Welcome Margie & Kanga – you are both starting the right way – by actually reading the book! If you have questions feel free to ask and we’ll do our best to help – we remember that someone held our hand in the beginning too.

Quacka, how’s the pesto going? I’ve just made 3 batches (small batches as I don’t have a large food processor anymore). I started with this recipe but adjusted it as I went along to get a flavour I liked.
https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fresh_basil_pesto/
This is my process: https://imgur.com/a/BMGNMz5
The main adjustments for me were:
– I toasted the pine nuts before I used them
– I used a bit more garlic
– and a bit less parmesan
– I also replaced half of the EV olive oil with lemon infused olive oil (not a traditional touch, but I love the flavour).
So far I’ve done half of my basil plants. I’ll leave the rest for now as I want to add sundried tomatoes to the next batch and I actually need to make the sundried tomatoes first! That’s the next job.

I think you also asked about drying basil. I did try that once – I just hung bunches upside down to airdry. The leaves didn’t do well – they went black and retained little of their original flavour. However the flower heads dried really well and kept the basil flavour. The best ones to dry are those that have lots of tight little round green nodules that haven’t actually opened into flowers yet. Once dried I put these into a glass jar and they kept well for a year. I found that to use them they were a bit big and spiky so I just ground them with a pestle and mortar.

Time for a cuppa.

Welcome Kanga, the Fasting Diet is guaranteed to work, it’s proved by science and research ! I was doing Keto and lost nothing! I have been on the Fasting diet for 17 weeks and have lost 14.7 kg and am so much happier and healthier !

@ LJ thanks for the pancetta suggestion. You sound like a gourmet cook !

Hello all. I’m from Sydney. I have ordered the book for the fast diet, and eagerly awaiting its delivery. I have been watching YouTube on 5:2 as well as reading this forum. Should I check with my GP first? I’m btw 40 and 45 yrs, female and my BMI is over 30, less than 35.
I’m hoping to lose 5kg initially then ultimately another 15kg. But that just sounds too difficult so my focus is one kilo at a time, to reach the initial five.
I’ve written a food plan for the FDs. Fish, soup and salad basically.
Or chicken some days.
Any tips for new ppl are welcome.

CalifD, hello. Where’ve you been? Thanks for the idea – been there, done that I’m afraid! Birthday is tomorrow and I’ve organised some stuff now. A combination of activities, rock climbing & backpacking gear and some cash (lame, I know).

Loved Freddie Mercury’s work with Montserrat Caballé and we can only wonder at all the music we’re missing out on due to his untimely death. Do you have a full on home theatre?

“I hope you find the 5:2 way of eating and losing weight as easy and helpful as most of the rest of us here.” Are you going to name and shame? Who didn’t? Ha ha!

LJ et all, I have some basil growing from seed. I hope it grows quickly so that I can try these pesto recipes.

So much for one post a day. I’m useless.

Morning all, from beautiful cold Glasgow, where the temps dipped to 1 last night. We had a very bracing walk over to the Museum yesterday, through the wonderful Kelvingrove Park. It feels very good, being back here. I’m getting my ear tuned to the Glasgow accent. I am amazed to remember my OH sounded like this, when first I met him. He becomes more Glaswegian, the longer we are here.
Discovered a set of scales in this apartment – and assuming they are the same as mine at home, I’ve put on a kilo, which given that I’ve eaten basically what I want, is not too bad. Actually, I do find that ‘what I want’ is quite different from what I would have chosen, before this WOL.

And later in the day …we have been walking – miles actually. We have done about 15000 steps today so far, and it’s not yet dark…just 4.00 pm. I think it’s the extra activity, combined with regular home cooked meals, that’s keeping my weight stable.

Cinque and Minka, I just loved the photo of the two of you, catching up. You both look so well and happy and light. Beautiful. I’d love to meet up, one day .

Quacka, I’m with you about snakes. I am wary of them, but not afraid, and think they get a bad rap. Now show me a cockroach, and that’s a different story. I have a real phobia. In the sub-tropics they get in from time to time, even with full screens. I wake in fright if I think one is in the bedroom – More than once my poor OH has had to get up in the middle of the night to help me change all the bed linen, when a cocky ran across me and I was scared silly it was still in the bed.

