Yes. Have a wonderful day Nama. I hope all goes well. X

Morning,

Day 12, still congested 🙁 Anyhow, I feel brighter, so hopefully that’s a harbinger of good health to be restored.

Having said I wasn’t going to fast this week I am tempted to do 24 hours today. It can’t be a proper fast because I will be enjoying a fermented product this evening, and I don’t need to for maintenance this week, but I do miss fasting! Actually, if I forego food this evening and drink less than 500 cals of wine, will that technically count as a 36 hour fast?!

Jo,

Great to hear you sounding so positive. It would be amazing if you could hit your target this week, but I can’t help feeling it’s a bit ambitious. I hope you won’t be disappointed and disheartened if you don’t manage it. Working on 1lb of fat equating roughly to 3500 calories, you’d need to achieve a calorie deficit of over 5000 to lose 1.5lbs. That’s more than 2 days of fasting I think? Given the long journey you’ve been on, wouldn’t a consistent 1lb per week be an amazing result and perhaps a more realistic target?

Morning/evening all,

Another sunny morning but definitely an autmnal nip in the air.

Happy Birthday Purple 🎇🎈🎆

Jo,

I didn’t see the programme about drugs but it is not true that exercise is the answer for all cases of hypertension and high cholesterol so if that is what the programme implied it was misleading.

I suffer from familial hypercholesterolaemia and the only way to lower it is by taking statins. There are also many causes of hypertension and not all of them can be successfully managed without medication.

Friday already, where did the week go……..

Happy, I broke my long fast with a beer but I wouldn’t recommend more than one drink without eating something. Maybe a handful of dried fruit 😉

Have a good weekend everybody 😜

Thanks Amazon, I’d forgotten about your beer fast!

I watched the programme Jo is referring to. They didn’t say exercise would lower cholesterol. They took a group of people with various conditions (T2, those with high risk of stroke/HD, etc), took them off statins, tested blood, got them walking, tested blood. As I remember they did not see reductions in cholesterol, but did see improved blood sugar control, lowered BP, weight loss, general mood boost, etc. So what many of us already understand to be the benefits of exercise!

The point the programme was making is that the NHS is controlled by big pharma and is more a National Dispensing Service than a Health Service, but for many people (including some with depression and chronic pain) there are interventions other than drugs that would better restore people to health.

It wasn’t suggesting that everyone could or should be drug free. Indeed the doctor/presenter advised one of the walking group to go back on statins because his cholesterol was high and he was high risk. The man declined and said he wanted to give it another 3 months pill-free and then reassess.

Good to see the message about the evil tendrils of big pharma on primetime BBC!

Hi all,

Thanks for all your kind wishes re the wedding on Sunday – I am getting very excited now! Bub is doing really well so will be there at her first outing at 11 days old, she has a new dress for the occasion! How lucky we are to have three generations together for the first time. Undoubtedly I will have lots to tell.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Happy get better soon, maybe you need more rest? Jo your results are amazing, obviously you are really motivated now – positive feedback is a wonderful thing!

I am trying hard to be good, but a little hard when so much going on. Still hard not to think of food as a celebratory thing, any excuse to eat!! I have skipped breakfast and lunch each day and just had dinner, so weight has stayed exactly the same. Whatever works!
Cheers all xx

Hi Jo,

Thanks for pandering to the scientist in me, always striving to understand things! Let’s hope you’ve got the final piece of the puzzle now and can sail on to goal and maintenance!

Amazon,

I’m going to have to google that lamb stuffed aubergine, sounds right up my street…if a little meaty for me these days. I’m finding I enjoy meat less and less, perhaps because I know too much about welfare standards and environmental impacts ☹️

I’ve got a weekend of cleaning (I can’t hide from it any longer!) and Christmas cake making. I’m also hoping I can will my cold out of existence, power of positive thought and all that 😀

Happy,

Someone gave me a book token and I bought a copy of Jerusalem with it. I am slowly getting to know the recipes which are different to anything else I’ve ever made. There are so many fabulous recipes where the vegetables are the star. He also loves aubergines and has written numerous recipes using them. I’m also going to try roasted squash with fresh figs as I’ve got a really nice squash that I picked myself waiting to be used.

I want to buy his vegetarian book which I think is called Plenty but I’ve just bought two cookery books. Maybe I’ll ask someone to buy it for me for Christmas……..

I eat much less meat than I used to and buy the best quality I can. Fortunately there are two excellent butchers within a mile.

Do you always make Christmas cake this early? I usually make mine a couple of months beforehand and I have been thinking about making it sooner. Do you feed yours?

