London Bridge Sunset

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Another good day on the eating front – checking in 1,148 calories and a short walk (better then none!).

Breakfast was a 2 egg omelette with roasted orange pepper, carrot and mushrooms.

294 calories.orange omeletteI had to go in to work today (thank you Suzanne and Jane for looking after Harvey) and I grabbed a soup from Apostrophe.  I had a chickpea and spinach soup and it was excellent.  On their website they give nutritional data for all their dishes except the soups as they vary each day.  I did find a calorie calculation for a similar sounding soup from Apostrophe – pumpkin and lentil – so I am using that.  I didn’t eat the bread it came with, in fact I gave it back.

320 calories.
Apostrophe's soup I was in a different office today in the heart of the City.  I enjoyed walking back over London Bridge to get the train.London Bridge in stone The walk was perfectly timed to catch sunset over the Thames.sunset from London Bridge Shard and end of LBThis glass fronted office would have lovely views across the water.
offices beside Thames Not sure I would want to work in such a goldfish bowl though.inside building Maybe I would for this view!Looking North from London Bridge Back home I made a vegetable curry to use up left over veggies in the fridge.  I ground a mixture of spices in the pestle and mortar (cumin seeds, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, fennel seeds and caraway seeds) and fried them in coconut butter with onions and garlic.  I lightly steamed some green beans and cauliflower which I added to the onions and spices with chickpeas, celeriac, kohlrabi and a tin of chopped tomatoes.  I mixed it all together, added garam masala, turmeric, salt and pepper and left it simmering for about half an hour.cauliflower, chickpeas and beans Served with Cholula hot sauce.  I couldn’t be bothered to make rice to go with it but actually it didn’t need it.  The chick peas added enough carbs.  This was very tasty and I had 2 bowlfulls.

501 calories.veg curry

Tomorrow’s lunch is in the fridge.  I just need to prepare breakfast now and I am all sorted for tomorrow.  Planning ahead is a bit of a bore to be honest but if I didn’t do it, I know I will be tempted to eat the wrong things as I am in an all day meeting tomorrow.  Food will be provided but I am quite sure it will not be diet friendly.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

My Stone Smashing and Cholesterol Improving Diet

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I have 2 great bits of news to share with you today:

1.  Tuesday is weigh day and I lost 2 more pounds which means I have lost one stone this year already.  In three weeks, I have lost 1 stone and 1 pound.  There is now 15 pounds less of me than there was three weeks ago.  Yeehah!

2. I wanted to have some health checks so I visited a Doctor today who carried out various tests.  One result I was delighted about was my cholesterol.  I have, surprisingly/luckily, for someone as overweight as I am, never had a problem with my cholesterol.  I do NOT have any underlying conditions that may make the numbers go in the wrong direction.  For that I am very grateful.  However, the numbers in the past could be improved.  Today, the Doctor I saw said he could not remember seeing such good cholesterol results.  My total cholesterol number was lower than the lowest number in the healthy range and the HDL (the cholesterol we want to be high) was higher then the upper limit in the healthy range.

I asked the Doctor if cholesterol values can be changed in a short period of time i.e. could the ultra healthy diet I have been following for 3 weeks, plus the additional exercise, be contributing or was that too soon to make a difference?  He was sure that 3 weeks would have been enough time to improve my results.  I was so pleased and more motivated than ever to continue with my way of eating and to maintain as a minimum (but try to increase) my current exercise rates.

Having said that I didn’t manage any exercise today as I am still looking after a poorly boy.  But the eating was good.  Breakfast was a fruit salad which is not enough for my new regime but it was what I was given at the Doctors as I had to fast before my visit.  They give people fruit salad and a yogurt afterwards but I declined the yogurt – dairy and sugar.

