Week 8 of 52 Small Changes

[OddSocksHighHeels]

All welcome to join at any time!

This week the challenge is to eat 4-6 servings of veg each day. A serving is half a cup of non-leafy veg or a cup of leafy veg.

Start off by including those that you like but try a new vegetable each week. Plan your meals out so that you can aim to include enough veg and remember that frozen and canned count too.

Ideas are to add veg to things like omelettes for breakfast or swap your breakfast chips (do people eat chips for breakfast?) for sliced tomatoes.

For lunch and dinner then try having a salad before your main meal, eat vegetables as a side dish, fill wraps and sandwiches with extra veg and pack extra into soups, stews and sauces.

For snacks then try chopped veg sticks with dips.

Try to eat different colours of vegetables to get the various benefits provided from them.

Previous weeks challenges to continue with are drinking more water, getting enough sleep, keeping active each day, logging your food intake, trying to be more positive and taking a multivitamin.

Last weeks thread here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/2565604-Week-7-of-52-small-changes?pg=1&order=

AGap. Made a big salad yesterday with wombok, green and red capsicums, apple cider vinegar and macadamia oil. It's really great! I'm going to try tiny florets if cauliflower next time.

Ohh that was you DrDiva? Thank you, I am indeed a fan now! I got it in Tesco pointless, was near the kale and spinach.

IC what is wombok?

Good going yesterday quirky

This morning I had avocado and chilli on toast. Lunch was vegetable lentil soup. Snack hummus and sugar snap peas. Went to the cinema with dc and ate a load of junk so felt like I had to make up for it tonight. For dinner I made a huge stirfry - beanspouts, onions, mushrooms, red peppers, baby corn, sugar snap peas, spinach, samphire and a tiny bit of salmon. Basically bits and pieces hastily grabbed from the fridge and freezer.

I always do feel a lot better when I concentrate on eating better so thanks for the thread Oddsocks.

Only problem is the bloating and emm, wind issue at the moment

I googled wombok. It's Chinese cabbage. Are you Australian IC?

Yes I hear you with the wind sirona I assume it gets better? Like with the constant peeing when first drinking more water?

Oh and my dinner was so good! Pasta with rocket, spinach, soya beans, carrots, butternut squash, red peppers, mange tout and tomatoes in pesto with extra olive oil, Parmesan, halloumi and feta. I'm stuffed!

That's impressive oddsocks!

Having said I could do this one easily I have done very badly. I am blaming half term combined with my 'storecupboard' week - I try to have a week a month living mainly off things I have in cupboards or fridge. If I don't I permanently have heaving cupboards and fridge. I did make ratatouille with tired looking aubergines from the fridge today, so that is four veg ready for tomorrow's lunch 😊

Oddsocks that dinner sound lovely.

Yes I'm Australian. I spent a long time in the uk but am back in Australia. And try as I might I just can't leave mumsnet.
Wombok is great it's a much lighter taste to regular cabbage and tips if the leaves are also lettuce like.

Wow, some delicious veg!

Yesterday, we had smoked mackerel and marinated salmon (after a visit to Aldi) with red cabbage and carrot coleslaw, beetroot, marinated artichokes and black olives. For dinner we had chicken fajitas with peppers and onions, some more coleslaw, spinach salad with marinated peppers.

Today, I may make some bubble and squeak for breakfast with the leftover veg in the fridge.

I haven't managed as many steps without the school run, but I hope I am making up for it with doing weights/yoga in the mornings. I have done my Headspace first thing each morning and I am off to check on dd2, then do day 28 of the Yoga Camp.

That's sounds gorgeous OddSocks and I'm glad I'm not the only one with that problem Fingers crossed it is indeed a temporary thing.

Haven't done so well today at all, not one vegetable in sight instead lots of sugary baked goods. Plan to make pasta with courgette, aubergine, tomatoes and onions for tonight to try and make up for it.

Wombok sounds nice IC and I like the name

Struggling with positive thinking the last couple of days. Seem to be having some sort of existential crisis, wondering what the point is to it all? Not in a depressed way but feeling very emotional and insignificant.

I haven't done well today but mainly because we had lunch out (well, in Ikea) and I couldn't resist chips!
Made cauliflower cheese for tea and have eaten 2 bananas that DD started and couldn't finish. Tomorrow will be better!

Just checking in so you're on my TIO, back on Saturday, will read properly then.
Nice week again for me, I love veg. especially raw.

Ah, Sirona and Oddsocks that problem here too. Maybe too much cabbage?

Prawn laksa for dinner with shallots, peas, mushrooms, spinach and sweet potato noodles.

Ugh, bad day today - no water and only one vegetable. Oh well, I can get back onto it properly tomorrow.

Sirona that sounds tricky. Would writing out a couple if things you've done each day help you to see the impact you've made/ making in the world?

OddSocks please be gentle on yourself. You've had a rough a time.

Veg going well and managing to sneak hire a few more into DH as well!

oddsocks look after yourself and do what you need to do to recover.

Sirona to you. Bereavement can affect you in ways you don't expect, be gentle on yourself. The fact you are checking in is a big positive. I don't think you can expect perfection in all areas, surely it is a general move towards drinking enough, good sleep, activity etc. rather than always managing all those things all the time.

