Oh my word. I have not written in so long. I've decided to really expand this blog into all areas. I want to share anything that 'makes life better'. Funnier, happier more everything. So lets start with a joke:

The Past, Present and Future walk into a bar. It was intense.

There is an alternative: The Past, Present and Future walk into a bar. It was tense. Which one do you think is funnier??

Anyway, I do want to get back into my blog so hope to write very soon.

Day 112

Hello! It's been a while but all is fine, well great actually. We have a heat wave at the moment which I am loving. I love the sunny weather and could quite happily have it all year around. Also juices in this weather are fantastic. I have managed to change my eating habits and pretty much sustain my weight which is great. So have kept this up for over three months now and I feel and look so much better. I hardly ever get down, I can get into my size 8 and 10 clothes again. I'm sleeping brilliantly too and I've been so well. The congestion in my head has all but disappeared and my ears don't block up or ring anymore. I haven't had any fizzy sodas for months. It's a miracle how at last I've managed to crack it. Predominately, I'll have a juice or two most days. Some days I'll include a big salad. Other days I'll have some cake I've baked but the next day I will stick to juices. I am so much happier on this diet or way of eating, I should call it. So am off on holiday next week. I want to lose another half a stone possibly another stone but I am going to see what I look like after a half stone loss, anything more than that may not look too good. Will see .

Day 48

Haven' written for a bit but all's good!
My eating is transforming and so is my physical appearance. I've lost over one and half a stone and I feel like this is the way I basically want to eat for the rest of my life. I have been struggling with this for soooo long and I finally feel things are changing. It's been a very tough few years but things are definitely shifting in all areas and I really feel proud of myself in how I've dealt with things. It's not what happens to you but how you deal with it that makes you who you are and I've had a lot to deal with, which is why my eating got so difficult and the weight started piling on. I've averted a disaster as far as my health is concerned too...it was like a time bomb ready to go off anytime soon.
We went to Zoo yesterday with Jakes little friend and had a wonderful time. We saw tigers close up in the new Tiger Territory, languid lions dozing in the sunshine, frolicking zebras, majestic giraffes, snuffling hogs, lounging lizards, crazy monkeys and beautiful parrots and peacocks...oh it was wonderful and the boys loved it. I wasn't too well as have had quite a bad chest infection for the last few days, heaven knows why? But I was so excited about taking the boys to the zoo, I hardly noticed it. Just about to eat some raw garlic and have been drinking hot lemon juice so that should cure it as I don't like to go on antibiotics if I can help it. I'm watching my temperature which has been fine but that is the only circumstance in which I would go on the anti's, same for my son.
Gosh, I've just eaten the two cloves of raw garlic and I'm not sure if I 'm going to be able to keep them down, this should cure.
I made a nice juice yesterday and added another super-powder called Spirulina that I bought a few days ago. Very nice.

                                                         

Day 36

Well things are going well. I seem to have changed something as my attitude to food has transformed. There have been biscuits and temptations all around but it is just not a problem for me. My body is changing and I feel really good. I've lost over a stone and I think I'M slowly clearing out my system. Here is another juice idea if you want to try it:

                                                         'Everything's Peachy

handful of white grapes
Spinach
4 carrots
2 oranges
1 Granny Smith apple
2 peaches
1 avocado
Handful of strawberries
Teaspoon of maca
Teaspoon of wheat germ

Day 29

The past week has been a big struggle as I have been so tempted to eat all the things I shouldn't. I even rang up my husband at work a couple of days ago saying that I was really tempted to eat biscuits etc. So he really encouraged me and I somehow managed to not relent. I actually ended up realising that something else was making me sad and upset and I was trying to use the food to make me feel better. But I worked through it and once I'd realised that I was really upset about something and looked at that and tried to work through that I didn't feel the need to eat the wrong stuff. But it really paid off and I felt so happy when I weighed myself the next morning. I'm really making headway and it's very encouraging.

