In Continuation...

...of efforts to continue on with The Natural Way, I have been sticking to my high water consumption & trying my best to not combine proteins & starches (not easy)....acid with sweet fruits (easy).

The fruit shop down the road from us was selling huge punnets of fresh figs for R10. I had some seriously yummy smoothies with apple, banana and fig!

It has been quite tricky with the rather brutal onset of Winter as it is very hard to keep my starch portions down with all the soup being made & eaten. I even made a batch of 'health' rusks (oats, cereal, nuts and seeds - probably not the best combined, but I MISS my rusks!!) ....so I thought I'd share the recipe:

Breakfast rusks

• 230 g margarine (I used butter)
• 400 g sugar (I used half molasses & half brown sugar)
• 3 extra-large eggs 
• 50 ml peanut butter (I used cashew butter)
• 5 ml vanilla essence 
• 10 ml bicarbonate of soda 
• 250 ml milk (I used buttermilk)
• 240 g cake flour (I used half rice flour)
• 10 ml baking powder 
• pinch of salt 
• 160 g coconut 
• 160 g oats 
• 120 g breakfast cereal flakes (I used much more - muesli, AllBran & CornFlakes)
• 50 g peanuts, finely chopped (I used pecan nuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, linseeds, sesame seeds, and I also added dried cranberries)
• (and just about anything else you can find in your pantry - raisins - seeds -- nuts -- carob/chocolate -- GO WILD!!)

 * Preheat the oven to 180 ºC (350 ºF). Grease one 37 x 13 x 10 cm loaf tin with margarine.

 * Cream the margarine and sugar together. Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.

 * Add the peanut butter and vanilla essence and mix well.

 * Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the milk and add

 * Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt together.

 * Add the remaining ingredients, mix and add to the margarine mixture.

 * Blend. (Add a little more milk if the dough is too dry.)

 * Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about one hour or until a testing skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the rusk mixture.

 * Cool, slice into fingers and dry at 100 ºC (200 ºF).

 * Makes about 40 rusks.

I have not lost any more weight.....but I have bought a couple of new pairs of jeans (smaller) and not put on any weight! :)

Day 91

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE pineapple? If I could be a fruit, I'd be a pineapple. Not only are they exotic and quite frankly, rather "fancy", therefore a seriously beautiful addition to any fruit bowl; they are also totally deliciously out of this world!! (The best thing about living in the Eastern Cape was the ready & cheap supply!).

Geoff and I had croissants from Olympia for breakfast, so I decided to have my fruit for lunch > a pineapple, apple & almonds blended smooth with my Braun stick blender. Shame: the poor thing has started making a nasty noise when in use. I have had it for 5 years, so ts had a pretty good run with all the cake mixing, soup blending, smoothie making & food chopping its had to do!! (I probably need a more industrial one!) 

Day 89

We went through to George over the weekend & I weighed in at 2kg's less on 2 different scales! YAY! (as my scale has been broken I'm not sure when they were shed) I only have 6kg's to go so I'm more than half way to my goal. Winter has arrived in FULL force so it is very hard not to delve into the cupboard containing the hot chocolate / Horlicks / etc to drink them with piping hot, steamed milk made with my coffee machine.

I went to gym yesterday & plan on going again tomorrow if it isn't as miserable to drive there as it would most certainly be if I attempted it in this weather. I checked my weight *(clothed) yesterday and the gym scale was not quite as kind as my mom and my gran's, but I'm sticking to their scales. Its 2 against 1.

Day 83

My scale is broken. Geoff stood on it funny when he got out the bath and it is officially at its end. Its probably better because it didn't work very well anyway!

We've been so incredibly busy busy busy so I've not had much time to blog...hence the catch-up on blog updates today (not that I really had time today, but I was missing my blog time...I even spent some time on Facebook & Twitter!!)

So its day 83 and I'm doing reasonably well. I don't know if I've lost any weight because I've been surfing instead of gyming so have been out of contact with measuring devices (+ aforementioned broken scale issue). The great thing though is that I'm fitting into clothes that were previously almost written off for lack of hope of fitting into them again.

I quite like what I'm seeing in the mirror too ;)
(plus I feel lighter on my surfboard which is always good!)

