Monday, 03-09-18 and a think!

Good morning.

I was having a think yesterday (as you do from time to time when life is slack).
Most of this my regular readers already know but it has helped me to write it out and will explain the recent background for my new readers.  Please feel free to skip down to today's meal plans which are down at the bottom.

Last year I was getting more and more stressed about my food and my weight and so on and so forth.
Then, at the beginning of November I had an attack of the gallbladder and was in hospital for four days, initially because they thought it was cardiac trouble and then because they discovered I had an internal infection that needed sorting urgently.  At the same time they found I had very high blood pressure and 'thick' blood so I was on meds for both of those.
On the plus side, my heart was fine.

It was a real wake up call for me.  At first it was scary because cardiac - you know . . .
Once I knew it wasn't that, it became less scary but still worrying and I knew I only had myself to blame really.

On the list for surgery, I spent the next four months on a fairly restrictive low/no fat and few spices diet which was initially challenging but fun to work out and which kept me off naughty things like wine, crisps, biscuits, cheese, etc because when I did indulge it hurt, oh, how it hurt!

Then, prior to surgery I was put on the liver shrinking diet which did just what it says, making it easier for the surgeon to get round the liver to the gallbladder.  That was even more restrictive - I called it a low everything diet but my, how the weight dropped off.  It was fun to work out how to eat interesting meals under those conditions but rather repetitive and I got totally fed up of eggs.

Once I'd recovered from the op, everything was available again, nothing was banned and I found I had developed somewhat distorted views of what I could and couldn't eat.  I found it quite hard to stick to planning all the time, despite posting in this blog, and rather lost focus.  A bit of weight went back on and I missed having those discomfort boundaries (which sounds daft, I know).  I was still restricting unnecessarily and inconsistently, felt hungry in the evening and . . . well, you know!  It wasn't a disaster but slowly, softly, the weight started creeping back and I really, honestly, didn't want to go back to how I was.  Panic started setting in a bit.

That's why I decided to do something I have always resisted because, as a concept, I don't think slimming clubs work.  If they did, everyone would be slim.  At bottom, whatever they say, they are profit makers.

I joined Slimming World because two friends, one in real life and one online, said some very good things about the way this particular system works.  They said it was basically easy once you got the labels in your head and the boundaries really helped them.  The 'real life' friend had me round and went through all her stuff - books, leaflets, etc, explaining how it has worked for her, what she found difficult (not much) and what was easy and helpful and, best of all, how she has kept the weight off for a year now.  I owe her!

So I've done a week plus a few days and, so far, all's well.  The whole free, speed, healthy extras and syns outline is making it easier, especially as I get to grips with things.  I've always been a make-it-at-home person so there's no fuzzy 'convenience' foods to get my head round.  Their cookery books are actually really good and there's loads of recipes and info online too, through their web site and various easy to search for blogs.

I needed to change the way I plan the week's meals but the new way is no more difficult, it just ensures I have included all the elements I need to include each day.  Their own planning sheet didn't suit me at all so it's just as well I am au fait with Tables!

The one thing I am concerned about is that it could easily become expensive to do but again, cooking from scratch means that I can adapt and modify so that it doesn't become overly so.    I need to keep an eye on this though as I really want to remain as frugal as possible.

End of back story.

My food plans for today:
B:  overnight oats as yesterday
The last portion of a batch of three portions that I made to tide me over the weekend. 
SW:  the healthy extra A is the cheese for lunch so I have synned the milk

L:  cheese and potato cakes, salad
A new recipe so I'll let you know.  It looks fairly frugal, the most costly part being the cheese and that's not too bad
SW: the cheese is my healthy extra A and I have synned some salad cream.

D:  corn on the cob, chicken fajita pasta, maybe salad too
Another new recipe - I'm pushing the recipe boat out today.  Not really frugal but not expensive either, the dearest being the chicken as I buy kind chicken now.  My choice.
I prefer my corn just as it comes, no butter, which is just as well!
SW:  free unless I add something else that isn't a free food.

S:  tomatoes and fruit
The tomatoes are garden grown and the apples are from the allotment.


When Jackie came over last week she brought with her a bag of cooking apples from her garden and left with a bag of tomatoes from my garden!  Today I shall blanch and open freeze them - that is always useful to have come the winter.

Also, Dad gave me five cobs of corn from his garden.  Three will go in the freezer, I think, and I'll have one tonight and one later on in the week.  The bag of blackberries I have also been gifted will mostly turn into blackberry jam at some point, although I'll keep a few aside to go with the apples.

The freezer is rapidly filling again!