Day 2, 98 to go: My Goals in Pictures and a Recipe I Invented....

This morning I had more time than usual, given that I am working from home. I got up and did some work before breakfast and gave myself a 40 minute break to achieve the following:

• I made up a spirulina, lecithin and apple juice shake
  
  

• I whisked some lovely Old Cotswold eggs and made an omlette using 'good oil'




• I finished this off with a handful of nuts and enjoyed a lovely breakfast













• I then prepared my fridge for the shopping and was delighted that we had used everything from last week, rendering it bare. I love a sparkling clean fridge ready for shopping.....maybe I am a bit odd!!!














• I made certain my cupboards were ready for the shopping and that the foods I will eat (with the exception of Tuna and Olives which are mine also but must live on another shelf) will be on the bottom shelf. This follows the principle 'If you own it you can eat it'. My hubby now owns the pasta and pad Thai noodles that live on the second shelf, as well as the baked beans!! I happily discovered some rice noodles lurking at the back and checked the ingredients....no wheat, nothing artificial. Hurrah!!!
  

• I also checked my 'sprouter', watered the chick pea sprouts that are growing and then added some aduki beans I had soaked overnight.....very wholesome!

So, good progress so far......main goals for today are elimination eating, being kind to stressed out hubby and doing first session of IMT.......

I will up-date with pics of my abundance filled fridge and cupboards later!!

Some further musings:

Have just decided to banish my scales. My regular weighing is becoming demotivating and I can't help feeling a little disappointed about the fact that 10 days of 'pure' eating have not seen a shift at all. Currently I weigh myself about 3 times a day. When the scales do not shift, a little voice of doubt creeps into the back of my mind.....and the negative self-talk has room to flourish.

It is a strange thing, self-talk. My consciousness is obviously all geared up for action, and that little negative voice seems to know it is going to have to be extremely sneaky to get past my positivity. But it is trying!!! Believe me. It started yesterday when I was languishing and recovering from this virus I have. I was reading an article in either Top Sante or the Holland and Barrett magazine on releasing your authentic self and accepting who you are for what you are. It asked you to consider reasons why you are not happy with yourself and why you tend to fixate on your physical appearance. For me it is simple, the desire to be attractive, accepted, affirmed and loved...... But the article then went on to ask what you can do to accept yourself the way you are more...

What???? Self acceptance? Surely that is dangerous for me given my focus on personal change??

Alarm bells started to ring and the negative chatter disguised itself as affirmative self talk....'See, you don't have to do all of this radical stuff....people should accept you as you are....you always make an effort to look good....you have a great wardrobe.....sexiness is an inner quality after all' and so on.

I felt a bit panicked and suppose I still do, but this does not detract from the fact that I am unhappy with my current physical form. I don't see weight loss as some magical panacea that will cure all aspects of my life and make me a worthwhile person. I am much deeper and more valuable than that.....but it is a realistic health goal that will enhance many aspects of my already successful and happy existence. So shut up negative chatterbox and get some nuts and seeds down your whingeing little neck!! He he....

Another form of negative self-talk seems to stem from your brain's ability to say......'Well, you've done GI, Red Days, points counting, gym membership, this that and the other and nothing has really worked so far....and look at your fads.....you go through months where you buy loads of GI, then red day/green day stuff and all this mental focus comes to nothing'. In support of my 'reticular activating system' I have decided to examine some of these 'fads' as stopping off points on my journey. Some of these relate to non-diet based stuff I have trialled.......

• The GI diet 2005: Great weight loss? No....but it did lead to better understanding of the effect of foods with a high GI rating on my physical and mental well being. What have I taken from this? Pulses and lentils have become a staple and this has helped me in the long run


• Going to the Gym every day 2005: Great weigh loss? No....but I did get fitter and it prepared me for the learning I gained from working with Paul Mort about what really works to shift fat. I have also created my own 'gym' by walking whenever I can, doing Bellydance and Pilates weekly and will add to this with Dax Moy's IMT plan



• Red days, green days, points counting: Great weightloss? Yes, 4 stones, though the principle of counting things as sinful foods has ceased to work
  


• Time management and motivational training/reading: Do I consciously stick to every one of these principles every waking moment? No! But my approach to demarcation, quality time, professional time management, getting chores like the ironing and shopping done is fantastic!! I used to be a lazy, disorganised wreck of a woman who never ironed anything til the last minute and had a problem managing tasks and deadlines. For the past three years, I have established a healthy but flexible routine that includes effectiveness at work (demonstrated by a number of promotions leading to the job I want to do), excellent personal grooming, and an organised household which extends to a fridge which is always well stocked with good stuff, a well maintained wardrobe and good routines for cooking, lunch prep etc....total transformation!

