Primal - 21 Day Challenge - Day 1-7

Before going Primal I thought I was eating quite healthy, and following - in a fashion - Slimming World, which was all about low fat foods, portion control and 'synning' certain foods.  My weight loss had stalled and I was getting back into the bad habits of eating chocolate when I shouldn't be.  My main weaknesses are biscuits.  Oh so yummy.

P mentioned me going Primal and it set me thinking...and then on Monday I sort of jumped in head first!  I decided that today was indeed the day to start, but as I hasn't properly prepared myself I had no idea what to take to work for lunch, so I sort of didn't take anything.  I never eat breakfast - even on Slimming World.  For my evening meal I had an omelette with eggs, cheese and some of what P calls his 'chicken mix up' which is chicken, bacon, onion, mushroom and some Cajun spices.  I had this with a little bit of salad.  I was really hungry later in the evening and I had some pistachio nuts, but I am not very keen on them so I had lots of water and some grapes.  I miss my fizzy drinks and sugar free squash!  :o(

On Tuesday being more prepared I took some salad and tuna to work, and some fruit for the afternoon.  I was really hungry by lunchtime.  By the time I came home I was hungry too, which is unusual for me, P said this is probably because my body was getting used to me not having any sugar.  For tea on Tuesday we had homemade burgers, which we made with organic mince - something we have never used before - wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun, and topped with bacon and cheese.  These were delicious.  This was enough for me and I didn't feel hungry all night.

By Wednesday I noticed I was not only sleeping better but I was waking up feeling rested, as opposed to feeling tired again as soon I woke up.  I also tend to get headaches at work, and I have not had one for a couple of days.  Again I took tuna and salad to work, but this time I did not have any fruit in the afternoon - I wasn't hungry.  For tea we had chicken curry which P made with chicken, tinned tomatoes, spices and lots of onion (this was adapted from one we used to have when we were both following Slimming World).  I wasn't sure how I would manage without the rice, but honestly it didn't make a lot of difference.  I snacked on some whole almonds and some macadamia nuts, but I didn't feel hungry later in the evening like I usually would have done.  I made some Primal chocolate cookies using ground almonds and coconut flour and a tried and tested recipe and also some Primal banana bread.

So far I am missing chocolate.  I had gotten into the habit of having a bar at work in the day - probably not helped by the lovely lad sitting next to me who eats loads of yummy food throughout the day.  I am also missing my sugar free squash and diet fizzy drinks - both of which are not allowed.  I find plain water quite boring, and I haven't had a cup of tea all week, but I haven't really missed that.

I have a teeny tiny confession to make in that I did have a chocolate bar on Wednesday evening but this was only because a huge package of goodies arrived from my lovely American friend Ashley and I couldn't resist one!  But hey, I am still alive.

Thursday saw me having tuna and salad again for lunch and left over chicken curry for tea, with some macadamia, hazelnuts and almonds for a snack.  Although I think I had too many nuts as I felt a bit sick, either it was that or the water I was drinking with a squeeze of lemon in!

On Friday it was back to another omelette for tea, and that was only because I had heaps of stuff I was doing and was running late with everything.  I felt really sick and only ate half of it.  I still haven't really felt hungry since starting the plan.  I had some nuts a bit later on, and an apple.  Oh and lots of plain water.  Yuk.

Weekends are always the hardest, however I was occupied on Saturday morning with the Race for Life, so my mind was busy and by the time I got home I couldn't work out what to have for lunch so I snacked on a few nuts.  I was then busy with what felt like a million things to iron, so by the time P left for his gig I hadn't had anything for tea.  I made the kids macaroni cheese and then we nipped to the shop to get them some goodies and we watched Wreck It Ralph on Sky Box Office.  Once again I had a little cheat and had some yummy Chocolate Fudge Pretzel Flipz from my American goodies which arrived midweek.  And then I had some crispbread with cheese spread on.  Ooops.  Well I did say that weekends were hard.  On the plus side I made P's favourite Primal cookies and tried out a new Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookie.  Primal and Paleo are pretty much the same thing, only Primal allows dairy and Paleo does not.

Sunday wasn't too bad.  After watching the Moto GP I had a sausage, bacon and scrambled egg.  I haven't had scrambled egg in years!  In the evening, I adapted an old Slimming World recipe for meatballs, and it didn't even feel odd to have it without pasta/spaghetti.  I feel that over the past week I have eaten loads, and not gone hungry once.  And when I have snacked it's been on nuts.

And finally then onto this morning and my weigh in.  I didn't have any idea what to expect.  I lost 2lb.  I certainly don't feel any lighter.  The benefits I do feel however, are no headaches and better sleep.  I am still easily triggered into a mood and shout at the children...but hey, maybe that is just who I am.  Perhaps even my diet cannot change that.  We shall see.

I honestly don't know if I could keep this up forever.  I am going to try and aim in the next week to stick to the plan 100% and see if I feel any additional health benefits without the cheats, which lets face it, probably didn't help! 

