I ate today - and I feel great. Actually if I were disciplined enough to do this every day, I'd have a six pack stomach in no time!

If you work fulltime, you may only be able to manage twice a day - before and after work, but you could always go for a ten minute walk in your lunch break - best to do this before you eat though. Never exercise on a full stomach.

This routine will also provide many other health benefits, such as improved sleep for starters. Give it a go!

112. Food Diary

Been a bit slack as I've been inundated with work. Must try harder! After all this supposed to be a daily Food Diary blog.

Apple Juice
Porridge
Peach

Decaf Coffee

Plain rice cake

Banana
Cottage cheese and flax oil with Ryvita

Fennel tea

Apple
Baked potato with goats cheese

111. My Daily Supplements

Multivitamins with iron. These are a bit more expensive than your ordinary multivitamins as they contain a lot more, but I get them in bulk so I do ok.

Cod liver oil. Can’t take general ‘fish oil’ as I’m allergic to mackerel – with ‘dire’ consequences!

Glucosamine. Anything less than 1000mg a day won’t be effective in combatting joint pain.

Concentrated Dandelion tincture – a few drops in water daily to repair everyday damage to the liver. Dandelion tea won’t provide you with nearly enough. I take strong painkillers which sadly I cannot manage without. Paracetamol is damaging to the liver over a long time, so heaven knows what my strong painkillers are doing to my body. Drinkers of alcohol should definitely take this.

Aloe Vera juice to repair all organs in the body. It has amazing healing qualities, but you have to buy the right type of stuff. It’s great for damaged skin too – you can rub it directly on sunburnt skin.

Flax oil, as you know is included in my diet every day. This is to maintain all cells and prevent cancer and many other horrible illnesses. I take it with cottage cheese as an expert told me these are the best natural defenses against cancer. See my old post about it Here.

Tea Tree oil - taken externally only, for my spots. If it’s good enough for peirced ears, it’s good enough for acne – it works great! The one I get is diluted with coconut oil. It’s too harsh otherwise. And it smells like a strong menthol, so I only put it on for an hour when I get up, then wash it off with baby lotion.

Evian water. Not all water is the same. Evian has the highest levels of all the good stuff (such as minerals, magnesium, etc) and the lowest of all the bad stuff. Bad stuff in water? Yes, chlorine aint too good for you, but it’s good for teeth, so it has to be in there. Tap water has phenominally high levels of chlorine in comparison. It depends where you live, but just stick to bottled water like Evian.

I used to have a water filter, and buy filter cartridges – but that’s no good because it strips out all the good stuff too. Bottled water companies DO have the highest profit margins of all soft drinks, but it’s still worth paying for in my opinion.

There are a lot more supplements I would be taking if I had more money. I take some others less frequently (to make them last!) which I will be writing about in more detail later on this blog.

But if you’re not sure which supplements can help you, go along to your health food shop, and chat to the staff. They’re trained well, and will be able to tell you what supplements will benefit you, that fit your budget.

110. Food Diary

Coffee

(Been weaning myself off caffeine altogether, so for the past two weeks I've been having half normal coffee and half decaf, making the ratio change slightly each day. Now it's 95% decaf, and 5% caffeine - You try measuring out 5% of a teaspoon full!)

Apple

Smoothie

Avacado

Baked potato and cottage cheese

Green Tea

Celery

2 rice cakes

Millet Pasta and minced pork with tomato sauce

cornflakes

109. Some Water Facts

Depression and fatigue are often symptoms of dehydration.
Our bodies are 55 – 75% water.
It is healthy to drink water with meals, as it aids the process of digestion (although you should still chew your food properly!)
A 2% reduction of water levels can lead to a 20% decrease in mental and physical performance.
Drinking water will get REDUCE water retention.
Water enables the body to metabolise fats much more effectively.
Dehydration may induce contractions in pregnant women.
Drinking plenty of water will prevent the skin from sagging.
We only get thirsty when our bodies are already dehydrated.
Children dehydrate more quickly than adults.
Water is the main food that the body needs.
When IRA campaigner Bobby Sands went on a hunger strike it took him him 66 days to die, meaning he must have drunk water, because a man cannot live for more than approximately 10 days without water.

108. Food Diary

Coffee

Porridge

Banana

Fruit smoothie

Baked Potato with goats cheese and mushrooms

Green Tea

apple

avacado and cottage cheese with flax oil and ryvita

2 plain rice cakes

cranberry juice

lots of water

107. Omelette Recipe

I've only just learned how to make omelettes! It's a disgrace I know, but now I'm hooked.

I always knew thwey had cheese and egg in, but I never knew you put the cheese in after the egg. No wonder mine turned out like glue!

Anyway, I made a lovely omelette with peppers, onion and mushrooms. It's easy!

Two eggs

Beat lightly only for 10 seconds

Heat 1 tblspn of olive oil in an 8 inch frying pan on high

Pour in egg,

Then add pepper, onion and mushrooms (I half pre-cooked these first)

Once egg no longer runny, pour grated cheese over one half

Lift blank half of omelette and fold over the cheese

Cook for a further 30 to 50 seconds to melt the cheese

Turn over and serve with tomatoes (I had peas, as I can't have tomatoes)

106. Food Diary

apple

porridge

banana

beetroot

baked potato and goats cheese

Dandelion tea

Went to mexican restaurant for a friend's birthday
Paella with chicken, king prawns, salmon and mussels

lots of apple juice

105. Food Diary

I’ve been away and done quite well considering, but haven’t been able to stick strictly to my usual diet, as I’ve eaten quite a bit of pasta.

I was also invited out to dinner where I had a rich pudding and white wine. I only had two sips of wine, and my stomach was in a lot of pain. I had to drink water after that. I didn’t tell my hosts I was in pain as they had gone to a lot of trouble – I just said I can’t noramlly drink it because of my acid reflux.

But I didn’t think I’d be affected quite so badly after only two sips. I fear I may have stomach and intestinal ulcers, but plan to cure myself through healthy eating.

I did OK today except for the noodles

Porridge

Apple

Decaf Coffee

Apple and blackberry juice

Green Tea

cottage cheese flax oil and 2x Ryvita

Half Red Pepper

Banana

noodles, chicken and mixed veg

Dandelion tea

104. Wheat Info Part 4

ALTERNATIVE FOODS YOU CAN EAT

BREADS: Rice cakes, ryvita, oatcakes, 100% rye bread, wheat free bread, corn bread, pumpernickel and corn crisp breads, and gluten free breads and crackers.
FLOURS: Corn flour, maize meal, polenta, barley flour, rye flour, rice four, potato flour,
soya flour, buckwheat flour, gram (chickpea) flour, and stamp collection multi-purpose flour.
Potassium bicarbonate: wheat free baking powder.
barley flakes, rye flakes, buckwheat flakes, tapioca flakes, and gluten free muesli.
PASTA: Corn pasta, rice pasta, rye pasta, buckwheat pasta, and rice noodles.
GRAINS: Brown rice is higher in fibre and more nutritious, however white rice is suitable. Quinoa, millet, buckwheat, and tapioca, make good alternative grains.
CONDIMENTS: Apple cider vinegar, tamari soy sauce, miso, gluten free gravy mix, stock
cubes, ketchup and sauces

103. Wheat Info Part 3

COMMON WHEAT FOODS TO AVOID

All wheat flours, wholemeal, granary, and plain white flour.
Baking powder.
Most bread, cakes, and pastries.
Wheat based breakfast cereals, like muesli, bran, bran flakes, bran sticks, wheat germ, weetabix, and shredded wheat.
All pasta.
Cous cous, semolina, and bulgar wheat.
Any convenience foods containing wheat starch (look out for modified starch)

Some sauces contain wheat, such as mustards, malt vinegar, soy sauce, and tomato ketchup, stock and gravy mixes.
Sausages and burgers often contain wheat rusk, as filling agents.
Some drinking chocolate and malted drinks.
Wheat based alcohols, such as whiskey, gin, larger, and beer.
anything in batter, or with a crumble topping.

102. Wheat Info Part 2

Wheat also has high levels of gluten, which is a protein found naturally in wheat and other grains.
Gluten is a sticky glue-like substance, and in our digestive tracts this substance can interfere with the digestion and absorption of nutrients.

Also because gluten is so sticky and difficult to digest, it can encourage the growth of unfriendly bacteria's such as Candida albicans. A lot of people with an intolerance to wheat and gluten can benefit from an anti candida diet that cuts out sugar and yeast as well as wheat and gluten.

101. Wheat Info Part 1

Wheat is generally considered a nutritious food, as it is rich in vitamin C, B vitamins, zinc and iron, as well as having a high fibre content. This is why wheat is the most widely used cereal in the western world, and as a consequence for many individuals (including many who are totally unaware) wheat can actually be causing them problems.

Some symptoms of wheat intolerance are constipation, diarrhoea, bloating, flatulence, indigestion, lethargy, irritability and depression. Wheat can also aggravate other diseases such as arthritis, eczema, psoriasis, and irritable bowel syndrome. It also seems to have a suppressive action on the liver, so even people who appear to tolerate it well, can slow down the rate at which they eliminate toxins, by eating too much wheat.

100. Addicted To Food

My friend has been diagnosed with an eating disorder – she’s addicted to food. Well millions of people are, but she is currently having CBT Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to combat it.

She even tried those hoodia gordonii tablets that are supposed to be appetite suppressants, and she said they worked, but sadly, as she is addicted, she still continued to eat even when she was full up, so the tablets did not stop her eating – just tell her she was full sooner!

