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.