I'm still having issues with too much chocolate. I've had a tiny bit of flu & being unwell & the onset of winter mean that I have been craving comfort food. I've been quite good on the combining side of things. Its so hard not to have lovely fresh bread with a thick chunk of cheese...but I've not had any & the most difficult thing is to synchronise with Geoff & not have more than 1 carb / protein meal in a day...

I've probably been drinking a bit too much coffee. Its been decaf, but the issue is the milk (luckily I don't have sugar in tea or coffee.) My sister & mom have also introduced me to decaf Five Roses so Geoff and I have switched to that - it tastes like the caffinated stuff > Perhaps its just a marketing hoax?

I've been buying pineapples at the market shop near us (Rodgers)  -  3 for R10 !
Avos have also come down in price which is great....and I just ordered a serious amount of nuts and seeds from Ambassador foods today! You can even order online from them: https://www.ambassadorfoods.co.za/

Day 61

This past weekend was Easter weekend. So, Easter, together with the fact that we moved on Thursday (nothing is in it's right place & the fresh food I had just got squished beyond edibility)...and that there was a stuff up with my barley grass order so I have not had any for a week....

As a result, I let go for the weekend (from Thursday) and let rip...mostly on Easter egg packaging!

Sunday started with chocolate for breakfast...I went to a braai at my sister in law's on Sunday & there were chocolate eggs before & between each stage of the meal....I ate so much chocolate over this weekend that by the time yesterday (Monday) evening came around, I actually just could not eat any more chocolate...! (I'm not surprised to find a couple of pimples brewing today)

Miraculously, the scale is tipping towards another 1/2kg loss... (perhaps because I've been combining chocolate...with chocolate!!! + getting lots of moving-related excersise) ...I've also been eating lots of fruit.

I've been very excited about 'Rogers Fruiterers' which just so happens to be the closest place from our new home to buy our food. On Saturday, I bought:

2 Pineapples + 4 Avos + 3 Peppers + 3 huge Bananas + 1 huge punnet of pink grapes = for R31 !!

I collected my barley grass this morning from the post office & had the recommended nut shake from Mary-Ann's "100 days" email this morning:

Take a cup of raw unsalted cashews or almonds and blend them in your food processor or blender until it is as fine as possible. Add a pineapple to this and dilute with fresh apple or orange juice. Have this for breakfast (multiply by as many people as you are serving if there is more than one of you.)
Add some frozen berries to make it particularly delicious!
Remember that the more often you eat throughout the day the less likely you will overeat at suppertime, so make sure you eat your snacks in between meals as suggested in your weekly program

Day 49

We've been packing & going all sorts of admin that never seems to come to an end. The only thing for it is chocolate. I am afraid to say that I have been eating some & that I have also been drinking WAY too much coffee.

That's probably why my weight has stuck this week.
I still feel skinny though :)

On Sunday I went to gym. Monday we walked to Fish Hoek & back & Tuesday we walked to Muizenberg & caught the train back. I had a big gym session yesterday so the exercise is going well.

I bought a bag of pears at Pick 'n Pay the other day that are so tasteless. I just don't think that pears are naturally tasteless...they must have done something to them.

I was also so surprised & I almost cried, because, although it is quite irritating when squeezing fresh lemon juice, to end up with pips you have to dig around for: breeding pip-less lemons is totally uncalled for & quite frankly, very sad. I feel like nothing is pure as 'nature intended it' any more. I don't even mind pips in grapes: I just don't add those grapes to my fruit smoothie.


This whole thing fits in with the general societal standard that legs / beards etc should be shaved. Its just not natural...but we do it anyhow so that we're not the only one who's leg-hairs catch the sunlight making them obviously & luminously visible. Plus I quite like beards...but only on men! It's natural!!

No pips in lemons feels worse. It just doesn't feel right.

Day 42

I feel SKINNY! This is so amazing
(That's all I have to say for today) :)

Day 41

Oh happiness! Another 1/2kg down! :)

I've been feeling rather sore in the gall bladder over the last week so I just had fruit for dinner last night [rasberry, blueberry & apple smoothie] & it seems to have sorted it out. Yay.

I went to gym on Monday as well as yesterday & I will most likely go again tomorrow...we're probably going to go and walk on Noordhoek beach this evening [with my brand new Canon G10 that arrived today!!] and take some photos & get some excersise in...