Good Luck with the CBT Dawn!

99. Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

This chocolate cake is delicious, and with the absence of wheat, won’t make you skin itch!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of sorghum flour - you can get this from here: www.twinvalleymills.com
1/2 cup of cocoa (eg: Hershey's)
1 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 - 1 tsp of xanthum gum
1/2 cup of hot water
1/2 cup of oil
1/2 cup of milk
1 egg
2 tsp of vanilla

Directions:
Mix together the dry ingredients
Add the wet ingredients
Grease and flour an 8" x 8" cake tin
Bake at 350° for approx 30 minutes
You can decorate with frosting or cut into layers for a layer cake

98. Food Diary

Porridge

Coffee

Apple juice

Half a raw Green Pepper

Green Tea

Cottage cheese flax oil 2 x Ryvita

Beetroot

Salmon and millet pasta with broccoli

Green tea

Cornflakes

97. Coffee With All Milk?

All milk coffee is an extreme luxury and you should try to wean yourself off these, but only if you want to have blood, heart and arteries in tip top condition. Why? To reduce, heart disease and strokes just for starters. You could add a significant number of years to your life if you do this.

If you think it’s too big a change, it’s a lot harder to stop taking sugar in coffee, than it is to change from milk to water. Once you’ve got used to it, you’ll actually taste the fat in milk.

If you must have milk, just put a small amount in, and have skimmed milk, preferably goats’ skimmed milk, or soya milk. Soya milk may make it curdle if the water is boiling hot. Cream is also a luxury, although it is a lot healthier than these ‘fake’ coffee accompanying products such as Coffee mate.

If you were to analyze the fat and sugar content of some high street coffee shop coffees, it would be healthier to eat a big piece of cake! – oh no! you have that TOO?!!

Try and limit these to say, one or two a week, so it doesn’t get out of control. It's a lot easier than you think to get into the healthier habit. Try it for two weeks and see.

96. Food Diary

Porridge

Coffee

Cranberry Juice

Apple

Small potato, small portion of lasagne

Green tea

Smoothie with pear, banana, summer fruits, apple and mango juice

Small potato, small portion of lasagne (again)

plain goats yoghurt

Cornflakes

95. Turkey Helps You Sleep

I often have trouble sleeping, and am trying to improve my sleep through healthy eating.

I’ve found that eating turkey in isloation can actually help you sleep! The way it works is: Turkey contains tryptophan, which helps to make serotonin.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, that sends messages between nerve cells and causes you to feel sleepy.

However, L-tryptophan doesn't act on the brain unless you eat it on an empty stomach with no other protein present, so remember to keep some turkey in the refrigerator for those sleepless nights.

94. Food Diary

Porridge

Apple juice

Coffee

apple

Cold boiled egg

Cottage cheese, flax oil, onion and chives

Green tea

home made lasagne

summer fruits with goats plain bio yoghurt

93. Other Ways To Improve Metabolism

Become active.
There are always ways in which you can become more active. If you have to drive to work, park a little bit further away than usual, so that you walk a bit more.

cardio vascular exercise means getting your heart to pump faster for at least 30 minutes at a time, every day. This can include brisk walking. Don’t think you have to be a marathon runner to include cardio vascular exercise in your daily routine.

Get Enough Sleep
Sleep loss is believed to affect the secretion of cortisol, the hormone that regulates your appetite, and your body will automatically require more energy the more tired it feels, so you will feel more hungry than usual when behind on your sleep.

You are also unable to make rational judgements when you are over-tired and could well end up bingeing. This not only ruins your hard work so far, but can cause guilt which is a form of stress. Stress can lead to no end of health problems. This is why it is essential that you get enough sleep.

Eat good carbs and lean protein
The human body burns some of its own calories when it digests food.This is the TEF – (thermic effect of foods) and it’s what makes protein (which has the highest TEF) and good carbs great for your metabolism. Proteins that build calorie-burning muscle are lean turkey and chicken. Your body’s major fuel source should be whole grains, legumes, fruit and vegetables. These good carbs give you the energy required so that you can get moving and burn more calories.

Drink Water.
Water fills you up, and curbs your appetite. It flushes your system out, and rids the body of bloatedness. You need at least 8 to 10 glasses every day and more if you are active. in Germany researchers found that drinking water may increase metabolic rate. The participants’ metabolic rates increased by 30 percent after drinking just 17 ounces of water. Your metabolism needs water to make the energy-burning process work effectively.

Eat ice cubes!
The energy needed to melt the ice will sustain your metabilic rate when not exercising.

Fidget!
Rock in your chair, tap your foot, or your hand or bob your head. You’ll probably want to wear mp3 earphones whilst doing any of these, or you may be carted off in a white van! But fidgeting really does count as exercise, and will burn calories, maintaining your metabolism!

92. Food Diary

Apple juice

Porridge

Coffee

Apple

Green tea

Cold boiled egg

Cottage cheese, flax oil, garlic, onion and chives 2 x Ryvita

Green tea

Rice and Millet Pasta with home made Bolognaise

Decaf coffee

91. Food Diary

Porridge

Apple juice

Banana

Beetroot

Cottage cheese, flax oil onion and chives

Green tea

Cranberry juice

Half avacado

Chicken, brown rice and broccoli

Cornflakes

90. Grade C Foods

As stated earlier these foods will boost your energy temporarily in the same way a chocolate bar will. You may be surprised at some of the foods in this list.

white pasta, bread, white rice, rice noodles, egg noodles,

green peas, zucchini, cucumbers

tomatoes, prunes, all dried fruit, grapes, figs,

cheese and mil, beef, lamb, veal

89. Food Diary

Not been well today.

Porridge

Banana

Egg and ryvita

decaf coffee

that's all, but I may have cornflakes for supper

88. Food Diary

Porridge
Apple juice

black decaf coffee

Banana

cold boiled egg
cottage cheese and flax oil, garlic on 2 slices Ryvita

green tea

Apple

Beetroot
Baked potato with spinach, prawns and goats cheese

cold porridge

87. Grade B Foods:

Buckwheat, red macrobiotic rice, wild rice, oatcakes

Potatoes, corn, squashes, beetroot, peppers, wild rice, yam, watercress, salad leaves

Peaches, apricots, mangoes, papayas, bananas

Kidney beans, black beans, peas (dried / split), almonds, chicken, game, turkey, venison, nut butters, yoghurt, cottage cheese

86. Food Diary

Apple

Porridge

Banana

Egg mayonnaise

Cottage cheese, flax oil and onion

Green tea

Chicken and Vegetable soup

Goats milk yoghurt with muesli and honey

Cornflakes soya milk

85. Food Diary

Cornflakes

apple

Porridge

Smoothie

two soft boiled eggs with Ryvita

pear

Green tea

avacado

Baked potato with prawns and mayonnaise

mixed nuts

camomile tea

84. The ABC Energy Guide

Energy Foods are all natural foods and are graded A,B or C.

Grade A provides the best cource of energy, and B also a good source, but Grade Cs are the quick fixes, but won’t manitain your blood sugar.

Grade A Foods:
Complex Carbs like oats, barley, brown rice, millet, corn, rye and wholegrain bread.

Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, mushrooms, raw carrots, asparagus, artichokes and spinach.

Fruit such as avacados, apples, pears, pineapples, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and cherries.

Protein such as salmon, tuna, herring, amckerel, seaweeds, eggs, tofu, walnuts, brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, linseeds, sprouted seeds and grains, haricot and lima beans, chickpeas, lentils and soya beans

These are the most important but we’ll cover Grade B and C later.

83. Food Diary

Porridge

Decaf coffee

Smoothie made with 2 bananas, summer fuits and apples, in the absence of apple juice. It was so thick, I saved lots and put into dessert dishes.

Boiled egg, Ryvita and soya spread

Decaf coffee

Made Hotpot for tonight’s meal, and didn’t need anything to eat all afternoon as I kept pinching bits of hotpot. Hotpot is like stew or goulash. It’s made with potatoes and beef with onions a vegetables in a gravy sauce. I used leeks, cabbage, carrots and peas.

Instead of adding the diced potato to the meat and veg ‘soup’ I mashed the spuds, and put it on top, so now it’s more like cottage pie!

82. Fat Free Mince

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but as far as I know I’m the only person who does this, and it’s a great way to cook minced meat to ensure you get rid of all the fat.

Put it in a glass bowl and microwave it. Drain off all the fat (which even in ‘reduced fat’ mince, will still be quite a bit).

If I’m making lasagne or bolognaise, I will then put the solid cake of meat into a food processor to separate it again. The longer you leave it, the finer it becomes, but it will be pure meat, and NO FAT!

81. Food Diary Sunday and Monday

Sunday

Poached eggs on toast (and I don’t have bread in MY house!)

Coffee

apple
ham salad sandwich

Banana

Apple
Baked Potato with tuna and sweetcorn mayonnaise

Smoothie with yoghurt

Mint tea

2 litres of water at least


Monday

Cornflakes

black coffee

Apple juice

Half raw red pepper
cottage cheese and flax oil, leeks, onion and chives on 2 x Ryvita

Banana

Black Decaf coffee

Apple
Spag Bol

porridge

80. Food Diary

apple
Porridge

Coffee

Smoothie

apple
two sticks of celery, cottage cheese, flax oil, onions and chives

beetroot

pear

cranberry juice
King Prawn Salad (friend’s house)
Walnut ice cream (I was being held down with a gun to my head of course)

1.5 litre of water

79. Muscles Boost Your Metabolism

Ways To improve Your Metabolism Part 1

Become active. there are always ways in which you can become more active. If you have to drive to work, park a little bit further away than usual, so that you walk a bit more.

cardio vascular exercise means getting your heart to pump faster for at least 30 minutes at a time, every day. This can include brisk walking. Don’t think you have to be a marathon runner to include cardio vascular exercise in your daily routine.

