Had a great day, another couple of people commented on my having lost weight so that was nice to hear. I wore a skirt today that I’ve not tried since I started my plan and it’s not lose yet but far more comfortable. I just feel smaller, not so bloaty and swollen. I’d started to feel like my arms had shrunk and to dread dropping anything as I found it really hard to pick anything up from the floor again. Now I’m feeling much more comfortable and a little more flexible as a result of that and my exercise.
I know I need to have my gall bladder removed, I’ve just put off having an operation for years, I didn’t have time to have one for so long and then I got huge and daren’t have one. I know when I’ve irritated it and I feel distension in my liver and I know it’s not good but over the past few days I’ve noticed that has not happened at all and I have definitely deflated. I’m pretty sure this is what people are noticing, not the weight loss but the deflation as I shed retained water and don’t get stomach bloating anymore and now this other distension has stopped too I’m decidedly less puffed up.
I’m not sure if the Kombucha has something to do with the gall bladder thing, I’ve had nearly a week now of drinking it and it’s strange because it makes me feel very fresh as soon as I take it. It’s probably just psychosomatic but it’s doing some good even if it is only mentally. Have a look here for some simple easy read info on home fermenting Kefir and Kombucha. Home Fermenting Info
I took inspiration from a couple of fellow bloggers for my meals today.
I had a lovely breakfast (still managing to make that an important part of the my daily food intake.
For lunch I used a fab pizza recipe shared with me by a fellow blogger (thank you Margaret-Rose). I prepared it last night and popped into hospitality to see if a kind student would stick it in the oven for me which of course they did. I sat in the canteen and enjoyed it with a side salad. I was about to take a photo of it when my phone died 😦 Next time I will.
Tonight I had friends over for dinner and they are hungry friends so we had a bit of a fusion meal. I made a variation of Jalof Rice (with tomatoes, onions, scotch bonnet peppers and other spices for seasoning), I fried some plantain strips in a very tiny amount of olive oil and pressed them with kitchen towel to remove any excess grease, then inspired by another blogger (thank you Rob) I made meat and vegetable kebabs which were grilled and de-skewered into hot pitta bread. I made a very simple green salad with tomatoes which I left undressed.
The meats I used were:
- sirloin of beef steak cut into strips which had marinaded in a Chinese inspired fat and sugar free sauce
- fat removed lamb steaks marinaded in a home made mint sauce (fresh mint blitzed with a small amount of apple cider vinegar)
- fatless chicken breasts one lot was marinaded in a mix of organic lemon juice, cracked lemon pepper seasoning, paprika, turmeric, fresh chopped coriander and fresh crushed garlic with a pinch of crushed sea salt
- the next was marinaded in a fruity tangy dark barbeque sauce
Everyone made their own skewers using the meats, some delicious tomatoes, onions and a selection of fresh capsicums and I cooked them all on the grill. It was a really communal and social approach to dining which everyone really enjoyed.
We had a big mixed berry fruit salad served in melon boats with a blob of yummy fat free greek yoghurt with a tiny bit of honey squirted on the top. I’m going to stick that in my Fitting in 5 a Day page when I get time.
It was a lovely almost buffet style dinner and everyone loved it.. there were no left overs which is a good sign. A very sociable relaxed affair. Dinner guests fed, eating plan uncompromised. I’d call that a success. I think this may be a tactic in future when I have people over to eat, I’ll make it more about choice and helping yourself and that way more appealing to everyone and not so obvious that I’m on a stricter plan and allowing for guests to have more of a treat without noticing that I’m not partaking as much as they are.
I make no secret of it nor excuses for the fact that I have a big appetite, I love food. Not always in a gluttonous way, I just love food, I like to eat, I like to cook, I like to experiment. Whilst I have noticed a decline in the amount I can eat and I no longer feel the need to eat everything on my plate even after I’m full up, I am not working on portion control at all.
I will in time but for now eating healthy, home cooked, wholesome stuff is what is at the forefront of my mind, low fat, as additive free as possible and a drastic reduction in processed carbohydrates and processed foods in general. I’ve reintroduced lots of herbs and spices into my diet to give
fantastic flavours. I’m not going to make myself miserable by starving myself and when I look at recommended portion sizes that’s what I would be doing. If I’m not satisfied, I’ll get miserable, if I get miserable I’ll eat rubbish. It’s far better to eat more healthy stuff and avoid that downward spiral.