I found the HUGEST pineapples at Pick 'n Pay yesterday. Pineapples have to be one of my absolute best foods in the world. I bought 2.

Geoff gave me the most beautiful vintage swimsuit from 'Nostalgie' a few months back & I could just get into it [a little trouble breathing, but it is super gorgeous so I had to have it]...I put it on this afternoon to go for a swim & it fits me so well! I'm so pleased :)

Day 38

It's Monday & I've been on The Natural Way for almost 6 weeks.

My cleaning lady, Cynthia, was in this morning & she confided in me about wanting to shed some weight because she can see that I've lost...(she's very impressed). So I told her what I've been doing & printed out a copy of the food combination eating charts for her so she can start combining correctly.. I told her to make sure she eats in the morning (she usually skips breakfast all together) eat lots of fruit (as much as she wants to) & drink loads of water.

I tried to explain the concept of good and bad combinations...its not easy to try and convince an African lady to not eat starch with her chicken...she's very traditional!

I've had quite a lot of trouble with my gall bladder of late...Geoff read that 'rapid weight loss' can be a contributing factor. It is definitly more sensitive, but I'm not that surprised - with all the changes that have taken place...

I'm trying to drink more of my Redibeets powder as it "Increases red blood cells, cleanses the liver. Helps anaemia, improves assimilation of iron, containing vitamins A, C, B6, Calcium and Potassium. Has cleansing effect on the kidneys,gall bladder and lymph system." So hopefully that will help.

I had an hour gym session this evening so I'm feeling fit and strong :)

Day 36

Oh YAY! I've stopped the one up one down & have one the one down PLUS another half!
:)

Day 35

Still no more kg's down...I went to gym yesterday for the first time in a week - I always forget how amazing I feel afterwards..until afterwards! :)

The sea is beautiful today - deep blue and really smooth. I am waiting for Geoff to get home so we can go for a surf...last week's heat wave seems to have returned to Cape Town...hopefully the wind stays down till we can get to the sea. This is the Muizenberg Webcam I follow: click here. Looks better than Fish Hoek. No rush (unless the wind comes up) as we don't have plans for this evening. Will be nice to get a surf in.

I've been drinking too much coffee. It seems to be the one indulgence I allow myself almost every day (that and the odd block of dark Lindt chocolate after dinner). Maybe that's why there are no more kg's down....I've definitly shrunk though...I got into a pair of jeans that got to the point of almost not fitting at one stage & today they are so loose...same with 2 other pairs of pants that I've not fitted into for months :)

My legs look skinnier when I look down at them. My latest thing is that I've been looking at people's arms (quite obsessively). I think that's what happens when one hits 30: you become so aware of your upper arms (I used to work at a clothing store where arm paranoia in the over 30's ran rife). I dare say my arms are looking a bit skinnier too.

Day 34

I've realised that its a very stressful time to be making all these changes when there so many other things going on in my life. Still, I've managed to stick to my diet at around 90% I'd say (the odd block of chocolate / pizza slice taken into consideration).

I've gone through a couple of weeks of feeling quite weepy & out of control of my emotions. They say moving is up there with death, divorce & losing / changing job. I keep on having to reminding myself to take it easy & just take it one step / one meal at a time.

I had a bad gall bladder day the other day: I experimented with making carrot juice...it tasted TERRIBLE so I added ginger & apple. My stomarch was already a bit upset by the time we got to our friends...and then I went an ate a 1/2 pizza (very thin base..but cheese & almonds)...and big tomato in a salad (I can't do big tomatoes - too acidic & lethal in combination with carbs). The combination had me up all night until I did my emergency black forest tea solution. Just a reminder that I need to take things easy.

Weekend coming up & nothing special planned....we may just escape up-coast...

Day 31

Sjoe! The time goes by so fast...I haven't contributed to this blog for a week!

Things are going well...My weight seems to be deciding where to settle for the moment...one up one down one up one down. My mom says that it will go like this...for her it usually yo-yo's a bit and then sommer goes 2 down: which stay down. It feels like its all under control! :)

I'm on 4 weeks & 3 days so that's just over a kg per week...if I can keep going like this, I will be very happy. Will need to get more exercise if I'm to achieve this. The BMI calculator is depressing me. I still need to loose 12kg to achieve a normal BMI! At least its not 17kg like I started off with. Hopefully I can make my target in time for my birthday in June :)

I've been very good on the eating side but not so much on the exercising...I've not been to gym in almost a week (I did go surfing yesterday though)...plus we've had a heat wave of note: not exactly gym inspiring.