The first rubbishy night for a while, so I need to accept that generally sleep is improving. Unfortunately, I have a busy day planned with dd1.
I have done much less walking this week, but I have properly restarted weights (I've got quite weak) and been doing some yoga too.
I've been doing Headspace every morning, so getting in the habit first thing. Gratitude diary, not so great.
Shoe pile is not that tidy and the boiler drama meant I didn't get round to reorganising my shoes.
Lots of veg been eaten.

I might try the bullet points on my phone to remind me of everything.

Oh no, totally forgot about it this week I shall get on it! I'm not good at eating veg. I finally managed to keep a consistent food diary and it was depressing how little fruit and veg I eat Especially given that I have open access to lots of berries, fruit, kale and salad at work. I'm a nanny, I don't use my free food priviliges often as I'm a gluten-free veggie but I should on this front!

I make veg soup quite often, usually carrot and butterbean or leek and potato. I need to get on that more for lunches!

My "Brighton Parents" (my lovely old landlords) do wonderful things with veggies, I need to steal their ideas. Roasts are full of wonderful roasted veg options and non-traditional mashes. Or I just need to go round more often

DrDiva I love samphire too! It's so tasty!

I eat a lot of squash. Tonnes of it. We always have squash in our house! And carrot. I have a nutribullet but it gets used to make chocolate bar milkshakes or mango lassis more often than not...

I like the idea of planning meals around veg but I don't see how it could work in my house We eat a lot of "complete meals" that we should add veg sides too so there's a lot of stews, pies, risotto, pizza, bolognaise, etc. So basically I need to add salad to my meals!

I struggle with fruit and veg, my parents never bothered with it when I was a child so I literally got to 16 and the only fruit I would eat was apples (only cut into wedges) and veg-wise it was sweetcorn or tomato puree mixed with water to make tomato sauces Lots of texture/taste issues from that ten years later still but I do eat a better variety now and try most things! Still can't eat tomatoes raw though, or use chopped tomatoes for tomato sauces, pasatta is my friend.

Oh, I wanted to link to this and forgot, I have one of the minerals and vitamins charts pinned up in my kitchen and love it:
Liz Cook Charts

Ooh, they look interesting Rattie. I have a seasonal fruits and veg chart from a newspaper on our fridge. A really nice chocolate nutribullet recipe is to add spinach, frozen berries, cocoa powder and koko milk. Tastes like chocolate ice-cream.

Breakfast: not so good, coffee and a bite of dd1's rocky road in a museum cafe .

Lunch: tomato and basil soup followed by cheese with beetroot pieces.

Dinner: I might have to make up and eat lots of veg!

Rattie if you're eating vegetarian food then you probably don't need to plan around the vegetables as I'd assume your stews are already quite veg-filled? Whereas I can easily make a beef stew and it be pretty much all beef with practically no veg to it.

I'm similar with learning to eat fruit and veg though! My mum never cooked it until I got to about 15 then she would suddenly switch from serving sausage and chips to a plate of courgette and aubergine in a watery tomato sauce with quinoa and brown rice and stuff. I was highly unimpressed and bought myself Super Noodles most nights. I'm not too bad at eating them now but do forget about them a lot. Apart from courgette and aubergine - I can't see me ever eating them again!

quirky that's not so bad, I'd guess 2 portions at lunch with the tomato and any other veg that might have gone into the soup plus the beetroot. So you only need another 2 or 3 portions with dinner.

I love courgettes and aubergine! Better not come to dinner on those nights

Thanks Oddsocks, breakfast was woeful, though.

Dinner: salmon with a plate of veg: courgette, mushroom, pepper and broccoli stir fried with garlic and white wine.

I have been making a delicious sweet potato dish - just dice them and make a dressing from minced ginger (about a tbsp) and soy sauce (about 4-5 tbsps depending how much sweet potato). Toss the sweet potato in the dressing and spread out on a baking sheet, bake at 180c for about 40 mins. It's delicious.

Doing my best to up the veg intake. Emergency frozen spinach and peas all consumed. Picked up ready prepared wok veg because I was running late to shop and prepare dinner - with noodles its my new go-to fast meal! Not sure that I'm managing the full amount but being more conscious about getting the veg in. Water intake a bit up and down but DS has had his vitamin D everyday for the past 2 weeks!

That sounds good pointless I love sweet potato.

Frozen veg (try soya beans as well, they're lovely) and the ready prepared stir-fry veg have always been my quick way f getting veg as well velocity. No problems with that, it all counts! Well done on the Vitamin D too, how old is DS?

That does sound nice Pointless. I adore anything with ginger in it. Might try that tomorrow night as I've some sweet potatoes here that I've been uninspired to do anything with.

I really like that Rattie and my kids would too. Despite my overall crap diet, I find nutrition fascinating. Really interesting what food contains and then how it is used in your body. I'm was always telling the dc what food groups various parts of their meal is and what good things are found in each food. Now they've started asking Yes, it is now your mission to go and eat their lovely food and steal their ideas for us.

Managed to fit in my vegetables last night after all - after my pasta I had crudites and dips watching a movie. Today not so good. Went for a big 13 mile run so my body has been craving carbs and protein and I've rolled with it. Baked beans are one yes ? Will have a bowl of sugar snap peas later if I feel snacky. Looking at it as a positive even on the days I'm not making the quota, I'm now conscious of it.

Thanks IC and quirky, I think maybe that's the crux of it. I've lost three family members and my dog in the past year and a half so it's been a tough time. Maybe not a bad thing to sit and take stock once in a while. I think I'm going to buy a notebook and start to keep a journal again.