I’m green, very green …

I’m a frustrated homemaker. Have been all my married life and – dear heaven – that’s a damn l-o-n-g time!

This morning I made the bed. I sometimes don’t bother to do a proper job of it and I know many of you don’t either. So don’t get all judgemental!  LOL!

I brought out clean towels for the bathrooms and admired my handiwork with a contented smile on my face. Those who know me well will know that I have not had much time in recent years to do these little tasks; the current domestic worker usually did that for me.

Getting back to the green. My immediate family were taken aback by my decision to replace the dirty beige colour on single feature walls in 4 rooms with a muted green that I love. The risky behaviour on my part has been rewarded, IMHO.

The pic shows the work-in-progress in our bedroom. Antique pictures will hang above the bed; I’ve just got to research which box they are packed in! Our single garage is still packed full of unopened boxes and I am only allowing one box at a time into the house for unpacking and *further* donations to local worthy causes…..

The duvet cover will be replaced by a new cover in white or very pale cream made by yours truly. Just don’t ask me when! The floral tapestry cushion was bought with a substantial outlay of Euros in France! Once again, the greens tone in beautifully with the other greens in the small room.

The second picture shows part of the feature wall in the living room – a definite work-in-progress. The stuff dumped on the writing bureau will be replaced by a nice lamp and a jacaranda wood framed circular mirror made by John  Early of Dargle in KZN will hang above it.

As you may have already deduced, I am really enjoying feathering my new little nest!

 

 

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Re-locating ….the news is out…..

Sooo… here we go……. on the road again…..

I remember that my paternal grandparents were always moving. Or so it seemed to teenager Eileen. Usually moving around and staying with my parents and their siblings. I also remember watching in fascinated horror as my diabetic granny injected herself with a steel torture instrument loaded with insulin several times a day.. but I digress as usual. That is a story for another day.

We live a profoundly privileged life and we have recently been given the choice of either staying where we are in a (too) spacious home with a garden or moving to a considerably smaller home in a gated security complex. With the years going by, we’re not getting any younger so it made perfect sense to accept the opportunity to move back across town. We will be returning to Milnerton and will have the pleasure of living closer to our sons and their families. The fact that these children are keen on the idea gives us great pleasure; we can’t be too terrible as parents and in-laws! Right? Right? LOL!

There comes a time for all of us when we need to scale down and de-clutter.  However, talking about it and subscribing wholeheartedly to the principle are two totally different things! It’s bloody hard to toss items one has had for years. And don’t give me the hoary old “If you haven’t used/worn it in a year, out it must go”. It’s not as cut and dried as that. I won’t be cutting down to “4 mugs, 4 plates & 4 spoons” as cheeky middle son suggested! Yes, grateful that I don’t have to go that far. 🙂

My business will continue as normal with a slightly changed focus. More news on that soon.

Anyway, this is the first advice to many that I interact with on social media. More to come as the weeks go by. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

#LCHF Laziest cook on earth

This is something new for me. Writing this from within the WordPress app on my tablet.
Let’s see how it goes….

I’ve had a hash tag on this blog for years; #laziestcookonearth
I take somewhat after my Mom who was definitely not the most enthusiastic cook I’ve ever been fed by! 😆
She did what she had to do in the kitchen and was perfectly happy with a cup of tea and a ‘Jamette’ biscuit.
I think they were made by Bakers or maybe Pyotts; either way they’re no longer made.
My Dad was always disgusted that she disliked fruit. He was horrified that she would only eat a banana if doused with cream!
These days,  I would tell her to ditch the banana and swig the cream!

While I  am perfectly capable and can rise to an occasion in the kitchen, I  frequently find something, IMO, better I would rather be doing!
I  admire immensely those Banters/low carbers who are prepared to spend hours in the kitchen cooking up a storm.
Fortunately, WJJ & I are very relaxed about eating and we’ll mainly dish up meals that are nutritious yet often simple to the extreme.

Herewith an example brekkie or lunch. Portable too.
Sardines on toast. Nothing gourmet there but a good light meal if Banting. Surprisingly filling. Next time I  will have only one toast, not two.

So 2016 is here.Big Deal.Not.

Wooden wine crate seen at The Goatshed, Fairview Wine Estate, Paarl.  Geddit?! 🙂

I’m reconnecting with this poor neglected blog and testing Live Writer on new Windows 10 machine.

2016 rather slithered into my life like a damp squib. (Does a damp squib slither though!?)

I’ll have up my game to get things humming along again.

My wish is that 2016 will bring you all everything you could ever wish for yourselves.

 

 

 

bacon wrapped salmon

I just so admire Marty Kendall’s work on his FB page and blog.

Optimising Nutrition

I found this particular bacon wrapped salmon recipe here (short demonstration video included).  It simply contains salmon, bacon shallots, olive oil, baby spinach with some salt, pepper and mustard!

This recipe has a good amount of fibre with the spinach and has only 9g net carbs. The insulinogenic ratio is fairly low at 22%.

With the shallots and spinach, along with the nutrients in the salmon, the vitamins and minerals score is high.  And then with protein from the salmon, bacon and the spinach it gets a great amino acid score.