I have had a strange head-cold for the past week...I think it is probably just stress related: moving prepartation etc. At least we have somewhere to live! :)

I have been feeling quite well in general otherwise.

Day 24

"Another one bites the dust" playing around in my head again.
What a victory!

I can hardly believe it, but I'm another kg down!
HA! 3 weeks & 3 days and I'm 5kg down!

My bathroom scale isn't brilliant - its actually quite a shocking cheapy that's consistancy is not brilliant at all: so I take 3 measurements and take an average if there are differences in the first 2!
It weighs me in slightly heavier than at the gym and on my mom's fancy electronic scale.

(I liken this to setting half my time devices 10 to 15 minutes ahead in an attempt to be on time for things - this drives Geoff a little mad (and amuses him simultaneously) as he only wants to know the actual time & sometimes I get confused by how much I have added to my car clock / cell phone clock / kitchen clock / computer clock as I change them sometimes....)

In the last 24 days, I've had the odd block of chocolate after a meal... pizza... too much animal protein... and at least 4 bad combination meals, but the bottom line is that I can feel the benefits of food combining -- it is like a miracle. And yet so obvious.

I have even been waking up at 7am and have had time to snuggle with Geoff.. read my book.. (if my writing style starts sounding like a bad romance novel, it is because I am reading one at the moment)... think about things before the day begins instead of launching in: in half haziness, half panic at all that needs to be done.. I have contemplation time.

Yesterday I went to Pick 'n Pay to get some water, fruit & other essentials. I was so hungry.
I am not a big one for shopping off the evil "till isles" ie: the chocolate treat isles designed to make you stand and look at chocolates, mouth watering....just to spend money & undo all the healthy food shopping in your basket.

Geoff almost always grabs a chocolate to eat on the way out & finishes it in record time (usually before its even been paid for, so only the empty wrapper goes through the bar code thingie).

So: I was standing there... waiting... trying not to let my eyes fall on the options... when I spotted the Twix bars. I LOVE Twix... My mouth literally started watering.
I tried to convince myself that I'd only have 1 half. My angel reminded me that it is not possible. I willed myself not reach out and take one. I am so proud to say: I resisted. When I got to my car, I opened the packet of pears I'd just bought & ate one (it was so yum) and then took myself off to gym.

Choices made one step at a time.
Stopping the creation of potential bad habits before they can take hold is not easy, but I'm sure its worth it.

Carne = Spanish for MEAT!

It was a reasonably good start to the week:

I had a pretty good eating day (usual breakfast ritual...then carrots & avo on toast for lunch- yum!) ...up till dinner time.

Geoff and I were were both so hungry when we popped into Woolies to grab some apples & other essentials (bad move to go shopping hungry!). They had such a good special on 28 day matured steak (we're suckers for the good stuff) so we bought some & I therefore ate animal protein once again...and probably more than just a portion. I made a huge salad with Flax oil & loads of carrots & other fresh salad items to accompany the carne...

I drank lots of water today (probably about 10 glasses). I am taking Aim's HerbalRelease with my HerbalFiberblend to really clear out my system. The HerbalRelease bottle says to drink more than 8 glasses "when using this product"...It does not help at all that our one and only loo broke down yesterday & won't flush: We have to use bath water and a bucket until we have time to get a plumber in: I suppose its good to re-use grey water :)

I feel like I've become such a pill popper! Aimega, HerbalFiberblend... HerbalRelease... FloraFood...

We've not found anywhere to live yet & we have to be out of our home in 4 weeks...so after hitting a serious series of panic attacks this morning, I took a Composure tablet & another about 2 hours later. They made me feel nice and dreamy & I took a lunch time 1/2 hour to read on my bed. Bliss.

Wonder if its ok to take all this stuff at once....?

