The 1% Rule

Next week sees me celebrating another birthday but I have reached a time in my life when birthdays don’t mean much anymore. When I was a child I remember longing to be 16 so I could leave school and go to college, then 18 so I could be an adult. I always seemed to be wishing my life away and imagining the amazing things I thought would happen in the future. With age has come experience and I know now that change doesn’t happen because you get older but because you make it happen.

My recent decision to change my lifestyle and opt for healthier foods and increase the amount of exercise that I do was a recognition of the fact that I won’t wake up one day slim and that if I want to avoid diabetes, cancer and  heart conditions I need to be proactive and make changes myself. This has been a big decision and has meant spending more time on considering what we will eat as a family each week and proactively finding time to exercise. After years of prioritising the children’s needs ahead of my own it seems odd to be taking time back for myself and I sometimes feel selfish but then I look at what a small amount of time that is and consider whether my children would rather I take that time to go on the exercise bike or take a walk now or whether they would rather spend it at my bedside in hospital later. I am learning to accept that my kids are old enough to do many things themselves; soon they will be out living their own lives and that, although I will always be there for them, I think I have to start looking at changes I need to make in my life to end up where I want to be.

Making changes can seem daunting and although people say you should break down change into manageable chunks to make it seem more achievable I think it can sometimes be difficult to know where to start. I’m quite indecisive and I worry that I will take the right ‘course’ in life sometimes so I have decided that I am going to apply the 1% rule to everything I want to change.

The 1% rule states that if you put 1% more effort into 1 thing a day then in a year you will have developed 365% as a person. One day you might decide to spend 1% longer studying or put 1% more effort into exercising. You may want to commit to saving 1% more a month; if you increased your savings by 1% a month for a year you would soon see a marked difference. There are so many things you can apply this to; 1% less time on your phone each day, 1% more time writing letters to friends, 1% reading the news or networking.

There are some things in life I would like; to stay happily married, for my kids to be happy, to lose weight and be healthy and to progress in my career so that I am able to invest more money in my pension and create a rainy day fund. Those things can seem huge tasks and its not always clear how to get where you need to be in life but if I can improve myself by 1% a day then I hope that I will eventually become the person I want to become, with the resources I need to have to get by.

Another step closer to my goal

Following my frustration at not having lost any ‘inches’ despite losing weight, I began to feel despondency kicking in. I know myself well enough to know that I have to have tangible results or I quickly fall into a state of malaise which leads me back into old habits. Bearing this in mind I decided that I needed something to chivvy me along as I have a lot of weight to lose and I could do with support over the journey.

At first I was really stuck as to what to do and I considered online forums for support but I know that never having to meet anyone would mean I could quite easily not log on if I fell into the chocolate trap. Rather that stopping me from quitting anything online would just allow me to sneak away after my first ‘fall’. Next I looked at various slimming groups; I know this is a lifestyle change for me but group support would be really helpful. Having read information on a variety of slimming schemes I decided that the one that is most similar to what I am trying to achieve is Slimming World. Slimming World enables you to eat anything, in the right amounts, so it would enable me to progress with my plan of avoiding additives whilst using loads of fresh produce to cook.

With this in mind, I set out last night to my first meeting. I have to admit there was a moment, just outside the door, when I felt like coming home again as I was worried about being weighed and if I would be the biggest or oldest person there. I took a moment to breath and remember what the wake up call that prompted the decision to lose weight and how making this work is essential for my health.  If I’m not healthy how can I be there for my kids?

When I arrived I was met by an incredibly friendly group of people; men and women, of all ages. I didn’t know that Slimming World have a plan that can be used by children from 11 – 15, who have free membership when they attend with their parent and there were children there. Some people were just there for weigh in and others were buying goodies from the shop. I was introduced to the leader, Mel, and she explained how Slimming World works to myself and another new member. We both stayed for the group session and I even won a prize of lots of fresh fruit, in the weekly raffle. At the end of the meeting I was weighed and I agreed my target weight with Mel. I haven’t chosen a target at the bottom of the range for my height but went for one that sits comfortably in the middle of the range for the BMI I should be.

