The Path that I Tread

 Pumpkin asked me what I am eating, the quick answer is "about half of what I was".
But that would not only be a bit rude but of no help whatsoever.

I have cut down to 2 meals a day, I was only eating toast at breakfast time to take my meds. I found that once I had eaten that I was feeling hungry after about 2 hours and would often carry on snacking all day.

Now I have a meal around 12:30 - 1:00, low on carbs and high on veg. My rice salad has at least double the amount of veg to rice, I also add a fair amount of protein in the form of pulses or use Quinoa in place of rice. I have a cereal dish of this and drizzle some balsamic vinegar over it.

In the evening I eat somewhere around 7:00, this meal I like to add carbs to but keep the fats to a minimum. It can be Vegan, Vegetarian and have eggs or a be meat based meal depending on what I fancy or have in. I still make up at least half the meal with veg or salad.
Sometimes I cut the carbs right out and have a small pudding.

I like to eat 3 pieces of fruit a day, if not I will cut a small carrot and a stick of celery into batons and eat those. I also like to have a dish of baby plum or cherry tomatoes in the kitchen and will have one when passing. It feels like a treat as at room temperature they are sweet.

Really it all comes down to How Much and of What. A small bag of crisps, a bottle of pop and a small bar of chocolate will do nothing for you at all, just empty calories.

Swap those out for a dish of chopped salady things with some beans, a piece of fruit and a cup of tea or coffee or a glass of sugar free squash or plain tap water and you are on the right track.

Next time you shop have a look at the "diet" food, read ingredient lists and get ideas. I use lots of herbs and spices as I like them and many are beneficial. Tomato ketchup may contain salt and sugar but also has good properties and a dollop stirred into a cold  pasta or rice salad gives it an extra level of flavour. That doesn't mean use half the bottle, a couple of teaspoons full will do.

Before I had to reduce my dairy intake I would make a big smoothie with of a pint skimmed milk, a scoop of porridge oats (not instant) a banana and some red berries, frozen or fresh. Whizzed up I would have a glass in the morning and one at lunchtime. Quick and healthy and surprisingly filling.

A tub of carrot, celery, apple and red onion all chopped up can be snacked on or added to a bowl of leaves as a meal. A FEW pumpkin and sunflower seeds give some crunch.

It is all a case of "suck it and see", we are all different, my lunch would have Francesca feeling nauseous and turning green. 

That concludes the lesson for today. I hope that you find an eating plan that helps Pumpkin, have a trawl round the internet, there is a myriad of information at your fingertips.

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day, some knitting yay, some sewing yay, some housework duh, some gardening and pottering Yay.

The SO was at a loose end so I now have two very smart wooden gates and the old mismatched ones have been recycled. One has been turned into a work bench for the head gardener, that'l be me then. The other will become an extension of a fence, soon I am informed.

I have knitted 6 extra lace rows onto my shawl and still have plenty of yarn left. I will knit the garter stitch border and add to that and then perhaps do a picot bind off. Any yarn left will go into one of the scrap jars and at some point I will make a start on a scrappy something or other. At the moment the 4 ply leftovers look pretty on my shelves.

Lunch was tomatoes, a small piece of nettle cheese (from the food festival) and a slice of bread.
Dinner will be a chopped salad with cold meat and new potatoes from the garden.

I picked more strawberries and added them to the salad, they give a different note and a little bit of black pepper really livens them up.

I told you that I wanted to learn to knit with stretch fabrics and was going to do a charity shop hunt for garments to hack.

Well, I had an email from a long time follower who very kindly offered to send me some scraps to play with. These scraps have arrived and there is a multitude of various weights and amount of stretch. I have set myself a play date on Wednesday. I am really looking forward to it.

We had rain overnight again but it should clear and be a decent day again. Wednesday is supposed to be reasonably hot but I will be sewing in the cool, I just need to clear the debris from my sewing cabinet. I have been going through some of the scrap bins and there are a few heaps of fabric that need pressing, folding and tucking away again.

I am off now to drink my tea and do a row or three on the shawl.

                        TTFN                                        Pam