Why this variation of the 5:2 diet works for me!

Monday means JUICE DAY! Yaay!

I'm on my eighth week since I began juicing 2 days a week and at last I've found a way of eating that's healthy and works for me!

So far I've lost 1stone 2 lbs (16 lbs)

and I'm feeling pretty pleased with this.  The main reason is that I can fit it around my lifestyle...

I actually look forward to my two days of juicing, I feel it somehow grounds me and keeps all the healthy nutrients constantly feeding and re energising me on a weekly basis. 

 For the following 3 days I eat juice for breakfast and then two 'clean' meals...weekend anything goes!!

This means I can go out for Sunday lunch with all the trimmings have a glass of wine and even like this Sunday have the pud!  I'm keeping  dessert to Sundays as I've realised that wheat is a big no no for me. 

Within 2 days of eating, bread or cake my skin begins to tingle and small itchy white spots appear on my thumb and fingers.  Keeping wheat out of my diet, I have no problems. I don't think I'm gluten intolerant, just sensitive for some reason.  At least I've stumbled on the solution by accident if not by design!

living on the edge...

Decided to continue living dangerously...

So after reading all the hyperbole on the dangers of a juicy lifestyle and all the nutrients I'm not feeding my body on 'netdoctor', I decided to  do a count up, of exactly what my juices consisted of yesterday. (Mondays are day 1 of my 5:2 juice diet)

Juice 1 

1 apple - vit c, anti oxidants, soluble fibre

2 pears- copper,vit.C&K, phenolic phytonutrients including   antioxidants, anti inflammatory flavonoids,soluble fibre

A quarter of a cucumber- sodium, potassium

2 spears asparagus-vit.B,C,E &K,   calcium,magnesium,zinc,protein,beta carotene, thiamine and riboflavin

Avocado (100g)- several B vits., vit.K,C &E, potassium, 'good' fats

Juice 2

1 apple (see above)

1 pear (see above)

A quarter of cucumber (see above)

Handful of fresh mint -Vit A,C & B-complex vitamins.

Juice 3  

This juice looks so innocent,
but with the combination of chili and ginger
it definitely qualifies for living on the edge!

1 apple (see above)

Half a pineapple -Vit C,B1&B6, copper,manganese,folate and bromelain

Half a mango-Vit A,B6,C,&E, flavonoids and potassium

Red Chili-  Vit. C, potassium,magnesium,iron,

Lime-Vit C,calcium,iron,copper

Raw ginger-Vit C,magnesium,potassium,copper,manganese

Juice 4

1 beetroot - Vit C, iron, potassium,manganese (renowned for cleansing the liver and the blood, reduces high blood pressure)

2 carrots -mineral salts such as potassium,cobalt,iron  magnesium,copper, phosphorus

1 parsnip- Vit.B, C, E&K, potassium, zinc,iron,phosphorus, manganese,magnesium,

A lovely sweet juice to finish the day with!

Raw ginger (see above)   

So it comes as no surprise that I definitely never felt hungry, I had no bloating or stomach cramps. I had lots of energy and I'm sleeping like a baby. Plus signs and symptoms of a cold I had over the weekend have disappeared altogether without trace!

Too dangerous to live on juice...bring it on!

Too much juicing can be dangerous...because what about the carbohydrate or the protein?

It's an amazing fact, that the minute you begin telling people you're eating healthily... i.e. juicing they tell you about the dangers!! 

An article on  'netdoctor' asks what about the carbohydrate? Yes we need it but not in vast quantities and what does it do?  Well it's easily converted to glucose giving instant energy and often more than the body can cope with so it stores it as fat!  

Juices give you fructose, so lots of energy, but a natural more complex sugar, but for some reason 'net doctor' thinks all your teeth will drop out if you drink juiced 'dangerous' fruits!

What about the protein? Well lots of veg have protein e.g. peas, spinach, kale, broccoli all firm favourites for juicing. But not only do they contain protein it's all the other lovely goodies, vitamins, minerals, anti oxidants etc. Blend your juices with avocados and not only do you get a creamy lush juice, but you get fibre, 'good' fats, protein and loads of minerals e.g potassium. 

Even without the avocado, juices contain soluble fibre which remains in the juice. So scaremongering about bloating and bowel problems are ridiculous. 

And there's also the story someone can't wait to tell you (when they find out your juicing) of a friend of a friend who knew someone who juiced and turned orange!!

Well yes, this is possible...but only if they'd drank nothing but carrots for weeks and weeks! Even the most hardened juicer isn't likely to do that!

Strangely, no one seems to comment if your eating foods high in trans fats. So this is most cakes,pies biscuits. They're not too bothered if you eat foods high in refined sugars either, sauces,jams,yogurts, canned fruit, breakfast cereals, ice cream ... 

Because after all, that's normal! Eating ourselves into an early grave!

Move over Jamie Oliver...Jason is the new kid on the block!

My most used cookbook...and it's not Jamie Oliver, The Hairy Bikers, Mary Berry or even good Old Delia!

Jason Vale super fast food

Jason Vale has become my 'go to' every time! His recipes are easy, delicious but most of all made in minutes!!  