So will I go back?

The meeting was positive, with lots of encouragement and support. The plan looks viable, as long as I remember to measure food and plan. It will enable me to keep aiming towards a healthy lifestyle whilst receiving support and incentives. There is no negativity attached to ‘falling off the wagon’ and support to change helps people move forward on their weight loss journey. I was really impressed and I will be back with for weigh in next Wednesday. Lets hope its a good loss!

Lost but not missing

When I had my wake up call I realised that I had quite a bit of weight to lose and that this was going to have to be a lifestyle change rather than a diet. With this in mind I was pretty excited, this weekend, to discover that I have lost a stone (14 lb) over the past few weeks. I recorded this week’s weight loss of 2 lb in my weight loss chart and then went in search of the tape measure to record my body measurements. I made the decision to measure my bust, waist and hips from the outset as I can imagine there will be weeks when my body weight may not go down but exercise may mean I have lost a quarter of an inch here and there.

I have read that when you lose a stone you can expect to lose a dress size so I have to admit I was expecting to see a big change in my body measurements but there was barely anything anywhere! First of all I thought perhaps there was a problem with the scales and I hadn’t actually lost that much but I got my daughter to hop on and weigh herself and she confirmed her weight was the same as it always is (how I would love to never gain a pound!) Next I wondered if it was the tape measure so I double checked my measurements and sure enough my initial measurements were correct.

I am committed to losing weight for my health but I have also used the thought of being able to fit into more exciting clothes as incentive so I am quite disappointed that there hasn’t been a more visible change. I had thought it was odd that no one  had commented on my weight loss and now I know why! Rather than reach for the biscuit barrel I’m going to hop on the exercise bike and make sure that by the time I lose the next stone I can see my hard work!

Madeleines

I’m often very busy and don’t always have time to have a perfectly tidy house or the perfectly presented meal on the table. What my schedule has taught me is that organisation is key and that its helpful to have a few quick and easy recipes in my back pocket for when the unexpected happens. This week one of my children has been feeling very low and it so happened that I was home before the kids were due home so I took a quick look to check what ingredients I had in and decided to make a quick and simple treat that my kids love; Madeleines.

To make this recipe you will need a Madeleine tray but they are easy to pick up in your local cook-shop or online. The tray that I use is the Master Class Non-stick tray available from Amazon.

My preferred recipe was one that I saw on the BBC Food page and was created by Michel Roux Jr. I have tried other recipes since but this is the best one I have seen so far.

You will need:

2 eggs

100g /3½ oz caster sugar

100g /3½ oz plain flour (plus a tablespoon full for dusting the madeleine tray)

1 lemon (juice and zest)

¾ tsp baking powder

100g/3½oz butter (plus a tablespoon extra for greasing the madeleine tray)

Method

1) Preheat your oven to 200c/300f/Gas mark 6.

2) Melt the butter in the microwave. Use some of the butter to grease the madeleine tray and then shake the 1 tablespoon of flour over to coat and tap out any excess.

3) Mix together the eggs and sugar until light and frothy.

4) Juice and de-zest the lemon then add the lemon, flour, baking powder and melted butter into the egg and sugar mixture. Mix lightly.

5) Leave to stand for 20 minutes before carefully pouring the mixture into the madeleine tray.

6) Bake for 8 – 10 minutes and then transfer the madeleines onto a wire rack to cool for a few minutes.

Apparently these are best eaten within an hour of cooking but as you can only make 12 in a tin and my kids and their friends seem to love them I don’t think we ever have any left after an hour anyway. The beautiful scallop shape of the madeleines also makes them pretty enough to make if you  have company and they can be made quickly enough to serve if you have an unexpected visito1r. I would love to hear about any other quick and easy recipes you have so please let me know in the comments below

Motivation (or how to keep on the straight and narrow when all you want is chocolate)

Ever since I had my wake up call I have been really keen on finding ways to lose weight whilst eating healthily. This isn’t about having a ‘beach body’ (I have a body and I can take it on the beach already!) and this isn’t about short term weight loss; for me this is about finding a way of eating that improves my health. Unfortunately the fact that I have picked up bad eating habits along the way makes it difficult to undo those habits and reinforce new, healthy ones. In some ways the battle isn’t so much against ‘carbohydrates or sugar, but a battle against my own habits and though patterns and battling against habit is hard.