Pumping iron will impove your metabolism – it’s true! Any sort of weight training or toning will count as pumping iron.

Your resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the measurement of how many calories your body burns at rest. It’s closely linked to the amount of muscle you have and It accounts for 60 to 70 percent of your daily calorie expenditure. the more muscle you have, the more calories your body will burn, even while you’re asleep. Lean muscle actually needs calories just to exist, so get active today!

You do not have to lift heavy weights to pump iron. Lifting tins of beans for two minutes every day will count as toning exercise, and is better than nothing.

Your resting metabolic rate (RMR) is higher the more exercise you do. It’s like the more money you have in the bank, the more interest you earn; the more muscles you have, the more easily you can lose weight!

I know it’s not fair, but that’s the way it is. Exercise and you will be rewarded!

I’ve recently bought two 2kg World Gym dumbells, as my tins of beans alone just weren’t getting me very far!

And I do 32 bicep lifts twice a day, followed by 64 using 1kg weights, then 64 using the tins of beans (420g). Always use the heaviest first, then go lighter because if you were to use the same weights throughout your workout, they would seem heavier and heavier with every lift, so it’s easier to go lighter as you go on.

It’s also important to note that I ALWAYS do a warm-up of at LEAST a 20 minute walk, followed by my favorite exercise video. Never lift weights without a warn-up. And don’t lift anything too heavy. Always build up gradually.

78. Food Diary

apple juice
Porridge, raisins

Decaf coffee
Banana

Smoothie

apple
cottage cheese and flax oil avacado and onions on 2 x ryvita

beetroot

Apple
Home made vegetable soup

Smoothie

Camomile tea

1.5 litre approx of water throughout the day

77. Tips For Healthy Eating At Work

Always Eat Breakfast
You need to be alert, and you will stuff your face during your first break if you decide to skip breakfast. what if the moring meeting over-runs, and you have an important role to play? – but all you can think about is devouring a horse.

Take a Banana and at least one other Fresh Fruit
The benefits of Bananas were listed here the other day. And they HAVE to be eaten, don’t they, or they will go off. If you eat fruit every day for a fortnight, it will become second nature, and you’ll put all unhealthy snacks out of your mind.

Don’t have more than one or two Coffees
Otherwise you’ll be irritable and lethargic later on.

Take fruit and Dired fruit and Nuts with you
and keep picking at these, to retain your energy levels.

Have Dried Non Perishable Snacks in your Desk
such as cereal bars, and crackers, licorice sticks, healthy biscuits

Leave The Office At Lunchtime to Clear Your Head
You will feel refreshed after a walk in the fresh air, or a change of scenery. You resnt your job and workplace less, and be more procuctive.

Don’t overeat at lunchtime
If you do, you will be more tired in the afternoon, and that’s when there’s a natural lull at the best of times. If you’ve been picking at snacks all morning, you shouldn’t need to overeat at lunchtime.

Drink Plenty of Water
to remain hydrated and keep your head clear. You’ll also be less likely to drink sugary or caffeine drinks.

76. Food Diary

apple
Porridge, raisins

Banana
decaf coffee

Camomile Tea

apple
cottage cheese and flax oil with chives and onions on 2 x ryvita

Half a red pepper

Apple
Home made lasagne with peas

fruit smoothie

fennel tea

1 litre of water throughout the day

75. Food Allergy vs Food Intolerance

The difference between a food allergy and a is Food intolerance is that the first is an immune system response and the second is a digestive system response, so not as serious. Asn allergy occurs when the body mistakes an ingredient in food (usually a protein) as harmful, and so creates a defense system of antibodies to fight it. Allergy symptoms develop when the antibodies are battling the ‘invading’ food. The most common food allergies are peanuts, tree nuts (such as walnuts, pecans and almonds), fish, and shellfish, eggs, milk, soy products and wheat.


A Food Intolerance occurs when something in a food irritates the digestive system or when a person is unable to properly digest or break the food down. The most common food intolerance is to lactose, which is found in milk and other dairy products.

74. Food Diary

apple
Porridge, raisins
apple juice

Banana
Detox Tea

Home made lasagne
decaf coffee

Half a yellow pepper

Apple
cottage cheese and flax oil with chives
half an avacado

porridge

1.5 litres of water throughout the day

73. Dairy Food Back On!

My doctor told me I shouldn’t eliminate dairy food, as I could be missing out on lots of vitamins and minerals. So I’m going to go back to eggs and goats milk cheese and just eat them in moderation.

In my food tolerance test, it said I shouldn’t have cow products, so that does not cover all dairy foods. Now I have to find a manufacturer of goats milk ice cream! Can’t buy an ice cream maker – my freezer is too small. Anyway, I’d become obsessed with making ice cream, which is NOT what we want!

72. Food Diary

apple juice
Porridge

Black decaf
2 figs

fruit smoothie
apple
Prawn salad, with avacado

Green tea
Banana

beetroot
half red pepper

apple
baked potato, chilli made with pork mince

camomile tea

1 litre of water

71. Bananas

When you compare a banana to an apple, it has 4 times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, 3 times the phosphorus, 5 times the vitamin A and iron, and twice as many other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around.

A medium banana contains:
86 calories
1 gram of protein
3 grams of dietary fiber,
467 mg Potassium
43 mg Magnesium
27 mg Phosphorus
7 mg Calcium
1.3 mg Selenium
0.4 mg Iron
Also trace amounts of zinc, manganese and copper
95 IU Vitamin A
11 mg Vitamin C
22.5 mcg Folate (needed during pregnancy)
0.7mcg Vitamin B6
0.6 mg Niacin
0.31 mg Pantothenic Acid
0.67 IU Vitamin E

I try to eat at least one banana a day, but actually I should probably be eating more. They are so good for you, they can help with such things as:
Anemia,
Depression,
High Blood Pressure,
Constipation,
Hangovers,
Warts,
Sunburn,
Mosquito Bites
Improved Concentration,
Morning sickness,
Nerves
PMS
Help to give up smoking
Stress
Strokes

70. Food Diary

Porridge

apple
Heated up quarter pizza – I’m too poor to waste food!

fruit smoothie with banana, pear, apple juice and summer fruits

decaf coffee

cottage cheese with flax oil and onions, with cold baked potato

apple juice

muesli

69. Wheat Free Flours

I went to an Italian restaurant a few months ago and when I told the chef I had a wheat intolerance, he made up fresh pasta from ‘wheat free flour’ He used his own blend of rye, corn and millet flour and it was no trouble to him at all. I was so impressed that he was this accomodating.

What I didn’t know was, just how many wheat free flours there are. I’ve listed some here, although not all are gluten free as well. I can eat gluten. A lot are not suitable for making bread.

Amaranth flour
Arrowroot flour
Barley flour
Brown rice flour
Buckwheat flour
Chick pea flour
Cornflour
Cornmeal
Maize flour
Millet flour
Potato flour
Potato starch flour
Quinoa flour
Rye flour
Sorghum flour
Soya flour
Tapioca flour
White rice flour

68. Food Diary

I’m going to start a points system soon, based on when I’ve been good and bad. For example, a green tea will be 10 points, and a coffee will be minus 10 points! A decaf minus 5 points etc.

I’ve also bought colored stickers to stick on my wall chart, to indicate when I’ve been good. I don’t intend just to have them for food – the red ones are for work, blue for exercise, yellow for diary and weekly tasks (1 per day). Green is for Healthy Eating, and if I do not acquire a certtain number of points, I can’t have a green star!

I’ve yet to work out what foods are worth what points, but it has only just occurred to me, that I have no way of measuring how disciplined I am.

Ironically I was very naughty today. Have you noticed when that happens, I just list SOME of the naughty foods I’ve eaten, not list them all, like I should?

OK, I went on a trip to a safari park, and had very good intentions because I took a banana and porridge with me. But when we all had lunch in the café, and I smelt the meals, I couldn’t resist – I had french fries, sausages and gravy. And a cappucino. Ooops.

I also had a ham sandwich later and several jaffa cakes, which boast 1 gram of fat per cake, but that’s not the point; it’s still full of sugar and god knows what else. I bought a whole packet, but shared them with everyone else, so I reckon I only had about 4 or 5.

Then tonight my friend brought pizza round. It wasn’t even thin and crispy. Now my legs are itching like mad. Serves me right.

So today would probably be minus 200 points! and I’d need a truck load of green tea, and vegetables to put it right.

67. Bloating

Many people mistake bloating stomach bloating for IBS and that’s silly. Irritable Bowel Syndrome would often mean you range from constipation one day, then the opposite a few days later. It is recognised as being caused almost entirely by stress, although it can be cured by a good diet.

But then so can ordinaryu bloating. We’re all guilty of abusing our stomachs by eating irregularly, and having large meals after allowing ourselves to get over hungry.

A lot of people feel full at lunchtime, in the evening or after a large meal. Eating small reqular meals ensure that the stomach never gets overloaded. Irregular meal patterns and an unexpected large meal with a lot of fluid can end up stretching the stomach muscels causing it to expand and 'bloat'. Not eating breakfast and then eating a large lunch can have the same effect.

