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.

Still. Please don't be too hard on yourself. Can you at least get out in the garden for 5 mins fresh air?
Hope DD doesn't have anything serious.

Oh still so sorry to hear that. I get it too on and off. Definitely on just now but reading up on supplements, exercise, diet stuff. Not severe enough for anti ad's but definitely there lurking IYSWIM. Have some

Oh dd is fine. Thank you people. Short my ds wrote a song years ago with the line 'its like a sticky note on the back of your head'. I think I was relying on running and am so frustrated with some dodgy knee thing. Going to go for a brisk walk tomorrow and a very gentle jog to see if I'm in agony by nightfall!!

Back on topic, I am doing broc soup and oh she glows veggie burgers tomorrow. Not sure what to have with the burgers tho (mainly sweet pot so not good for any variation on chips). Maybe just a salad thing?

Still - can you walk instead? I try to walk every day between 8.30 and 9.00 and find it really clears the head and gets me ready to face the day. Luckily the DDs go on the school bus or that plan wouldn't work...

I tried the coconut soup with cauliflower and swede rather than squash. It was less nice - needs a sweet flavour to balance out the strong brassica flavour!

I am inspired to make granola now. I've just bought some from Riverford, which is nice, with less junk in than the Jordan's one, but if I made my own I could use my favourite nuts and seeds.

In a bid to cut my sugar consumption by reminding myself why I should, I re-read that Robert Lustig book about sugar. It's pretty compelling stuff.

Anyway. .. today I have eaten:

Breakfast - berries, Greek yoghurt, granola

Lunch - Tuna and black bean salad with yoghurt and harissa

Snack- half an apple and a stick of celery.

Dinner - not sure yet, but something involving leftover chicken thighs

All the soups sound good and well done on the sugar Holmes. What is Harissa? X

Ooh - I love harissa and use it quite a lot! It's an aromatic and spicy North African paste. You can use it as a rub on meat or stir it into tagines etc but I like to mix it with some Greek yoghurt and then use that as a mayonnaise substitute on salads or with salmon, chicken or whatever.

There's also rose harissa, which is a version with crushed dried rose petals in. I find when I'm trying to eat healthily, strong flavours keep me enthused by my food and I'm less likely to be tempted to eat crappy stuff.

Oh and for my not-sure-what-yet dinner I made a chicken and vegetable tomatoey chilli-ish stew thingy, spiced with cumin and cloves because the dc won't eat actual spicy stuff. Then I added some of the aforementioned harissa to dh's and my portions.

Cooking was nice today as I had a lovely gleaming new gas hob fitted this morning!

I'm definitely going to look out for Harissa. I'm sure DH would love it.
Happy cooking on the new stove.

Bram, I do need to reorganise my day and getting out first thing would suit me but i'm struggling to fit all my work hours in around school runs. The fact that i am thinking i can sort something is a good sign. I did go for a little trot today though so I'll see how my knee goes.

I made the broccoli soup with just over an inch of ginger (and I forgot the limes!). It was nice and the kids came back for seconds! I'm going to increase the ginger a bit though. Then the entire family bowed down to my veggie burgers that somehow were the best I'd ever made

That all sounds a bit more positive, Still! When I'm feeling a bit fed up and as though I can't get on top of things, I quite like http://zenhabits.net/ this blog . I particularly like the current entry about contentedness - it really struck a chord with me.

I think I've finally broken the post-Christmas chocolate/sweet stuff habit. A couple of days without sugary binges and I feel much more on an even keel. Leftover chicken and vegetable chilli with brown rice for lunch has left me feeling very full! Nice and warming on a cold, rainy day too.

That's good news Holmes . Chilli sounds good. The broccoli and ginger soup is almost gone here, I loved it. Also made granola and it is like crack, DD is obsessed with it and DH and I can't stop nibbling so that will be gone in a couple more days too. I am going to try tweaking the recipe a bit for the next batch, cinnamon and chia added maybe.

Still how are you doing?

Thank you. I am ok. I went out for a longish walk today and do feel better for it. Well done Holmes. Isn't it weird how you feel so much better when you eat well but your brain still tricks you into unhelpful habits?