I haven’t caught up at all with the new folk ….but welcome, and hope you do well with this program. I’ve been reading what you’ve written about the new 800 cal approach – I don’t think it’s for me, but lovely thank you to get the precis.

Good morning everyone

Welcome Liberty 🙂

Just a quick post today as I am writing on my phone. My iPad decided to die yesterday and so this is it until I can sort a new one out.

LJ I still haven’t made the pesto but OH has gone surfing so I will be making it in about half hour. I WILL!!
Our oven has been under performing for a while now and the last straw was at Christmas when I tried to make pizzas for the family and I couldn’t get them to crisp on the bottom even a little bit. I even put them down on the floor of the oven, where they definitely should have crisped, and still nothing. So I think the bottom element had gone. Anyway, yesterday we bought a new oven. OH installed it yesterday and we cooked some jalapeño poppers and baked mushrooms in it last night. I’m amazed how quickly things cook when the oven actually works lol
The mushrooms turned out really yummy, an OH special. He wanted to use miso, wasabi and garlic to make a sauce. An unusual combination but one that worked really well. He melted some butter and cooked the garlic first then added the miso paste dissolved in a bit of water. Added wasabi until he liked the flavour (not heaps, just enough to get the flavour but not too much heat), then we added half a hot chilli finally chopped for some heat. Tossed this all together with the mushrooms and baked them. Delicious!

Lindsay I’m not scared of cockroaches but I hate the idea of things crawling on me when I’m asleep. I often wake up, jump out of bed and turn the light on and throw back the covers trying to find what it was that just ‘crawled’ over me! So many times I’ve been searching for things I was sure had been crawling on me. OH laughs and says it was probably just my hair (he’s probably right most of the time too). There have been a few times though when I’ve then found a cockroach close by and it was definitely that, ok? Lol.

Well I better go. I have things to do. I’m making pesto and then playing with my new oven. I’m thinking of roasting pumpkin to make a pearl cous cous and veggie salad. No recipe, I will just make it up as I go.

Have a lovely day all x

Good morning! A quick post from me too as the boss came in early for a change AND gave me lots of work to do so I don’t have time for a nice long post. Rude 🙂

Lindsay – I share your cockroach phobia. To the degree that I become hysterical if I see one.

Thin, I chuckled (as I often do) at your post. Snogging Kenny Rogers! You legend!!

Cali – thanks for the Caesar recipe, I love it too but can’t have it as I have an intolerance for creamy salad dressings. But I reckon if I make it myself it will be ok

Had a great FD yesterday, up there with the best. I was surprised as I thought I would struggle after 2.5 weeks off but I didn’t and I’m happy. The scales were too – 1.2kg off! That will mostly be water weight from my over indulgences during my break. Today unfortunately we have a team lunch and they have chosen the dreaded Italian. I looked at the menu and I don’t like any of the salads so I’m ordering a pizza, will eat a couple of slices and take the rest home to hubby. I also have carrot sticks to nibble before we go so I won’t be famished

Ok back to work, hi to everyone else, sorry I can’t reply to you all. Also a huge welcome to Liberty. You have chosen well and this forum is awesome.

https://i.imgur.com/JeWCx1y.jpg

Pesto done! Two different lots. One with lemon juice and chilli, one traditional. Thanks LJ for the idea to freeze flat so I can just break off a piece as I need to.
I saw your post above but haven’t read it as I need to clean up the huge mess I have made lol
Will be back later to catch up

*Sorry, no time for editing or fact checking!
That was Liberty asking for tips!
Cinque: youR DS.

Oh no Gday! If it were done by stunt people yes it might be funny…but otherwise not remotely. I’m so sorry and I hope you heal quickly

Happy birthday to DD Thin, and hope your day out is wonderful

Happy fasting today LJ…my second one is tomorrow. I too rarely stick to recipes and often have epic fails; but I figure that is the best way to learn. I can’t do ‘off the cuff’ yet and have to have a recipe as a base but as time goes on I am getting more and more adventurous.

