Eatbetterers part 3 -gather around healthy people !

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Third thread of healthy eating, no calorie counting just good, healthy food for us and our families.

It's post festive booze in this house. My dp is hard to buy for so my parents get him wine and lots of it. I just cannot leave it so we ough through it.

I'm thinking of entering a 10k- I'd love to do a half marathon but I just cannot imagine getting into double figures miles-wise! My new shoes are working at well. I have some heel thing going on but it's better with the new shoes for sure.

I know what you mean about dieting and ground rules. I find that a tricky one. I keep looking at dieting threads as I do need to lose some. But I know it's more effective not to diet

Marking my place

Hi Still. I know what you mean about the diet threads. The scales are a temptation for me too. I used to weigh myself several times a day. Crazy!
Upping the exercise and eating real food is the way to go.

Welcome Violet.

Argh! Am in the grips of my 4pm sugar cravings. Have had a pear and a teaspoon of unsweetened peanut butter. Must. Resist. Chocolate.

How did it go Holmes. I am sure I used to be full of useful advice at one time but it is like I never knew how to eat mindfully.

Neeko I'll stay away from the diet threads if you do It is tempting but you have to remember how utterly unsatisfying it is. I am pretty sensible around body issues lots of the time with the capacity to tip into full scale crazy at a moment's notice.

I am not quite back in my stride yet - still snacking. Ds (13) is worried that he is wrecking his voice with his sugar laden diet. He has made up his mind that he is cutting out obvious sugar until September when his gig list calms down. Thing is he is such a black and white person that he finds it quite easy - also I am buying less junk as I think it would be unfair to do so when he is taking his health seriously for once. It is his birthday soon and he has requested natural youghurt with soft fruit and toasted seeds

Anyone seen anything of some of our old regulars? (bramshott, fuzzpig, sleep, and more)??

I'll try Stilllearnin. It's very, very tempting though!
Very impressed by your DS. You should be really proud. There aren't many teenagers who take their health seriously.

I resisted the 4pm slump, but caved in at the evening munchies. Nothing too terrible though. At least I'm back into the regular running, so that should help make up for the odd lapse.

Hello everyone, I lost you!! Sorry for my absence, been a crazy month or so but it's great to see this thread still going!

Just off to do SR but marking place to catch up with you all later xx

Holmes. Remember not to be too hard on yourself. Life is for living and enjoying, not for punishing yourself.

Welcome back Sleep. Come and keep Still and me off the diet threads!

Yay - Sleep is back! Thanks for the reminder, Neeko. Not being too hard on myself, honest! Trouble is, I am now a lady of leisure again and that tends to make me go on a massive self-improvement drive! I suddenly give myself a ton of projects to do - you know- lose weight, run every day, make house look immaculate, knit more, do yoga, do more activities with dc, cook more interesting meals, etc etc. Whereas dh probably thinks I'll spend all day drinking coffee and playing with the puppy .

Oh Holmes, you are so me in another town. The similarities are uncanny!

Neeko. I am doing well today - have resisted all the sugary stuff in the cupboards and eaten good stuff. On the down side, I have stomach cramps because I ate some lovely healthy dark rye bread... which apparently contains quinoa, which gives me really bad stomach aches.

Oh dear Holmes. You are not having much luck!

Never mind. I have, however, discovered my curry-making mojo. I have a lovely coconutty lamb and lentil curry in the oven. I used to think my curries were a bit meh until I started finishing them off in the oven with no lid on for an hour or so. Yum.

Ooh can I have that recipe please?

Weeelll it's not actually a recipe - I made it up. I've done it twice the same way though, once with leftover (cooked) turkey and once with lamb chops.

To feed fourish, pre-heat oven to about 140, brown your meat first if using big pieces like chops or chicken thighs, then set aside. Slice two onions, fry on quite a high heat until properly brown. Turn heat to lowish and chuck in some chopped garlic and grated ginger. Fry a bit more. Stir in a load of curry spices (I used cumin, turmeric, coriander, cardamom and some garam masala) and fry gently for a minute. Stir the meat in, and some lentils if you fancy. Add a tin of tomatoes and some stock. Bring to a bubble, then stir in a tin of full fat coconut milk. Bring to a bubble again, then put in the oven with no lid on for an hour maybe. Oh and I stirred in some fresh spinach at the end for the chicken one. I'd have put in fresh coriander at the end too, but didn't have any.