Air in the stomach can cause it too, usually by eating too fast. Exercise is brilliant for air in bloated stomachs, because it forces air out! So burp your way out of discomfort!

66. Food Diary

apple
porridge
Banana

Decaf black coffee
beetroot

apple
cottage cheese, celery and flax oil 2 slices of Ryvita

pear

apple
baked potato, prawns and tomatoes in mayo

3 jaffa cakes (my friend came round – it’s her fault!)
Decaf coffee

Green tea

65. Aloe Vera Benefits

For thousands of years the properties of the aloe vera plant have helped to heal many ailments. When consumed or taken externally, it speeds up the healing porocess for all types of damaged skin, including burns.

When taken as a drink it is great for stomach problems, but cells all over the bosdy can greatly benefit form the drink.

It reduces inflammation of irritated skin and relieves itching.
It is helpful in softening and moisturizing skin.
It improves and speeds any general healing
It is great for killing bacteria and fungus.
It even improves the effectiveness of sun screen products.

64. Food Diary

I’ve been forgetting to eat fruit before every meal, so I’ve started to eat an apple each time. And I weighed myself today for the first time since I started my special diet – and I’m over the moon! I have lost 8 pounds!

I suspected I might have, as my jeans are a bit baggy around the waist – woohoo! My objective wasn’t to lose weight, but to eat more healthily so I feel fully well, and can sleep well.

Today I ate:


apple
porridge

Detox Tea

apple
cottage cheese, red pepper and flax oil 2 x Ryvita

apple juice

banana

half apple
baked potato, chicken in white sauce, made with cornflour and soya milk

halfo apple

decaf black coffee

63. Food Diary

Porridge

Black coffee

Apple juice

3 beetroot

cottage cheese and flax oil, chopped cooked leeks, onion and chives on 2 slices of Ryvita

Banana

natural licorice

Baked potato and fish pie with cod, prawns, spinach, onions and leeks, in a soya cheese sauce

Black Decaf coffee

Apple

cornflakes soya milk

62. Levels of Caffeine

a cup of filter coffee is approx 100mg
a cup of instant coffee is approx 66mg
a cup of tea made with loose leaf tea is approx 41mg
a cup of tea made with a teabag is approx 40mg
a can of cola is approx 23mg
a 50g bar of plain chocolate is approx 20mg
a 50g bar of milk chocolate is approx 7mg
a cup of hot chocolate drink is approx 5mg
a cup of green tea is approx 4mg
a cup of decaff is approx 3mg
a fizzy drink containing the herb guarana: This is a South American herb closely related to caffeine but not believed to be as toxic.
a cup of ‘Red Bush’ herbal tea: This is naturally caffeine free although it does contain tannin, an ‘antinutrient’ which binds to minerals such as iron and zinc in the gut thus preventing their absorption.

61. Food Diary

Apple juice

Porridge with raisins

Black coffee with one fruit sugar

Banana

½ avacado, cottage cheese and flax oil, onion and chives on 2 slices of Ryvita

Apple

Mint tea

Fish pie with cod, prawns, potato, spinach, onions and leeks, in a soya cheese sauce

Camomile tea

4 plums

cold porridge and honey for supper – yes, I’m truly disgusting

60. Juicers and Smoothie Makers

There are a lot of different types of juicers on the market, and there are advantages and disadvantages with all of them, but the best type you can buy in terms of nutition and taste, is the Twin Gear juicer.

Other types are Centrifugal juicers and Masticating juicer which work differently and ‘batter’ the juice out of the fruit, adding heat and air to it, and shortening the shelf life.

Smoothie makers are just blenders with taps on! So I’ll save my money and stick with my old fashioned blender. Smoothies are great if you want to keep all the fibrous matter and pulp included, which is discarded in the juicing process. One good advantage of eating the fibre is it’s brillaint for digestion.

Always drink the smoothie straight away, or freeze it. Leaving it - even in the fridge, will enable the nutitional value to deteriorate.

Always remember to wash the fruit and remove pips and seeds, unless they’re very tiny.

Did you know that there is a small amount of cyanide in apple seeds? I used to eat apple seeds as a child - that would explain a few things!

59. Food Diary

Porridge with raisins

Black coffee with one fruit sugar

Pear

Apple juice

cottage cheese and flax oil, with garlic and celery on 2 slices of Ryvita

Banana

Fennel tea

whole red pepper

Fish pie with cod, prawns, potato, spinach, onions and leeks, in a soya cheese sauce

Fennel tea

about 6 strawberries

58. Update

I’ve been away, then I was ill. And I’m pleased that during both, I still managed to eat healthily overall. When I was ill, I could hardly eat anything but porridge anyway.

I started to keep a note of what I atewhilst away, but that soon got forgotten. All I know is I ate an awful lot of bananas. When in doubt, eat a banana, that’s what I say. After all, you can usually get hold of them wherever you are.

Weaning myself off dairy products is proving more difficult than I’d thought. I no longer have milk in tea or coffee (which I should also cut out, but I do have decaf mostly), but I have to still have cottage cheese and flax oil every day, so I can never cut out dairy completely.

I haven’t had eggs for at least two weeks, and I miss them. I love poached and soft boiled egg yolks. I guess I have to just put them out of my mind.

I haven’t bought any milk or yoghurt, and am not missing them, but cheese – how does one give up cheese?

I can make dairy free cheese sauce, with soya milk and soya parmesan substitute, but I love to top lasagne off with a bit of grated cheese, and always make proper broccoli cheese. Out of cheese and eggs, cheese would be the best one to give up, but it’s so hard!

Anotehr thing I’ve found difficult, to go without sugar in drinks. I used to have two fruit sugars in tea and coffee, and found it quite easy to go from two to one, but not from one to none!

It would really be handy too, because I was at a friend’s the other day, and she ran out of sugar, so put artificial sweetener in my tea – with the lovely guest star; ‘Aspartame’. I was too polite (and too much of a sweet-tooth) to refuse. But if I didn’t take sugar, I wouldn’t have that problem.

I did treat myself to dark chocolate when I was ill, which I munched during Ugly Betty – pure bliss!

I don’t know what ‘Day’ I’m up to, and more importantly, I don’t know why I had to number the Days anyway – the blog posts all have the date on! So there’s no need for Day numbers anymore.

57. Low Salt Diet

A study has been carried out on rats to find out if a high salt diet increases sensitivity to salt, and they were compared with rats fed on a diet of normal salt levels.

The ones fed on a high salt diet developed more salt receptors on the taste buds. This meant that they had to maintain a high salt diet in order to get the desired ‘kick’. So salt is addictive. Well fast food companies have known that for years.

But the important thing is, it is reversable. You have to wean yourself off high salt foods, and in theory you will develop fewer salt receptors.

Too much salt can cause hypertension, high blood pressure, heart disease, exercise induced asthma, stomach cancer, cataracts, and osteoporosis.

56. Food Diary Day 38

Porridge

apple juice

2 figs

Coffee, no milk!

smoothie

Prawn salad, and avacado

ordinary hot decaf tea, no milk.

apple

half red pepper

beetroot

spaghetti bolognaise

mint tea

1.5 litres of water throughout the day

55. The Weekend!

Was away for the weekend, and refused to be a pain to my friends. I actually had the first bit of ice cream for over a YEAR! One bit can't kill me.

Can I admit everything else? Diet Coke? The Aspartame Special? No, I'll not mention that bit.

What about the chocolate?

No. we'll keep that quiet too.

I ate fruit teas, and porridge and other good stuff too, but to be honest, I don't write everything down when I'm not at home.

The reason I can keep an accurate record at home, is I literally have a word doc open all day with a list of everything I eat! I'm not that obsessive when not at home. I think I'd alienate myself pretty quick!

No alcohol though. I actually don't like booze any more, and it gives me terrible heartburn, so that's also a good reason.

54a. Healthy Oils Part 2

Here is a graph I've found that demonstrates quite nicely how beneficial these oils are for you.

54. Healthy Oils Part 1

Olive oil is probably the healthiest of all oils. It has lots of monounsaturated fat, which is good for you, and less saturated and polyunsaturated fats than vegetable oils.

Unlike oils that are processed from hard seeds using heat and chemicals, oils from the fruit of the olive are soft pressed and healthier.

It is sensitive to light and heat however, so use it in dressings, but it will lose it’s healthy properties when heated.

Peanut oil is more tolerant of heat than olive oil and other oils, and is suitable for frying. The peanut taste of the oil complements some foods very well.

Peanut oil is higher in monounsaturated fats than most vegetable oils, but opinion ios divided on whether it is healthy, because some peanut oil could be contain traces of a carcinogenic mold that some peanuts have.

Canola oil doesn’t really have a flavor and is suitable for frying. It is high in monounsaturated fat and has some omega-3 fatty acids.


The safest canola oil is organic, expeller-pressed available in the health food stores, and most grocery stores.

Always keep oils in a cool, dark place, ideally in the fridge.

53. Food Diary Days 33 and 34

Day 33
Cornflakes - too lazy and sleepy to make porridge

Coffee

apple juice

Porridge - Yeah very greedy today!

Prawn salad with avacado and mayonnaise

Fruit smoothie

cottage cheese and flax oil

licorice

Whole raw red pepper

Decaf coffee

Apple

Baked potato with cabbage, minced pork and low fat onion gravy

Green tea

Day 34
Coffee

Porridge

Apple juice

Cottage cheese and flax oil

Coffee

Pork and Vegetable soup,

Mint tea

52. Make Your Own Dairy Free Oat Milk

Make any amount of porridge with water, either on the stove or in a microwave

Allow to cool

Pour porridge into a seive (a plastic one is best), over a bowl

Use a dessert spoon to stir the porridge and to ‘collect’ the liquid from underneath

Add more water and a tiny amount of fruit sugar until the desired consistency

Store your homemade oat-milk in the refridgerator

Use your porridge as a dessert, a cereal, or make porridge cookies!