Lunch was quick and easy as I was catching up on work.  Stir fried rice (60 g cooked rice) with nearly 3 eggs, onions, garlic, lots of spinach and Cholula hot sauce.  Cholula hot sauce has negligible calories in 1 tsp i.e. zero which is good news 🙂

400 caloriesbreakfast 21-1-14 Supper was a very easy to prepare baked potato with salmon and tenderstem broccoli.  Instead of the butter I would usually smother the potato in, I mashed half with 1 tbsp coconut butter and half with half an avocado.  I had a small half of one fillet of Wild Alaskan salmon.  This was much less salmon than I would usually eat but there were unexpectedly 3 for supper, I only had 2 fillets and to be honest, this was plenty.

582 caloriesbaked potato, salmonI have looked at my weekly assessment on my calorie counting app.  I set my daily calorie limit at 1,200.  I went over that on 3 days but was under on 4 days.  My net calories for the week are 106 under my weekly goal.  I am delighted with that.

I have been completely disciplined and tracked every calorie consumed.  I mainly drink teas and coffee without milk but I do have one or two with soya milk which I add to my tracker but don’t bore you all with.  I am really pleased I have maintained my discipline around eating well and tracking everything.  Interestingly the Doctor told me I could eat up to 1,500 calories a day and still lose weight.  I will stick with 1,200 but if I sometimes go up to 1,500 I won’t panic.

Here’s to the next week !

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Oh Yes, She Glows

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I was unable to get to the office today because I have a very poorly boy to look after so I unexpectedly worked from home.  I didn’t manage breakfast as we were at the Doctors and the Chemists and then I was trying to get him comfortable.  So I skipped breakfast and made an early lunch instead.

One of my favourite blogs is written by Angela, a Canadian Vegan who produces lovely and imaginative recipes.  Her blog is Oh She Glows and I think it is excellent.  I like her writing style, her photography is fantastic and her recipes are easy to follow.

My lunch was inspired by her post,  The Big Vegan Bowl and some ideas from other posts such as these which Angela included in her 8 Favourite Vegan Lunch and Dinner Recipes of 2013.

I put a mixture of pecans, hazelnuts and cashews in water to soak for a couple of hours before eating them.  It makes them easier to digest, apparently.mixed nuts I roasted the chickpeas with a coating of cumin, ground coriander and turmeric with salt and pepper and a little olive oil.spicing chick peas I roasted them in the oven with the chopped up sweet potato.sweet potato and chick peas In my big vegan bowl went:

  • 1 medium sized sweet potato
  • 1 third of a can of chickpeas, drained and roasted with spices
  • Mixed salad leaves
  • 4 olives
  • Finely chopped beetroot,
  • celeriac
  • and kohlrabi
  • Pink grapefruit
  • Chopped nuts

674 caloriesBuddha Bowl 20-1-14 I enjoyed this bowl of yumminess but if I was doing it again, I would probably have used less nuts and left out the chickpeas so I had enough calories for a salad dressing.  But as it was, I really enjoyed it and it was full of good nutrition.Buddha Bowl For dinner I tried another one of Angela’s recipes.  This one was Cauli-Power Alfredo.  I served mine with brown Basmati rice instead of pasta as I much prefer rice to pasta and I am not eating wheat this month.  I also served it with spinach which was a good choice.

317 calories.Dinner 20-1-14 I absolutely LOVED this !!!!  The Cauli-Power Alfredo sauce was amazing.  Who would think cauliflower could possibly taste so lovely.  I do have a good blender – a Vita Mix – which is essential to create the smooth and creamy texture.  I used fresh onion and fresh garlic instead of the dried versions Angela uses but apart from those switches, I followed her recipe exactly.  I am astonished something so delicious, comforting and filling was only 317 calories but apparently it is.  I made the recipe to the quantities in Angela’s recipe and ate half of it.  317 calories does include 90g of cooked rice too.  Most of the Cauli-Power sauce is made with cauliflower which keeps the calories low.  cauliflower cream, rice and spinachAnother very healthy days eating and only 1,021 calories today.  I am not planning to eat anything else so this will be a low calorie day.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Walking in Warwickshire

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Saturday

Remember this I bought in the week?  It looks similar to a pear but is actually a guava.

fruit in fruit bowl It was not what I was expecting at all.  I thought they were pink inside but this one was yellow, hard and tasteless so I am afraid to say it went straight in to the compost, which was very disappointing.yellow guava Instead I had an orange with 20 g pistachios for breakfast.

