You Mess with Me? You Mess With MY Whole Family!

I stayed the same this week, which to be honest I was OK with. I think I’ve put my body through so much yo-yo dieting over the years that it really must wonder what the hell is going on.

   From diets that involve a ridiculous amount of cottage cheese, to ones that involve a fruity shake every 3 days, I’ve tried a variety. So I figure now I’m doing it properly, my body is re-adjusting itself and wondering if I’m about to stop the healthy eating and attempt the prawn, pomegranate and pea diet (I’m not sure this actually exists)

  I feel back in control of what I’m doing, I’m planning meals, pointing everything and exercising more too. I’m doing my favourite classes at the gym (willingly I might add) and haven’t received a “we are just checking you’re still alive phone call from the gym”

  Also helping my increase in exercise is the fact my beloved dog Cyril is on the mend and can once again roam the countryside. Poor old Cyril has had a bit of a time of it recently. He had to have quite a big operation on his leg earlier this year and he couldn’t really go on walks before the op and certainly not afterwards. He was on basket rest, which with Cyril was easier said than done. He became a bit of a 3-legged ninja. But now the leg is better.

Poorly Cyril

  Sadly for an active dog, being inactive meant that just like his mummy, Cyril piled on a few pounds, so he’s also been on a diet. Also just like Mummy, the weight is starting to come off and he’s looking good.

  So last week, Cyril, Lucy and I took off to Whitby.

   I love Whitby, it’s one of my favourite places, I love it’s Gothic qualities, I love the fact it still feels like a seaside town from my childhood, I love the cobbled streets, the quirky shops, the little cafes, the beauty of the coast and I love walking Cyril along the beach and then sitting with a cup of tea in a polystyrene cup. I love my Whitby Lucky Duck that sits on my bookcase and obviously makes my house a lucky place to live!

  Last week, Whitby was really quiet and Lucy, Cyril and I wondered around, in and out of shops, up and town the seafront, breaking the day up with cups of tea and a lobster tail. Cyril being Cyril was making friends everywhere we went.

As I stood outside one shop waiting for Lucy, this old couple came up to me and started asking questions about the dog.

“How old is he”

“What breed is he?”

“Did he behave?”

  We generally exchanged the pleasantries of strangers, and then as the couple turned to leave, the woman said these immortal words

  If I’m honest I’m still not sure if she was talking to me or the dog, although as she said it, she did bend to stroke Cyril, so maybe it was more aimed at him, but let me tell you something about pet owners. You tell them their pet is fat, what they hear is “you’re fat”.

  Make no bones about it, I was offended, Lucy was offended, I don’t think Cyril cared. 

 So when I heard the story about the lady who was handed a card on the tube by someone from an organisation called "Overweight Haters Ltd", I felt really angry on the woman's behalf. I was livid that the oldies had said said something to Cyril, who is a dog, but to actively take the time to have a card printed to hand to someone is a whole other level of tosser-ness!!!  Unless of course, the ring leaders are actually an old couple from North Yorkshire wear matching khaki coats and carrying a Roy Cropper style shopper, because lets face it, who knows what was in that bag!

Free the Cheesecake One!

When I say this, it really isn’t an excuse, but the last few weeks have been really busy with work. We have a massive project on at the moment and I’ve spent a lot of time in meetings. Fortunately I've managed to stick to my diet and in meetings I’ve avoided biscuits, even the nice chocolate ones you normally only get at Christmas. I’ve made sensible choices if I’ve eaten out and any downtime that I have had, I’ve filled with exercise, so even though I didn’t make my meeting last week, on average I’ve been earning 41 bonus points. 

  This has been through a mixture of burlesque dancing, going to the gym and walking. I can now walk up the 199 steps in Whitby without thinking my heart is going to burst out of my chest! As a result this week a pound has magically disappeared. Well maybe not magically because I worked bloody hard for that!

The 199 Steps in Whitby

I’ve also been reinforcing my DNA Fit way of eating. A few months ago I was genetically tested to see what foods my body best responds to. Yes this is a thing and you can read about it in this blog. For me (and please keep in mind that this is exclusive to my DNA, yours will be different, even if we are related!) I need lots of protein and very little carbs. So despite my love of carbs, I now only eat them once a day.

  I also don’t eat chocolate, cakes, deserts or sweet things in general, because I've been hypnotised not to! Don’t I sound a hoot to be around! Sometimes I feel I’m morphing into Gwyneth Paltrow and before I know it, I’ll be on a macrobiotic diet, banning Cyril (my dog) from eating meat and saying things like “I don’t put anything that hasn’t been through an ancient refining process in my body” and spending 3 hours a day in a downward dog pose making humming noises. 

  As I had a little bit of time at home last night, I thought I’d experiment in the kitchen. If you read my Slinky blog regularly, you’ll know that the outcome of this is bound to be as happy as someone in a horror film going into a dark building, where the lights don’t work and there’s a serial killer on the lose.

  I love Pinterest and on there I’d found a recipe for a sugar free, carb free cheesecake, mmmmm sounds delicious (*may or may not be true) In my days as a sugar-aholic, the one thing I could make with serious aplomb was a cheesecake, my peanut butter creation had my neighbours begging me for the recipe and actually asking me to make it for EVERY gathering!

My Raspberry & peanut butter cheesecakes

  The sugar free / carb free recipe called for 4 ingredients

1. Cream cheese
2. Eggs
3. Bananas
4. Peanut butter (I used an organic almond one, my inner Gwyneth was proud)

The recipe said bung it in a bowl, mix it up, shove it in the oven….or words to that effect. I can’t help, but feel there’s a cooking programme lurking deep within my soul.

Looks promising at this stage, very American cheesecake!

  After an hour, I figured it was time to take it out of the oven, well the smoke alarm was going off and that’s a sign in the Trinder household that dinner is ready.

A bit burnt, but I can live with burnt if it tastes nice!

  Now granted it was a bit burnt, but I wasn’t going to let that put me off. I waited patiently for it to cool and down and waited to taste the creation that would make me a changed sugar free / carb-free loving person. As I cut myself a sensible slice and prepared to have my taste buds tickled, I realised that there’s a reason I had loved cheesecake so much and that was the carbs and sugar that was in it.

Sadly my cheesecake was not a pleasant experience, it just tasted like eggy cream cheese mixed with a bit of banana and peanut butter and then burnt in the oven! It just made me miss proper cheesecake!

  If you have any sugar free recipes that you’ve tried and actually tasted nice, then I’d love to hear about them!