51. Educate Your Kids – Healthy Diets

It’s difficult to stay focussed on a healthy diet for you and your family when all day long you are being bombarded with messages to the contrary, but just because the rest of the world is slowly killing themselves, you don’t have to!

In a report by Jane Bunce children are being exposed to a phenomenal number of junk food ads.

“Children saw an average 9 junk food TV ads an hour.” she says Read more here:

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21587034-662,00.html

There is only so much you can do to ensure your kids eat healthily. If you never keep candy in the house, they’ll just hate you! And if they can’t afford to buy what they want to eat when they’re out with their friends, they’ll find ways to get the money – ‘whether hook or by crook’ – so the way to get the healthy message across to kids is to educate them.

Start by asking them how long they want to live. And rather than force them to eat certain foods, just tell them it’s ‘their life’ – it’s impossible to enforce rules, they will always break them. If you give them the choice to make up their own minds, not only will they respect you for it, for treating them with respect, but they’ll eventually make the right decisions.

After all, you’re only on a special diet, because you HAVE to be – right?!

50. Food Diary Day 32

Went out to a meeting this morning and suddenly remembered I’d forgotten to eat breakfast and that I’d left my porridge still in the microwave!

As the meeting was from 10am until 12.30, my tummy was rumbling very loudly.

So I had a coffee and a hot chocolate to try and keep it quiet. There was nothing to eat.

When I got out I had sushi, carrot cake and apple juice from the nearest shop. but that was a lot healthier than my first choice of a fast food take away. I think I did really well to stick to healthy food, despite my climbing the walls with hunger!

The cool thing was I kept my cool! A few weeks ago, in the same situation, I would have had extreme low blood sugar and been gasping for air, and be unable to concentrate on ANYTHING but where my next meal was coming from.

All this porridge has paid off – even if today’s got neglected til this evening!

Other food included a banana

Baked potato, with spinach, prawns and mayonnaise

an apple

cornflakes

tea

49. GERD Diet

Gastro Reflux can be caused by stress, and or NSAIDs anti inflammatory drugs. Your stomach is producing too much acid, and is damaging your stomach wall. This can result in stomach ulcers, hiatus hernia or acid reflux, or a combination of all three.

You could take milk of magnesia for temporary relief, but for longer term you may need proton pump inhibitors, special pills to stop your stomach producing too much acid. Your doctor will decide what is best for you, but you can greatly reduce the effects of GERD by eating ther right foods, and avoiding the wrong ones. I would also strongly recommend a food tolerancy test, if you already haven’t taken one. Ask at your family doctor’s or health food shop.

Recommended Food:
Goats milk , chees and youghurt, preferably low fat.
melon, banana, pears, apples, berries, peaches
All vegetables
lean poultry and fish

Foods To Avoid:
whole milk and chocolate
All fried foods
Fizzy drinks
Tomatoes
All citrus fruit
Vinegar
All animal fat
alcohol and caffeine
beef, and all cow products
so milk, cheese, yoghurt and cream

48. Days 30 and 31

Day 30

Apple

Porridge

Coffee

Pepper salad; raw sliced mixed peppers with olive oil, garlic and thyme

Fennel Tea

boiled egg

Apple juice

celery and carrot with avacado dip; made with yoghurt, mayonnaise and soft goats cheese

same dip with prawns and spinach, and Potato

Decaf coffee

went out: 3 glasses of tomato juice and one apple juice

Day 31

Cornflakes

Coffee

Porridge

Apple

Fruit smoothie

chicken supreme with potato. I forgot to have lunch so I had no time to cook rice, so I did a chopped potato in the microwave.

White sauce; soya spread, soya milk, cornflour, chicken stock, pinch of garlic, dash of white wine.

Coffee – very sleepy today

I had chicken supreme tonight as well with rice.

porridge

47. Gluten, Egg and Dairy Free Bread

This is for those with a programmable bread making machine

Ingredients

1.4 cups of water
3 tbs of honey
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cider vinegar
3 tbs oil
1-1/2 tbs of xanthan gum
1 cup of millet flour
1 cup of cornstarch
1 cup of tapioca flour
1 packet of active yeast (not the rapid rise type)

Directions

Sift the flours and xanthan.
Add the first 5 ingredients to the bread machine, then add the flour.
Make a well in the middle of the flour then add the yeast.
Program machine for following times:
20 minutes to preheat
20 minutes to knead
75 minutes to rise
55 minutes to bake
Notes: Be sure to use only 1 kneading cycle. Check the dough as it begins to knead to see if you need to add more water or more flour. The dough should look somewhat wet, and swirl up above the beaters when it's kneading, but should not be too thin.

46. Food Diary Days 28 and 29

Day 28

Porridge

Decaf coffee

Banana

Apple juice

Yoghurt and summer fruits

Poached egg and Ryvita

Summer fruits Smoothie

Fennel tea

Apple

Beetroot

Fish pie

Porridge


Day 29

Porridge

Coffee

Apple juice

Pear

Mixed nuts and raisins

prawn and avacado with mayonnaise

Roast lamb potatoes and parsnips, cabbage and swede

Fruit salad

Camomile tea

45. Porridge Cookies

I discovered how to make these by being a dirty, lazy slob!

1. Make porridge in the microwave.
2. Overdo it so it spills all down the sides, and onto the glass plate.
3. Whenever you heat other food in your microwave, be careful to ensure you do not clean up the porridge spillage for at least three days.
4. On the fourth day, pick up the now rigid porridge from the glass plate.
5. Eat and enjoy!

OK, don’t eat them! But you can recreate this mishap of mine by pouring porridge circles on a baking sheet and cooking on a high oven. Grease the oven tray first, and add cinnamon, ginger (and sugar if you must!)

But I think they taste great without sugar. Hey, I’m addicted!

44. Food Diary Day 27

Porridge

Fruit smoothie

Coffee

Banana

biscuit

Chopped apple and cottage cheese

As I’d forgotten to have my flax oil with it (it does taste pretty grim, so the cottage cheese always tastes nicer without it!) - I had to endure the flax oil ON IT’S OWN. Yuk!

The unsweetened green tea tasted like heaven by comparison!

Fruit smoothie

Chicken and vegetable soup

licorice

43. Dairy Free Cherry Cake Recipe

Ingredients
375g or13oz of Self Raising Flour
300g or12oz of Brown Sugar
1/2 teasp. of Salt
480ml or 16fl.oz. of Water
60ml or 2fl.oz. of vegetable oil
2 tbsp of Vinegar
2 teasp. of Vanilla Extract
100g or 4oz of Glace Cherries - halved

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, or Gas Mark 4.
2. In a large mixing bowl mix all the dry ingredients together as well as the glace cherries.
3. Make a well in the centre and add the remaining ingredients. Mix well then beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.
4. Transfer the mixture to a 20cm or8 inch cake tin and bake for 30 - 35 minutes. Let cake cool on a wire rack.

42. Food Diary Day 25 and 26

Day 25

Porridge and raisins

Apple

Decaf Coffee, one fruit sugar and goats milk

Egg and ham sandwich

Pear
Chicken and vegetable soup (with LESS salty flavoring!)

Summer fruits, yoghurt and softened, crushed pistachio nuts

bit of chocolate (lack of sleep, self pity etc.!)

cornflakes with soya milk


Day 26

Apple
Porridge and raisins
Full caffiene Coffee, one fruit sugar and goats milk

2 plums

Fresh Apple juice and water mixed
– this is another blood sugar levels trick. It maintains your BSL better than pure apple juice alone, as that is still lots of sugar (healthy sugar, but still sugar)

Cottage cheese, flax oil, onion and chives with 3 slices of Ryvita

2 soft boiled eggs, nothing with them - NO salt!

One red pepper – eaten like an apple!

chicken and veg soup again

the recipe is mentioned earlier but this time as well as cabbage, celery, broccoli, and everything else, I’ve added spinach too.

Summer fruit smoothie, bananas, and apple juice

The very last of my Easter Egg chocolate

litre of water

41. Low Salt Diet

I don’t believe it! I have high blood pressure. I went to get my pill today and the doctor took my blood pressure. It has always been normal all my life, and today it’s 126 over 90.

It’s usually anywhere from 100 over 60 up to 120 over 80, which they tell me is normal. Today’s reading is normal for an 85 year old, and I’m 39!

Oh dear. She still gave me the pill, but told me to have my blood pressure done again in two weeks, so now I have to cut salt out too.

I’m certain, it’s temporary, because I have been anxious and had little sleep the last few days, and also this happened straight after I hobbled all the way to the hospital because of my hip. I live 8 minutes walk away, only today it took 15 minutes, and I was in a lot of pain. I knew I should have cycled.

So all that must have affected my blood pressure. So when I made my famous chicken and veg soup tonight I was reminded just how much salt is in there. I normally put worcestershire sauce in, and yeast free vegetable stock – both laiden with salt. You see you can get yeast free or low salt, but not both together!

Jeez, it’s hard work, this special diet mularky.

