1. Thursday is market day. I didn't manage to get there before work this morning, but work close enough to home that I could drive home and go to the fruit and veg stall in my lunchtime.
2. On impulse I bought a load of limes for £1. I now need to think what I can make with 32 limes!
3. I am knitting a shawl to a pattern I made up myself. Apart from the fact that I miscounted so the central line is off-centre, I am very pleased with it.
4. I am also trying to finish the top I started as my August project. Then I shall get on with the cardigan I started as my September project. The shawl is my October project - there is over a week of October left, but I need to buy more yarn before I can finish it off.
5. I am growing my hair again - it is now long enough to plait properly and for it to stay in a plait all day (or overnight). I have not yet decided if I'm going to let it get to waist/hip length again, but will see how it goes.
6. On that note, my hair and nails have grown incredibly fast over the summer this year - I am taking this as another sign of improved health (if I needed one).
7. At the moment I am very glad that dark fair-trade chocolate is an exception to my unprocessed eating. Otherwise I might have gone completely off the rails this week as my hormones run riot.
8. I am glad I made the decision not to make presents for everyone for Christmas this year, even if only because it's teaching me it's much harder to think of things to give and find them at a reasonable price than it is to make them.
9. This means I may start making Christmas presents in January next year!
10. My current read is The Murder at the Vicarage. It is not from my to-read shelf, but I grabbed it when I needed a comfort read the other evening - there's nothing like a good murder for that ;)
Showing posts with label October Unprocessed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label October Unprocessed. Show all posts
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Sunday, 16 October 2011
An update
Well, if I can't manage a blog post in my week off work, there's no hope for me really, is there!
Two weeks into eating unprocessed food and it's mostly going well. There was one evening when I was making a late night sandwich after realising I'd not had any dinner and I had almost finished eating it when I realised I'd put Marmite on it, which I guess isn't in the unprocessed column. Yesterday and today I have been craving chocolate, but the only chocolate I have in the house, while I'm sure very nice, does not count under my exceptions. I've also eaten out a couple of times this week, which come under exceptions. I've tried to pick the best options from the menu apart maybe from a scoop of mint-choc-chip ice cream.
I'm discovering that some evenings I think I don't feel like cooking, but if I can make myself go into the kitchen and get started, I enjoy it. There's something soothing & relaxing about chopping vegetables and stirring pans of stuff - and if the result is delicious (as last night's ratatouille which I nearly didn't start cooking) , then it's even better!
In non-food news, I have been knitting a shawl for a Christmas present. I had decided not to make any presents this year, but this one has slipped in. I was very pleased with how it was turning out, but then discovered I'd managed to miscount right at the beginning and get my centre in the wrong place. I am attempting some fudging to get it right because I couldn't face ripping it all out and starting again. If it doesn't look right when it's finished I shall keep it for myself and knit another one - quite tempting anyway as it is a beautiful colour and so soft and snuggly!
Two weeks into eating unprocessed food and it's mostly going well. There was one evening when I was making a late night sandwich after realising I'd not had any dinner and I had almost finished eating it when I realised I'd put Marmite on it, which I guess isn't in the unprocessed column. Yesterday and today I have been craving chocolate, but the only chocolate I have in the house, while I'm sure very nice, does not count under my exceptions. I've also eaten out a couple of times this week, which come under exceptions. I've tried to pick the best options from the menu apart maybe from a scoop of mint-choc-chip ice cream.
I'm discovering that some evenings I think I don't feel like cooking, but if I can make myself go into the kitchen and get started, I enjoy it. There's something soothing & relaxing about chopping vegetables and stirring pans of stuff - and if the result is delicious (as last night's ratatouille which I nearly didn't start cooking) , then it's even better!
In non-food news, I have been knitting a shawl for a Christmas present. I had decided not to make any presents this year, but this one has slipped in. I was very pleased with how it was turning out, but then discovered I'd managed to miscount right at the beginning and get my centre in the wrong place. I am attempting some fudging to get it right because I couldn't face ripping it all out and starting again. If it doesn't look right when it's finished I shall keep it for myself and knit another one - quite tempting anyway as it is a beautiful colour and so soft and snuggly!
