Monday, 31-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I have managed to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol by eating according to Mediterranean principles and now I want to maintain this.

It's the end of the month so I had a good go through one of the bags in the freezer, the one with all the odds and ends, leftovers, batch things, etc.  I listed everything and then worked out meals I could cook to use them up.  

The list is:

chicken, veg and lentil curry (made today!)

two cannelloni meals

jacket potato with jazzed up beans

savoury mince (this will be a batch cook, not a meal, using things like garden passata and beef stock)

roast turkey dinner

macaroni cheese

calzone

pizza x 2

lasagne

leek and butterbean soup

They might be dinner or then might be lunch, it really doesn't matter, and I will need to add things like salad or veg, of course, or carbs, maybe.  Some are now planned in for this week and some will be for next week.

What I have eaten today.

Breakfast was so nice.  I chopped some strawberry, kiwi and plum, mixed some mixed seeds, vanilla and sweetener into yogurt and whisked two eggs with some sweetener.

I cooked the egg in my pancake pan, spread the yogurt over it and rolled it up and served it with the rest of the yogurt and the fruit on the side with a sprinkle of sweetener.
It was so filling and absolutely delicious.

One syn for the mixed seeds.

I made the soup yesterday (three portions out of one leek, a can of butterbeans, carrot, onion, chicken stock, garlic and seasonings and a grated some nutmeg over today's serving.  The bread is buckwheat soda bread and it toasted beautifully.

Dessert was an apple.

One healthy extra B for the bread.

I had some odds and ends to use up so I made a curry with onion, pepper, sweet potato, chicken, puy lentils, broad beans, peas, sweet corn, mushrooms and some Sharwood's korma paste, 30% lighter (in other words much less oil).  It made enough for two portions so one is back in the freezer and on the list of Meals to Make/Use.

With it I had some mango chutney and some Greek yogurt plus some wholegrain rice.

It was absolutely delicious!

Afters was an orange

One and a half syns for some evoo, one syn for the korma paste, one and a half syns for the chutney and half a syn for the rice (from a pouch)

Summary:

no healthy extra As today

one healthy extra B

five and a half syns, I think

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  sourdough crumpet, egg, leaves

L:  leek and butterbean soup, grated cheese; fruit

D:  pricy bean and veg cannelloni, side salad; fruit

Exercise:   Groove plus the walk there and back.

Sunday, 30-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I have managed to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol by eating according to Mediterranean principles and now I want to maintain this.

What I have eaten today.

This was nice.  Sourdough started discard makes lovely waffles.

Three syns.

I had a go at a 100% wholemeal sourdough and, obviously, had to taste it.  Six syns.

Gotta love a cheese and chutney toastie!!

One healthy extra A for cheese, one healthy extra B for bread, half a syn for coleslaw, one syn for mixed seeds and two syns for evoo in the salad dressing.

Afters was a couple of easy peelers.

Dinner was a simple 'roast' using some turkey thigh meat from the freezer.

Two syns for the gravy but I'm not counting the cranberry sauce because it was home made with sweetener, not sugar

Atfers was an apple.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

fourteen and a half syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  sweet omelette with fruit and yogurt

L:  leek and butterbean soup; fruit

D:  chicken curry and rice; fruit

Exercise:   Circuits class

Saturday, 29-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I have managed to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol by eating according to Mediterranean principles and now I want to maintain this.

Apologies for yesterday.  I just took a day off photo-ing, etc.  No, I wasn't sulking after gaining one pound at Slimming World, I was just really weary, kept falling asleep and just - well - couldn't be bothered.  So sorry.

I did photo dinner - hm pizza and coleslaw.  NOT on plan and the base is definitely a Work in Progress but it was really nice.  A shame about the indigestion.

Back now, back on it, back to basics of SW and Mediterranean principles and on we go!

What I have eaten today.

For breakfast, I had scrambled egg on a wholemeal crumpet with tomatoes and mushrooms on the side - really tasty.

One healthy extra B

For lunch, as I had some baked beans left over, I baked a potato, scooped out the potato and mashed it with seasoning and two cheese triangles, loaded it back in and tried to brown the top - not terribly successfully, as   you can see.  I had this with a salad and the left over beans.  Very simple and filling.

Afters was an apple and later on I had an orange.

Half a healthy extra A for the cheese triangles, one syn for mixed seeds and two syns for evoo in the salad dressing.

For dinner, I made my favourite chicken penne arrabbiata.  There was some coleslaw left over from yesterday so I had that on the side.

Three syns for half a tsp olive oil, one and a half syns for olives and half a healthy extra A for some grated parmesan.