This works for me, we’re all different, some are better with strict portion control, some think you’re not doing it properly if you don’t control your portions but I say what is ‘it’? My ‘it’ may be different to someone else’s ‘it’. Doing ‘it’ properly for me is cutting the rubbish, the wasted calories, enjoying delicious tasting and looking food that will nourish and heal my poor abused body and doing ‘it’ means doing something sustainable for me for life, it’s not a quick fix.
Breaking The Yo-Yo 
Looks like a yummy dinner. Glad you were able to entertain and still stick with your plan! That’s a great accomplishment!
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I felt like it was. I didn’t eat as much either, I grazed more than stuffed.
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Well done you ! – you deserve so many compliments … I know how hard it is.
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Thank you 🙂 I was thinking today, I actually enjoy food. You know some people can’t cook, don’t like eating, choose the same things at restaurants time and again but I actually enjoy food, it’s one of my hobbies, creating it and eating it and I didn’t realise how much I miss it, had way too many take always. I just want to enjoy it in a more healthy way, it might not be a ‘diet’ but I don’t want a diet, I want good tasty food that’s nourishing me and making me healthy. After reading your book (still ploughing through) I believe my Chic is still out there somewhere and I’m not going until I’ve bloody well found him 🙂 x
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That’s the spirit !!!
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Yum! I love that food, it’s making me hungry.
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Fortunately I ate enough to keep me full until tomorrow. I sometimes forget when I’m in takeaway hell how quick and easy and tasty real food can be.
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Yes! And you never know if the ingredients in the take away are fresh or good!
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So true. I’m far more confident about what I’m eating these days that’s for sure.
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That all does sound delicious and it appears you coped very well with what could have been a tricky situation. 🙂 Now, are you ready to be freaked out some more. I, too, have a gall bladder which should have come out approximately 10 years ago. Lately it has been behaving itself but in February I had one of my attacks for no apparent reason. The GB used to be very predictable when it would flare up because certain foods were almost certain to trigger it i.e. melted cheese as opposed to non-melted cheese, ice-cream, cream of any kind, etc. Nowadays (not that I’m eating that stuff now!) sometimes I can eat that stuff and nary a grumble, and sometimes it precipitates an attack. Have you found that too?
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I haven’t had a severe attack for years now as in that crippling pain of a stuck stone but then I was told mine was more like a bag of gravel than big stones. I found that my triggers were specific biscuits, custard creams (of course my favourites), anything with a lot of melted hard cheese. I could cope with mozerella on pizza and lasagne etc but cheddar, leicester those orange/red cheeses when melted did not sit well.
I found it was usually worse for me if I had been on a crazy starvation diet and than ate normally and from that I realised that it was worse if I didn’t eat for a while then suddenly overloaded so I started to consider eating something/anything more often. I don’t mean when I was ‘a diet’ I mean at any time, I’ve never been good at eating breakfast and even lunch I’m a late in the day eater (perfect for gaining weight). I found if I went without food all day then had a curry it would trigger an attack.
Interestingly I used to be the same with IBS I was fine unless I did the starve all day and then eat a big meal.
I read a book called 127 hours about the guy who had to cut his hand off to get free from being trapped in a canyon and in that he mentions how because he had starved for days when he finally ate his whole digestive system went into a kind of purging spasm and he had terrible cramps and pains and all manner of unpleasant things going on either end. He went into the science of it and I couldn’t help but wonder if that wasn’t what my body was doing (obviously in far less severe circumstances) on a kind of micro level to what he experienced. Since I’ve thought like that I’ve managed to control it pretty much, it seems to work. I guess the long and short of it was that if you take a vessel full of stuff (bacteria, enzymes, acids) all set and waiting for food to arrive and leave it empty, that ‘stuff’ is bracing itself and when food finally comes the ‘stuff’ thinks its party time and goes crazy, this causes a kind of alimentary canal shock and hey presto your stomach over produces acid, you gall bladder goes into bile production overload, your colon hasn’t got a clue what’s going on and your bowel gets really angry.
It’s the way I see it now anyway, so I kind of think about keeping a regular supply of food going in, keeping all my enzymes, bacteria and acids content and maintaining the equilibrium and it’s working so far. I think the fermented things I’m consuming are helping to restore harmony in there too. It’s like my timetabling of eating and the food I’m eating have built a better environment and the probiotics and detoxes are decorating it.
Sorry for such a long answer and if it’s a bit gobbledegook but I’m tapping this out fast with a million thoughts in my head on this topic. I might put together a better post with references over the weekend.
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