Betsy, don’t worry about the failed FD, they happen as we are human and life happens around us. I am the queen of failed FD’s but still trekking along. My goal for 2019 is to actually stick to the mantra ‘FD’s are not negotiable’. So far my track record for 2019 is 100% (1 out of 1 :))

Welcome to the new posters.

In answer to the question about why grains are bad for us, this is what the Wheat Belly book has to say.

Wheat and other grains are essentially the seeds of grasses. Ruminants (cows, sheep, goats etc) have digestive systems designed to eat grass and grains whereas humans do not which is why we did not eat grains until recently in our existence when agriculture boomed to feed the growing population of the planet.

Livestock is now feed grain (and hormones) to fatten them up quickly for slaughter so one must wonder what eating grains does for human weight gain.

Modern wheat has been so heavily modified, processed and chemically sprayed to suit agriculture needs (not health needs) they no longer resemble the original grain.

Effects of grains/wheat on the human body include –

– Nutritional deficiencies, mineral depletion and stops the absorption of vitamins (hence why bread is fortified now which is ironic because eating bread has caused the issue in the first place)

– interferes with gut flora, the endocrine gland (hormones, estrogen and testosterone), digestion, bowel, gut and sleep function and the regulation of metabolic processes

– causes inflammation, skin and joint issues

It’s certainly made me re-think about the grains I eat that I assumed were ok such as rye bread and mountain wraps, brown rice and spelt flour.

Food for thought everyone

Hi everyone. Thanks for the welcomes and hellos. Welcome to Margie and Liberty, fellow newbies too. I finished the Fast Diet book last night. Found it a bit repetitive to be honest. Great read, but I felt like it should’ve just gotten on with it already. Anyway, I borrowed the Fast Diet Recipe Book from the library today. Can’t wait to dig into it.

What are some of your very fast and fave recipes (preferably with only a few ingredients)?

I made a huge Greek salad yesterday with feta cheese, scoffed it all, then was hungry about an hour later. Not promising! Wasn’t a fast day, but I was curious how long it would fill me up for.

How did you all start 5:2? Bonus points if you have tips for doing it with kids, including a teenager who likes cooking sweets and cakes. Did you just start immediately or did you ‘psych’ yourselves up to prepare first? I need help to make sure this is a success!

Hi guys, have been out and about most of the day so now am checking in while doing my reclining exercise bike session.

One of the things I got done today was to pop in to my local medical centre to ask the nurse to measure my height so I could get an accurate bmi. The height difference between the 171 cm of my youth to when hub and I measured my height seemed too great even though I understand lower height when you are older is due to narrowing of the spaces between joints and discs. Hub and I tried to be as accurate as possible but the nurse told me it is impossible to be exact at home, the top of your head curves etc. Anyway she used a gadget and got an exact height for me. Yes I have shrunk but not as much as much as. I had thought. I have shrunk 2 cm from 171 cm to 169 cm which is 5ft 6 and a half inches in the old money which makes my bmi 24.2 which is too high although within the healthy range which is 52.8 kg to 71.1.

Now for some replies.

Kanga I went to my gp complaining about my knee X-ray results which said I have mod to severe arthritis in my right knee (used to do long distance running). She said I could have a cortisone injection, surgery or take the pressure off it by dropping some kg. I was also tired all the time (I work full time ) and had high blood pressure . She recommended the Fast Diet which would fit in with our active social life. Now almost 15 kg later and great blood pressure, I feel happy and healthy and I can see light at the end of the tunnel with about 7 kg to go. I am an all or nothing person so I want to avoid food all together and not unleash temptation. The girls on this forum are brilliant cooks and most of them are on maintainance and they’ve managed to do it with tasty food. I have done it differently and it has worked for me.I am on holidays at the moment so am able to fast more stringently but when I am at work I use Define women’s protein shake. I used to have one for breakfast but I am going to experiment with delaying the time I drink it When Ibreturn to work. I always have 2 coffees for breaky with skim milk. I take a frozen shake to work and sip it slowly as it thaws. When I get to work I have my last coffee for the day and a huge cup of bouillon ( made with I Massel chicken stock cube and boiling water. That actually satisfies me till close till lunch when I start sipping my second protein shake. When I get home I have a massive glass of Metamucil with ice and an effervescent Berocca multi vitamin and this swells up and fills my stomach. I drink lemon and mint , I iced water for the rest of the night . I realise this wouldn’t work for most people but it does for me as we are usually out 2 or 3 nights each weekend when I avoid the worst carbs but mainly eat and drink as I please. The Fast Diet is so flexible. I do stick to the rules on fast days though.
I’m on holidays at the moment so have cut out the protein shakes on fast days as I don’t need as much protein/energy and can visit the toilet as much as I need to due to all the water.