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Food, glorious food
I have got through Day 2 of October Unprocessed unscathed! Banana for late breakfast, bread with cheese & roasted red pepper chutney for lunch and roasted stuffed peppers for dinner. But today is still the weekend. The test will be if I can manage it when I'm working all week. Lunch for tomorrow is already sorted, as husband decided against the stuffed peppers for dinner, so I shall take his rejects - is it wrong to be looking forward to my lunch tomorrow already?
I had a go at making dried apple rings today. Not entirely a success, but the results are edible and I shall give it another go while there is a surplus of apples and see if I can improve on today's effort. I shall take some to work with me a snack. I'm also going to fill a tub with nuts & raisins etc. to take with me. On Friday, I warned the colleague who sits opposite me that there will no longer be a bag of minstrels on my desk for those emergency chocolate moments! Then I just need to make sure I have an unprocessed meal when I get home in the evening, which will probably be the most challenging time of the day.
Other than thinking about food, today has mostly been about knitting hexagons. Still no camera software on my computer (I was told why, but didn't really pay attention to the explanation), so no hexagon photos yet. The current hexagon is being knitted from pink sparkly yarn. I like sparkly things.
I had a go at making dried apple rings today. Not entirely a success, but the results are edible and I shall give it another go while there is a surplus of apples and see if I can improve on today's effort. I shall take some to work with me a snack. I'm also going to fill a tub with nuts & raisins etc. to take with me. On Friday, I warned the colleague who sits opposite me that there will no longer be a bag of minstrels on my desk for those emergency chocolate moments! Then I just need to make sure I have an unprocessed meal when I get home in the evening, which will probably be the most challenging time of the day.
Other than thinking about food, today has mostly been about knitting hexagons. Still no camera software on my computer (I was told why, but didn't really pay attention to the explanation), so no hexagon photos yet. The current hexagon is being knitted from pink sparkly yarn. I like sparkly things.
Saturday, 1 October 2011
October Unprocessed
Well I have found my challenge for October - or possibly it found me. Jennifer from Always in Wonder tweeted about eating Unprocessed for October and I have decided to sign up.
Limiting processed foods as much as possible is ideally how I'd eat anyway, but it has slipped rather a lot over the last few months as I've dealt with redundancy, freelancing and then adjusting to a new job. So this seems a good time to kickstart me into eating more healthily again.
I know that it is so much better for my ME if I avoid processed foods. My theory is that my liver etc. is not having to work so hard to breakdown and deal with things if I'm eating more fresh stuff/food made from scratch without added hydrolysed this or sulphidated that. The problem is I get into a cycle where I don't have the energy to cook from scratch and grab something quick and easy, which of course isn't so good for me, so I have less energy so I grab something ...
So I am taking part in October Unprocessed. I made a start this morning by walking down to the greengrocers and coming back laden with fruit and veg. I also baked some bread this morning and have put a load of rolls in the freezer for later in the week - after I'd had some for lunch.
Exceptions are allowed and should be decided upon at the beginning of the month, so here are mine (that I've thought of - others may occur to me as I go along, but I'm not going to make exceptions as an excuse to eat processed foods):
Limiting processed foods as much as possible is ideally how I'd eat anyway, but it has slipped rather a lot over the last few months as I've dealt with redundancy, freelancing and then adjusting to a new job. So this seems a good time to kickstart me into eating more healthily again.
I know that it is so much better for my ME if I avoid processed foods. My theory is that my liver etc. is not having to work so hard to breakdown and deal with things if I'm eating more fresh stuff/food made from scratch without added hydrolysed this or sulphidated that. The problem is I get into a cycle where I don't have the energy to cook from scratch and grab something quick and easy, which of course isn't so good for me, so I have less energy so I grab something ...
So I am taking part in October Unprocessed. I made a start this morning by walking down to the greengrocers and coming back laden with fruit and veg. I also baked some bread this morning and have put a load of rolls in the freezer for later in the week - after I'd had some for lunch.
Exceptions are allowed and should be decided upon at the beginning of the month, so here are mine (that I've thought of - others may occur to me as I go along, but I'm not going to make exceptions as an excuse to eat processed foods):
- Meals provided by others - for example when I am away with friends next weekend, when we go to the in-laws for dinner and when work provides meals.
- Chocolate - but I'm limiting it to fairtrade with a high cocoa content
- Food that will spoil if not used up over the next few weeks as I can't afford to waste food
- Food that needs to be used up to make space for the unprocessed alternative (as I have limited kitchen space)
- Homemade jam and chutney
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