02-01-25 and a Zoe podcast

Hi, everyone!  It is still the Christmas season chez moi and will continue to be so until Twelfth Night, so I make no apologies for the ongoing Festive vibe in here. 

Having said that, I am trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to get back on track.

I'll be weighing myself tomorrow morning rather than at group and I'm not expecting good news.  No worry though because I know exactly what to do and I have all the tools I need.  I really appreciate being in a good place, despite the ups and downs.

I have four weeks until I have to weigh at group to keep my membership and then another week of grace to get back into my happy zone.   Will that be enough?  Goodness knows but I'm giving it a good go anyway!  :-)

What I ate today:

Breakfast of smashed avo on a toasted bagel with smoked salmon, tomato and lettuce.  Delicious!

One healthy extra B and two and and half syns for the avocado.

A delicious carrot and lentil soup for lunch - onion, carrots, red lentils, fresh (and frozen) chicken stock, old bay spice, garlic granules and seasonings.  Boil it all up and blend it all down.  Delicious!

I've discovered I have some ham stock in the freezer - that will make a nice soup with lentils another time.

Syn free.

Later on I had three small easy peelers.

Dinner was also lovely.  I made a penne arrabbiata using a bit of tomato soup/sauce I found in the freezer plus onion, mushroom, pepper, tomatoes, olives, some shredded ham trimmings, chilli flakes, garlic and penne pasta.  When that was all ready I covered it with cheese and browned it under the grill.  It made two generous (as you can see) portions to have with a salad.

One and a half healthy extra As, two syns for salad dressing, one and a half syns for a few olives and two syns for a tsp evoo.

Summary (the first for a while!):

one and a half healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

eight syns, mostly for evoo

Tomorrow's plans:

B:  oat pancakes with fruit and yogurt

L:  penne arrabbiata leftovers, salad; fruit

D:  steak, sweet potato fries, salad or veg; fruit

Exercise:  squats and a Lindsey video

The Extra Bit:

I watched the new Zoe podcast on YouTube this morning and found it really good and helpful.

Prof. Tim Spector and Prof. Sarah  Berry talk about how to eat in 2025:  science backed tips to make this year a healthy one.

It was interesting and really informative so I will post the link below and just mention the seven tips.

1.  Reduce ultra processed foods.  Obviously, this one had to be there, didn't it?

2.  Have an eating window.  Even reducing your eating window to ten hours (which is quite generous really has considerable healthy benefits.

3.  Stop counting calories , they don't work.  Interestingly, Dr Chris van Tulleken talked about this in the last of his three RI Science Lectures too - which were brilliant, well worth watching, link to iPlayer below.

4.  Change your drink habits.

5.  Eat more plants, but you can still eat meat.  Aim for 30 different plants per week and eat less but good quality meats.

6.  Stop worrying about getting enough protein and focus on increasing fibre.

7.  Snack smarter.

Here's the YouTube link to the podcast.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRxbxmjjjdw

And here's the link to the third of the RI Christmas Lectures - although they are all worth watching if you are interested in the science of food.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0026b2r/royal-institution-christmas-lectures-2024-chris-van-tulleken-the-truth-about-food-3-the-big-food-hack.