Take last Friday, it was wet,windy and miserable.  I'd already got soaked walking the dog and I just wanted to stay inside in the warm comfort of my own home... I definitely didn't want to go out and buy stuff for the evening meal. 

It was going to have to be something that I had all the ingredients for and I didn't want to spend hours in the kitchen (some days there are better things to do especially when you've just bought a new crime novel and can't wait to start reading it!) So it had to be quick!

A quick check in the pantry and the fridge and I decided to make Jason's veggie chilli.

I've made it before and it's super speedy and tasty, real comfort food on a miserable March day.

I've made most of the recipes now and they all work. In the intro to his book Jason says, 

'I want this book to get worn, stained and scruffy' 

Jason would be proud of me...I've certainly achieved that! 

Oh and the crime novel I couldn't wait to read, Sarah Ward's           'A deadly thaw' 

A deadly thaw

This is Sarah's 2nd novel, the first being 'In bitter chill' which I loved. Some 2nd novels sometimes disappoint, not this one, a real page turner!

Exercise is it really good for you?

Ok so I've changed my eating habits and I'm losing weight...what about this exercise thing? 

I've been giving a lot of thought to exercise recently and what or whether  I should increase mine? Exercise for me is dog walking, about an hour a day and then general household tasks, spring summer and autumn this includes gardening.  But is this enough and is exercise really that beneficial?

Every weight loss story I read describes the misery of 'fat' and  the bliss of 'thin' and somewhere along the weight loss journey is the discovery of the joy of exercising.  So I fully expected the desire to exercise...to suddenly kick in...right about now actually. 

To date I've lost 1 stone 1 lb (15 lb) so I was expecting to suddenly jump out of bed with all this new found energy, grab my trainers and be doing laps around the block! It just hasn't happened for me, hence booking in for Yoga the 'gentle soothing' exercise... yeah right.   

So why am I doing it?  Especially when research states that the effect of exercise on any single health risk factor i.e. high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes is generally small.

Well, because research also shows that, combined with other lifestyle changes such as; proper nutrition, cutting down on refined sugars etc. the effects can be dramatic!

I've found the eating plan that works for me...lots of lovely juices, and meals that contain delicious nutrient dense foods.  Now to suss out the best exercise plan for me...

Anyone for aqua salsa! ( And no I haven't just made that up!)

Yoga the gentle form of exercise....oh really!

According to the 'NHS live well', yoga doesn't count towards your 150 minutes of exercise!

Apparently it's not strenuous enough!! And so, feeling fairly confident that it wouldn't be too difficult I signed up for a course. I wasn't interested in all the 'mumbo jumbo' finding my happy place etc.  I was just interested in the 'gentle, soothing' exercises...

I don't know who assesses exercise for the 'NHS live well', bur they obviously weren't 62 and the last time they exercised was back in the 90's when they took two days to recover.  It is definitely not for wimps, pulling, stretching all those muscles that a.) I didn't know I had and b.) haven't worked for years. 

By the time I finally collapsed on the mat for the last 15 minutes of relaxation, I didn't care about any 'mumbo jumbo' I'd definitely found my 'happy' place!

Honestly, if I hadn't paid up front for my lessons I think I'd have chickened out of continuing.  The next session was slightly easier...and I can now touch the floor with my finger tips! Yaay! Ok I know everyone else get their palms on the floor with ease...but small steps...  

I have noticed farting can be a side effect of all this relaxation, so note to self NO mung beans and lentils the day before classes!  

10 fruit and veg a day...but juicing doesn't count!!!

Qualified dieticians now tell us having your 5 a day isn't enough...it has to be 10! But forget counting on juicing! 

This study into the benefits of chomping your way through 10 portions of fruit and veg involved  2 million people. The conclusions were that increasing from 5 to 10 portions a day, vastly increases life expectancy. So far so good... avid juicers have been saying that for years!

For most people 5 fruit and veg a day is often a struggle (particularly if they eat fast food and ready meals)  10... is an impossibility.   So it seems obvious that juicing is an easy and delicious solution.

But for some reason that I really can't work out, according to the 'experts' a freshly extracted juice can only be counted as one portion because of the lack of fibre!

So yet again, 'experts' are giving us confusing information! The nutrients contained in fruits and veg are beneficial to health, yet it's good for you but only with the fibre...Why? 

Juices still contain soluble fibre. And the insoluble fibre you lose when juicing is indigestible and only used by the body to push the poop out, actually the insoluble fibre works the same way...(Ok enough information!) 

So...as we don't digest the fibre it seems common sense that it isn't where we get our nutrition from.  If it was then why bother with fruit and veg, just munch your way through 10 bowls of bran flakes!

So I'm counting all the fruit and veg in my juices as well as my meals.

My fruit and veg count for today... 

breakfast: pineapple, mango, banana 

lunch:  spinach, lettuce, mixed salad leaves, avocado,                        olives, tomatoes

dinner: chiles,onions, red peppers,sugar snap peas,ginger

This was my delicious blended breakfast juice:
mango, pineapple, banana and coconut water...
delicious!

Juicing just makes having your 10 and eating them soooo easy!