An alternative journey

Up to present, I have mainly blogged about our journey from Lincolnshire to Cornwall, but I have also recently embarked on another journey,  a weight-loss and healthy 'new me' journey

I have tried Slimming World before - and it worked, but I made excuses about not having time, difficulties in preparing meals when I am also cooking gluten-free for AJ and Neil and vegan for Amy  - any excuse really to put it aside and sink back into eating the usual staples and a few too many treats

I live in Cornwall for crying out loud, it would be positively rude to not sample all the many variations on the Cornish Pasty, all those scrumptious scones with luscious thick cream and extra fruity jam, not to mention the absolutely wonderful ciders

But.. since my last foray into the world of speed foods and syns I have gained the pounds I had lost and a few extra too

As usual it was dear hubby who took the brunt of my moaning about clothes not fitting, my huffing and puffing as I tried to walk ( there aren't many flat areas in Cornwall) and the deep sighs as I once again binged on something naughty and then regretted it the moment it had passed my lips

So, as a surprise ( and to no doubt stop my whinging ) Neil enrolled me at our local group and paid three months worth of subscriptions up front (no excuses now !)

Elaine and the girls all made me feel incredibly welcome and so the first step was taken

I am three weeks in and loving it

One of the key tools I have started using to keep me on track ( as well as my food diary and my fit log) has been to menu plan for at least a week and do all the shopping in one go ( on a full stomach so that I don't get tempted)

Here's this weeks menu plan which does include a recipe or two out of this months magazine

I am still at the stage where I have to keep checking my food optimising book

I am not terribly rigid with what I have on a particular day, sometimes I swap the meals around a little depending on what I fancy, but I know I have all the ingredients to hand and that the syns are already worked out for my main meals

Here are some of the meals I have been enjoying in the last couple of weeks

Slimming World quiche with a huge salad, the only syns are in the mayo ( lighter than light Helman's)

Most of my breakfasts now include fruit of some description, this time it was a couple of bananas, fat-free yoghurt and mixed berries

An alternative accompaniment to the slimming world quiche - mushrooms, new potatoes and baked beans, all free and unlimited

And a new ( to me) recipe - diet cola chicken with wholegrain rice, this was sooooooo tasty and syn free

Homemade chicken kievs with steamed veggies

Huge mixed salad, always free and also a speed food, I added ham to this and a balsamic dressing

Spicy Thai beef and vegetable rice - again totally syn free

Fruit platters are becoming one of my favourite 'go-to's 'for either breakfast or a light lunch

Baked basil cod with roast tomatoes and garlicky mash

And tonights meal was Slimming World fish and chips, asparagus, tomatoes and peas

Most of my meals are syn free or very low in syns, this leaves me plenty of room to have a drink or two at the weekend and treats during the day, I snack on popcorn, a little cheese, fruit or muller light yoghurts

I have not yet been hungry and I have really enjoyed trying lots of new recipes, and the bonus is that I have managed to quite easily adapt the recipes for both the gluten free and the vegan peeps

And finally the stats

Starting weight (12.8.15) - 13st 2lb

Current weight 12st 12.5lb

In the last three weeks I have slowly but surely lost a grand total of 5lb

I am aiming to get to 10st and my Club 10 weight is 11st 12.5lb

So, I have a long way to go, but to be honest, this time it doesn't feel like a diet

So thankyou to Neil for my subscription, Elaine for being so supportive and so fun and all the girls for their warm welcome

Love and lighter living

Tracey 

xxx

Teetering on the soapbox

I touched upon the subject of cooking in yesterdays post, how much I am enjoying using a well planned and efficient kitchen to prepare my meals.

You may have also noticed some of the cookbooks I used are vegan ( for my daughter Amy's meals) and gluten free (for my son AJ and hubby)

I cannot possibly leave the subject of gluten free cooking without addressing the appalling article led by the Daily Mail and closely followed by several other tabloids

I have long since stopped reading newspapers, as, at best they are ok for fish and chip wrappings, at worst they are inflammatory, lie-mongering weapons of mass hysteria

The NHS does NOT spend the reported millions on Coeliac NHS prescriptions, it spends a fraction of what has been reported

Coeliacs do NOT get free reign to order junk food and sweets on their prescriptions

The TINY bit of help a Coeliac receives in the form of a prescription is surely contributing to a healthier patient with less symptoms and complications - both long term and short term, therefore resulting in less treatment, fewer prescriptions and a reduction in costlier procedures and treatments later

AJ receives a prescription at the moment. At diagnosis we were given a list by his consultant of NHS approved foods and I can tell you categorically that it did NOT contain any puddings, cakes or sweet treats

AJ receives Pasta, flour, bread, pizza bases and crackers, all his meals are cooked from scratch and are healthy and nutritious

Try shopping for gluten free items and ingredients yourself, they are scarce, overpriced and inconsistent in availability, but for AJ and all his fellow coeliacs they are vital to keeping healthy

There are so many other prescriptions and groups of people that should be targeted if the NHS were indeed overprescribing, a recognised, diagnosed and totally incurable disease should not be one of them !

AJ's latest prescription contained the above ingredients, I use the staples to supplement the other ingredients I need to buy to give my son a healthy and varied diet. There is indeed pizza bases, we make our own pizzas with fresh ingredients and the two bases he receives provide a small treat twice a month

This week I have used the flour to bake two cakes and some sausage rolls

I tweaked the recipe on the back of the box for the Juvella flour for this chocolate sponge cake

I also made some scotch eggs from a traditional recipe by switching out some of the ingredients for gluten free variations

You can read Coeliac UK's response to the daily Mail article HERE

Neil CHOOSES to be gluten free as he has read numerous documents that suggests gluten can be inflammatory to some of the conditions associated with MS, this is his choice and although he does feel better for eliminating gluten from his diet, he has NOT been diagnosed with Coeliac disease and therefore is NOT entitled to any prescriptions for gluten free products. On the other hand AJ has been diagnosed with Coeliac disease and has been under treatment for vitamin deficiencies (caused by the damage in his gut from previously eating a gluten containing diet)

On a positive note, AJ has been gluten free for 18 months now, he has gone from being under 7 stone ( at 6'1") at diagnosis to 10.5 stone and 6'3"

From suffering severe daily headaches and an upset stomach for much of the week, AJ is now largely pain free 

AJ had become lethargic, sedentary and very quiet, a little withdrawn to be honest, fortunately his diet has brought me back the happy-go-lucky, laid back and fun boy he always used to be

Daily Mail - get your facts straight, speak to those in the know (without misquoting and embellishing those facts) and consult a Coeliac before printing such utter b****cks in the future !

Love and healthy eating

Tracey

xxx