136 calories.oranges and pistachiosLara and I were off to Warwickshire for the evening but we managed a good walk in the morning.  We walked over the road for about 45 minutes which earned me 210 calories.stream over the road Salad for lunch.  I had a base salad of green leaves and tomatoes.salad greens and tomato I added grated celeriac and finely chopped kohlrabi, grapefruit and beetroot.  I love this combination.celeriac, grapefruit etc I ate this with houmous and spinach and sweet potato falafels.  It was really good; full of flavours and contrasting textures.

580 calories.lunch 18-1-14 In the afternoon we set off for Warwickshire to stay with very dear friends.  We arrived in time for supper which was a delicious lamb and root vegetable casserole.  My photo does not do it justice so you’ll have to trust me it tasted fantastic.  I had seconds.

766 calories.lamb stew I ended the day 72 calories over limit but I was pleased with how I ate as I ate a lot of raw vegetables and nothing on the banned list plus I was under 1,500 calories which is my absolute maximum I allow myself.

I managed to resist some very fine wines, port and mountains of chocolate so I was pleased with that.  How can some people be surrounded by chocolate and either not eat it at all or just have one or two?  I did resist but I could not have it in the house and then not eat it all.

Sunday

Eggs from the chickens in the garden for breakfast.
colourful eggs I had 2, hard boiled with cherry tomatoes.

180 calories.eggs and cherry tomatoes pheasants Blue skies and sunshine – fantastic.  We were going out for a walk anyway but it did make it even more beautiful.  We went to the Heritage Centre at Pooley Country Park.  This area was mined and the landscape is formed from mining activity; hills to walk up and large ponds caused by mining subsidence.  We began walking along the towpath of the Coventry Canal.Lara and Henrietta This was a good walk up to the top of this hill and there was a lovely view when we got there.top of the hill Water on walk 19-1-14We were treated to a lovely lunch in a local pub restaurant called Turpins Bar and Grill.  I know asparagus is not in season but I really fancied it when I saw it on the menu.  Served with a runny poached egg and a rasher of pancetta.  It was very good.

egg and asparagus For my main I had sea bass which was cooked very well.  Served with new potatoes and spinach and I added extra ‘garden greens’.  It was all very good and I enjoyed the food and company very much.Sea Bream at Turpins

Thank you VERY much BJ and Helen for such a lovely 24 hours.

So far today I have consumed 957 calories and earned 280 by walking.  I will have a light salad for supper and end the day within my limit.  I am getting better at this dieting lark 🙂

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Final Friday (for a while)

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Lara leaves us tomorrow to return to University so we thought we would have a farewell dinner as we will not see her again until the Easter holidays :-(.  We were booked in to a lovely local restaurant for dinner so I ate lightly and exercised to make sure I had some spare calories.

I could not decide what I fancied for breakfast.  I really wanted bacon and eggs but I can not find any bacon that is organic (and preferably free range) and that does not have added sugar.  Please will locals or UK readers let me know if you find any.  So instead I made a smoothie as I was not in a vegetable mood so just an egg on its own would not have been enough.

I put in to the blender 20 g of those yucky oats I moaned about yesterday, 300ml coconut water, a banana, an orange and 2 tbsp each of sesame and chia seeds.

490 calories – I shouldn’t have had the banana as that would have saved 105 calories.breakfast in blender It actually tasted too sweet for me.  It was thick, smooth and creamy which was lovely but too sweet and didn’t keep me full for long enough.smoothie 17-1-14 Big exercise points today – I swam for half an hour non stop as fast as I could manage.  My Fitness Pal says that burned up 560 calories but that seems too high to me.swimming things 17-1-14 Lunch was late but very easy.  I reheated the leftover portion of the green bean and lentil curry I made earlier in the week and served it with a large green salad.