Day 22

Another 1kg down. I'm feeling quite pleased but would not have been terribly surprised if my weight had not gone down as I did not gym at all last week & although I was quite good, I had a few naughty moments on the weekend:

On Saturday night, we had Thai food at a lovely little place in Hout Bay called the Thai Cafe. I had stirfry veg + beef strips + rice > There was not really anything else on the menu that was suitable (all the vegetarian options on the menu were full of coconut milk etc) & I suppose I could have asked them to leave the meat out, but we'd already shared spring rolls + I'd had a vegetarian wrap at the Design Indaba. I'd not had any protein, so I just let go & had it all. I did drink lots of water before & after & through the day..

Yesterday (Sunday) I had my usual Water > BarleyLife > water > fruit smoothie breakfast > and then a big salad with 1 mielie for lunch. I had a bite of Geoff's Bar One mid-day (why do Bar One's have to be sooooo gooooood?!). I had lots of fresh salad, some veggie pot & a piece of steak for dinner at Robyns. I know I am eating too much animal protein. I will skip a few days this week.

I think that the thing to do will be to get used to eating nuts as I'm not really used to eating loads of nuts. Especially not in place of other protein.

I've had a good start to this week & am looking forward to more excersise. My work seems to have slowed down a little bit so hopefully I can go to gym 3 or 4x at least this week & do other walking on the other days.

11.44am. I'm hungry already. Or perhaps I'm just thirsty.....?

Day 19

I had a serious craving for 'slap chips' the other night's dinner so I had a few carrots on the way down to Lucky Fish & launched into slap chips which I shared with Geoff & his niece.. I didn't even feel guilty: I didn't mix my proteins & starches....although, I did have a bit of vinegar & regular salt on them....and I probably ate more than I should have. That was Tuesday night (day 16).

I've not managed to get to the gym this week (major family commitments), but I did go 5 times last week. Geoff and I went for a long walk on Fish Hoek beach yesterday...I have been feeling really tired this week...since last week Friday actually. My gym session on Sunday was taken really easy.

For yesterday's lunch I finally put together a vegetable pie with pumpkin, leeks & greenbeans - it was DELICIOUS! I've been craving pie.

We ate at a place in Simons Town on Wednesday night > The Bay Cafe. I had salad, veggies & the most divinely melt-in-your-mouth, tender fillet steak. It was going to come with a sauce, but I had it taken off (Geoff had it on his steak) & even resisted the side of potato wedges (which I love!)...and I had water.

I'm finding the lack of alchohol quite easy to manage as I have never been a big drinker. Although I do love champagne. But I'm a girl. So that's fine :)

No more kg's down, but my body is feeling good...my clothes feel much looser.

I've also ordered & received the Redibeets & JustCarrots from AIM - I found a great website to order from. The Carrot juice is not yummy, but the beetroot one is. I wonder if I can mix them......?

Day 16

I can hardly believe that a week has flown by since being stuck at the gym last Tuesday!

I'm still 3xKG's down & feeling really healthy, although I did hit a depressed few days on Friday through Sunday....really low energy & I was quite irritable. Noises were louder then usual & hurt my ears.

I have been going to gym a lot: I went on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday as well as on Sunday :) I didn't go yesterday as there was too much to deal with....we went to view a house to possibly rent & I managed to resist butter shortbread at tea with Robyn :)

I had a few tiny bites out of T'Neal's 1/2 slice of DECADENT chocolate cake at the Sostanza bakery on Friday morning & 2 small dark chocolate pieces at Dwain & Danelle for dinner last night....We went to see "Avatar" in 3D on Sunday night & Geoff bought me a packet of JellyTots which I only managed to get about a 1/4 way through...

My taste buds have become so very sensitive: We ate some grapes yesterday & they were almost too flavoursome for me!

The main thing is that I have been successfully resisting the bad snacking.
I sometimes feel a little stuck & don't really know what to eat > its difficult sometimes as well with not knowing what we will have for dinner (starch or protein) so that I can plan around that....

I think I will bake a veggie pie this evening: that's what I feel like! :) ...so its salad and nuts for lunch!

Day 9

Its been a funny sort of day. We had a seriously amazing surf this morning..then I had a client meeting that went on all day & then I went to get some boxes towards packing (MerryPack)

Right now I'm stuck at the gym without gym clothes because of traffic. I can't get home so I came here with a hunger of NOTE & in need of an email check so I had the only smoothie that seemed to not combine fruit incorrectly > its called a 'gem' and has almonds! It also has sorbet, but I am beyond worrying about that in my present state of frustration.