Problem for us is that we can’t get non-farmed Atlantic salmon in Australia, so we try to get wild caught deep sea fish that isn’t pellet (grain) fed.

I also get some canned wild Alaskan salmon for lunches (or sardines which are cheaper) which is a great way to get some fish and omega-3s.

Hard to believe that something…

View original post 35 more words

is the insulin response to protein dose dependent?

I found this interesting.

Optimising Nutrition

The observation that protein requires insulin initially appears to conflict with a number of studies and anecdotal evidence that suggest protein does not have a significant effect on blood sugar. [1][2][3]

I think there are two issues to consider.

Firstly, a healthy non-diabetic will be able to deal with the blood glucose rise caused by gluconeogenesis due to protein, hence the overall blood sugar rise may not be significant.

However type 1 diabetics certainly do see a rise in their blood sugar levels that they need to cover with insulin between three and five hours after eating.  The picture below shows how a well controlled type 1 will give small additional boluses as they see they blood sugar rising due to protein.

If you’re metabolically healthy  the blood sugar rise and insulin secretion due to gluconeogenesis after a large protein meal may not be cause for concern.  However if you…

View original post 148 more words

PROF TIM NOAKES – THE OLD MUTUAL HEALTH CONVENTION PRESENTATION SUMMARY

PROF TIM NOAKES – THE OLD MUTUAL HEALTH CONVENTION PRESENTATION SUMMARY.

#2015HereIAm … #LCHF #Banting @FatSecret Losing slowly

Just a quick report back. As of this morning, I am 4.5kg (a fraction under 10lb) down since Christmas day. Exactly 3 weeks ago, so this loss equates to 1.5kg (just over 3lb) per week. This is very good going for me and also the maximum that is wise for someone my age or, in fact, any age!

How have I done this would be the logical next question! ..?…   Regrettably there are no magic potions despite many assertions to the contrary. I could sum it up by advocating 1) Mindful eating; 2) Water, water everywhere; 3) A food diary.

*Mindful eating*: Being really aware of what I am putting in my mouth. Making a conscious decision to ‘cheat’ sometimes. Resisting the temptations on my dining-room table – at lunchtimes in particular. We have a business colleague (M) who shares our offices here at home. WJJ makes lunch for the three of us daily. Fortunately in summer time that usually consists of good deli meat and salads. I use a good slather (?) of my own mayo and often 1 or 2 Life Bake toasts as well. WJJ and M will often have seed or wholewheat rolls and I respect their choice.Now, if I was confronted with soft, white hotdog rolls each day I might be tempted… !  I’m really lucky that WJJ is an early riser and I mostly get a breakfast of bacon & scrambled eggs cooked in butter. The day always starts with Kronung or Nescafe coffee & Clover cream to wake me up!

*Water, water everywhere*: I have had some challenges with drinking plain water. Without a flavouring of some kind. I used Slimsy or Sweeto and I really miss them. The Banting way does not use artificial sweeteners other than xylitol, erythritol or stevia. I bought a few small appliances to keep me on track and one of them is a Sodastream machine. My drink of choice is plain soda-streamed water. Sometimes with fresh lemon slices.

*A food diary*  Over many years, I have been advised by dietitians as well as my doctors to keep a food diary or food journal when on a weight loss regime. At one time, I even created an Excel workbook which enabled me to record all the Weigh-Less portions I was eating. The formulas even turned red when I went over the limit of any particular measured nutrient! Haha! I suppose I could still locate that workbook in the bowels of my PC somewhere. Banting, the RMR (Real Meal Revolution) version of LCHF eating, does not provide rigid plans and portions to be eaten. This has caused huge consternation for the “quick fix” seekers. I will go into this in future posts. Some aspects of the Banting craze in South Africa are causing me, and others, concern.

Being a number cruncher, I use digital means to record my food intake. And, believe me, it’s not half as much PT as one would imagine. I will be posting a series of “FatSecret” posts, detailing how I effortlessly incorporate a digital food diary/journal into my daily routine. Watch this space.

In a nutshell, I am trying very hard to only eat what I can measure, preferably unprocessed fresh food without packaging. Noakes advocates for this repeatedly and much of his exhortations are getting lost in the madness that is Banting/LCHF in South Africa.

Have a great day 🙂  I’ll be back! Just wanted to share a small victory along this tortuous path I am travelling.

#2015HereIAm … Keep meals very simple #LCHF #Banting

I thought I would quickly post what I’ve just had for lunch. Simple, simple, simple.

It’s a hot and quite windy day here in Cape Town and I am ‘back at work’.

2 slices Life Bake Toast, each topped with 8g butter and a very thin shaved round of SPAR Chargrilled Ham on each.

The two stacks then piled up with lettuce, a slice of tomato, 2 slices of cucumber, slivers of orange sweet pepper and a very generous slathering of home-made mayo on each little stack.

Yummy and less than 5 minutes to put together.

And this is how my FatSecret food diary looks like for today so far. Pretty good.I’m sorry the pic does not seem to be too clear. 44% of calories consumed; 68/27/5 ratio FPC.

If I make sure that I record in my electronic food diary, I can see where I am heading each day. That appeals to the number cruncher that lives inside me!