418 calories 
lentils and salad

Supper time 🙂  The girls are ready for dinner.

me and Lara 17-1-14 We went to The Great House in Hawkhurst for dinner.  I managed to resist all the bread and the wine and stuck to mineral water.TGH bread basket As a starter I had the duck salad which was really good.  Enough duck and not too much plum dressing.  Very enjoyable.TGH duck salad I was really fancying a large steak and The Great House produced one.  I chose the Rib Eye which was huge.  Too big really but as I felt hungry I ate it all, only leaving the visible fat.  It was good.  I have had more flavoursome and more tender steaks but this one was above average and I really enjoyed it.  I liked the simple sides; watercress and cherry tomatoes and a giant portabello mushroom which were cooked perfectly.  There were lots of chips and as they are not forbidden I had some.  More than I intended as they were good.

I resisted the various sauces to accompany the steak which were on offer and ate it as it was.  A very good meal.  Estimated 1,058 calories for both courses which is significant!

The daily calorie total is 1,997 on food and apparently I used 560 in the pool so that gives me a net of 1,437 so not within allowance but not far over.  I should still come in with a loss this week.

TGH steak We enjoyed our dinner at The Great House which had a great atmosphere and was very cosy and comfortable.  I will be sad to say au revoir to my gorgeous girl this weekend, she is such great company.  We will all miss her very much.L and H in TGH

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Kohlrabi and Grapefruit Salad

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I worked from home today which makes it so much easier to eat nourishing food to help along my diet.  I was very disappointed with my breakfast though.  Seduced by the lovely packaging and the fact it was organic, I bought Mornflake’s oats to make porridge with.

Mornflake oats I made them with water to save on some calories and added salt, the Scottish way of eating porridge.  What disgusting oats!  They turned to mush so quickly it was like eating baby food.  The Macadamia nut butter was lovely but the porridge was the wrong consistency so little pleasure was to be had from that.

364 caloriesporridge with macadamia nt butter I love coffee 🙂I love coffee

One chef whose recipes I like is Nigel Slater.  I have recently seen some of his ‘Simple Cooking’ series which I enjoyed and one recipe which stood out for me is a winter salad made with Kohlrabi and Grapefruit, topped with a ‘slaw made from celeriac and beetroot.  Nigel Slater made a yogurt based dressing but as I am dairy free at the moment, I made an olive oil based  dressing instead.  This salad was fantastic.

Kohlrabi and pink grapefruit

Kohlrabi and Grapefruit Salad

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 1 Kohlrabi
  • 1 Pink Grapefruit
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp capers, crushed lightly
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 beetroot
  • Half a celeriac
  • 4 spring onions
  • Parsley
  • 2 tbsps olive oil
    1/2 a raw garlic clove, minced
    2 tbsp white wine vinegar
    Salt to taste

Method

  • Peel the grapefruit and kohlrabi
  • Slice the kohlrabi as thin as you can and arrange on a plate
  • Slice the grapefruit in thin slices and lay on top of the kohlrabi

kohlrabi and grapefruit

  • Mix the lemon juice, capers and olive oil and pour over the kohlrabi and grapefruit

making kohlrabi salad

  • Peel the celeriac and beetroot and trim the spring onions

celeriac and beetroot

  • Grate the celeriac and beetroot and chop the spring onions finely

celeriac, spring onions and beetroot

  • Mix together the white wine vinegar, garlic and olive oil and season to taste and garnish with fresh parsley.

This salad was really good.  It was crunchy, crisp and so fresh.  The kohlrabi is slightly peppery, the grapefruit is sharp, the beetroot and celeriac were sweet.  As a combination it totally rocked.

kohlrabi and grapefruit salad I needed to add some protein to this mountain of vegetables and I used one of the tins of fish my sister Lucy gave me for Christmas.  lunch 16-1-14 This is a tin of small smoked sardines.  Probably the very best tinned fish I have ever had.  The smoked flavour was extremely mild and the fish were soft with no bones that were detectable.  The soft mildly smoked fish were a good contrast to the lively flavours and crunch of the vegetables.  If I ran a restaurant, I would serve this and be proud of it.  It was high in calories even though it tasted as if it shouldn’t be.  Mainly due to the olive oil and fish but it was so yummy it was every single one of those calories and they were all healthy calories.