So today has gone reasonably well....I have had all my neccessary Aimega & Herbal Fiberblend and BarleyLife (all arrived yesterday)...a good amount of water (it seems I've been over-drinking & may be putting strain on my liver) and otherwise, just fruit and my 340ml smoothie. (plus a point for "going to gym")

Good news is that my 1/2 kg is off again. Yay :)

Day 8

It was a tough weekend. We went to a wedding (a catered picnic) & I was really really good until the main course arrived and everything was all mixed up between protein and starch and the salad had raisins in and the pasta salad had peaches etc and by that stage I was STARVING. So I ate some of all of it...topped with the SERIOUSLY INDULGENT chocolate cake.

Needless to say: I felt quite ill after being so good the entire week. The other 1/2 kg that was off the scale on Saturday morning is back on. Oh why oh why did I not just wait for the fruit platters right at the end? Because I did not know they were coming :(

Yesterday was lots better. Valentines day: Geoff surprised me and took me to Cape Point for breakfast. Unfortunately the food was TERRIBLE (even Geoff's bacon was tasteless, and quite frankly, a little bit green). They did not have anything healthy on the menu & I convinced them to make me a fruit salad which consisted of canned peaches & pineapple, and fresh apple & banana (which I picked out cos its a sweet fruit). I was STARVING so I ended up eating the yoghurt that came with it... We were almost charged R58 (!!!) for it, but when I questioned it, they brought it down to R35. Still.

The rest of the day was fruit, and then salad, broccoli, pumpkin & a piece of steak for dinner. Yum.

We also got some good walking and lots of sunshine in yesterday.

I'm totally on it again today...and my Herbal Fibre Blend and Aimega arrived today. I've been anticipating another detox headache but have not had one. Either its delayed, or my body actually managed to process my sins.

I ate a HUGE, DIVINE fruit salad this morning with apple, granadilla, pineapple & peach. It was so delicious, it was like eating a dessert for breakfast :)
I'm sure my tastebuds are more sensitive - is that possible?

I've had SO much water today & I am still thirsty. Quite unbelievable.

And now off to gym I go....!!

Pizza?

I had 3 slices of really thin based pizza (after some carrots) with Geoff this afternoon for lunch. It was all veggie as we had our regular pizza that's named after us - the 'Rossi' from Satori which has mushrooms, almonds, pepadew & feta. And of course: cheese.


It was very very interesting what my stomarch did with the pizza..there was definitly a reaction that was "not comfortable"...lots of squirmy noises going on...

Can one have pizza without cheese in the interest of combining correctly?

It just seems wrong. Like a pizza without mushrooms.

Day 4

Day 4 and another 1kg down. I'm so chuffed.

I've got 'Another one bites the dust' (Queen song) as my little victory song going round and round in my considerably better feeling head. Finally! : my headache is not too bad this morning (thank heavens) and I'm feeling goooooood! Even my sinuses are clearer but my ears are still really blocked.

Waiting for my fruit salad to settle before I gulp down at least a half litre of water. So thirsty.

Day 3

So its day 3 and my headache is still here...although I did have a bit of relief for an hour or 2 before my decaf latte. No point in having a coffee machine if you can't have coffee....I only drink about 2 cups a week. My mom said that she still drank some tea and coffee in the first few weeks of starting & I only had 1 cup of tea yesterday & my one cup of coffee today.
Otherwise its been water water water for me.

I had a lovely session at the gym this morning :)

I've had about 10 glasses (or more?) of water today. I've just been so thirsty! I think I've had more water in the last 3 days than I did the whole 2 weeks before.

My ears are still really blocked...I can't believe that my head can be so sore when I am busy getting healthy. I felt better before.

Has my body been running on emergency headache repair this whole time? How is this possible?

I looked it up & found some info on this website... with this quote from Justin Hebert :

"...what is happening to your body during detox. Toxins in your body move to places of lesser density. When your blood becomes filled with toxins from eating toxic foods, the toxins your liver can't filter fast enough is pushed into your lymphatic fluid. This fluid surrounds everyone of the cells in your body. Once we start to detoxify our bodies,the blood becomes thinner because the liver can keep up and do its job. When that happens the blood is flooded with the toxins that have been stored in the lymphatic fluid. The blood becomes thick with toxins causing our blood pressure to rise. The first and most common symptom of detox is a bad headache..."