I am on the verge of signing up to retrain as a hypnotherapist (a bit ironic seeing as my brain has thrown a tantrum). This came up in my conversation with the trainer I have found. Things like phobias (eg heights, snakes etc) are helpful survival instincts gone out of control. You can see that. The same is true of the unhelpful eating habits or smoking, drinking etc. At some point this was helpful - a sugar boost for example. The problem is when you realise that it has become unhelpful, your subconscious part of your brain that tells you it is helpful has worked much much quicker than the part that will tell you it has become unhelpful. You've already eaten half of it before you know it!!

(I use subconscious as a lay person not a proper term iyswim, and that is a very loose explanation of course, probably full of holes!).

Oh Holmes. My mum's zumba was swapped with moki fit this week. Apparently it is a craze sweeping your part of the world! Mum said it was a but much!

Ooh I've never heard of that! Will check it out...

Hi everyone, I'm busy with work ATM hence radio silence but wanted to share a recipe with you. Cut butternut squash into half moons about 5 mm thick. Drizzle with oil and Himalayan pink salt (or presumably any salt!!) and roast for 15 mins. Add wedges of red onion and a tbsp of balsamic vinegar and roast until tender. Serve drizzled with a dressing made from tbsp tahini, juice of half a lemon and 3 tbsp water - if it's too thick add more water, or too thin add more tahini. Eat. It's gorgeous and great portable lunch food - would be good with wholemeal pitta, rocket, maybe some pine nuts, I reckon...

Otherwise I am eating lots of avocado - I've discovered it makes a delicious base for salad dressing. My other recent obsession is sweet potato, microwaved whole, then mashed with soy sauce, coriander and lime. Mmm.

That sounds great cantdo, I might try that tomorrow, I have a squash that needs using. Think feta would also be good...

Hope you all had good weekends. Still walking outside is magic medicine . Love the sound of the hypnotherapy training. Have you had any yourself?

Love the sound of those recipes Can't!

I have chilli bubbling away in my new slow cooker tonight. Something great about knowing that dinner is ready and waiting when you're ready for it!

I love chilli....

Another hit today was avocado salad dressing - blended avocado with lemon juice, sweet miso, salt and garlic- so good with spirals of carrot. Added pumpkin seeds for crunch and ate with cold roast chicken...

Hello, I have been managing to get outside. I have a tiny injury but my dr is sending me for x rays and banned me from running for 2 weeks more. I am trying to look after myself with being active in other ways. I have had hypnotherapy. I like the way you can be quite no nonsense with it and it is solution seeking, which I also like. We'll see if I can afford the training, and even then making a living is hard (but lot harder if you don't have the qualification in the first place).

Oh the dr has also said I should lose weight - well it will help really. I am not going back to dieting or weighing myself, and so I am going to recommit to eating betterer. (I may experiment with no snacks though just to keep me on the straight and narrow). I am hoping it will give me a bit f focus too. Tomorrow I am making this but perhaps with less dressing as I find a lot of recipes saturate the veg!

Yum - DH made granola last night. So easy, and great tip in current Waitrose magazine about adding beaten egg white in order to get clumps of oats.

Still - that salad looks great. I was wondering what to have for lunch and considering a lentil salad, so I think I might have that too!

Hi all, been off work this week on holiday and have eaten a lot of rubbish. Away for the weekend but cooking today to get organised for when I get back. The broccoli soup sounds lush. I'll get the ingredients in for that one. Did we decide if it was freezable?

How you feeling Still? I'm on mega Omega 3 dose and also 5http. Not sure if it's that or being off work but feeling so much brighter and have tackled lots of stuff in the house.

Hi everyone. Just back from food shopping and I now have payday fridge . Had a little smile to myself at the checkout at how much my food shopping has changed since last year. It used to be skimmed dairy and low fat with lots of processed "diet" products thrown in. Today it was things like full fat Greek yoghurt, lots of beans and pulses, much more fruit and veg including kale. I still get some processed stuff (but not low fat ) but overall it's much healthier.
Also I bought some Harissa paste. Any tips on what to use it for?