Day 25

Hi there, well I haven't written for a while. Things have been busy. The last week has been a mixture of successful days and not so successful but yesterday I did fall off the wagon...as they say. It's been a week of entertaining, so lots of temptations but the real test was yesterday and unfortunately I didn't do too well, My brother-in-law is visiting today so yesterday I had to make one of my delicious carrot cakes from the Hummingbird recipe book...as he absolutely loves them. Then disastrously  because it was hot and the cream frosting got a bit runny in the heat, the top layer of the carrot cake started sliding off the top. It was like a bad dream, I kept shoving it back on but then it would slowly start its descent until the whole layer broke in two. So I had to discard that but I was able to make good the rest of the cake for today...phew! But..and here's the but...inevitably I was left with the yummy disaster cast off and that's when I 'fell off'. I haven't had sugar for over three weeks which is really good for me and as soon as it hit my lips, I felt a tingling sensation but not from rapturous euphoria, it was my mouth reacting to an artificial substance. Also with in ten minutes, I had ulcers forming inside my mouth. Isn't that weird and just goes to show 'it ain't good ' for you. So I simply have to do an 'juice all-dayer' today or I will just end up blowing all my hard work. I'm getting very close to the weight where I start looking really good and feeling confident with my body so I need to make sure I don't ruin all my efforts. Wish me luck!!! I've been reading more of Norman Walkers 'Becoming Younger' and he's talking about all the vital organs and I realised I didn't know where half of them were like the pancreas etc.  We live all our life with our body and because we can't see inside of it, we kind of ignore it, so distracted are we by 'out there' so I'm going to look at a diagram of where all my organs are and what all their jobs are. The human body is quite simply a miracle when you think about it and most of us simply don't take enough care of it. And here it is:

Day 17

I did a 'Juicer All Dayer' today and made a very refreshing one this afternoon, I'm calling it the:


                                                          Mango Fandango


1 mango
2 apples
2 oranges
handful of Grapes
handful of Strawberries
a little purified water

I'm feeling really good. Also, this morning my 'Enema Kit' arrived!! Hey, ho, this is going to be interesting. What can I say, my major detox continues and I'm approaching it from all angles!!

At the weekend the family went to Quex Park in Kent. There is the very interesting Powell-Cotton Museum there and also some beautiful surrounding gardens.

                                   .

Afterwards, we went to Margate to visit the 'Shell Grotto', a magical 'cave' discovered in the 1800's but the actual date it was created is still unknown. I picked up some wonderful shells from the shop there for my bathroom. Fascinating place, so if you are ever in Margate, it's well worth a visit.




My husband is returning from business on Saturday and I'm going to prepare a lovely 'Welcome Home' meal. I'm very excited about it and got all the ingredients today. I'm starting with what I call 'Quex Salad' ( I had this at the weekend at a restaurant very near to Quex Park).

                                                                       Quex Salad

a bed of chopped Iceberg Lettuce
sweet potatoes
chopped red onions if desired
new potatoes
green pepper
goats cheese
pine nuts
preferred dressing

Then for the main course I'm doing a 'Summer Vegetable Pie' with Sweet Potato and Kale Chips. All very healthy. I'm not sure what I will be having but am looking forward to making it.

Then for dessert I'm doing a 'Mixed Fruit Meringue Sundae' which consists of blackberries and raspberries, raspberry ice cream and broken meringue nests all layered in a tall glass. But I'll just be having the fruit ..naturally!!!

Day 15

Well, my 'clean and pure' eating is still going strong but I have had temptations along the way. Very mild ones though. I guess because I've set myself this project and am really determined to make a change after numerous attempts, the temptations haven't been over-whelming. I was staying with family at the weekend and  I resulted to smelling some Lindt chocolate and that was enough! Normally I would give in but I really want to succeed with this. I spoke to my family and discussed what I was doing as I wanted to put their mind at rest. The way I see it, is if you communicate with people, then they are less likely to worry. I told them if I start looking unwell or not acting myself then they have a right to be concerned and that was it.