@gday, so sorry to hear about your awful fall. I hope you are starting to feel less pain and improve. I was fascinated to read your summary of why grains are no good for us, it makes perfect sense. I, too erroneously believed that brown rice, mountain bread etc was a healthy option. Having said I am dreaming about all that naughty rice at the paella party I am going to on Saturday night.

All you girls talking about creepy crawlies made me think of a close encounter I had with a mouse. I was working in the wheatbelt of WA and was pouring my sons’ cereal into bowls when out of the packet and into the bowl jumped a mouse ! Naturally I screamed and it seemed to take an eternity for the mouse to scramble out of the bowl, across the table and away. I scoured the house after that and invested in plastic containers for dry food but it has put me off cereal for Life!

@cali thanks so much for taking the time and trouble of giving us the secret to an authentic Caesar Salad, much appreciated, it makes my mouth water just reading it.

@cinque, thanks for your warm fuzzies re my weight loss. I hope you had a lovely time with your sisters.

Hi Everyone!

I often read or skim a whole page or two of posts and by the time I reach this box to write a response, I’ve forgotten some of what I want to say!

Thin, this is a response from pages back! I loved reading about how you culled your retro clothing collection. The selections went to what sounded like the perfect home! I even wondered if the young woman who purchased them might be a budding seamstress and wanted them to use for patterns! …Or maybe she is an fashion designer who wants to use them for inspiration. Around the time I read your post, we saw a segment on the ABC News about the ‘Frock Club’ and even wondered if the young woman might have been attending one of their events!

Here is ABC links if you want to check it out for fun:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-06/frock-club-models/10671582

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-06/frock-club/10673190

Cinque, interesting reading about your family and the late arrivals! I have to give Mr M the most credit for our arrival on time! I’m always on the verge of being late, though when attending any event, engagement or appointment with Mr M means that I always arrive on time, usually with a bit of time to spare! That’s one quality of his I do very much appreciate. I wish I had more of the punctuality gene and do admire those who are, and that goes for you too, Cinque! If only I were able to depart with ease when heading out the door. I definitely have to work hard to be on time! Seems there’s always something else I think of to do before leaving when going out the door (a window to close, a water bottle to fill, keys to locate; much to Mr M’s chagrin!

Rosy, I’m a Leo and would prefer to be Aquarian, Taurus, Virgo or Libra. I’m not sure I feel like a ‘Leo’ except that maybe this is why I like to show off wearing the pretty dresses? I’m also a Chinese Fire Monkey and I do like and relate to the traits often associated with that sign which include ‘monkeying around’ which I love to do! I also get along well with other monkeys and the more the merrier, like a barrel of monkeys!

LJ what a beautiful tree you’ve selected! With your green thumb, I see that tree growing prolifically to the point of needing a new pot very soon! Those varied colored cherry tomatoes and other vegetables I’ve seen in the photos you’ve posted prove your green thumb!

Calif, I haven’t read all the posts since you asked, so this may be redundant! In any case, Bohemian Rapsody didn’t cover the part of Freddy Mercury’s life in which he produced the classical album with the opera singer. The film focused on his meeting the other members of Queen and his mainly his music career progressing with them. There were indirect references to ‘Under Pressure’ which was made in collaboration with David Bowie and about Freddie’s personal life breaking down during the period he decided to stop making music with the other members of Queen, though that was it as far as the story line of the film went. I loved the film and especially to see it on the big screen. Mr M has a copy of the Barcelona album and was very disappointed that the movie didn’t at all cover that aspect since he feels it is one of his greatest accomplishments and is the main direction in which he was headed before he passed away.