Up until yesterday I had been able to focus on eating healthily and I felt pretty motivated but yesterday I had a bad day. A couple of things that went wrong and there was a problem with one of the kids; for some people this would have been the cue to open a bottle of wine but for me this was the cue to eat chocolate. I have been really careful about what food I have in the house but my husband had bought me a box of chocolates and my gut reaction was to open the box and eat the lot. However much I put the thought to the back of my mind it kept creeping forward again, with that little voice that says ‘just eat one’. (Although I know for a fact if I have one chocolate I will end up eating far more). I know that a sustainable lifestyle change is about eating a variety of things in moderation but I recognised that this was potentially emotional eating so I grabbed my laptop and tried to find distraction online. Whilst browsing the internet I managed to find some pretty good motivation in a way I wouldn’t have imagined.

I don’t own a full length mirror, and as I’m not photogenic I tend to avoid photos, so I was wondering what I really look like to other people. Whilst browsing the internet I found an amazing site called Model My Diet that lets you see what you look like now and what you will look like at your target weight. I created the below images of where I’m at and where I want to be at eventually.

I can see that I have a long way to go but these images can help me see how worthwhile this weight loss is and how I need to keep going and avoid the urge to fall back into old ways. This was the motivation I needed to put the chocolate away, brush my teeth and have an early night! Ohana 1 Temptation 0

Sweet Addiction

I am pretty impressed with myself at the moment as I have managed to keep to my regime of drinking water instead of Pepsi Max. This is literally the only thing I am drinking and I am starting to get into the habit of automatically going to the tap instead of the fridge or juice. I have noticed that cutting the sweet flavour, associated with Pepsi, out of my diet has actually started to alter my palate; I just don’t crave sweet things like I used to. So what else have I changed in my diet and is it working?

Cutting the Pepsi out of my diet made me feel better in myself and I wondered how much of that was to do with cutting out the additives so I decided to ensure that I use fresh produce when cooking, as much as possible. I have always done a lot of cooking, so this wasn’t too much of a lifestyle change in itself, but I have also tended to cheat and use’ bought’ sauces which can contain additives and preservatives. By making my own sauces I realised that I could control what was going into the meal without spending much additional time cooking.

The other plus with cutting out the ‘ready made’ aspect of meals was that I could control how much sugar was in each meal. I hadn’t realised just how much sugar goes into savoury things until I took a long hard look at the label. I knew that cutting sugar out of my diet completely would be unrealistic but I also know that I have a sweet tooth and that sugar is an issue for me. When I started my food diary I realised that sugar is actually an addiction of mine and that when I start nibbling on biscuits or chocolate I find it hard to stop. I know that many diets recommend eating them in moderation but I also know myself and that where chocolate is concerned I really lack willpower. With this in mind I decided that I would still buy the occasional dessert for the family to eat as a treat but that the only desserts I would eat would be fresh fruit. I also decided that as there is no nutritional value in chocolate I had to bite the bullet and give it up. This was a difficult decision for me to make but it is actually easier for me to stop myself taking that first bite rather than stop after one biscuit.

I’m lucky in that my weight gain seems to have more to do with my bad snacking habits rather than portion control so there are some elements of my meals that I have been able to keep the same but I have also replaced unhealthy components with healthier options where possible. For example instead of eating 2 pieces of toast for breakfast I have replaced this with a bowl of porridge. This should keep me fuller for longer and contains more fibre so is a healthier option. I have also replaced white rice and pasta for brown and try to eat very small portions of carbohydrates with larger portions of fresh vegetables.

