It’s a new dawn

It’s a new day

It’s a new life for me

I went back to Slimming World again today.  I have resolved many obstacles and challenges in the past few months and I now feel ready and able to really focus on losing weight and imroving my health.

I enjoyed half a melon with some raspberries and blueberries in the morning sunshine in my garden.At 11:30 I walked round to the church on Laton Road, ready to rejoin SW and work hard to lose my baggage.This is going to help me; following the Forks Over Knives and China Study recommendations, I will be “frying” in vegetable stock rather than oil.  I like this one and it’s vegan.  I have made up a litre to keep in the fridge and use in cooking.I add sprouts to many of my meals because I think they are really nutritious and on the Slimming World plan they are “free” so I can eat unlimited amounts.  I tend to buy one packet a week from the local health food shop and I vary which ones I buy.  Sprouts are a good source of protein for vegans.For lunch I followed a recipe in ‘The China Study Cookbook’, by Leanne Campbell.

Black-Eyed Pea Salad (serves 2)

For the salad:

• 1 can of black-eyed beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups of cooked brown rice
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (I also added some fresh basil and mint)

For the dressing:

• 4 tbsp lemon juice (I used lime)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp mustard
• 1/4 tsp maple syrup
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Method

1. Combine the peas, rice, spring onions, pepper, celery, tomatoes and herbs in a large bowl
2. Mix the dressing ingredients together in a jar with a will-fitting lid, shake well
3. Pour dressing over salad and mix well together

I added a small handful of sprouts to the salad for additional nutrition.

The recipe recommends leaving for 1-2 hours before eating but we were hungry so ate it as soon as it was ready.  It was really easy to make, very tasty and has less than half a syn per portion.  The dressing makes what would have been a slightly tasteless salad really flavoursome.The green pepper and tomatoes were proudly produced from my garden, grown by yours truly.Harvey though it was “ok but too limey”.  He ate his with a pitta bread covered in humous but I just had mine as it was with no additions.I should have gone for a walk this afternoon but felt very tired after a busy day yesterday so I had a snooze instead.  Milton had his girlfriend over for a play date so they were happy to be in.  Earlier they had walked me round to the church for Slimming World and at their grand old age, that is sufficient exercise for them.A cup of tea and a banana kept me going until tea-time.  I like soya milk in tea and I use my Healthy Extra A for that allowance.For supper I had half a fresh corn cob which was so sweet and delicious I could have eaten it several times over.  I also had 3/4 of a large potato, boiled, and a modest portion of red lentil dal with home grown swiss chard added to it.  This needed some maple syrup added as it was a tad bitter.So that was me done for the day.  I have used 1 syn for maple syrup, soy milk for my HE A but no HE B.

It’s a new dawn

It’s a new day

It’s a new life

For me

And I’m feeling good