I’ve been doing quite well balancing my TDEE bank account until today! I decided to buy 4 LCHF cookies from the Robina Paleo bakery and the clerk said she had hazelnut flavor out the back that just came out of the oven so did I want to buy 2 more and make it a half dozen? Of course I replied ‘Yes’. I then went around the corner to order one of my favorite hamburgers wrapped in lettuce leaf from Betty’s Burger and Concrete Company to take back to where Mr M was sitting in a food court in another part of the mall. Betty’s makes all their burgers to order and it was crowded and I was starving. So what did I do? I decided to have my dessert first and eat one of the cookies out of the bag. It was long gone before the hamburger order arrived! I’ve been munching on the rest of the cookies now that we’re back home, ever since. Yes they are healthy (and delicious), though they still contain a considerable amount of calories. How many I don’t know since they are hand made at this bakery and no ‘Nutrition Profile’ is available, which puts me into a bit of free fall with regards to calories consumed. This is the first day since returning from Melbourne that I haven’t worked with my TDEE and calorie balance! Given my attention to TDEE and the calorie balance I’m currently square at the lower end of my wiggle room range at 57 kg. I’m sure all that fiber from the cookies will be slowly moving through the digestive tract so that the scales will show quite a different number tomorrow morning! As difficult as it is, I will weigh in. If I don’t, I’m sure I’ll continue to go off the rails tomorrow too! I need the wake up call! Next FD is Friday. Nonetheless, I did enjoy the cookies!

Cheers!

Rosy, thanks for the info on protein shakes and so on. I’ve never actually had one and wonder what they taste like. Do you add veges throughout the day as well? Or is the protein shake a complete supplement?

Good morning, misty and a bit cool today in Sydney.

Gday, how is your back feeling? And the cuts and bruises? Hope you are healing quickly. Interesting info about grains and I shake my head because for years we have been urged to avoid white carbs and stick to grainy ones. Who knows!

FD for me today and I have a busy day at work so that’s great. The scales went up 200g after yesterday’s NFD but that’s normal for me.

I went to bed early last night and OH fell asleep on the couch watching telly and our darling fur-child firstly took one thong off his foot (perhaps it fell off, not sure) and chewed it to pieces. That wasn’t enough so he gently took the Foxtel remote off his lap and chewed it to pieces. It’s quite impressive I suppose when you try to put a positive spin on it. He must have a lot of patience to do this much damage. GAH!
https://imgur.com/a/M0TWH9g

LJ you said that you learned a long time ago that it has to be an absolute rule for you to adhere to it. I’ve learnt that about myself doing this WOL; as soon as I even once cheated on a FD they started to go downhill and I was failing nearly all of them. So now the NOT NEGOTIABLE really is NOT NEGOTIABLE and I will hopefully see great success from now.
Your tomatoes are amazing. We lost about half our crop to caterpillas unfortunately but there is a nice bowlful ready to use tomorrow. I’m doing the chicken meatball with roasted tomato meal I talked about a few days ago.
I hope your back pain goes away quickly 🙁

Rosy, I don’t sleep well at the best of times and stopped having coffee after lunch a while back. However sometimes on FD’s I will have one if I am struggling with hunger as coffee really helps me. I weigh up the benefit of not failing a FD with the possibility of a bad sleep and the former wins hands down. Your mouse story scared the life out of me! Ugh

Cinque, hope you had a lovely time with your sisters

Minka, those cookies sound delicious! Well done on staying at the lower end of your ‘wiggle room range’ at this time of year

Kanga, my FD’s are lunch and dinner. For lunch I have a simple salad with a very small piece of protein and a few teaspoons of home-made dressing. I have a piece of fruit in the afternoon and then dinner is either vege stir fry with another small piece of protein or sometime I make a big pot of lean mince with lots of veges (mushroom, carrot, zucchini, capsicum etc), spices and chilli and have a small portion in lettuce leaves. I freeze the rest in small containers. My FD’s are around 600-650 calories as I have a lot to lose and have a high TDEE. As that comes down so will the calories on FD’s. When I tried to stick to 500 or below I was constantly failing and the wise owls here suggested my body needed a few more calories and, as always, they were right 🙂

A cool morning in Melbourne, and a beautiful day ahead of a load of hotter ones.