I've lost a stone and this is how I am doing it:

In the morning, I start off with a cup of hot water and lemon. This is to cleanse my system. Lemon is antiseptic and therefore a great cleanser for all of our vital organs: kidneys, intestines, everything!

Then I make a juice with a variation of fruit and if I'm feeling particularly hungry, I'll put bananas in. I also add half a teaspoon of maca powder, wheatgrass and cinnamon. I'm going to also get spirulina too. Now, Norman Walker suggests that you add some purified water to the juice so as to make it gentler on the wall of the stomach and I agree with this. There is acid in fruit so if you are just drinking juice, I think it's best to do this, also I try to brush my teeth afterwards as well.

So if I'm doing a juice day, I would probably end up drinking 9 glasses of juice throughout the day.
If I feel like I'm getting weak then after my juice breakfast I'll have a salad for lunch with some unsalted almonds or something that will give me some protein. There is lots of stuff besides meat that can provide this.
But basically I'm not eating meat, pasta, rice or bread.

As well as losing the weight, my skin is looking great but the toxins that are coming out of my body is incredible. It just goes to show that all of that was accumulated in my body. For a week I've had boils coming out on my scalp and behind my ears, fortunately not on my face but I must be really eliminating all this poison from my system. Apparently, if toxins stay stuck in the system that end up staying put around the vital organs which causes all manner of problems. I don't think my system knows what's hit it!

So I'm going to keep this up.

DAY 9

So I am still doing well with my eating and have had no desire to eat rubbish. I haven't been sleeping too well so the last few days have been a bit of a struggle. I've been feeling a bit low and tearful and it's kind of everything and nothing. I feel very different and feel like there is some change going on deep down but at the moment I can't put my finger on it. Mystifying!

Life of Pi is one of my all time favourite movies. Here are a couple of stills from the film.


Life Of Pi: New pics released

DAY 6

So I am still doing well with my 'lifestyle' change regarding food. Have also started reading Ann Wigmore's autobiography entitled:  Why Suffer? which is very interesting and was another book recommended by my father-in-law in relation to healthy eating. Because I'm 'off fish' for the time being, as I'm visiting my father next weekend, I thought I'd just mention that I wasn't eating it. He seemed a little concerned but I told him not too worry and it was just something I was trying. Anything that is not the 'norm' attitude to food can be met with some resistance but I'll explain what I'm doing and hopefully he will understand.

Anyway, I'm feeling really good, I feel very positive and happy. I'm not having the 'sugar downers' which helps, I suppose. But I feel something more profound is shifting within me, I can't explain it but something is changing. I feel different.

The family had a lovely weekend together. Saturdays have always been my favourite day ever since I was a child, and this day, well in fact the whole weekend has always been a challenge to not treat myself with some  'treaty  food'. But it was no effort at all which was such a relief so lets see how it goes.

On Friday, I took my son to a museum and aquarium which he loved. His favourite being the jelly fish. We watched them as they moved through water like white translucent lace. Click on the below link to see the worlds second largest Aquarium in Oinawa, Japan. It's beautiful...

 http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/worlds-second-largest-aquarium-tank/1j4e9zo8z

DAY 4

Phew! Tough day today! We went to bed, too, too late and my husband had to do a 'night shift', our son got us up wayyyyy tooo early, so consequently, we are like two walking zombies. I don't know if it is the lack of sleep or the fasting, probably a bit of both but I feel quite weak in my body. So as I have to work tonight, I decided I would eat some vegetables, so I had juices up until midday and then had a big salad and now I'm having a big juice before I go off. Apparently, fruits are for cleansing and vegetables are for building. So depending on how I feel, I'll go back to juices only, tomorrow.