Summary:

one healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

seven and a half syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  Sourdough waffles, fruit and yogurt

L:  roast turkey dinner; fruit

I have some turkey thigh meat in stock so can use that.

D:  toastie and salad

Exercise:   rest day

Thursday, 27-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I have managed to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol by eating according to Mediterranean principles and now I want to maintain this.

What I have eaten today.

I changed my mind and had baked beans in the breakfast omelette instead.   It was delicious.

Half a syn for a squirt of Crucials brown sauce.

Lunch was the last of the ham and yellow split pea soup with a sourdough roll for dunking.  Very flavoursome.

I had an orange and an apple for afters.

One healthy extra B and a bit of an A for the cheese triangle I stirred in.

I didn't know what I fancied for dinner but I thawed half a chicken breast fillet so I cooked that with some Montreal steak seasoning (peppery/spicy and very tasty) and then broke it into bits.  I fried some onion, pepper, mushroom and tomatoes, added garlic and seasoning, tipped in the chicken and then some of a pouch of wholegrain rice.  Dead easy and surprisingly tasty.
The rest of the rice is now in the freezer.

Dessert was a pear.

One syn for a quarter of the pouch of rice and three syns for some evoo.

Summary:

part of a healthy extra A

one healthy extra B

four and a half syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  discard waffles, fruit and yogurt

L:  jacket potato with beans, side salad; fruit

D:  home made pizza, coleslaw, salad; fruit

Exercise:   rest day

Wednesday, 26-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  I have managed to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol by eating according to Mediterranean principles and now I want to maintain this.

Slight confession - after I had posted yesterday, I had some cashews.  Very heart healthy and good but they sent the syns rocketing.  I'm not that fussed.  If I gain on Friday, I gain, but I have been eating good, healthy stuff since the weekend and that's the most important thing.  

What I have eaten today.

Breakfast - and very nice too.  Syn free.

I'm doing the rest a bit differently because I made  'elements' that contributed to both lunch and dinner.

The bulger wheat had olives for one syn, sundried tomato for one syn, feta for one healthy A and seeds for part of a healthy B plus tuna, lime juice and so on.

The coleslaw  had one syn for salad cream and seeds for part of my B

The jacket potato had one syn for a cheese triangle and one syn for salad cream as well as the tuna and one A for grated cheese.

The mixed salad had more of my healthy B in seeds plus three syns for evoo in the dressing.

Phew!

So - super delicious lunch, absolutely packed with healthy stuff that was also great to eat.  Filling too, so, so filling.

And ditto for dinner.  I so enjoyed the tuna cheese stuffed jacket and I was looking forward to finishing off the salads.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

eight syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  omelette with mushrooms, tomatoes and leaves

L:  soup, croutons; fruit

The last, I think, from the freezer.

D:  chicken escalope and salad; fruit

Exercise:   SET in the morning and Groove in the afternoon, both online.  The Groove class is because I missed the Monday circuits and when you miss a class, you can have another one to make up, providing it is in the same block - and this week is the last week of this block.

Tuesday, 25-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  At present, I am working to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol through diet, particularly using the Mediterranean way of eating.

What I have eaten today.

The first sampling of the sourdough discard crumpets I made the other day and just wow.  I will be making them again, for sure.

I used a rye sourdough so am counting it as a healthy extra B.  Discard is 50% flour, 50% water so it works more or less - maybe a little less than a B but I'm not fussing.

One healthy extra B

I had made some wholemeal rolls and I taste tested one for four syns (because I can't call it a B!)

Lunch was a soup from the freezer - I've nearly used all my freezer soups now which pleases me.  I wasn't the biggest portion in the world so I also put together as nibble platter.

I had an orange for afters.

One healthy extra B for a cheese triangle in the soup.

Dinner was lovely.  The other half of the chunky sauce I made yesterday which did have lamb in it - I must have added the lamb before splitting it into two portions - so I didn't add beans.  I cooked some broccoli, added it to the veg and lamb sauce, poured over a portion of the cheesy white bean sauce and topped it with cheese before baking it in the oven.  It was so, so good.

I had some grapes for afters.

Two healthy extra As (for cheese and the bean sauce), half a syn for a few olives and I think that was it.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

four and a half syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  fruit

L:  Mediterranean salad; fruit

D:  cheesy tuna jacket potato with side salad; fruit

Exercise:   personal training

Monday, 24-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  At present, I am working to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol through diet, particularly using the Mediterranean way of eating.

Today went well, thank goodness, but I do need to address these sessions of eating rubbish.  It's not the eating part, it's the fact that it's ultra processed rubbish.  Really not good for me and I do want to look after myself because, if I don't, who will?  