Anzac, I hope your boss isn’t so rude this morning. Cheers on your excellent fast day, Doesn’t it feel good!

LJoyce, it is true, I am Ms Natural Fabrics, and quite happy to iron (although two of my sisters favour the natural fibre crumpled look). But don’t op shops cater beautifully to our different needs? Yesterday, op shopping with my sisters: a black velvet Chinese padded winter jacket, and a pair of amazing fine leather lined tapestry shoes (which I might wear today).
So exciting that you have your myrtle! I bet it will be so happy it will grow extra fast.
Also I made cumin crusted roasted veggies for dinner, yum. Although, when I checked the recipe, I realised it had less cumin seed than I usually put! But it was still inspirational.
Lovely Hairy Bikers show on baking started on Sunday, SBS food. (In case you didn’t know.)

Quacka, You did it! And two different kinds of pesto. Lovely!

Belated birthday wishes to DD, Thin. I bet you had a brilliant day, Happy anniversary to you too, for the day she made you a mum.

Thin, sister talk yesterday included the need for uncluttering, and as this sister has lots of lovely stuff we were talking about selling it on gumtree. Could you give your best tips? (If you have time?)

Gday, you are in the wars! What a dreadful sequence of events. Your poor back. I do hope it has managed to start healing… AGAIN.
Glad to say hardly any of that wheat belly stuff rings true for me (since I love grains!). Just the bit about fattening up cattle! Now we don’t live outside and work so hard, we mostly don’t need those delicious grains as staples. I am finding my focus on vegetables means they are relegated, with meat and dairy, to a smaller proportion of my intake, which works well for me.

Liberty, haha! Just deciding to do 5:2 brings results. Impressive. And another declutterer, doesn’t it feel lovely.

Kanga, I agree with you about the book, but I still found it good to reread it a couple of months in (and thought the same thing again, but there you go). Warning, you probably will get hungry on fast days. But it is only one day, and you can do anything for just one day.

I did it the easy way, living on my own and arranging it as I liked, so extra kudos to you doing it with family. I hope your teenager is supportive.
I started with a tiny bowl of porridge in the morning and a big bowl of soup in the evening. The hardest thing was wanting milk in my cuppas so I skipped the porridge and have a cup of milk in cuppas through the day and then soup in the evening. I love how everyone gradually works out what suits them and their lifestyle and their biology. 5:2 is quite flexible around its basics.

Rosy Posy, so glad you haven’t lost as much height as you feared!

Minka, hooray for Mr M, give him a big thankyou from me. I do understand that going back into the house three times to check something or find something you’ve forgotten. That is me too!
Especially my water bottle which I fill up, and then leave on the bench!

So glad you enjoyed those cookies! And you have had a while between feasts, so that is fine too. I hope you get a nice run of TDEE for another few days now.

Well, it is the last day of enjoying time with my sister (she is down from St Arnaud). We are going to Babkas for breakfast so I aim to enjoy a gorgeous croissant (and then eat veggies for the rest of the day).

Day before fast day for me,Cheers all!

Thursday 8.30am. Home again today. Feeling better as back pain has eased but still have shooting pain down left leg so should be back at work tomorrow.

I only have 2 black coffees in the morning, one when I first wake and the second before I leave for work. For the rest of the day I drink filtered water and iced teas with fresh lemon, ginger and herbs. I never ever will drink coffee after midday. I do love a chai latte but am conscious of the amount of sugar they contain so only have one as an occasional treat when we visit the coffee shop.

For those new to the forum here’s a run down of my daily routine.

Coffee as above. I only eat breakfast one day a week, either Sat or Sun as OH and I enjoy a cooked brekky – now minus the rye bread toast 😢. I’m like Ljoyce, if I eat brekky that sets me off being hungry for the rest of the day and all I want to do is constantly eat. Every Sunday afternoon I cook a large batch of hard boiled eggs (we have our own ducks and chooks so plenty of eggs) so OH can eat 2 – 3 eggs in the morning as he takes medication and I insist he takes it with food. Also OH doesn’t eat lunch during the week so another reason he has eggs each morning.