DAY 3

I'm on a roll!! I've completed DAY 3 of 'fasting' and it feels great! My son and I went out for the day so I had the challenge of how I was going to keep up the 'fast'. So this morning I made a whole load of fruit juice and took it out with me, I felt like a donkey!!. It was absolutely fine! It's so simple, no temptations, just a confidence that it's all good what I'm putting into myself and I'm not even thinking about food which is such a change for me! This morning I didn't make my first juice until about midday...you don't know how out of character that is for me...not thinking about what I'm going to eat next. But I am aware that I can't go on like this, I will have to start eating solids in the next couple of days. Norman Walker advises to not fast for more than 6 days so I'll see about when I will break it. Actually, I was a little tempted this evening as I made my husband what we call 'Sexy Pasta' and I thought gosh I really could eat this, I felt like diving into it.

                                                               'Sexy Pasta'

boil some wholemeal pasta
once cooked add basil pesto sauce (make your own is best)
add steamed spinach
fried mushrooms
cherry tomatoes
chopped mozzarella cheese
olive oil to give the moistness
pomodoro cheese to sprinkle

One of my hobbies is photography and I wanted to show you my latest effort. I was actually sitting down on a low stool in the kitchen and chatting away to my son when I looked up out of the window and saw the most amazing image of next doors roof through a spherical glass vase we have on the window ledge. The curvature of the glass was slightly distorting the roof top and it was just such a wonderful image so I grabbed the camera and here's the result.

The vase was actually a wedding present and it always reminds me of my childhood as my mother used to fill it half way up with water and then float a rose head in it.

DAY 2

Well for the first time in my life I have 'fasted'! Day One consisted of water and juices. I felt absolutely fine although I did notice I got slightly shaky a couple of times but it very quickly passed. If anything untoward had occurred I would have just stuffed some healthy solid food down me so no worries!

Anyhow, this morning out of curiosity I thought I'd weigh myself and I had lost half a stone! Admittedly this would have been mostly water but hey, psychologically, it was a BIG encouragement!

Yesterday I noticed a poster on my way home from work, advertising a well-known fizzy drink. I found myself looking at the image objectively and was incredulous as to how they can actually get away with producing something which  is actually harmful to peoples bodies. These drinks contain many of the harmful 'E's and also ACIDS plus a lot more harmful ingredients to boot. And we give this to our children, well I don't but many parents do. I remember being in a restaurant a few years back and seeing a mother giving cola to her two year old! But we are led to believe that this stuff 'isn't that bad' but the trouble is this stuff is made so that it is addictive, so people keep on drinking it. In years to come all this junk stuff will have to carry a warning label like cigarettes. The companies that produce it, must know that it doesn't do people any good?? Our systems simply cannot break down this stuff, our systems know how to break down fruit and vegetables etc and then utilise the nutrients but there is absolutely nothing our bodies can do with junk. Up to the age of about 40 I think we can 'kind of get away' with  the strain junk stuff puts on our system, or rather it isn't always noticeable  But there comes a time when if you aren't putting the right stuff in your body, you will start seeing the effects of that, which is what has been happening to me. I'm a comfort eater, food is what I use to perk myself up if I'm feeling a bit down, anxious or fearful. For others it might be cigarettes, drink or drugs but my preference is cakes and sweets. If I could get away with living on sugar and carb for the rest of my life, I would. But the simple fact is that I can't, no one can.