I got busy in the kitchen, sorting out today's meals, and I also made another batch of Roy's white bean sauce for the freezer- it is such a useful thing to have to hand and prepping stuff always helps me get back on track again.

What I have eaten today.

I didn't want or need a big breakfast so I had this.

Part of a B for mixed seeds.

I made an ad hoc soup with half a can of Mutti chopped tomato pulp (so good), onion, carrot, chicken stock powder, garlic, salt, pepper and one level tbsp red lentils.  When that was all done and blended smooth, I added one light cheese triangle and melted that in - it makes a surprising difference!

It made a lot and I had the lot with a sprinkle of seeds on the top.  Lovely!

The soup was syn free, the triangle part of an A and the seeds were part of a B

I needed to use up the lamb defrosted yesterday so I softened onion, pepper and mushrooms, added the other half of the can of tomato with some garlic, chilli flakes and seasonings, stirred in some cooked fusilli, a few chopped cornichons and some olives and the lamb, added some mixed seeds and let it cool.  I reheated it at dinner time, topped it with grated cheese and enjoyed it with some sprouts and broccoli.

(The sauce actually gave me two portions - I spooned half off before adding the pasta and the lamb

One A for the cheese, part of a B for the mixed seeds and one and a half syns for the olives

Summary:

one and a bit healthy extra As

half a healthy extra B

one and a half syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  toasted crumpet with egg on top, mushrooms and tomatoes

L:  soup from the freezer; fruit

D:  bean and veg sauce with veg and a cheese sauce topping; fruit

the idea is to add beans to the leftover sauce, spoon it over some cooked broccoli, top it with cheese sauce and enjoy.

Exercise:   Groove and the walk there and back

Sunday, 23-03-25 Confession.

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  At present, I am working to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol through diet, particularly using the Mediterranean way of eating.

Apologies for last night's non-appearance.  I was tired, not feeling great and (or because) after I came out of the theatre (watching a filmed live showing of RBOs Romeo and Juliet) it was half an hour until the bus arrived and I was cold and hungry and fell into the trap of going to the Tesco at the bus station and buying - let's be honest - utter cr*p and pigging the lot through the evening instead of my carefully planned dinner.

I felt really low about it but, after a bad night sleep and digestion wise, I have picked myself up, given myself a talking to (still not feeling great, either physically or mentally but it will get better), spent an hour reusing what I prepped for yesterday so not today's meals are all sorted and prepped and we move on.  I'm just very glad the blood pressure readings and the blood test are all done and dusted.

I can't be the only one who does this from time to time, can I?

Please read the stuff below as if this was posted yesterday evening.  I wrote most of it before going to the ballet.

What I have eaten today.

The breakfast smoothie was lovely.  I blended together 20g oats, a tsp chia seeds, a good splodge or two of 0% yogurt, some water, frozen nectarine and cherries and fresh strawberries plus sweetener and just let it sit for ten minutes or so for the oats to thicken.
It was delicious and it was filling and will be great on those hot summer days that are coming.
Yes, they are!

Three syns for the oats (I am having my B for lunch) and one syn for the chia seeds.

The lunch time toastie was chutney, cheese and some shredded lamb.  Really delicious!

One healthy extra A, one B, one and a half syns for the chutney and one for salad cream in the coleslaw.

I'm not going into details about the evening - too triggering.

Line drawn (again).  

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  fruit and yogurt

L:  tomato and lentil soup; fruit

D:  lamb pasta bake with sprouts and broccoli

(using the roast lamb I defrosted and am certainly not going to waste

Exercise:   I cancelled circuits but will try and do something this afternoon.

Saturday, 22-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  At present, I am working to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol through diet, particularly using the Mediterranean way of eating.

What I have eaten today. 

My first efforts at sourdough starter waffles and, yes, it works.  I added a bit more rye flour to some discard plus an egg, some yogurt, some baking powder, some water and flavourings (vanilla and sweetener) and they came out really well.

I'm calling it one healthy extra B because I am sure it was more than 20g flour

(I call wholemeal/grain flour a B for 40g.  Not SW canon)

Someone in our SW group tried a crustless quiche whisking cheese triangles into the egg and said it was really nice so I thought I'd give it a go and see.  I included onion, peppers and mushrooms from last night and made coleslaw and a mixed salad.  

The cheese triangle will either be one syn of a bit of a healthy extra A, depending on how much cheese I add to the lasagne (already one A).  I had one syns worth of mixed seeds, Half a syn for chia seeds in the egg mixture two syns for evoo on the salad and one syn for salad cream in the coleslaw, total of five and a half syns.

