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!