I’ve been watching Jamie Oliver’s latest series on Channel 4 which started this evening. He went to a market in South Korea to find out about their love of Kimchi and then back home he made a really tasty looking broth with lots of veggies, chicken, tofu, noodles and Kimchi. I wanted to reach into the TV and help myself to a bowl. I must have a go at making Kimchi soon.

Jo, I always used to have scrambled eggs with smoked salmon for breakfast on Christmas Day. I love it!
I’ve also always loved cooking and will try making anything. I’ve had more than a few failures but the successes far outweigh them.

Jo, I don’t see if as the dark side, but yes, vegetables, fish, and less meat does seem to be my future!

Re: your current plan. The fact that you’re enjoying it suggests it will be sustainable, and if you continue to see results all the better!

Amazon,

I’ve got Plenty More but not Plenty, and I think it will be Jerusalem next.

I’d never made Christmas cake until 6 years ago after Mum’s death. Bless her, she just made a fruit cake, and sometimes only a couple of days before xmas day leaving it tight for marzipan and icing (cooking was a very weak point for mum!).

I think I’m just going to make it now to have it done! And yes, I’ll be feeding it regularly until xmas 😀 Or maybe I should leave it for a couple of weeks…. Although I know people who made theirs last weekend…arghhhhh…. Now I don’t know anymore 😀

Hello,
We are sitting at the airport for the longest time. The car was dropped off around 5ish and we’ll be boarding at 11:10pm with arrival time tomorrow at 6:30am.
The weather had been horrible since last night therefore we couldn’t do anything today. This was the only bad day so we are very happy.
Happy Birthdat to Purple!
Thank God I am not Irish! I wonder what kind of jokes they have with the other English speaking Folks.
I hope next week I put my s##t together. Looks like I need to make my immune system strong. Try to sleep better, better exercise routine, 5:2 and meditate. My mind is all over the place.
Enjoy the weekend everyone and a big cyber hug
❤️🙏❤️🙏

Hi purple to much cuteness is never enough little humans do fill your heart with pure joy don’t they yes once again the match was over after the first quarter so powerful who do you want/think they will play off in the grand final next week.?

Nama I can’t wait to see the wedding photos. Those are the type of celebrations that I really enjoy. It’s when most of families are present.
Have fun 🍾

Morning/evening all,

So much for getting up early and going out before everyone else as I slept in until 9am!

Happy, My only guidance for making Christmas cakes is from the Goddess of Christmas aka Delia 😉 and she suggests a couple of months if possible. She says the same for Christmas puddings too.
I am in the mood for cooking and baking at the moment and had a passing thought that I could make my cake now. I am actually planning on using the recipe that contains massive amounts of booze in which the fruit is marinaded in the fridge for a week before baking the cake so I might start it today and bake it next weekend.
Rich fruit cakes keep really well and improve with age so no reason why you can’t make yours now if you are in the mood 🙂

Jo, my Mum used to used the scrubbed washing up bowl for the Christmas pudding mix 🙂

I bought the Guardian this morning,got it home only to find that the 20 page magazine entitled Easy Ottolenghi is missing. I am not amused 😬😬
Having said that, I need more recipes like a hole in the head 😂

Have a good one everybody 😜

Purple plenty of tears shed here for a heap of reasons 55 years is a long time to wait win a final in Perth win a final in Sydney to play the Grand Final in Melbourne massive effort with a stack of injuries throughout the year but the heart is stronger and belief in “anything is possible”
RT

hello from a very wet Scotland .
PVE Happy Birthday pal . I hope you are having a fantastic day . .
We did face chat or whatever its called (on the apple tablet) With Rebecca last night in Australia . She is just glowing . She is so happy and relaxed . It was amazing . Jim just could not get his head around the fact she could see us . She kept saying ” wave to my friend Granddad ) . We were joking with her American friend that it was haggis season and that the vegetarian ones had no feathers . It was just so so lovely . I was smiling all night . Having a kind of lazy day today .

Take care everyone and keep posting xxxxx

When we can afford a TARDUS 🙂 . Would that not be brilliant pal ? 🙂 xxxx

This weekend is the third anniversary of 5:2 for me, for which I give thanks daily 🙂 I sat down with my cousin yesterday to watch the original documentary again, and was again struck by the health benefits this WOL provides. It reinforces again that it is indeed for life. And my cousin will take the message away and spread the word. She’s a sprightly 75-year-old, fit apart from slow-healing hip re-replacements. She and I took our elderly aunt to lunch yesterday, and while we were perusing the dessert menu aunt was almost falling asleep, so it was straight off home with her for her siesta. Yummy eggs and salmon cakes. Elderly aunt was quaffing the lovely Nelson pinot gris like it was water (didn’t touch her water glass, though 🙂 )

Isn’t the technology wonderful, Wee? With two children in Australia it makes the separation so much easier to bear. I often think of my poor mother when her sons started to fly – one to London, one to the US, two to Australia, and only the odd letter to keep her in touch – and we know how well blokes write 🙂

We have had a dreary week, weather-wise, so it was lovely to be able to get the washing in dry, and the lawn mowed, yesterday, and the beginning of daylight saving took me by surprise. I emptied 100mm from the rain gauge over last weekend 🙁 Back to drear and drizzly today.