I had a mid afternoon snack of four syns worth of raw cashews

The lasagne was from the freezer, I've had it before and it is was healthy extra A.  

Afters was an orange and a small easy peeler.

One syn for the coleslaw and another healthy extra A for more cheese.

Summary:

two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

ten and a half syns

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  oat smoothie

Blended fruit isn't supposed to be free, you should syn it.  I don't because it contains lots of good stuff - oats, yogurt and fruit, and they are all measured amounts.  And it's a meal, not a snack or a 'drink'.  But that's just me - it's not SW canon so decide for yourself.

L:  toastie, salad; fruit

My usual Sunday evening meal and I will reserve some of the roast lamb to have in the toastie.

D:  roast lamb dinner; fruit

Using roast lamb from the freezer

Exercise:   rest day

Friday, 21-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  At present, I am working to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol through diet, particularly using the Mediterranean way of eating.

Weigh in this morning and I lost one and a half pounds.  One to go to get back into happy zone.  Can I do it this week - I'll give it a darn good go anyway!

And I just checked NHS online on the off chance that my blood test results were through.  They were and it just said 'all liver function tests satisfactory, no further action needed' or words to that effect.

I'm not totally sure that means cholesterol levels so I asked Google (as you do) and . . .

The cholesterol test and liver function test are related, as the liver produces cholesterol, and elevated cholesterol levels can have an effect on liver function. Knowing your cholesterol level will indicate whether or not you need to take action to improve it.

It looks like the changes I made have done the trick.  Woo hoo - I am so, so happy about that. 

What I have eaten today.

Well, I had a go at making that cottage cheese wrap and, as you can see, it isn't.   It was, however, rather delicious with seasonings of salt, pepper, garlic granules and some Cajun spice. Worth trying again, maybe in a pan on the hob rather than in the oven because it was absolutely delicious!

It filled me up and kept me full for ages.  

Syn free too!

I had planned some avo and egg on toast for lunch but after such a filling breakfast I wasn't feeling it so I held off and when I did feel a bit hungry, I had this.  I got the bar when I went shopping, just the one, and it was lovely.  Multiple syns but not over - going by the calories it would be twelve syns but it could be partly a B because of the nuts.  This is where SW gets complicated if you overthink it.

I mentioned earlier last week that I was having a go at making a sourdough starter and yesterday/today I made my first loaf.  

I've made bread for decades but never been successful with sourdough - until March 2025.  I'm very, very proud of it.

You have to try something like that, don't you, and it was delicious.  What I had was the weight equivalent of a B although it isn't, of course.  So today is a bit of a muddle but not to worry, it won't have done all that much harm

Dinner.
All I did for this was stir fry red onion, sliced mixed peppers and sliced mushrooms with some chicken, garlic granules and some fajita spice, air fry some chips and serve the two together with cheese over the top and some watercress on the side.

One and a half healthy extra As and a really nice Friday Fakeaway.

I'm not doing a summary today - it's too complicated - but it's definitely been an eat your syns Friday and some!!

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  sourdough discard waffles (an attempt, anyway) with fruit and yogurt.  And if the waffles don't work, I can just have fruit and yogurt!

L:  cheese spread crustless quiche

I have done extra veg for dinner tonight so I can use that tomorrow in the quiche.

D:  hm lasagne, side salad; fruit

Exercise:   SET online

Thursday, 20-03-25

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog where I talk about my ongoing Slimming World and associated health journeys.  At present, I am working to reduce my 'bad' cholesterol through diet, particularly using the Mediterranean way of eating.

Blood test done, now to wait for the results.    It's a relief to get it done.  

Weigh in tomorrow so ditto - today has felt very 'waity'.

What I have eaten today.

A rather late breakfast of strawberries, raspberries and peach/nectarine slices, all from the freezer, topped with chia seeds and yogurt.

One syn for the chia seeds.

Some very tasty hm and yellow split pea soup with some sourdough croutons.

Some of a healthy extra A for a bit of milk in the soup and one B for the croutons.

For dinner, I roasted some veg and some chicken in evoo and a chicken seasoning for a while, then added tomatoes and mushrooms and finally some feta cheese.  It was nice.

One and a bit healthy extra As and six syns for the evoo.

Summary:

nearly two healthy extra As

one healthy extra B

seven syns 

Tomorrow's meal plans:

B:  egg and cottage cheese 'wrap' - thought I would try the latest weird trend - with tomatoes and mushrooms

L:  avo and egg on sourdough toast, salad; fruit

D:  loaded fajita fries, salad; fruit

A sort of fake-away type thing.

Exercise:   a walk