Pop back this time next week and see how I get on! xx

B's Laugh of the Week #11 - Guest Post from M

Here is M with a Guest Post this week, she thinks that she has lots of good jokes so B has kindly handed over his weekly column to her this week.

And what does she have to offer this week?

How can you stop an elephant from smelling?
Tie a knot on it's trunk.

She hopes you like this joke.

Mummy and M's Adventures #4 - Race for Life 2013 (Middlesbrough Ormesby Hall)

M wanted to write another Mummy and M's Adventures about the Race for Life.  I am sorry for the Race for Life overload!

Here is what she has to say...

On the 15th of June I did the Race for Life with Mammy and Bronte.  We did it in Middlesbrough and it was at Ormesby Hall, which was a nice place.  By the time we got from the car to where the race was, Bronte was already tired.  She was tired before we have even started!

Lots of people were wearing pink.  Bronte was the odd one out as she wanted to wear purple and pink.  People had signs on their backs to say who they were racing for.  Some people were raising money for EVERYONE who had cancer, which I thought was nice.

I was very tired after but I didn't care.  We raised lots of money in memory of Auntie Dot.  She was my Mam's Auntie who died of cancer three years ago.  She was also my Fairy Godmother.

It was lots of fun. 

I asked Mam lots of questions about Auntie Dot and Mam told me that Auntie Dot knew she was going to die as she had a cancer that could not be made better.  I do not really know what cancer is so Mammy described it as bugs in your body that try to hurt you.  Auntie Dot was told that she only had a year to live but she lived much longer than that, which I think was nice.

I think that Auntie Dot is in heaven.  Whenever I have to say a prayer at school I always ask God to look after everyone, but especially Auntie Dot.  Sometimes we put flowers down for Cousin Teresa and Grandma Peggy and Grandad Stanley and we ask them to share them with Auntie Dot and be friends with her in Heaven.

We have raised nearly £250 for Cancer Research UK.  This makes me very happy!

I would like to do the Race for Life again next year, without Bronte as she needed Mam to carry her and give her a piggy back.  But it was OK because she did start running in the end.  At the end of the race Bronte cried because she thought I was going to win, so we had to hold hands and finish at the same time.

I like my medal.  I will take it into school to show everyone.

Please feel free to leave her any comments you wish.  I am so proud of both of my girls.

Silent Sunday - Sunday 16th June

Race For Life 2013 - Middlesbrough (Ormesby Hall): Saturday

Today was our eagerly awaited Race for Life date.  We were originally going to compete in the Darlington one last weekend, but due to M's Taekwondo grading, we had to rearrange the date to attend the Middlesbrough one instead. 

 

We compete in the Race For Life in Auntie Dot's memory.

 

M was looking forward to it, and Bronte said she was too, although she didn't really know what it was all about!

 

When you compete you have a race number for your front - I was 1810 and M was 1811.  As Bronte is under 5 she did not need to be registered in her own right, and she just came along with us.  You also get a 'back plate' where you say 'I race for life for....'

 

We made our back plates last night.  M put a lot of thought into hers, like the last time we competed in 2010.

 

 

Here are the finished back plates - mine and M's:

 

M drew Auntie Dot as an angel with Uncle John (her husband) in the garden with his rose bushes (the purple thing in the middle).  :o)  So sweet.

 

I was getting quite anxious about finding the way there and getting parked, as it was quite busy.  But thankfully we got a parking space quickly, and all was good.  I put M's number and back plate on and had to recruit someone to pin mine in place as M couldn't do this for me!  I hadn't considered that in my planning.

 

The weather forecast was sunny/rain.  We had a bit of a walk from the car park to Ormesby Hall, where the Race for Life was.  Bronte was tired before we even got there, which was a bit of a bad sign!  :o(  I honestly wasn't sure whether to bring her along, but she is desperate to do everything I do, and go wherever I go, she wouldn't let me leave her behind.  I took this picture walking down to where everyone was gathered for the start of the race - look at those clouds!

 

 

M was happy enough to dress in pink, but Bronte wanted to wear purple, with a pink cardigan.  So this is what my gorgeous girls looked like -

 

 

I also took a picture of the three of us before hand:

 

 

It started off sunny, and then rained a bit and then got sunny again - the weather really couldn't make up it's mind what it was going to do!

 

The start was a bit crazy with everyone all starting at once and in such a small area - but as it got further on people spread out a bit more.  M wanted us to jog, but that was never going to happen.  I walked quite fast and Bronte managed to keep up.  She did get tired in a few places, so she had a piggy back and also went on my shoulders (but blimey, she's heavy!).  She walked most of the way and she was brilliant.  She only complained a couple of times about being tired.

 

 

The race in total is 5km, or 3 miles.  We managed to complete it in 47.5 minutes, which was a huge improvement on our 2010 time.

 

Once we finished we each got a medal, a bottle of water and a chocolate brioche sweet roll - including Bronte!  She was so happy with her medal.  I didn't think they would give her one as she didn't have a race number.

 

 

Check us out, how happy and relieved do we look?!  WE DID IT.