580 calories.smoked small sardines Supper was a very simple minced beef and pea curry, called Kheema Mater.  It was pleasant enough but not worth sharing the recipe.  I had a modest portion with no accompaniments.

337 calories.Khema with peasNo exercise today.  I should have gone for a walk but every time I though about it, it rained.  I should have gone anyway but I didn’t so my total calories today were 1,295 which is slightly over target.  I was under target yesterday so I think that balances out.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Green Bean And Lentil Curry

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Another good day’s eating, a walk at lunch time and a delicious dinner so I am very happy.

As soon as I woke up this morning I put some chopped peppers, red onion and large tomatoes in the oven to roast while I got ready.  It was then very easy to make the rest of breakfast and pack a lunch to take to work.egg and veg breakfast For breakfast we each had brown Basmati rice (cooked a couple of days ago), 2 scrambled eggs and roasted veggies with coriander.  Tasty.

320 calories.egg and veggies Lunch was also very tasty.  In to my salad pot I put 100g cooked brown Basmati rice, 38 g tuna, half an avocado, roasted red pepper, red onion and tomato plus a large handful of raw spinach.tuna salad 2 This was a lovely combination of flavours and I really enjoyed it.  No salad dressing required as I mashed the avocado in to the leaves.

406 calories.tuna salad 1 Despite the drizzly and grey day I went outside for my walk.  Minimum has to be a mile.  I set off along Southwark Street.  One advantage of the grey day is that being slightly darker, it highlighted some of the unusual features of the buildings along here.  The coloured squares on this building flash and change colour regularly, which you don’t notice in bright sunshine.flashing coloured squares Signs on the pavement – I followed them.signs on pavement More colourful lights.lights under the bridge It is always a pleasure to be in Borough Market.Borough Market I bought one of these – do you know what they are?  I don’t think I have ever had one before.Guavas I also bought a clementine, a pink grapefruit and a rutebega.clementine, guava, grapefruit and rutebega There were so many cheese shops open and they all had tempting samples but I managed to resist.  After all, this month is a dairy free month.Jumi cheese, Borough Market I headed back to the office and on the way I was very pleased to see a restaurant I was not ever tempted by had been replaced by Bill’s.  I have been to Bill’s in Lewes many times and I likey like it very much indeed.  So this one will definitely be visited very soon!Bill's at Borough Along the river I strolled, past Tate.  Tate Modern and silver birch There is such an eclectic mix of architecture in this part of London.near the office Sadly not enough time to wander any more, but time to get back in to the office.the office On the train I was thinking about dinner.  I knew I had some green beans to use up and I fancied eating some lentils and wanted a curry.  I do love the convenience of a smart phone.  I tapped in “green beans, lentils, curry” and came up with several versions of a Madhur Jaffrey recipe.  I chose the one from Cook Eat Live Vegetarian, a newly discovered blog I am enjoying.

It was easy to make and tasted fantastic.  It is cheap, nutritious, full of flavour and (depending on what stock you use), suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

Green Bean and Lentil Curry

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

  • 250 g green beans, trimmed and cut in half
  • 200 g dried lentils (I used Puy lentils)
  • 750 ml water
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil
  • 4 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • 1 tsp Punchpooran ( I didn’t have this so I made my own with a pinch each of cumin seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, black mustard seeds and black onion seeds)
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 red onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • red chilli, finely chopped (optional)
  • 1 tbsp minced ginger
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 500ml stock (I used chicken)
  • 1 tin (400g) chopped tomatoes
  • salt and black pepper
  • juice of a lime
  • a handful of coriander to garnish

