This is not actually a weigh in of how much i weigh, although in the last 30 days i have lost 11lbs in weight without trying. At the beginning of the year i wanted to create a revolution in my life, it’s been tough going but thankfully to those who i now call friends in the blog-a-sphere i have kept going.
On the 1 May i decided to scrap everything i had started to change, because up to then i had done things half-heartedly and thought no one was looking. BUT, i was looking. I wanted to feel better in my body. I cannot get rid of the diagnosis but i can start to live with it.
One of greatest problems (i state one there are many, now) was IBS. I may have to live with the pain and the tiredness but was there something i could do about the devastating effects this added monstrosity was having on my life? I came across 100 days of real food – blog and i decided that if someone else could eat real food for 100 days then so could i. Having already been acquainted with Michael Pollen and his book In Defense of Food i decided to change old habits for new ones.
My journey began with ‘Eat Food’ where i wrote about what believed real food to be. From there i went onto ‘ban the bread’, mass produced bread often contains unpronounceable substances and E numbers that were not necessary. Bread need 5 ingredients, flour, yeast, sugar, salt, water. So i decided to make my own bread. I have bought 2 loaves this last month and that was because i had a house full of people. I have gradually added more wholewheat and even tried adding rye, the bread was lovely but my insides didn’t like it. I now make 50/50 bread white/wholemeal flour. I never have bread that doesn’t work any more even if i do get a few odd shapes.
I changed the milk i drink from semi-skimmed to whole milk. I now drink at least a litre of water a day. I no longer buy sugar laden drinks from shops. My chocolate intake has been cut to 3 occasions this last month, there is nothing to say that you can’t have a treat. I high-lighted why we should eat proper butter and avoid soya whenever possible.
I decided to stop being a lazy vegetarian. I kinda worked. To be truthful i have eaten meat twice in the last month; a bacon sandwich and liver and onions. I decided to increase the amount of fruit and vegetables in my diet but adding 2 veg-1 fruit to lunch and dinner, plus increasing the amount of fruit i ate at breakfast and through the day. I limited the amount of fruit juice to just one small glass a day, the same with dried fruit. This has been kinda successful; i would have liked to state that i am now eating 8-9 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, but that wouldn’t be true i average about 5-6. It’s better but not quite there yet.
I changed my breakfast. I like cereal but sugar coated were not a good thing to be eating every day. I made my own muesli, which is still amazing, each batch is slightly different.
I explained about portion sizes and in ‘where did my food go’ nowhere we eat too much these days. I shared how there are some days when it’s really difficult to cook has my hands don’t work very well and i am often in pain.
This week i shared the benefits of eating tomatoes, onions and garlic. I am trying my consumption of all these things because i like them but for some unknown reason i don’t eat them as much has i should.
I shared some recipes from my now best friend Sam Stern and Eat Vegetarian. Here is one more to finish the week and the month.
Simple Tomato Soup
serves 3
400gm tin chopped tomatoes
1 pint (500ml) vegetable stock
chopped onion
crushed clove of garlic
oregano
basil
oil
Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped onion and garlic and fry gently until cooked but not coloured. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Now you can eat it like it is or you can blend it smooth. Re-heat. I added about 50ml of single cream (because it was lurking in my fridge after i had used the rest of the tub on strawberries.)
I ate it over 2 meals and it was delicious so enjoy.
the ingredients
my new best friend
chopped to perfection
cooked and blended
served to perfection 
Beverley, you are amazing, and I’m in awe! This is wonderful. And thank you for sharing all these good ideas with the rest of us!
You are very welcome. Now wait for the next month!
What a month it has been. I love home made tomatoe soup and a friend makes me some when she comes for a visit but I keep forgetting to ask her for her recipe. Now I’m going to try this one!
The soup is so simple to make and the following day it tasted even better as the flavours had blended more. Hope you enjoy it.
I AM HAPPY THAT YOU ARE HAPPY .:) AMAZING LADY YOU ARE
I WISH FOR ALL YOUR PHYSICAL PAIN TO GO AWAY ……
YOU ARE COURAGEOUS BRAVE AND FREE ……
YOU INSPIRE ME EVERY TIME I COME HERE …..
HUGE HUGS AND THANK YOU XOXOXO
C
you are amazing xxx
WISHED YOU LIVED CLOSER !!!!!!!!
I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOUR NEWS
JANUARY ! NOT THAT FAR AWAY
XO
It will go very fast i am sure, life as a way of doing such a thing xxx
I KNOW RIGHT
I AM SUPER DUPER EXCITED FOR YOU ………
SEE ALL THESE GOOD THINGS ARE GOING ON ……MY SITER HAS A 18 MONTH OLD LITTLE GIRL NAMED LILY EDEN …….HOW MUCH MUCH IS IT TO PLAY WITH HER
DOLLS AND HER LITTLE KITCHEN …………
BRINGS OUT THE KID IN ME
XX
You really are amazing, Beverley. Like the Occupy insinuates today – don’t wait for success to find you. Go get it! And you are. One of my blogger friend has celiac disease which took ages to diagnose. At one time, she had been given a “due date”, but she got into these same food disciplines and she is doing incredibly. No more “due date”! Eating well is so important and it’s an endless study! I really enjoyed hearing what you’ve done. Onward Ho!
Thank you so very much. Many of us have forgotten what food tastes like.
Last night I made a stir fry with seasonal veggies served over quinoa made with coconut milk. Soooo good. Yes, the tastes! The hour was late, but your post gave me the nudge to get off my duff and look after myself properly!
Good food is worth the effort in the end.
Congrats on your weight loss. I’m on a weight loss quest myself and have found that “real” food is definitely the key. I rarely eat white bread, but load up on spinach and red peppers almost daily! And, of course, i have my dark chocolate treats from time to time! Keep up the great progress.
I am just trying to get my body to behave itself and the blessing of eating healthier is losing weight too. Keep going one day at a time.
Hi there. I enjoyed reading your blog this morning. I make a home-made zucchini and tomato soup that I think is delicious, and very filling. I usually eat it with a salad and shrimp or a small piece of grilled fish. I’m not fully vegan but I have cut way back in my protein selections…no beef or pork for me. Eventually, maybe I can stop eating fish and shrimp as well.
I have given up meat for a 100 days, the only thing i have missed is a bacon sandwich. I try and include fish a couple of times a week.