Rivals!

When it comes to books, I find that some people are very snobby. “Have you read the latest by *insert name of obscure author here*, the composition of characters is just marvelous, the imagery just sublime and by the end of it it really made me question the whole question of where did squirrels come from”

  Ok that book might not exist, but you get my point, My favourite books are “Great Expectations” (it’s a really good story) any “Adrian Mole” (makes me laugh as much today as it did when I was 11 years old) and “Rivals” by Jilly Cooper!

My well worn, well read copy of "Rivals"

I didn't realise quite how well worn it was!

  Now before the book snobs turn their nose up and other people wonder what on earth this has to do with weight loss, this is it! I love “Rivals”, because it’s the tale of a group of people (Venturer) bidding against another group of people (Corinium) for the right to run their local TV station. The leader of Corinium is a dirty horrible scoundrel who cheats and lies to try and get his way. On the day the license is awarded, the leader of Venturer (Declan) is convinced that they haven’t got it and as he’s about to walk away, he’s called into a room and told that yes they’ve won it. He's also handed a sheet of paper, with the names of all the people who work for his rival, saying what a good bloke he is and how they’d rather work for him. He’s told that whenever he feels down he should look at this piece of paper.

  Alright, I’m probably not selling the book and I probably should have issued a spoiler alert, but today I was reminded of that piece of paper and the fact I have my own version.

 Today has been really tricky, with a few issues raising their work related head and I found myself really REALLY angry. The sort of anger that has enveloped me only twice in my life. Most people will refer to themselves as chilled and relaxed, but I really am. One of my best qualities (apart from my awesome sense of humour, beautiful eyes and cracking pair of boobs) is the fact I very rarely lose my temper and if I do get mildly annoyed, I forgive really quickly and move on. Today was not one of those days.

  I tried to employ every technique I could to cheer myself up, but not even singing “I’m in the Mood for Dancing” helped. So I headed off to the supermarket. I was an angry shopper, screaming children in trollies annoyed me, people wading through the packs of strawberries looking for the longest best before date drove me mad! I figured I may as well just fill my trolley with pizza, garlic bread and a vat of Ben and Jerrys and just head home.

  And then I remembered the weekend I’d just enjoyed. The weekend where one of my best friends made the journey from Weymouth to surprise me for the first of my 40^th birthday celebrations… 

the weekend where all my friends joined me for afternoon tea, prosecco and cake. 

The weekend where we stuck our heads in a Las Vegas showgirl cutout and laughed. 

The weekend where I spent a gloriously hot Sunday at Wollaton Park with my friends, godchildren and dogs. The weekend where all of my friends scribbled notes on polaroid pictures.

  This weekend and the memories it created were what was important. So my trolley remained pizza, garlic bread and ice cream free. I came home I made myself a prawn salad and prepared my overnight oats for the tomorrow.

  I know when I step on the scales tomorrow I’ll have put weight on, but it will be pounds created out of fun and laughter. Today it was back to normal and the love and fun I'd felt over the weekend was the thing I needed to prevent my anger from really screwing over my diet for all the wrong reasons!

Sometimes You've Got to Crack a lot of Eggs!

I am 16 days into my 21-day plan to make sure that someone in my list of priorities I come first…. I reckon that for about 12 of those days, it’s been the case. The days it hasn’t happened, I’ve checked myself and put it right the following day… it’s a learning curve right?

  So far in the 16 days, there have been trips to the gym, dog walks, reading, watching films, catching up with friends and some evenings where I’ve allowed myself to give into how tired I am and just unashamedly got into bed at 7pm and slept!

  My 21 day KT plan has also involved making sure that I eat right, so I’ve invested in a couple of cook books.

  This is what I’ve leant, if its green it’s good for you (green jelly babies don’t count) if it’s some form of protein that’s good for you and don’t be scared of fat, some fats are good for you.

SORTED!

  I’ve also learnt that already slinky people cook from scratch! They use things like Tahini and turmeric and tender-stem broccoli, which is apparently different from tough-stemmed broccoli. See I’m learning stuff.

  I now eat a lot of stuff cooked in a slow cooker or a wok, I work on the “shove it all in and let it cook” method and so far my one pot culinary skills have not let me down!

  Today though, today I got cocky! One of my favourite things in the world is dippy eggs and because I don’t have time to eat them in a morning, I sometimes have them for lunch. Check me out with my lunchtime protein, which keeps me full till teatime.

 Today I thought I’d step it up a gear, I’d seen this recipe where you got some large mushrooms and then you cracked an egg into the mushroom, added a bit of ham and cooked them. They looked nice, they looked easy to do and they were healthy!

Things I have learnt today…. Cracking an egg into a mushroom is not easy!

I'm a bit Green About Eating Clean and Lean!

Do you remember when Christopher Columbus realised the world was round and we didn’t have to sail in straight lines anymore (you probably don’t, it was the 15^th Century) So then every explorer and his dog set off on a spherical adventure. 

*disclaimer, this photo isn't historically accurate

Then in the 16^th Century Galileo upped the anti and went “hold on, I reckon there’s planets other than the earth, I’m pretty certain there’s a Solar system” (he probably said this in Italian and it probably took him a bit longer to reach that conclusion) but you get my point.

  I think dieting has become the same. First we should eat carbs, then we shouldn’t, then we should eat fat, then we should concentrate on a low fat diet, and then maybe just eat half a grapefruit and a bit of cottage cheese, the amount of diets that have been in fashion over the years is scary. Then eventually the dieting version of Columbus went, I think I know how you loose weight….

So that’s what people started to do and lo and behold, people started to lose weight, dieting mystery solved.

  However then the dieting version of Galileo went “yes that works well, but as well as eating less and moving more, you need to eat clean and lean” and everyone went “brilliant”

  Over the last few months, I’ve heard lots of my friends’ talk about eating clean and lean and quite frankly it confused me! All the food I eat is clean, because I wash and prepare it correctly! I buy lean meats, so am I eating clean and lean? Am I meant to be eating fat? If I do eat fat, it has to be good fat and low fat really isn’t good for me?

  There’s no wonder anyone without a degree in nutrition struggles to make sense of it!

  Now I’m a sensible kind of girl (well ish) so as I figured I needed to understand exactly what clean and lean meant, so I turned to Amazon, typed in “books about eating clean and lean” and discovered this bad boy!

  It had great reviews and James Duigan had worked with Elle McPherson, a lady known as “The Body”, it felt like the right choice. I can achieve an Elle body by next year? Right?

  When the book arrived, I spent a bit of time reading it and getting my head round what it really meant.

  It turns out basically just don’t eat any processed stuff! Eat fresh meat and fish. Green leafy vegetables are very good for you, berries are also an excellent choice, nuts are a good snack and there’s these things called mung beans and chia seeds, which you can sprinkle on salads.

  The book is full of recipes and being to cooking, what John Sargent was to dancing, it’s been a bit of a test. There were a few early pancake disasters, but it turns out raspberries can mask the taste of “burnt oats”, but I’m getting there.

A flipping disaster!

  I’ve even learnt to like avocado and been able to drink 2 and half litres of water a day, which apart from having to wee having 10 minutes is OK.

  I wouldn’t say I’ve totally perfected the art of eating lean and clean. There’s no section of the book that suggests red wine is an acceptable drink, so there have been a couple of slip ups, but there’s more good than bad eating days.

  So I shall  continue being a clean, lean, green eating machine, well that is of course until someone else pipes up with the dietary equivalent of walking on the moon!

PS – any clean, lean recipe ideas greatly received!