Sorry - that was the waffliest attempt at a recipe ever! Delia would be appalled .

Sounds fab Holmes. Going to do your coconut dhal on Friday.

Really fancy a curry!

Had really bad hives for a few weeks but am on steroids for them now...which have made me really down! Need to get myself sorted out. My heads just full of 'stuff' at the minute.

Lost a post there

Sorry to hear you've been unwell shortaris. Hope the hives clear up soon.

Holmes it sounds delicious. I have a leg of lamb in the freezer so I'll try that with the leftovers. Thanks.

Shortaris - not you with hives too! I had them for months. Can I ask - did you go straight onto steroids or did you try antihistamines?

Holmes I already take double dose skin antihistamines everyday for general itching but this was horrendous! No idea what causes it but have been referred to a dermatologist for allergy testing so hope we'll get to the bottom of it soon. Did you ever find out what caused yours?

Been awake since 3. Knackered but going to make myself go to the gym now.

No I never found out, but I did find a miraculous drug combination which totally got rid of the hives until the reaction went away. It was prescribed by a specialist I saw. You take cetirizine (normal antihistamine ) and ranitidine (also known as Zantac) both twice a day. The ranitidine is actually an antacid but it also works on the histamine receptors in the gut, which are a different kind of receptor and don't always respond to normal antihistamines (the doc didn't tell me all this - I looked it up online because I wondered why they would be prescribing me an antacid).

Anyway... the hives vanished after one dose! It was like switching off a light. Then after a few weeks I periodically tried weaning myself off them. After a few failed attempts, it eventually worked and I stopped.

Sorry for the essay! But I know how miserable it can be. I'd hesitate to recommend drugs online to someone, but they are both pretty innocuous, over-the-counter ones!

Morning all!

I am trying a sort of asian broth, based on a HFW recipe from the Light & Easy book, but with added cavolo nero and swede. Could be unpleasant - I'll let you know.

Definitely feeling the post-Christmas waistband strain! There are too many baked goods and chocolates still in the house. I will try to resist the temptation to make more, but I do always try to have some homemade treaty-type stuff in so that I'm not tempted by the biscuit barrel. It's a fine line!

My internet connection is playing up at the moment, so probably not posting as much as I used to.

Your broth sounds tasty, Bramshott! Feeling pleased with myself today - ran 3 miles on Tues, did Shred yesterday and ran 3.6 miles this morning. Still not quite managing to kick the post-Christmas sugar addiction though.

Glad to hear you have solved your issues with the hives Holmes, for you Shortaris, kudos for your willpower getting to the gym after so little sleep!

To anyone tempted...step away from the diet threads < stern look as requested> . At the very least make a tally as you read of the people who post 'I did xyz diet and it was great, really worked but then I put the weight back on for abc reason' and also the 'I used to be able to lose half a stone just by skipping breakfast for a week but now I'm 36 it's almost impossible no matter how much I cut down'....both regular themes

I got a bit less enthusiastic about cooking for the month or so before Christmas, didn't eat badly but certainly not as much veg and a few more starchy carbs creeping in - maybe the change in seasons just prompted a need for comfort food . Christmas holidays were very carb heavy (much more of a temptation for me than sweet stuff), and alcohol every day for a fortnight or so, not loads, but enough that I now feel bloated and sluggish and my skin is definitely suffering, I want to leave both alone for a while (sick of the sight of them tbh so it's not an effort! It's my birthday on Monday so a whole month of no booze isn't going to happen but so far this week I haven't had any and I'm not missing it. Trying to stay off wheat as well, the combination of skipping those makes me feel healthier and lighter very quickly when I'm in my usual exercise routine. I think it's easier to step off them than sugar though?

I am also trying to do more vegetarian meals, or at least veggie heavy ones. I did Jamie O's vegetable chilli with sweet potato (fantastic) and also a chickpea stew with a bit of chorizo and baked cod this week. Tonight I am trying baked butternut squash and sage with buffalo mozzarella, might do crispy kale alongside and throw a bit of Parma ham on top. I made an Asian broth last night too, base of homemade chicken stock with chilli, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce, rice vinegar and lime juice, with carrots, broccoli, green pepper and kale, thickened with eggs, it was fantastic.

Thanks for the dose of common sense Sleep.
I really wanted to go running tonight but it's really storm there so I need to skip it.

Went shopping to top up the fruit and veg earlier. I've really enjoyed my food it's week because I've only been eating meals and none of it has been processed.