Oh, yes!!

Now to study the form for the local council election candidates – tough when you’ve never heard of some of them!

Thank you, HCB. One bonus of this WOL is meeting so many great cyber friends – and turning some of them into literal friends!

We have a mayoral debate tomorrow (Monday) evening too. Not quite so much riding on it as yours, though. How can a country of 350m people pick those two…?

Hi All!

I hope everyone is doing well, as I mentioned last post – I’ve been reading along to all your posts despite my radio – silence! 🙂 You are all sounding well and there seems to be lots of exciting things happening!

I’ve been flat out at work this week, but Friday marked my first week officially done! I was absolutely shocked on friday morning to find I’d lost 1.5kilo in just over a week! I was so excited and motivated – literally didn’t change anything else in my life! Safe to say I’m hooked!

I’ve had a good weekend this week with 2 family parties and lots of great food and drink. I hoping it doesn’t de-rail my progress too much, but I’ve also just let myself enjoy the weekend without feeling guilty. I’m in a good frame of mind to refocus and be stronger than ever for the week ahead.

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend – I’ll be reading away as always so keep me up to date with all your exciting moments! 🙂

Thank you all for making my first week so much easier and enjoyable! I couldn’t have done it without your support, encouragement and company!

xx Faith

Hi everyone,

It’s a lovely day here, and I walked down to the garden centre for some bulbs and a couple of autumn flowering plants to brighten the place up now that so many plants have stopped flowering although the perennial salvias, fuchsias and one or two others are still going strong.

I bought some cream violas and a deep pink dahlia that was the only one left and reduced to £2 and lots of bulbs.
The garden centre is in Syon Park and it is a nice walk. I ignored the smell of baked goods and various other interesting aromas and bypassed the farmers market which wasn’t too difficult as I was already laden with bulbs, plants and a new terracotta pot.
I went straight into the garden and did some pruning and tidying although there is still much to do. I put some of the violas in the huge pot by the front door to replace some very tired red petunias that have been glorious all summer.

I planted up a tub with two varieties of narcissus, the dahlia and a couple of violas and it is outside my back door at the top of the stairs along with a bowl planted with miniature daffodil bulbs that I replanted from an old window box.

I’ve put the remaining narcissi, mini tulips, bluebells (mine didn’t appear this year)in various spots in the garden and a bowl of blue highly scented hyacinth are now in a dark cupboard. I’m hoping they’ll be in flower by Christmas. I bought some unusual looking bulbs that I’ve not heard of called Nectaroscordum (no idea what their common name is) which have pendent small bellshaped flowers and are highly attractive to pollinating insects which sold them to me 🙂
My little garden should look very nice come spring 😎

When I came in from the garden I realised that I felt faint and hungry. No surprise as it was 2.30pm and I hadn’t had a drink since my early morning cuppas.

After the miraculous reviving effects of a shower and some coffee I felt much better 😛

The lamb stuffed aubergine and roasted squash with figs were both delicious. I’ve enough lamb filling left to go in the remaining half of the squash for a FD dinner tomorrow. Food free fasting on Tuesday.
It should have been sweet potato with figs but I confused two recipes when I wrote my shopping list. Having made it with squash, I think sweet potato would have been too sweet for my liking so I’ll stick with squash.

Happy, did you make your cake? I’ve made the fruit, spice and alcohol mix for Delia’s Creole Christmas cake and it is stashed in the fridge until next weekend.

I hope everyone has had a good weekend 😜

I’ve seen the photo and I’m coming to yours for Christmas 😉

I’ve just had a slice of Delia’s last minute mincemeat cake which is my go to recipe when I want to bake a fruit cake. I use whatever fruits and nuts I have and it is always fab. I made this one as the builders are coming on Wednesday to replace the stairs to the garden and if there is no cake I’ll never hear the end of it 😆
I couldn’t possibly offer it to them without checking it is OK………..

So do I. 10 hours into it already. Happy fasting folk, (especially HCB) 😊