40. Days 23 and 24

Day 23

Cornflakes
Apple juice
Coffee

Banana
Green tea

Ham and rye bread sandwich

celery and my ‘magic dip’:

goats milk yoghurt
goats cheese
mayonnaise
garlic chives

Baked potato with goats cheese and prawns, broccoli

bit of chocolate
Camomile tea with a bit of honey

porridge

Day 24

Porridge
Apple juice
Banana

Decaf coffee

apple
cottage cheese and flax oil

summer fruits and plums smoothie

Blackcurrant tea

Stir fried vegetables, beansprouts and king prawns with soy sauce

teeny piece of chocolate. I’m having tiny bits which is unheard of. It takes the savoury taste away, but doesn’t spoil me.

Decaf coffee

lots of water throughout both days

39. Dairy Free Diet

Richard E. Grant doesn’t eat dairy food, I read today. Well the info is a year old, but it might still be true. He says it stopped his migraines, so I intend to try it to stop my headaches.

He also runs round Richmond Park every morning. I even found his house on Google Earth! No I won’t be stalking him – but I did try jogging, as it reminded me I need to crank my fitness regime up a notch.

Oops - with less than a quarter mile, my hip felt like it had a knife in it. You know how when you have an injection it hurts more if you have your muscle tense? It felt exactly like that – like I was trying to run with a knife in my hip.

I was instantly reduced to a hobble, and would’ve looked very embarrassed if it wasn’t 4.30am and no-one about. I did it in a vain attampt to get to sleep, so I could go on the 5 mile walk I had planned.

Anyway, back to dairy free diet. I still have nearly a full litre of goat’s milk, a few eggs, and some goats cheese and yoghurt, but as soon as they’re finished, I’ll give it a go.

I had to let my friends down as I won’t be doing much walking at all for a week, and I’m on my maximum dose of painkillers now. No idea if it’s related to my arthtritis – it feels like the muscle not the joint - it’s not like joint pain.

At least I can cycle though, so I’ll do that every day.

38. Days 21 and 22

I was invited out both Saturday and Sunday, and had a hot cross bun on Saturday, and a roast dinner on Sunday. So I had fatty food and yorkshire pudding, but that was a rare treat I haven’t had since Christmas 2005!

I did decline a glass of wine.

Then I ate very healthy, low fat, low sugar, low chocolate – chocolate. OK it was ordinary milk chocolate, and you’ll be pleased to know I did suffer because of it.

I couldn’t sleep. Not sure if that was physiological or just guilt! I didn’t feel in any physical discomfort, but I was awake til past 5am.

Everything else I consumed was healthy – honest.

37. Day 19 and 20

I can’t remember – I wrote it down somewhere, but I’ve lost it. I’ll update this when I find it!

update:

Nope can't find where i wrote it, sorry.

Due to serious lack of sleep I’ve felt really ill the last few days, so have neglected my blog, but touch wood, I’m ok now.

Last Thursday and Friday, I can’t remember what I had but I do know it was all good stuff, and conformed to my healthy wheat free diet.

Which is more than can be said over the Easter weekend...

36. Is Egg Substitute OK for Egg allergies?

No!

Most egg substitute products, whether fresh, frozen or powdered, contain mostly egg whites, so if you have an allergy to eggs, they are not suitable as egg alternatives.

But egg substitute is a good alternative to eggs if you want to cut down on fat and cholesterol, which are concentrated in the egg’s yolk.

Although whole eggs are not especially high in fat, just 5 grams of total fat and less than 2 grams of saturated fat per egg, they are very high in cholesterol, containing more than two-thirds the daily recommended total. So multi-egg dishes such as omelets and frittatas, which often contain cheese or other high-fat, high-cholesterol ingredients, are good candidate dishes for using egg substitute.

What else in is egg substitute?
Well, egg substitute products such as Egg Beaters brand, contain 99 percent egg whites. The other one percent is “natural flavor,” coloring, spices, onion powder, salt, guar gum and xanthan gum. Many nutrients are added to make up for the ones lost from the yolk, so egg substitute will usually contain varying amounts of iron, folate, zinc, riboflavin, thiamin, vitamins A, E, B6 and B12, and have the same amount of protein as whole eggs. While some brands, like Egg Beaters, contain no fat or cholesterol, others use vegetable oil as an ingredient, which adds to the fat content again, although the fat is usually unsaturated.

35. Food Diary - Days 17 and 18

Day 17

Porridge
Decaf Coffee
Orange juice

summer fruits smoothie

Apple
cottage cheese and flax oil
hard boiled egg
Camomile Tea

2 plums
chicken and vegetable soup

goats milk yoghurt with fruit smoothie

porridge


Day 18

Cornflakes and muesli (was in a rush)
Orange juice

Coffee

Banana

Prawn salad sandwich on wholemeal bread
licorice bar

Pistachio nuts

Blackcurrant tea

Apple
Chicken and vegetable soup

porridge

34. Gluten Free Pizza Base

I was supposed to put this together with the pizza sauce (that would’ve made sense), but better late than never – here is the pizza base recipe:

Ingredients
1/2 teasp of Dried Yeast Granules
240ml or8fl.oz. of warm water
1 teasp of Sugar
100g or 4oz of Rice Flour
75g or 3oz of Cornflour
1 tbsp of Potato Flour
1 1/2 tbsp of Olive Oil
1 teasp of Salt
Some extra oil for greasing

Instructions

1. In a bowl, dissolve the yeast in half of the warm water. Add the sugar and mix well. Leave for 15 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 220C, 425F, Gas Mark 7 then lightly oil a large pizza pan or tray. Prepare toppings for the pizza.

3. Place the remaining dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, and add the yeast mixture and mix well, adding the remaining water a bit at a time until the consistency of a very thick batter.

4. Pour the dough into the centre of the prepared pizza pan or tray and spread around evenly. Bake at the top of the oven for 5 minutes until it is lightly set.

5. Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 190C, 375F, or Gas Mark 5.

6. Add your toppings to the pizza. Return to the oven and continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes.

33. Food Diary Day 15 & 16

Day 15
Porridge

Coffee

Smoothie with apple juice, banana and summer berries

Went for an 8 mile walk with the ramblers, and ate:

apple

sandwiches made with the filling from the fish pie (yes, bread!)

banana

lots of water

Later at my friend’s house, 2 coffees (only had 3 hrs sleep last night, so you can imagine what an 8 mile walk did to me!)

Fish pie, same recipe as Day 1

porridge


Day 16
Apple

Porridge

Decaf Coffee

mixed nuts and dried apricots

banana

Fennel Tea

Lunch in a café with friends

Chicken tikka masala tortilla wrap, with lettuce and tomato

Cappucino (oops – it wasn’t even nice)

Fish pie

smoothie with plain goats milk yoghurt

green tea

apple juice

32. Dairy-Free Crème Anglaise (custard)

I haven’t tried this, but my step mother has, and she thinks its wonderful!

Ingredients
175g of 6oz Soft Silken Tofu
1 tbsp of Apple Juice
2 teasp of Barley Malt Powder
120ml or4fl.oz. Rice Milk
1 tbsp of Arrowroot
1 teasp of Vanilla Extract
1 teasp of Maple Syrup
Instructions
1. Place tofu, apple juice, barley malt powder, and half the rice milk in a blender until smooth.
2. In a small bowl mix the remaining rice milk and arrowroot and stir until smooth.
3. Transfer the tofu mixture to a pan and heat, stirring, over medium heat for about 1 minute.
4. Stir in the arrowroot mixture and heat until it thickens, constantly stirring.
5. Remove from the heat then add maple syrup and vanilla extract. Mix well. Serve hot or cold.

31. Food Diary – Day 13 & 14

Apple

Porridge

Apple

1 Egg with mayonnaise

Cottage cheese and flax oil

Coffee

Chicken and Vegetable soup

Goats milk yoghurt with muesli and honey

Cornflakes with UHT cow’s milk

(Run out of goats’ milk and the corner shop doesn’t sell it)


Day 14
Really misbehaved today. I’ve got very little food in the house, and due for a delivery. Started to make a fish pie, but then realised I have no potatoes, but still carried on thinking I’ll find an alternative.

In the end (and probably due to the time of the month), I went out and bought chips (french fries) from the Fish and Chip shop. The worst type of potatoes you can eat, cooked in cheap vegetable oil that’s not hot enough, so they’re drenched in fat. Now my poor guts are suffering the consequences. I’m not ill – they just protest by way of pain, whenever I abuse them!

It doesn’t end there – I bought a a small chocolate bar too, after being bombarded with images of Easter eggs on TV. Well, I was watching the Saturday night movie, About Schmidt, and both the chocolate and the movie were a lovely treat.

Throughout the day though, I did eat my usual healthy stuff too; porridge, apple, banana, green tea, and the last of my delicious chicken and vegetable soup.

I’m now drinking Camomile tea in the wee hours to try and make my tummy go to sleep. I must do my online shopping order asap.

31. Food Diary – Day 13 & 14

Day 13

Apple

Porridge

Apple

1 Egg with mayonnaise

Cottage cheese and flax oil

Coffee

Chicken and Vegetable soup

Goats milk yoghurt with muesli and honey

Cornflakes with UHT cow’s milk

(Run out of goats’ milk and the corner shop doesn’t sell it)


Day 14

Really misbehaved today. I’ve got very little food in the house, and due for a delivery. Started to make a fish pie, but then realised I have no potatoes, but still carried on thinking I’ll find an alternative.

In the end (and probably due to the time of the month), I went out and bought chips (french fries) from the Fish and Chip shop. The worst type of potatoes you can eat, cooked in cheap vegetable oil that’s not hot enough, so they’re drenched in fat. Now my poor guts are suffering the consequences. I’m not ill – they just protest by way of pain, whenever I abuse them!