various spices  Method

  1. Put the lentils and water in to a medium pan and bring to the boil.
  2. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes or until the lentils are nearly cooked
  3. Rinse and drain the lentils, season with salt and pepper and set aside
  4. Heat the coconut oil in a large pan (which has a lid)
  5. Grind all the spices in a pestle and mortar
  6. Add the punchpooran, cumin, mustard and coriander seeds and cook until they start to pop
  7. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes
  8. Add the garlic, ginger and chillies (if using) and cook for 2 minutes more
  9. Add the quartered sweet potatoes, turmeric and garam masala
  10. Season well with salt and pepper
  11. Stir to coat the potatoes in the spices, then add the stock and tinned tomatoes
  12. Bring to the boil, lower heat, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes
  13. Add the green beans, put the lid on and simmer for 5 minutes
  14. Add the cooked lentils and cook for another 5 minutes or until the lentils, beans and potatoes are soft
  15. Squeeze over the lime and stir in the chopped coriander
  16. Serve in bowls.

coriander, chili and limeThis dish doesn’t require anything else to go with it.  It is a complete meal in a bowl.
dinner 15-1-14 This is a wonderful winter meal.  It is warm, spicy and comforting.  Mashing the sweet potato in to the spicy lentils with lime and corainder was completely delicious.  I will be making this one again and again.

398 calories.lentil and green bean curryGive it a go yourself.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Eating At The Table

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

Tuesdays are weigh days and I was delighted to see I had lost 5 pounds today.  That makes it 13 pounds this year so far.  Woo Hoo.  I was so pleased with that.  I am slightly concerned that it is partly due to a very upset stomach I had this morning.  Very upset!  So I may have been a bit dehydrated but I did drink loads of water and herbal teas so hopefully it is genuine weight loss.  My target for next week is to go through the one stone barrier 🙂

Breakfast today was a diet disaster!  The lesson learned today is to check calories before eating something new, not after.

I made a smoothie this morning for myself and Harvey.  I used a pot (250g) of Co Yo, which is like a yogurt but made from coconut so dairy free.  It is delicious and I love it.  Unfortunately this pot had 390 calories.  I also added hemp seeds, coconut water, protein powder, pomegranate, a pear and a kiwi.  The total for all that was 745 calories which would have been ok because I was meant to share it with Harvey.  Unfortunately he didn’t like it but I liked it so much I had his too.  So a whopping 745 calories.  Plus an upset stomach from something so Harvey made a good decision by refusing it!coconut smoothie I didn’t feel ill in myself, just had to stay near the ladies!  So I went ahead with my planned lunch at The Table.  Gail suggested we met there but I had been wanting to go anyway since Kitty had recommended I try it.

I liked it as soon as I walked in.  I liked the simplicity of the decor and furnishings and all the wood.Inside The Table They do an all day dining menu during the week so if you are not interested in eating breakfast style food, as I wasn’t, the menu is quite limited.  The menu was the only negative thing  about this great restaurant. The service here was excellent so I was given something I was very happy with.  They had several burgers and a steak sandwich.  I chose the steak sandwich which I had without the bun.  I didn’t eat the mayonnaise either.  The steak was delicious and was served with caramelised onions,  rocket and potato wedges.  I estimate 463 calories, every one of which was well worth it.  Yummy.steak, onions and potato wedges I resisted dessert and enjoyed a very decent black coffee.  The Table is definitely worth returning to.Black coffee in The Table It was great to see Gail again.Zoe and Gail For supper, still trying to compensate for such a calorie heavy breakfast, I had a large mug of homemade chicken soup, made with water, carrots, celery, onions and tarragon.  Nourishing and comforting.Chicken soup

I did overeat today as I had 1,338 calories and didn’t manage to walk far either but at least my food was nutritious and I didn’t go mad and over eat later in the day.  So I consider this a good day.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 8 Comments

A Walk Along The River

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I am usually quite well organised for food on a Monday which makes losing weight so much easier.  The fridge has plenty of leftovers and I have the time on a Sunday to make up lunch for the next day.

I made breakfast at home before I set off for London; egg fried rice with onions and kale.