 

 

All of the volunteers deserve a huge round of applause for all their hard work and cheering when it was needed.  In particular, huge thanks need to go to a lovely gingery haired young man with a loud voice towards the end of the race.  He was positioned just as you came round a corner and onto the final stretch, and oh my word - he was in the right place.  To EVERYONE he shouted loud and proud, giving motivation when it was so clearly needed and giving encouragement that the end was in sight.  I thanked him on the way out - and as I did, others overheard me and commented the same thing.  What a star.  :o)

 

It is still not too late to add to our sponsorship.  If you would like to consider a small donation, please click on the link below:

 

 

We are so close to our target, I would love to reach it.  Many thanks for reading xxx

Mummy and M's Adventures #3 - M's Taekwondo Grading

On Sunday it was M's Taekwondo Grading.  She was going as a Yellow Belt and wanted to grade to be a Yellow Belt Green Tag, the same as B.

We decided that this would be one of her 'Mummy and M's Adventures' posts as she wanted to tell you about the grading in her own words.  I hope that you like what she has to say.

I was very excited to grade, but when it came down to my belt the pressure on me was like 'Am I going to grade? Am I going to grade? Am I am going to grade?'.

On the morning I was quite sad in case I didn't pass.  In the grading I thought I did something wrong and I was very upset.  But I didn't have long to wait until I found out if I passed.

 

The weird thing about the day was when I was trying to take my shoe off and they called my name and I still couldn't get my shoe off so Mam had to yank it off!

 

I was very happy when I found out that I had passed.  I had to wait until the Tuesday class to get my belt.  I like my new belt a lot.

 

The grading was very, very fun and I was very happy.

M's Taekwondo Grading - 09/06/2013

On Sunday it was time for M's grading in Taekwondo.  She was going from yellow belt to yellow belt, green tag - the same belt as B.

 

B wasn't grading this time due to him grading in March, so once again she was on her own.  She was a little nervous. 

 

Depending upon which belt you are going for, you arrive at the local Leisure Centre at a certain time.  M's belt was the last ones of the morning grading.  This means that from next time we are likely to be there all afternoon as the belts B and M will be going for after this will be the first belts grading in the afternoon, with the more senior belts coming later in the afternoon.  It's all very complicated - even coming up to two years of B attending I am still not sure of it all.

 

Anyway, they must have been on time as she had barely gotten her shoes off when they were called to grade.  Usually they are called into a small room to grade in groups of eight, but on this occasion they were all grading in the main hall, and as there were only ten going for her belt, they all graded at the same time.

 

Bronte came with us, and she was very well behaved. 

 

 

M was very worried as she thought she had done some of her pattern wrong, but thankfully there was not too much longer to wait to find out how she got on.

 

I am delighted to announce that she is now a YELLOW BELT GREEN TAG.  :o)

 

She has been attending Taekwondo classes since January 2012 and she absolutely loves it.  Her aim is to be a black belt and to win an Olympic medal.  :o) xx

Going Primal - the 21 Day Challenge

P has now been following the Primal way of eating since he got back from Ireland in mid April and to date he has lost over 20lbs.  Not only this but he feels better, sleeps better and has lots more energy.

So what is Primal?

Well it's all about eating NO wheat, NO gluten and NO sugar.  So it's pretty tough.

Cooking wise there are things like coconut flour that you can use instead of ordinary flour and in terms of eating it is all about meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit and dairy.

P recently got The 21 Day Total Body Transformation book and he jokingly said over the weekend that I should give it a go.

And do you know what?  I think I just might.

I have lost 1.5 stone with Slimming World since August of last year however since November I have been hovering around the same weight.  Is this the weight I am meant to be?  Who knows?  I have been lighter in my adult life, that I do know.  Not by much but by around another 10lbs at least.  Should I aim for that weight, and if so, how?  I am bored of Slimming World, maybe it is time to try something new.

You can find out more about Primal life on Marks Daily Apple.  Wish me luck! xx

National Blood Week 10th-16th June

This week is National Blood Week, from 10th-16th June.

I received an email from blood.co.uk asking me to share the news, so I though to myself - what better way than to share it here on my blog?!

I have written before about giving blood in the following posts:

Giving Blood (January 2013)
Today, well today I donated blood! (August 2011)
Giving Blood (June 2011)

Did you know....?

Hospitals are supplied with 7000 units of blood EVERY DAY.
In order to continue to meet this demand, 2000 new donors are required each year.

Did you know....?

Each unit of donated blood is divided into its constituent parts and can save up to three lives.
The number of regular donors has fallen by 23% over the past decade.
The minimum age for donation is 17 years old.  Over 650,000 people will turn 17 in the next year!

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD.

Do something amazing today.....donate blood....save a life.  :o)

For more information about National Blood Week, please have a look on the blood.co.uk website.

B's Laugh of the Week #10

It's that time again!

Why did the banana inspector get the sack?
He kept slipping up!

B is not too keen on some of these jokes.  He takes some of them a bit too literally.  LOL

Happy Monday.