But all this processed food and drink is so socially accepted. Take today, I took my 3 and half year old to the hairdressers. He was sitting very nicely but the dear girl possibly was trying to avert any 'trouble' by giving him an 'orange juice' which was actually 'squash'...junk! Then she went out to get him a biscuit but I heard an 's' on the end so I followed her and said 'Just one will be fine' and she said 'there in a pack, there only small' and when she emerged with them there were two, not small but two big (10 cm's in length) biscuits, anyway I let him have one and we put the other one 'away for later'. He still hasn't had it! But I do let him have a  little of this stuff because I don't want to be completely regimental about it as he will just get obsessed and then I'll have a real problem. But he has never had a fizzy drink, he has probably had under ten ice creams in his whole life and about 3 penny sweets. Anyway, back to the hairdressers, she then asks me if he would like a lolly-pop ( she had enough sense to mouth it this time) I politely said no but in my head I was screaming: 'NO JUST STOP!!!' It was like being with the 'Child Catcher' in the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang film, 'STOP TRYING TO POISON MY CHILD!'. No bless her, she really was sweet and meant 'well' but please NO MORE! Meanwhile my son is looking in the mirror, with his mouth wide open. I knew why he was doing this. It was because he was trying to see if any cavities were appearing after he'd eaten the biscuit. The other week he saw my husband and my fillings and asked what they were. So we explained that 'bad sugar' does this. He had just eaten a bit of cake and suddenly started crying and asking if he could brush his teeth. Gosh are our teeth that bad!!! ???. So that was why he was trying to peer into the deep recesses of his mouth. I half expected him to ask her if she had any toothpaste and a toothbrush.

I am trying to educate my son about good food which is 'good for his bones, blood and brain' and also that there is 'good sugar' and 'bad sugar', just want to make him aware so that he doesn't make the same mistakes I did.

Today I added some water to my juices, as according to Norman Walker it makes it easier on the stomach when you are fasting. On the subject of juices, I made the most delicious and refreshing one today which I am going to call 'The Beaufy Juice' and this is what I put in it:

                                                           'The Beaufy Juice'


I whole mango
2 apples
3 oranges
handful of Strawberries
handful of Grapes
2 carrots
2 glasses of purified water

Delicious...try it!!

DAY 1

Because yesterday was my 'Last Supper Day' I had sugar and it also ended up being a 'Junky Day' in the true sense of the word.. Last night on the way home from work I started munching on a biscuit and was surprised when I found myself tossing the half eaten remnants into the gutter for the city rats of London to feast on. I imagined them squealing in delight in the dark of night as they chanced upon my discarded white chocolate cookie! (I've just read this out to my husband and he said' You didn't tell me that...I don't know the half of it, do I? Well, for the record, I intend on being completely honest on this blog). But I was already psychologically preparing for Day 1...which is today!!! What has inspired me on this quest is that I have been reading Norman Walkers' books on healthy eating and nutrition. I'll explain more about him later but he wrote many books and I was told about them by my father-in-law, Anthony Christian, a very talented artist, writer and photographer along with his wife, artist Marian Fannon.(You can see their wonderful work @: www.ichorgallery.com)

Anyway, I have come to realise that if I go on eating in the way that I do, there is no doubt that I am heading for either diabetes, cancer, heart disease or a stroke amongst other lesser ailments. I have a choice and I don't want to leave it too late. Like Norman Walker says 'Tomorrow may be too late' and contrary to popular belief, according to Norman Walker illness and disease does not have to be the normal course and inevitability of our lives.

So I am starting my regime by 'fasting' not in the true sense of the word which is as they do on 'Ramadan' or Lent where you don't eat or drink anything for a determined period of time but as of today I am having just water and juice, made from fresh fruits. I've had four glasses of juice so far. This may seem a bit extreme but I'm going along with Norman Walker for the moment as a lot of what he says makes sense and he suggests 'fasting' for 3-6 days to start with. I can't see myself at the moment getting past Day 1 but here goes.

Anyway because of all the crap I ate yesterday, of course I woke up 'groggy', a fave word of mine, achy and sore. Since around September 2011 since having flu which lasted ages, I have pretty much had an accumulation of phlegm in my sinuses like I've never known in my life and its never really gone away so I am hoping that one of the benefits of what I am embarking on, clears this up. It is terrible but at times it makes me dizzy and blocks my ears. It's awful I've let it go on this long but more about that later.

So my weight this morning (I'm ashamed to say) was 11 stone 13, there I've said it. I'm not considered obese as I am 5'7" but I am on the way if I don't turn this around.

But what I do have to share with you on Day 1 is that I managed to kick my addiction to cola. I've been off the evil stuff for 5 weeks now. Onwards I go.