331 Calories.egg fried rice 13-1-14 At lunch time today I set off on a walk.  I must do at least a mile a day so I walked along Southwark Street to one of my favourite coffee shops.Monmouth BM The allure was too strong to resist so I popped in, ordered a black coffee and took a seat.  I love their mission statement.Monmouth policy statement Since I was having my coffee black they recommended a slightly lighter and sweeter bean from El Salvador than the beans they usually make lattes and cappuchinos with.  I found a paper which explained more about my coffee which was interesting.  It has been far too long since I visited Monmouth and it was great to be back.La Divina Providencia I chose to walk back along the river.  The North shore was almost black with cloud but I was walking in sunshine.Bridge over Thames

It made for a very dramatic view towards the other side of the river.North side Thames Millenium Brideg The River Thames is so wide at the point where it flows through this magnificent capital city of ours.Millenium Bridge 1 Back at the office I tucked in to the roast chicken salad I had brought from home.  I had about half a chicken breast, 1/4 of an avocado, 6 olives and plenty of green and red veggies.  No dressing required.

410 Calories.lunch 13-1-14 Followed by some carrots, celery and the last of the homemade hummus (about half a cup).  122 calories.

carrot, celery and hummus Dinner featured a lot more vegetables.raw vey 13-1-14 Stir fried with more chicken in sesame oil, served with corainder.  It was delicious.

442 calories.dinner 13-1-14Total calories today was 1,305.  I earned 140 calories by walking a mile on top of the 1,200 I am allowed each day.  So I ended the day with 35 to spare.  A good day of eating and a lovely walk at lunch time with a very enjoyable coffee as a bonus.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Happiness Revisited

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Lose Weight and Gain Health

I do enjoy Sunday mornings.  They always seem slower and easier than the rest of the week, unless of course one is nursing a hangover!  But since I am off the booze this month, I am not experiencing any of those, thank goodness.

I tried one of my Wholefoods Market purchases yesterday – Raw Ecstasy make ‘Activated’ nut products.  I bought 2 to try and today popped open the ‘Activated Almond Butter’.  As it says on the side of the jar; “This butter is made in the UK in small batches.  Using un-pasteurised, chemical free Spanish almonds, that are sprouted and gently dehydrated at low temperatures.  The activated almonds are then slowly cold-pressed in a granite stonegrinder instead of the high speed metal blades commonly used.  Our process is very similar to the way indigenous people from around the world have ground nuts and grains for thousands of years.  In this way we achieve the smoothest, lightest and most luxuriously rawesome almond butter imaginable.”Raw Ecstacy activated almond butter I added a tablespoonful to my porridge which I served with a pear and a mug of black coconut tea.

I have mentioned before I am counting calories and I am finding it very interesting.  I am not consuming dairy in January so instead of dairy milk I would usually use Soya or almond milk instead.  However, I noticed that coconut water has approximately half the calories of my unsweetened soya milk so I made our porridge today with half coconut water and half soya milk.  It was delicious and the nut butter was lovely.  I am definitely making porridge this way again.

378 calories.breakfast 12-1-14 Harvey and I were out all morning in the fresh air and when we returned the table had been set and lunch was ready.  Thank you Lara, that was a lovely surprise.lunch ready 12-1-14 A large salad made with mixed leaves, spinach, peppers, tomatoes and avocado.  Served with olives, 3 spinach falafels and some homemade hummus.

513 calories, very well spent.lunch 12-1-14 Dinner was a traditional roast.  I stuck to white chicken meat and no skin.  A huge pile of broccoli, green beans and carrots plus roasted parsnips and roasted sweet potatoes which I roasted with a minimal amount of oil.

548 calories.roast chicken dinner 12-1-14 Total calories today was 1,454 but I burnt 186 on a walk so I was only 68 calories over my daily target of 1200 so I am pleased with that.

Last year, on January 1st, I blogged about the Happiness Jar.  You can see that post here.  After dinner tonight we poured out all the little happiness’ we had put in to it all year and enjoyed reading them.  Harvey and I were the main contributors and we enjoyed remembering good times and are doing the Happiness Jar again this year.

There was a common theme to the things that made me happy; being on holiday, being outside and being with friends and family.  So I shall try to do more of those things this year :-).Happiness jar Jan 2014Why don’t you try a Happiness Jar?

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment