Yesterday I put a little bit of theory into motion. On Monday night I ordered a lot of fruit and veggies and after dropping the kids off in their respective Tuesday places, I went home and broke out the old smoothie making machine. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going for to begin with so I grabbed a left over half avocado, handful of strawberries, handful of blueberries, big bundle of fresh baby spinach leaves and whizzed it all up with some coconut water. I forgot to take a piccie – it looked a bit murky to be honest – but it tasted nice and the avocado really did lend a creaminess to it. Then I thought I’d try one of Katrina’s (aka Mrs Cool Bananas‘) juice recipes. I altered the amounts a bit and used 2 carrots, one orange and a slice of root ginger with some more coconut water. Unfortunately I don’t have a juicer so after I’d whizzed it up I put it through a sieve. It was still a bit bitty though, and I’m not 100% sold on the flavour but maybe I just didn’t get the balance quite right.

Later on I decided that it would be the day that I would finally break out my new bike so I duly dug it out from under a load of crap essential gardening equipment in the shed*, loaded it up into the back of my car and drove it over to Alice Holt Forest in Hampshire. There are lots of cycle routes to choose from there but I found myself on a 20 minute loop, going round twice and only being defeated by one steep hill which I gave up and walked the bike up.

(Alice Holt cycle trail but not my bikeĀ – picture from http://www.walkandcycle.co.uk)
Later on I made my third smoothie of the day. This time I thought I’d go classic smoothie so I used 1 frozen banana, a handful of blueberries, two nice ripe nectarines and a big dollop of natural yogurt. This one was very sweet and tasty b
ut I’m not sure if I should be laying off this kind of thing with all the sweet fruit…
For dinner I made myself a jacket potato with a yummy topping I concocted which involves frying off some leeks and button mushrooms then adding some half fat Philadelphia with garlic and herbs – yum!
* Our shed could be used to teach school children about all the potential hazards you might find around the home, the hightlight being a cannister with some petrol in (for the lawnmower) lying around on a loose bit of carpet in a wooden structure…
Day 2
Back to work. Gloomy, drizzly day. I started the day by munching on a handful of Tyrells delicious sweet and salty popcorn – then I lost all self control and hoovered up about half a pack before actually reading the small print and discovering that this in no way constitutes a diet food! Ah well, its gone now. So, having had the oblig coffee (one small sugar) and banana for ‘early brek’ I then laid off all but decaf tea til lunch when I had a salad of mixed peppery leaves, cherry tomatoes and cucumber with a few slices of plain cold chicken and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette. An apple afterwards and I actually felt a lot fuller and more satisfied than I thought I would with no carbs (but that could be something to do with inhaling a tonne of popcorn earlier?).
I am obviously addicted to my little lunchtime jaunt to Costa but today I’ve managed a skinny latte with no sugar (although I countered this with 2 pieces of Lindt dark mint chocolate :-/).
As you can see, I’m not really an all or nothing type person – I hate strict diets – I’d prefer to have a few tempered treats (maybe not the popcorn, but the balsamic dressing which I love and the dark chocolate – a little goes a long way to satisfying my sweet tooth!).
When I got home from work I attempted another smoothie combo – a handful of curly kale, a handful of blueberries, a peeled and cored apple, about a thumb sized piece of peeled and sliced root ginger, a few fresh mint leaves and some coconut water. JJ helped me whizz it up but refused to try it whilst EJ was quite happy to try it but didn’t want too much! It wasn’t too bad but I think it would have been nicer as a juice rather than a smoothie – the pulpiness was a bit offputting!
As today’s exercise I wasn’t sure what I was going to be able to do. The hubster was home and I had wanted to attempt a local cycle ride after putting the munchkins to bed but discovered that he had already committed to a session with our local running club between 7 and 8.30pm so instead I took the bike out earlier and fortunately got the very best of the sunshine whilst hubster was out running later in a torrential thunderstorm! I found a little trail down by the River Blackwater which was actually really quite pretty, a natural wildlife habitat. I came out the other end, through a few local streets and home in 20 minutes flat! I’d also walked ten minutes to my pick up point after work (rather than being picked up right outside the door).
For dinner I cooked a tuna steak by first gently frying off some crushed garlic with a tbsp of balsamic vinegar and some salt and pepper, then removing that from the pan and cooking the tuna in the same pan for five minutes on one side and 3-4 minutes on the other. The balsamic dressing then gets poured over the top. I had this with a salad of leaves, plum tomatoes and 1/4 of an avocado and a tbsp of brown rice.

So all in all small steps, and somewhat faltering, but hopefully heading in the right direction.


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