So how is it going so far? I have a lot of weight to lose so I am only on the first few steps of a long journey but I am pleased to say that in the first 10 days I have managed to lose 7 lbs; that’s half a stone!

Water, water everywhere….

Since my recent wake up call I have started implementing life style changes to try and get myself back on track. I decided that making massive changes all at once would just mean that I kept to the plan for a few days and then found it too much to keep up with so my plan is to take one step at a time, let the step bed down and then make the next step. Step one is to exchange the diet soda for water.

I fell into the habit of drinking several cans of Pepsi Max a day during a particularly stressful period at work; I was working long days and by mid-afternoon I could feel myself falling asleep so drinking the diet cola kept me awake and alert. The problem was that what started as a one can a day habit escalated and I soon became used to having several cans a day and I admit that I became dependent on the caffeine to keep me going. When the food diary that I have started to keep showed that  when  drinking soda I was also snacking it didn’t take me long to realise that something had to change. After considering whether I should just try to cut out the snack I decided that it would be far better for me to cut out the soda, as not only is it linked to tooth decay but there is also growing evidence that it is linked to diabetes and neurological problems (due to the artificial sweeteners). I knew that cutting out the caffeine would be tough but I decided that this would be the first step that I need to get back on track.

Rather than go ‘cold turkey’ I decided to cut down a day at a time as I had read that giving up caffeine could lead to withdrawal symptoms and that I may get headaches and feel very tired for several days. I have cut down my intake over several days and replaced the soda with water (although herbal tea may make a good alternative in colder weather). Rather than opting for bottled or flavoured water I am simply replacing it with tap water to save money and to prevent taking in any additives; I believe that the simpler my food intake is then the better I will feel.

I have felt tired but haven’t suffered headaches and as each day goes by the tiredness seems to be alleviating a little. My skin feels and looks better and I am less bloated than I used to be, as well as not having to spend money on ‘my habit’!

The interesting thing is that if you had asked me 6 months ago, whether I would have been able to give up Pepsi or live without caffeine I would have laughed and said no. I think that false belief has held me back from taking this step earlier and I can see now that other false beliefs may be holding me back in other areas of my life. Can I lose this excess weight and improve my health? You bet I can!

Earth Day Recipe

As today is Earth Day I thought it would be a good idea to share a meat free recipe that my family really enjoys.

Spicy Pitta Pepper Pockets for 4

Ingredients

• 4 courgette, sliced into thin strips lengthways
• 2 red pepper, sliced into thin strips
• 4 spring onion finely sliced
• 4 tsp harissa paste
• 3 tsp olive oil
• 8 tbsp houmous
• small garlic clove, crushed
• juice of half a lemon
• 150g fat free Greek yogurt
• 4 large wholemeal pittas

Method

1. Toss the courgette and pepper slices in the harissa and olive oil, and season. Cook for approximately 3 minutes and then put to one side.

2. Mix the houmous and spring onion together and then add the courgette and pepper slices.

3. Mix the garlic, lemon juice and Greek yogurt together

4. Warm the pitta bread under the grill and then cut each one into two halves. Open the 2 halves so that you have 2 pockets.

5. Spoon the courgette and pepper mixture into the bottom of each of the pockets and then serve the Greek yogurt separately so that everyone can add as much as they prefer, as a topping.

Where do I Start – Food Diary Fun!

Following my wake up call with the nurse I started work on my food diary straight away. I am fond of spread-sheets and online diaries but I decided that, for me, the most practical way of keeping a note of my eating habits was the old fashioned way, with pen and notebook. The conversation with the nurse showed that I had gradually gained a lot of weight so I decided that the notebook needed to highlight the eating patterns behind the weight gain.

I suspected that some of my extra calories were coming from picking at food when bored and comfort eating when stressed. I looked online to see what kind of headings would be helpful for my notebook to reflect what was driving the weight gain and decided on the following;

Time

What I ate

Where I ate it

BH or MH (Body hunger or mouth hunger)

The BH or MH heading helps to identify what is driving your eating; Body Hunger is when you eat because you are physically hungry and feel the hunger from your stomach and Mouth Hunger is when you feel your mouth salivating or craving the urge to chew; the two don’t necessarily happen together.