It doesn’t end there – I bought a a small chocolate bar too, after being bombarded with images of Easter eggs on TV. Well, I was watching the Saturday night movie, About Schmidt, and both the chocolate and the movie were a lovely treat.

Throughout the day though, I did eat my usual healthy stuff too; porridge, apple, banana, green tea, and the last of my delicious chicken and vegetable soup.

I’m now drinking Camomile tea in the wee hours to try and make my tummy go to sleep. I must do my online shopping order asap.

30. Dairy Free Cream of Mushroom Soup

I’ll be creating sections on different elimination diets. The first post in the Dairy Free section is this delicious recipe for Dairy-Free Cream of Mushroom Soup.

Ingredients:
2 finely chopped Onions,
2 tbsp of Olive Oil
350g or12oz Mushrooms, finely chopped
1 tbsp of Paprika
1 teasp of Cayenne Pepper
600ml or 1pt of Fresh Vegetable Stock
Salt
225g or 8oz Medium or Soft Tofu
1 tbsp of Vegetable Oil
2 tsp of Lemon Juice

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan then add the chopped onion and sauté for 4-5 mins.

2. Add the mushrooms, paprika and cayenne and stir. Reduce the heat, cover and cook gently for further 9-10 minutes.

3. Stir in the salt, pepper and stock and bring to the boil, then simmer for a further 3-4 minutes.

4. Then place the tofu, vegetable oil and lemon juice in a blender until smooth.

5. Stir this mixture into the saucepan and heat, without allowing it to boil. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Serve immediately.

29. Food Diary – Day 12

Apple

Porridge

Apple juice

Coffee

Baked potato, with goats cheese and spring onion, and a bit of soya spread

Flax oil, Cottage cheese, onion, chives

Apple

Decaf Coffee

Homemade Chicken and Vetetable soup (for recipe see below)

1.5 litres of water throughout the day

28. Chicken and Vetetable Soup

It’s my own, so there are no quantities! Come to think of it, you can use whatever vegetables you like, but this is what I made today:

Soup base; dried pulses, beans, barley etc, soaked overnight
(if gluten allergy, leave barley out)
Cabbage
Leeks
Celery
Onion
Worcestershire sauce
Horseradish sauce
Yeast free vegetable stock
Chicken stock (homemade if gluten allergy)
Cooked chicken, no fat or skin

Simmer for 20 mins then add the diced chicken and stir for further 5 mins

27. Food Diary – Day 11

Apple juice

Porridge

apple

same as dinner last night - pancakes with mince and tomatoes

pistachio nuts

I boiled egg on its own

Goat’s milk strawberry and vanilla yoghurt

Decaf coffee

flax oil, cottage cheese, onion and chives with 3 Ryvita

Hot chocolate! made with water, and no added sugar (it’s STILL hot chocolate, dear!)

Cornflakes

26. Pizza Sauce

Quick Pizza Tomato Sauce (also suitable for pasta dishes) 35mins

Makes approx 240ml/8fl.oz.

Ingredients:

200g/7oz Tinned Chopped Tomatoes

120ml/4fl.oz. Tomato Juice

Salt and Black Pepper

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 small Onion, finely chopped

1 Garlic Clove, crushed

1 small Celery Stick, finely chopped

60ml/2fl.oz. Fresh Strong Vegetable Stock


Instructions
1. Place the tomatoes, salt and pepper in a saucepan together with the tomato juice. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small frying pan, add the onions, garlic and celery and sauté gently for 10 minutes until soft and transparent.
3. Add the vegetables to the tomatoes together with the stock. Bring to the boil then cook and a gentle boil for at least 15 minutes. At this stage, it can be cooled slightly and puréed in a blender for a smoother sauce.
4. Use as a base sauce for all types of pizzas.

25. Food Diary - Days 8, 9 and 10

Been away for a couple of days, and didn’t stray TOO far from my healthy unprocessed and wheat free diet!

And the times I did fall off the wagon, it was through no-one’s fault but my own, as my friends had lots of healthy food with them, but on the Sunday at about 4pm, we went out to hire a movie and I suddenly felt extremely hungry. I’d only had two hours sleep from 8.30 – 10.30am, so I had porridge for breakfast and went to meet them.

I forgot I’d not eaten lunch.

So I was climbing the walls in the video shop, and ended up buying a huge packet of Doritos and sour cream and chive dip (for all three of us), but I had to stuff my face in the car on the way home.

That’s what happens when I forget a meal. Very naughty.

Later we all had baked potato and cheese, with green beans, broccoli, mixed peas and sweetcorn.

And I had no willpower whatsoever when my friends got the chocolate out. I only had a few pieces, and considered it a treat for being so good up until now, and I don’t feel guilty for it!

On the Monday I had ‘Oats So Simple’ which wasn’t pure oats, but individual sachets of made up oats and maple syrup favoring. Although the instructions said to make it with milk, I made it with water as usual, and it tasted lovely, but it did have salt, sugar, and ‘flavoring’ in it.

Later we went for a walk and took cheese sandwiches with us. That was the first time I’d eaten bread in ages, and I’ve no idea what spread was on them, but they tasted good! Again – no guilt!

Drinks on both Sunday and Monday included lots of water, apple juice, coffee during the day, and fruit teas.

Today I thought of what I could put in my porridge to add more flavor, and I came up with natural ginger and cinnamon, as well as a bit of honey that I usually have.

Needed 2 bowls today, as I was very hungry, and too lazy to cook!

Did cook tonight: minced pork with tomaotes, peppers and spinach, and wrapped the whole lot up in pancakes made with rye four, goats milk and free range eggs.

24. Food Diary Day 7

Breakfast
Apple
Porridge

Smoothie (same as yesterday)

Coffee

Lunch
Apple juice
Spaghetti bolognaise with spinach

Fennel Tea

Dinner
Baked potato with bolognaise

Water throughout the day

(went jogging this morning for the 1st time in ages, and nearly collapsed!)

23. Three Ways To Ensure Proper Digestion

Most people in the western world eat their food far too quickly and fail to chew their food properly. What happens because of this, is that their food simply doesn’t break down effectively enough, and not only is this food wasted as a valid nutrition, but a lot of what cannot be absorbed properly, your body stores as fat.

Secondly, you are likely to feel hungry much sooner than you would do otherwise.

You owe it to yourself to take your time eating your food, and to chew it properly. I once tried doing this with a piece of toast with butter and jam on, and the rule was I couldn’t swallow the food until it was complete puree. This took a lot longer than I thought it would, for the normal bite size I was having, so I took tiny bites. It took about 10 minutes to eat the whole slice of toast.

But the good news is, not all food is as difficult to ‘puree’ as toast or bread. And you don’t have to puree food in order to chew it better than you have been doing.

Secondly, this may seem hard to get used to, but try the ‘one week’ rule for giving everything a chance, and you should be ok: Don’t drink with food, and for at least 15 minutes before and 45 afterwards.

This will allow your food to be broken down better. And it will force you to chew your food slower and better too.

Another trick that will not only optimise food adsorption, but will result in weight loss, is to eat fruit BEFORE your meal. Our stomachs are actually designed to break down fruit carbohydrates much quicker than protein, so it may take 20 minutes or so before your fruit is absorbed, but it can take up to 90 minutes for a large steak for example, to be broken down.

The fruit prepares the stomach for the intake of protein, and it will break it down more effectively. If you wait until later to have your fruit or a sweet, your body is working much harder to break down the protein. Anything that makes your body work harder than it should is jeopardising your overall health.

Eating an apple before every meal is talked about in the book ‘The 3 Apple a Day Plan’ by Tammi Flynn
http://www.amazon.com/3-Apple-Day-Plan-Foundation-Permanent/dp/0767920414/ref=sr_1_1/104-8754403-6622308?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174327960&sr=8-1

which goes into more scientific detail of how this works.

22. Food Diary Day 6

Decaffeinated coffee, 1 fruit sugar

Breakfast
Smoothie made with banana, plums and apple juice

Porridge, made with water, and a few raisins

Lunch
Beetroot

Prawns, cottage cheese, flax oil, onion, red pepper, chives, tiny bit of mayonniase and ketchup – in other words; very rich prawn cocktail! - with celery, and 1 slice of Ryvita.

Smoothie made with three very ripe bananas that had to be eaten quick, summer fruits, goat’s milk-pro biotic yoghurt, and a dash of vanilla essence (NOT flavoring).

This was very rich, but enormously scrumptious, so I had two glasses; a pint of the stuff!

Dinner
Half apple

Had friends round later and made Spaghetti bolognaise but with pork mince instead of beef! And I microwaved the meat first to get all the fat off it, then blended it into a powder.

Had wholewheat spaghetti too, and my friends liked it. I’m allowed wheat occasionally, although when I’ve been good and done without it for a while, the symptoms such as an itchy nose(!) and itchy arms tend to be much worse after I do fall off the wagon, than if I ate wheat all the time.

Goat’s milk - strawberry pro biotic yoghurt

Decaffeinated coffee, 1 fruit sugar

21. Aspartame

Not to be mixed up with ‘aspartamine’ which is naturally found in artichokes and is innocent and something else entirely.

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener. It is also a poison. What your body cannot break down and use, aspartame will store it as FAT in your body. It is in Diet Cola and just about every diet drink you can think of. It is even in toothpaste, chewing gum and some MEDICINES! So instead of helping you lose weight, aspartame is keeping you fat!

