52 small changes - week 15

[OddSocksHighHeels]

Choose whole grains over refined and aim for 3 servings per day. A serving is half a cup of barley/brown rice etc or one slice of wholegrain bread.

Examples of whole grains (most of which I have never heard of!) are: Amaranth, barley, buckwheat, bulgur, corn, farro/emmer, grano, kamut, millet, oats, quinoa, brown rice, rye, sorghum, spelt, teff, tritical and wheat.

If you don't like the taste of whole grains then try substituting half refined with half whole grain for a while to get your taste buds to adapt.

last week

Hurrah for popcorn!

I had a couple of slices of wholemeal granary bread yesterday, was quite nice for a change as I'm usually a staunch white bread buyer. I'm only aiming for one portion at the moment until I get into the habit.

Bought quinoa, couscous with bulgur wheat and brown rice today. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them but the thought is there Was thinking maybe using one of them as a stuffing for red pepper with some fish tonight?

Any of the first three would be nice for pepper stuffing, the brown rice might be a bit chewy?

I had cous cous for lunch yesterday and popcorn snack and finished the popcorn just now.

I like this week

I'd do cous cous in the peppers.

I had porridge for breakfast and some wholemeal bread with lunch but I'm feeling lazy now so think I'll just do a salad for dinner. Two is more than I would normally have though! And good to know about popcorn, who knew it was so healthy?

I did indeed have the cous cous and bulgur wheat with some courgette, onion and garlic stuffed in pepper. Was lovely.

Had wholemeal bread earlier and oatmeal biscuits with cheese for a snack. That's three, more than I probably would have had in a week before. I'm very impressed with me

I'm liking this week too.

I'm also liking this week. Have ramped up the water drinking again too as I'm trying to encourage DD to drink more. We've been making jugs of water with lemon and lime slices in, it's really refreshing.
My digestive system is thanking me this week I haven't felt bloated once.

I'm the same pointless trying to get ds to drink more water. He was complaining quite a lot he was feeling sick the past couple of weeks and I think it's was a result of too much running about and not enough fluids.

Today I tried quinoa - for the very first time . Threw in some spring onions, chopped tomatoes, pistachios and lemon juice. Loved it, went perfect with the lamb I had marinated in yogurt and harissa. Made a total pig of myself at dinner with a massive portion. Can hardly move now!

Wholemeal toast this morning so portions are done for the day.

I lost you.

This week I started the blood sugar diet so no grains for me. But 6pounds down so far!

I haven't been using my bullet journal lately and realise that is making me a bit all over the place. So I'll use it again from today

Sirona I have discovered by accident that she prefers her water room temp or even warmed rather than straight from the tap. Worth a try?

Ah, this fell off my tio too.

We have had a busy Easter and some days out, which resulted in me having a weird bloated tummy. I think because we were out Sunday and I needed something quick and had chicken and sweetcorn soup from Dreggs. I love sweetcorn but it really does not love me. Anyway, feeling much better today and trying to watch what I eat. We have done a big shop at Aldi's with lots of nice cheeses, olives, artichokes etc. So much easier to eat properly when you have good choices in.

We'll done ICJump. I need to weigh myself and check my bodyfat etc.

Programme on BBC this evening about staying young, hopefully by being healthy. It will be interesting to see what it says.

That quinoa recipe sounds gorgeous Sirona especially with the pistachios. It's nice when you discover something new that you really like isn't it? Especially when it's quite easy and healthy!

Water going OK, a few exercises every day, deep breathing when I remember.

Wholemeal bread at lunchtime and will chuck some bulgur wheat in the lamb stew tonight .

Thanks to you lot, especially Socks I have aquired some good new habits that I think will stick

Better late than never !

And I have maintained some of the old, bad ones too

Yes there's a lot to be said for simple and easy healthy stuff Bewitched. I think that's my problem with cooking sometimes I think more ingredients means more taste when it's the less is more approach should be taken.

I'm really loving this thread as it really seems to have expanded my horizons food wise even from simple thing like this weeks or the veggie one. I'm not so standoffish from trying new things and chucking it in a pan, if it works it works, if not I'll try something different next time.

I'm a devout meat eater but some things don't sit right lately with the way animals are bred/treated. It's making me more confident with trying the veggie options to cut down at least and maybe the thoughts of one day giving it up.

Might try that pointless. He's not been too bad the past couple of day. I've found if I put it in a sports bottle for him, he sees it as a challenge to finish it.