I will not forget how far I have come in terms of personal development....
So shut up, negative head

Back later....

Later....Well, my shopping was delivered ......and I excitedly opened the bags to reveal a ton of pure food goodies.....

My vegetable tray doesn't usually look that much different from this, though I added celery hearts and avocados to liven things up a bit. Cherry tomatoes, courgettes and sugar snap peas are staples already

My fridge now looks great, filled with Spinach, bio live Goat's yogurt, chicken and turkey and apple juice for my morning spirulina shake. I also bought goat's butter.....I am scared to eat it, based on the fact that I stopped eating butter or anything similar when I gave up bread ages ago. I would love to enhance some of my meals with butter, and must seek advice from Dax. It is on 'the list' however.

For the freezer, I bought Soya Beans, summer fruits and king prawns.
My store cupboard ingredients contain everything I need to make nutritious, pure and tasty food, from Aubergine Pesto to Harrissa paste and Tamari Soya. In addition to this, I stocked up on a plethora of pulses, nuts and seeds as well as gluten free flour to make my own organic flat breads. Flax seed oil will come in handy when making dressings with Umeboshi plum paste or black olive pate. Looking good!!! I made a fantastic lunch of baked potato served on a bed of raw baby spinach leaves and dressed with umeboshi plum paste, flax seed oil and rice vinegar and topped with a concoction of stir fried carrot slices, pine nuts, chick peas, chicken and aubergine pesto. Extremely tasty and sustaining- three hours later and I only just considering having a few seeds and an apple....back later xxx

Back...and with news of a recipe.....what do you make from Umbrian lentils, turkey breast fillet, carrots, celery, frozen Soya beans, garlic, passata, organic vegetable boullion, onions and black olive pate?

Umbrian lentil stew.....it was lovely.

I started by using my new gluten free flour to make a dough by adding a bit of flax oil and some warm water and mixing until nice and pliable.

I let that stand for a while so I could put my lentils in a pan full of water to boil for 15 minutes. I had time to finely slice some carrots an onions and heat a lump of Goat's butter and a dash of olive oil on my wok (I use my wok to cook everything in the world). To this, I added the carrots, an inch worth of garlic puree and the diced turkey. After a few minutes, I added a teaspoon of my newly acquired black olive pate and allowed the whole lot to cook while I shaped my flat breads. It smelled lovely.

Initially I had hoped that I would get instantly better outcomes than I had with the Soya flour I used last week, though rolling the dough balls into thin breads really isn't an option because without the glutenous pull, they just fall apart. After flailing around a bit, I decided to throw away the rolling pin (not literally) and shape the breads into little patties.

Meanwhile, I added some passata, water, and a teaspoon of bouillon to my wok and checked to see how the lentils were doing. After about 5 minutes I drained them and added them to the wok with my other ingredients along with a cupful of frozen soya beans. While this was bubbling away nicely, I headed a non stick pan which I sprayed with a mist of olive oil and when very hot flung on my flat breads to cook. They turned easily and cooked nicely.

I lined two pasta dished with a good handful of raw spinach and sprinked these with a bit of soya lechithin and a drizzle of flax oil. I usually serve stews and curries on raw spinach and feel it adds texture and colour as well as making the meal look more substantial, especially when serving without rice or grains.

Et Voila......a nice rustic stew and flat bread invented from scratch.

The verdict....really enjoyable but I ate too much. I didn't make quite enough to dish up for lunch so served the whole lot and it was deceptively filling. The butter scares me a bit. I have spent so ling dry frying everything that I wasn't accustomed to the richness of flavour it gives the meal and it felt very, very rich....my hubby said perhaps a bit too rich. I will put less in next time......

In 30 minutes I am going to slowly move through my IMT

schedule and try to commit to memory as much as possible. I have enjoyed having the space and time to do a visual blog today, though time will be limited for the rest of the week.....

I will try and get on to post initial thoughts about the movement thing....

20:58....I did it!!! I had been putting it off to be honest and was scared in case I did something wrong and ended up in traction. The IMT clip is extremely well modelled and easy to follow. The movements are also extremely complimentary to the stuff I am doing in Pilates and even Bellydance.....

I have decided to run through in the evenings tomorrow until I am comfortable with the movement before daring to attempt when I blunder out of bed at 6.15....

Good new is that my day starts and ends at home Thu and Fri so I should be able to get into the twice daily routine ok by then. After all, I said I would be willing to pay the cost didn't I??

Anyway, I have Pilates for an hour tomorrow evening, so I am not really cheating. Until tomorrow xxxx (feeling good!) Jo