“Aspartame sugar substitutes cause worrying symptoms from memory loss to brain tumours. But despite US FDA approval as a 'safe' food additive, aspartame is one of the most dangerous substances ever to be foisted upon an unsuspecting public.”

Go here to read more: http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/

It is interesting to learn that the diet version of the world’s biggest selling product is killing the very people that choose to buy it (it’s a soda drink by the way).

Just remember that you live in a world where money is more important than people’s lives and more important than the truth.

20. Food Diary Day 6

Breakfast
Bowl of home made muesli with oats, raisins sultanas, walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, fresh banana, sliced pear, and cornflake crumbs! + goat’s milk

They were out of my soya milk this week, so I’m using goat’s milk on my cereals. In theory, this should force me to eat fewer bowls of cornflakes, and more porridge as I don’t make that with milk.

Decaffeinated coffee, 1 fruit sugar

Apple juice

Lunch
beetroot, not pickled
1 cold boiled egg
Cottage cheese, flax oil, onions, peppers and 2 slices of Ryvita multigrain

Decaffeinated coffee, 1 fruit sugar

small amount of dried fruit and nuts

Dinner
Very small baked potato, pork with plum and apple sauce, mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, sweet corn and green beans)

Plum and apple sauce recipe:
three large plums with skins on, blended with a small cup of apple juice
1 tsp of tomato ketchup, and finely chopped onion

I never made this before. I just make meals out of what I’ve got in. And this took about 10 minutes to make.

Maybe I should put a disclaimer on this blog. After all this is a diary of what I eat, not necessarily what you should eat. As I make recipes up out of my head, I do occasionally poison myself, but since switching to non processed food (ketchup aside) I haven’t done so far!

Again, approx 1 litre of water

19. The Effects of Red Bull

Red Bull and other cheaper brands of the same thing have lots of caffeine and taurine in them. Taurine is banned in some countries because it has never been proven to be safe.

But even if it were officially safe in all countries, I know for certain it is not safe for someone like me to consume it. I am prone to anxiety, panic attacks and irritability.

However, most normal people will become irritable or have headaches and immense lethargy when ‘coming down’ from this drink.

What Red Bull does is keep you awake. Whenever I was unable to sleep during the night, and I needed to be awake in the day, I would drink it. Within 30 minutes, I would forget about my bad night’s sleep and I’d be ok for several hours. As soon as I found myself flagging, I’d have another Red Bull, and I’d ‘wake up’ again.

But when the effects wore off, I would find myself feeling unable to cope with the simplest of things.

This drink is allowed to be sold in bars, meaning that vast quantities are consumed. Just one is bad for you. So much caffeine should be seriously avoided in the evening.

I once knew a man who had not slept for two nights before his wedding day. So he drank Red Bull all day, and the wedding went well.

That night he crashed out as soon as his head hit the pillow, and had a migraine for the next two days. Suffice to say, his bride was not too pleased.

A lot of clubbers drink it to dance the night away til dawn. One friend of mine who used to take speed (amphetamines) to stay awake, says his Monday mornings were a whole lot worse coming down off Red Bull thatn Speed. No I am NOT condoning speed!

But if that’s illegal, and the effects of Red Bull are worse…? Well, you work it out.

If you absolutely meed caffeine to keep you awake in an emergency, then at least a normal coffee has measurable amounts of caffeine it.

Actually, the thought of throwing up has always put me off drinking in excess, but it doesn’t put a lot of people off. Many millions go out with the sole intention of getting steaming drunk, so those people are probably not going to be too receptive of my Red Bull advice!

Don’t get me started on alcohol. And Diet drinks? – with Aspartame in them? That’s another post!

18. Food Diary Day 5

Cornflakes in the middle of the night again – Terrible insomnia. I need more exercise to tire me out.

Breakfast
Half apple juice/ half mineral water

Porridge with raisins

Small raw carrot

Lunch
Cottage cheese, beetroot, flax oil, onion and chives, with 3 Ryvita

Decaffeinated coffee, 1 fruit sugar

Several pieces of dried fruit, and a few mixed nuts

Dinner
5 thin slices of ham and soft goat’s cheese, rolled up - honestly, that was enough!

Half apple juice

Decaffeinated coffee, 1 fruit sugar

17. Prevent and Cure Cancer with Diet

Last year I met a very famous copywriter called Ted Nicholas who managed to cure both himself and his girlfriend of cancer.

He said the two foods that will not only prevent you getting cancer, but will cure it, if eaten every day, are flax oil and cottage cheese.

Now I forgot to ask him if these two foods should be eaten together or not, but not to worry – I eat them together anyway, just in case.

The flax oil tastes pretty revolting by the way, but just add your favorite natural flavorings and you’ll be fine.

I’m sure there are skeptics reading this, thinking ‘how can that be true?’ Well, when Ted Nicholas gives you advice, you can do a lot worse than listen to him. He’s 82 and worth over $400 million. Google him and see.

I’ve done some of my own research and there are lots of cancer fighting foods available, such as broccoli and green tea, which I try to consume whenever possible.

But to cut out processed food is certainly the best way to prevent cancer and many other serious illnesses.

16. Food Diary Day 4

I’m calling it Food Diary from now on. Accountability is way too long a word.

I spoke too soon last night. I had terrible insomnia, and my stomach was like a vacuum, so I had to feed it at about 3am with a bowl of cornflakes with skimmed goat’s milk, and a pinch of fruit sugar - then again at 5am with ham and shredded carrot.

As my food delivery came early this morning, I didn’t eat breakfast as such. I just picked at my food as I unwrapped it.

Apple juice

1 apple

handful pistachio nuts

1 egg and a slice of Ryvita with soya spread

I had to eat the egg because it was cracked. I know I probably should have thrown it out for hygiene purposes, but I don’t like wasting food.

Usually if there are more eggs broken, I ring them and they refund me for the whole box of 12, even if only three are broken. As it was just one I didn’t bother. I did email to tell them they are losing money, and that a suggestion would be to clearly label shopping bags with eggs in, but they won’t implement it, as it makes too much sense.

Later whilst working I strated to flag. The thing about working from home is when you feel like you want to fall asleep, there’s nothing to stop you. But that would be lethal, as I’d just be awake all night again – hence:

Caffeine coffee with fruit sugar and goats milk

Lunch
Apple

Half a portion of fish pie

Green tea

Dinner
Last half portion of fish pie

Went out and drank:

2 Pineapple juices

2 mineral waters

1 litre of mineral water throughpout the day

15. Don’t be Scared of Carbs!

If you cut out carbs, or reduce them dramatically, you run the risk of rapidly depleting energy levels, as well as increased anxiety, irritability and even depression.

You are also denying your body a great food source. Food combining, or separating carbs from protein is one school of thought, but not mine. For a start, unless you can afford your own personal chef to go wherever you go, it is extremely difficult to implement such a diet.

The key is to eat balanced meals, and to eat the RIGHT carbohydrates.

Good carbs include:

oats
wholewheat
rice – preferably wholegrain
potato – preferably with the skin left on
sweetcorn
rye
bananas
all fruit

You can still lose weight and gain all round good health when you eat carbs with your meals. Just don’t overdo it. Try and make sure your carbs are about a third of your whole meal, and never more than half.

14. Accountability Day 3

Breakfast
Porridge and raisins

Blackcurrant Tea

Banana

Dried fig, dried apricot, and a few mixed unsalted nuts

Decaffeinated Coffee, with one fruit sugar

Lunch
Cottage cheese, Flax oil, chives, garlic, chopped ham, chopped red pepper, 3 Ryvita

Green tea, with a bit of honey

Dinner
Fish Pie, again - still glorious!

The first improvement I noticed was that my food cravings had completely disppeared after only one day! That’s pretty fantastic.

I always used to have a bowl of cornflakes in the evening or something else to eat. Now I’m eating less but I don’t feel hungry at all. Today I had the banana and dried fruit and nuts at about 12, so I didn’t need lunch until 2.30pm.

Even then, my lunch was about a third of what I used to eat at lunch.

13. Wheat Intolerances

I’m quite lucky in that I’m only intolerant to wheat, so if I were to eat it in small quantities, I probably wouldn’t notice. I am also not intolerant or allergic to gluten, so I have a lot more choice than some of you.

A wheat allergy is more serious than just an intolerance, but it is different from Celiac Disease, which is an aversion to gluten, and requires a complete gluten ban for life.

If you do have celiac disease you cannot eat wheat, rye, oats, and barley.

Most children who are allergic to wheat will grow out of the allergy.

Most people claiming that they have a food allergy may at worst have a food intolerance. Often a person has decided to eliminate a food from their diet based on one bad experience.

In other cases people eliminate foods from their diets because another family member suspects that he or she has a food allergy, or because they have read a magazine article and decided that the symptoms described relate to their own.

As a result they cut out and eliminate foods which in fact may be an essential part of a healthy balanced diet. Such self-medication can be dangerous as it can obscure the real health problem.

I had a food tolerance test by a qualified nutritionalist. Ask your health food shop where to find one. But if you cannot find one, your family doctor can perform the test.

If you find you do have a wheat intolerance or wheat allergy, you need to read food labels very carefully. I’m too lazy to do that, so I just buy fresh, non processed food.

When I go to a restaurant or a friends house, I am less pedantic about my diet. As it is an intolerance, and not an allergy, I can break the rules once in a while. I hate to be a burden to others, although all my friends are very understanding.

Still, I have fruit, nuts and herbal tea bags with me all the time, just incase what’s on offer is so unappealing.