Fantastic IC, well done.

I'd be a bit scared to check my bodyfat %. Keep meaning to and never getting round to it.

None today it's a combination of pmt thing and the fact I've a date tomorrow night. I'm trying to avoid a possiblity of being a bit bloated or windy

Thinking about it, I had an oatmeal sugar loaded cake thing earlier. Still counts as one right

Of course, count the oatmeal, ignore the sugar

Hope the date goes well tomorrow.

I had my body fat checked once but I'm not sure it was actually right. It was supposed to be a fun thing to do with work, everybody checking their BMI and body fat % and stuff. Weird place!

Bewitched I've got a fair few bad habits that aren't going anywhere as well I'm sure drinking enough water cancels out the booze and deep breathing cancels out the smoking

Sirona I was vegan for about 5 years and vegetarian for about 15 years. I eat meat now but there's definitely loads of really good veggie meals you can make. Do come and let us know how the date goes!

I had some quinoa today but that was the only grain. I'm not too fussed about getting in three portions a day anyway, I'm just trying to make better choices overall.

Sirona that's why I haven't checked my weight/body fat for a few weeks. Pmt and bloatedness definitely affect the moron scales for measuring body fat. I don't want to measure the bloat .

I was veggie, too, a long time ago. I still eat lots of vegetables but try to be picky about the meat we eat. Luckily, roundabouts here is quite rural, so a lot of local produce is good. Our organic butchers have photos of the farms where the meat comes from, so I feel we are being reasonably ethical.

Just checking in. Struggling to keep up but still want to keep in touch.

I wonder which changes will be the ones that really stick with everyone? The ones that are new to me that have really stuck so far are stretching and water. Meditation too if I ever get my tablet working again and can do headspace.

Sorry to be a rubbish thread friend.

I'm veggie and have been for most of my life, the only time I've found it difficult was in Spain!
Hope the date goes well Sirona.

Great autocorrect! Omron scales not moron...

Good luck with the date, Sirona.

The best changes for me, so far, have been:
sleep: I've been managing on average 7 1/2hrs, so much better and going to bed earlier.
meditation: I did start Headspace last year, but stopped. This year I have kept going, I get up, drink coffee, do Headspace.
stretching/yoga: again, I did the 30 days of yoga last year, but then stopped. I restarted in January and now do it most days, I can see a difference. I am no longer really inflexible. Just inflexible.

The veg eating, mfp, walking lots, drinking water, I already did. I just needed a push to focus on it.

You're not rubbish margaritas and don't struggle, just check in when you want to.

This thread is a fab idea and quite a big commitment.
No-one is going to be here for the whole 52 weeks all the time!

It will be really interesting to see what sticks.

Multi-vit and water are most likely for me so far and I'll try harder with exercise and deep breathing. Some of the others were already in place.

I discovered today that exess riboflavin, commonly found in vitamin tablets, causes fluorescent yellow pee.

That was a relief

What Bewitched said, Margaritas. Some weeks are going to be better than others, especially if life gets in the way. I think the spirit of the thread is to make a general move towards changes. Some of these take time. This is why most New Year's Resolutions fail, as people say they will overhaul everything and it's just not possible. Apparently, it's about making the change from doing things deliberately to doing them as a habit. I think it takes quite a long time to change habits tbh. It's taken me since January to get into the habit of an earlier bedtime and it's still such a new habit I could very easily slip back into going to bed later again.

That reminds me of the time I had a lot of beetroot Bewitched. Bit of a panic before I googled and realised that's why my pee was pink.

Date was great thanks. We went for a meal and then ended up on a bit of a pub crawl which turned into clubbing til the early hours She's lovely, I'm just not sure how it will work out as she lives a good bit away and I don't have much free time. We are going to go on another date anyway. See how it goes I suppose.

I had the same with DD1's first beetroot nappy Sirona and that was before google, FIL got it in one

So pleased your date went well. I'm sure you will work something out if it's what you both want. Second date is promising.

I hope Socks is OK, I keep checking for a new thread.

It sounds like the two of you got on well Sirona fingers crossed for your next date being just as good!

I'm here Bewitched I was out on Friday night then yesterday I went out and left my purse at home then lost my Oyster card. After a day of a fair bit of walking I then had to walk home for 3 hours and got home very late last night. My legs are refusing to work today

I'm off to start a new thread in a minute.

New thread

Are you sure?😆