At work I have no set lunch break time and am fortunate work has a fully equipped kitchen so preparing lunch is a breeze. I usually have a salad, leftovers from the night before, soup from the freezer or I cook something healthy. I usually have lunch around 1 –
2 pm but that depends on my workload for the day.

I keep my eating window between 12 noon and 5 – 7 pm, preferably closer to 5pm and never have anything other than a cup of tea after that. So with the exception of the one day a week with a cooked brekky, I have a daily fast of between 18 – 20 hours.

Tea (evening meal) is always healthy and homemade. I love cooking in big batches and freezing which makes week night meals so easy, just steam some veg or make a quick salad and heat up whatever I’ve pulled out of the freezer.

I’ve substituted the usual condiments for the healthy versions and love experimenting with these. I also make my own mayo’s, sauces, sauerkraut, kefir and kumbucha. And herbs….I so love using fresh herbs when I cook.

I have a thirst for knowledge when it comes to cooking and health so Im always reading new things. I am a huge fan of the Paleo lifestyle and follow this, with the exception of dairy. Paleo excludes dairy but I am believe full fat organic dairy is good for us so I consume milk kefir, cream, butter made from organic pure cream only, good quality white cheese such as feta, holumi, bocinelli and goats cheese…oh how I love goats cheese.

I’m also a big believer in gut health and consume kefir, sauerkraut and kumbucha daily and keep carb intake to as minimal as possible. Cutting out wheat products is the next step for me although I feel I might struggle with some aspects of this as one if my favourite things to eat is spelt pasta. Spiralised zucchini spaghetti just doesn’t do it for me I’m afraid…lol.

I like to do an extended fast every 6 – 8 weeks. Usually 36 to 48 hours with nothing but 2 x black coffees in the morning, water and iced teas.

I also take electrolytes each day in the powdered form mixed with water. And every second day drink a teaspoon of bentonite clay with water.

My home is chemical and cleaning product free, I use vinegar and bicarb to clean and I don’t use perfumes, deodorants, commercial soaps or shampoos. I use pure goats milk soap, castle soap and organic chemical free shampoo and conditioner. The only products I use on my skin are witch hazel as a cleanser and Shea butter as a moisturiser plus twice a week I use a bentonite clay face mask. I also use activated charcoal instead of store bought toothpaste.

I also just recently switched to only eating grass fed meat as our local supermarket now stocks this.

For fitness, I practice yoga each day and now that I have the gym set up after being in storage for most of 2018 I am back into the daily routine of High Intensity workouts and strength training. Plus a daily walk, either in the morning after yoga at sunrise or I take a 30 minute power walk in my lunchbreak.

Well folks that me !!

Quacka, it took a bit of hunting, but I found my notes about genuine hunger. I think I posted it a year or so ago.
This is taken from a book about mindful eating and self acceptance that my dietitian recommended:
Kausman, Rick “If Not Dieting, Then What?”

“Recognising Genuine Hunger
• an empty or even a painful gnawing feeling in the stomach
• a rumbling feeling in the stomach
• a cramping feeling in the stomach
• a hollow feeling in the stomach
• a feeling of nausea
• no feelings in the stomach at all, but a desire to eat
• a feeling of weakness or lethargy
• feelings of light-headedness or irritability
• difficulty in concentrating
• feeling a bit shaky
• decrease in energy levels
• headache
• many other specific individual signals.

Hunger Exercise
Take a couple of deep breaths. Focus your attention on your mouth area— your teeth, tongue, lips and throat. Are there any physical sensations there that tell you that you might be hungry? Is your mouth dry or moist? Are you feeling thirsty?
Now focus on the upper area of your stomach— the area just below your rib cage. What sensations are you feeling? Are there any noises?
Now focus on the lower area of your stomach— are there any sensations there? Do you notice any differences between the upper part of your stomach and the lower part? Does one feel more empty and the other more full? Repeat the exercise.
Have any other physical sensations become apparent in your mouth or upper/ lower stomach?
Now pay attention to your whole body.
Do you feel high in energy or low in energy?
Are you feeling tired? How is your concentration? Are you feeling comfortable or irritable?
Have you got images of food in your mind – are you thinking about what would be nice to eat?
Try to notice anything about your body generally, that might be telling you that you are physically hungry.
If you were to rate yourself so that 0 was absolutely empty, 2 was getting empty, 5 was full, 8 was overfull and 10 was stuffed full, what would you score out of 10?