I did some dried fruit snacking at midday today as I was quite hungry....I had a late-ish breakfast (Mango, Pear & Pineapple smoothie) after gym so wasn't hungry for lunch time.

Going to pop some mielies on now & make a yummy salad :)

HEADACHE!

This headache is driving me nuts!
It just really does go to show that there are so many toxins LURKING in my body.
It does not help that today was so hot!

I was still so hungry at 3pm after lunch at 12.45pm (salad of mushrooms, butter lettuce, rosa tomatoes, FlaxSeed Oil, 2xcorgettes & 3xbaby potatoes on the side) that I've just eaten a 1/4 watermelon (small R10 one) and it was so sweet that my headache now even feels sweet. I'd had enough after about 6 pieces but I just kept on eating until the bowl was empty. I feel great that I didn't have the coffee & a rusk that I really felt like....terrible that I am unable not to finish what's in my bowl (/on my plate).

Note to self: bowl/dish smaller portions - I can always go back for more if I am still hungry.

I think that lots of people get raised this way: for me it was the motivation of dessert that made me finish ALL my food. Even the brusselsprouts. We were never allowed to leave anything on our plates.

We also had to ask permission before taking any food from the kitchen - this included fruit: so if I felt like an apple, but didn't feel like disturbing to ask for one, then I'd go without. Having freedom to eat so much fruit - HAVING to eat so much fruit now feels really naughty!!

Got to try and get some work done...

Day 2

I woke up at 7.30am this morning feeling SO thirsty... and with a huge dull headache all over inside my head. I must have some serious toxins to get rid of!!! We walked down to Danger Beach & a lovely swim took the awareness of the headache away...(and I got some sunlight & excersise).

I've started sneezing a lot -- my sinuses and my ears are blocked.
I don't feel sick though...just a bit fuzzy.

The BEST news is that I have already lost 1kg.
I know there may be sceptics that would say this is not possible, but its is true. I could hardly believe my eyes as I've weighed one kg more than I do today for the past month! I'm not an obsessive weigher because I actually have a terrible relationship with the scale which is the scale's fault as it has been a very long time since its given me any good news ;)

I made a huge fruit salad for Geoff and myself, including a half a mango that I bought at the sunrise fruit market yesterday. Neither of us are mango fans. (is one supposed to peel a mango? - we ate the skin) Geoff says that they vary from mango to mango & this morning's one was a good-ish one.

I don't really know mangos: I had a mango overdose one family holiday at SouthPort on the east coast - someone had brought concentrated mango juice & by the time I'd had about 20 glasses (over a few days) I could not stand even the smell of mango any more. I've not eaten or drunk (drank?) mango juice since, so this morning was a big step for me.

Lets see how the day progresses...

Day 1

I'm not a dieter. I stick to diets for a week or 2 and then chocolate cake starts calling out to me.

This feels different somehow. I don't quite know what it is, but I'm feeling inclined to write about my experiences and share (probably so that I can look back on my progress) to where I have come.

I am overweight. Not quite class 1 Obesity, but yes: I am overweight. I know this, and I know this well. I feel uncomfortable in my clothes...at first, I thought that they'd all started shrinking in the wash...and then I went shopping & discovered that I have grown another size. I struggle to lift myself onto my surfboard...I feel tired, lethargic & I always have niggles of discomfort. I've reached a point where I want to be healthy and well - and not up half the night with indigestion from my undiagnosed gall bladder complications

So today was day 1.
I've had a busy day and managed to only eat fruit and drink water today. I have a headache, but that's ok. My body must start detoxing at some point > the sooner, the better. Its only supposed to be a preparation day on my pre-100 days (there are 6 preparation days).

I am so excited to get started and get healthy.

Explaining the title.

My grandparents loved to quote an Afrikaans farmer friend who used to say at dinner, when there was too much good food: "Ek wens, ek wens, my hele lyf was pens" which means:

I wish, I wish, my whole body was tummy.

This is the title of my blog because I really do love food and I really do need to loose the evidence.

And so: I have started on Mary-Ann Shearer's "The Natural Way" program with her book "Perfect Weight" and the 100 day challenge to health on her website http://www.mary-anns.com/

I am on a mission to be healthy and well (& loose my extra kg's in the process!).
I have decided to blog my progess here.