So what have I discovered so far? I can see that when I sit down to meals at the table I eat reasonable portions but I need to increase the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in my diet. It would also be helpful if I increased the amount of fibre I’m eating so that I feel fuller for longer. I tend to snack when I am in the kitchen, either preparing a meal or ‘just stopping by’ for a snack! I definitely snack when I am bored or emotional and I am actually quite shocked by how much I was snacking without really realising it. I can also see that my caffeine intake is quite high and I tend to couple snacking with having a drink (oh the irony of eating a packet of crisps with a diet soda!)

Where do I go from here? Rather than just ‘guesstimating’ how much weight I need to lose and how many calories I need to eat a day to achieve that weight loss I have used the NHS BMI too.

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/weight-loss-guide/Pages/set-your-target-weight

Now that I know how many calories I can eat each day in order to lose weight I am going to create menu plans and incorporate some of the healthy changes I am going to make to my eating, into family meals too. If that is step 2 then I guess step 3 will involve exercise; watch this space!

Moonwalks, Hairy Bikers and Hummus

In 2013 I decided that I was going to take part in the Moonwalk in London, run by Walk the Walk. The event raises money for breast cancer charities and involves walking 26.2 miles around London at night, wearing a decorated bra. I was a bit sceptical that I would manage the full marathon so I decided that I would sign up for the half marathon (13.1 miles) and at that point both of the kids decided that they would participate with me.  I was pretty impressed with their enthusiasm considering S was only 16 and J was only 13 at the time. (although we all agreed we would wear Walk the Walk t-shirts instead of just the bra for modesty’s sake!).  We received our training plan through the post and started walking every other day, building up speed and distance. I soon realised that some of the excess wait I was carrying was hindering me so I decided to look out for a diet that meant I could eat with the kids rather than having to make 2 types of meal every day.

This quest for healthy food which appealed to the whole family led me to the Hairy Bikers cookbooks. The cookbooks contain a variety of types of meals, including takeaway ‘fakeaways’, and snacks and there is such a wide range of ideas that I could use the recipes daily without the kids complaining that they were bored. Favourites include the chicken and ham tangle pie, red pepper hummus and the chilli salad bowls which are in the original book The Hairy Dieters:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Hairy-Dieters-Love-Weight/dp/0297869051

In the build up to the Moonwalk the combination of the healthy eating and exercise meant that I lost 21 pounds (9.5 kgs in new money!) and with the kids motivating me along the way we completed the half marathon in a little over 2 hours. It was a fantastic experience that we all enjoyed and I know that improving my eating habits improved my performance on the night.

I hope that the Hairy Dieters won’t mind me sharing my own version of the red pepper hummus which I developed to suit my family’s palates.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (The Ohana method)

2 x Large Red Peppers                                                                        

2 x tbsp. olive oil

1 x onion finely chopped

1 x heaped tsp ground coriander

1 x heaped tsp ground cumin

1 x 300 g tin of chickpeas (approx. 180g when drained)

2 x garlic cloves

finely grated zest of 1/2 unwaxed lemon (and lemon to serve)

Method

• Cut the peppers into quarters, and remove stalks and seeds
• Place under the grill, skin side up, until the skin is charred. Remove and allow to cool for 10 minutes
• Pour the olive oil into a frying pan with the onions, coriander and cumin. Fry until they are soft and then allow to cool for 5 minutes
• Pour the onions into a blender and blend until smooth
• Peel the charred skin off the peppers and discard the skin.
• Chop the peppers into small pieces and add into the blender with the onion mixture. Blend until the mixture has a smooth consistency.
• Add the chickpeas, raw garlic and lemon zest then blend until you reach a consistency that you like (I prefer chunky on toast but smooth as a dip)

This keeps for 2 days if you refrigerate it and is excellent for lunchboxes or for a healthy snack and is teenager approved!