Common reasons for non-hungry eating
• We might be in the early stages of recognising the difference between hungry and non-hungry eating.
• We might not be giving ourselves enough time to listen to what our body signals might be telling us.
• We might be confusing hunger and thirst.
• We let ourselves get too hungry.
• We aren’t sure when to stop eating.
• We’re filling up, but not feeling satisfied.
• ‘Just in case I get hungry later’.
• The clock says it’s breakfast/ lunch/ dinner time: ‘meal-time’ eating.
• Almost any emotion or feeling can trigger non-hungry eating.
• We aren’t meeting certain needs.
• The food tastes great.
• We’re feeling bored or tired.
• We’re worried we might offend someone if we don’t eat.
• Our parents always told us to finish everything on our plate.
• We’re bombarded with advertising and marketing.
• We eat as a reward.
• We eat out of habit.
• We eat because it’s there.
• It brings back nice memories.
• We eat quickly.
• We eat to solve a problem, fill in a gap or put off doing something.
• Any combination of the above and others.”

About 18 months ago I took a week off of 5:2 and focused on this exercise every day for a week, as I had no real idea of what genuine hunger felt like for me. I had a long history of eating before I got to that point. I decided that I would only eat if I could identify it as genuine hunger. What I found was that I had no genuine appetite in the morning during that week – it usually kicked in sometime between 11am-1pm. When I ate lunch I sometimes wanted to continue snacking all afternoon – this was rarely genuine hunger and mostly just a desire to keep eating. Genuine hunger didn’t kick in again until dinner time. It felt really good to actually get in touch with my body’s messages about hunger as I’d felt quite disconnected before.

This also comes from the same book and I found it very useful to help me through the times I wanted to eat but wasn’t actually hungry.

“Tips for Eating With Awareness
I can have it if I want it, but do I really want it?
I can have it if I want it, but will I really enjoy it?
Is it a physical hunger?
What sort of food do I really feel like?
Plan ahead to have food on hand.
Some non-hungry eating is normal.
Try to separate eating from other activities that might distract you, such as watching television or reading.
Hunger management: retrain your eating behaviour. (Keep hunger in 2-5 range)*
Try to make eating a pleasurable experience.
Accept that you have only a finite emotional space.
Try to be patient.

* the rating scale referred to is:
Hunger/ fullness scale
10— Stuffed full
8— Overfull
5— Full
2— Getting empty
0— Absolutely empty”

This scale is used in the following exercise. Which requires you to record a number of things every time you eat something – I did this for several days and I made sure I covered quiet days at home, busy days, social days etc.
– Time of day
– With whom/where
– Thoughts & feelings before eating
– Hunger rating before eating (0-10)
– Food eaten
– Hunger after eating (0-10)
– Am I satisfied (would another food have satisfied me)
– Eating speed (Slow, Mod, Fast)
It’s essentially a food diary that helps you understand when and why you eat and whether it’s related to genuine hunger or driven by other things.

I noticed things I hadn’t been very aware of before. For example:
– The worse the food choice was, the faster I ate it. I suspect I was trying to make it disappear quickly as I felt guilty about it. Unfortunately this means it doesn’t really satisfy any need as I didn’t take the time to savour it.
– If I eat when I’m not hungry it often triggers a desire to keep eating that I find hard to control. Eating breakfast when I don’t feel hungry often does this to me.
– If I let my hunger develop too much it can be difficult to control how much I eat. So it’s better to eat when I feel a bit hungry rather than ravenous.

For those of you having trouble controlling snacking, or telling the difference between hunger and the desire to eat, or have a fear of feeling hungry the above may be useful.

Wow, I am so impressed by your clean and healthy living Gday. Good on you! Hope your FD is going well, mine is 🙂

LJ, thanks SO much for the hunger journal, I have copied it and will refer to it often.

Hope you enjoyed that croissant Cinque…yum

I must say I am looking forward to dinner…and it’s only 3.20pm. This is my hardest time to get through until 4.00pm when I finish work. Lots of water helps.