Onwards And Downwards Continues In December 2014

[ABAuntie]

Onwards and Downwards Continues in December 2014

Hello all,

Welcome to this month's Onwards & Downwards. We welcome anyone serious about losing weight and we offer support and kind thoughts - not magic fixes, just sensible help.

As Christmas is almost upon us I thought we could have some festive yet healthy cocktail suggestions. Here are but a few I have found:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/pimms-cup

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/bloody-mary-2

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/slushy-watermelon-mojitos

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/hot-mojito-tea

Plus here are some great tips for making your own cocktails a little bit healthier:

http://greatist.com/health/60-healthier-drinks-boozing

If you scroll down there are loads of recipes at the bottom too!

Don't forget your weekly weigh on Wednesday and remember we don't judge!

Here is last months thread

[pastafreak]

Question Author


Is it OK to be on a lo carb diet like that for such a long time?

auntie xxx

Yes...it is. Carbohydrates...of any kind...will raise insulin levels,and insulin is a hormone that causes the body to hold on to fat. Your body will choose to use carbs for fuel...and store fat. Eating less carbs but more fat means the body will not store the fat,but will use it for fuel. The body *needs* fat and protein more than it needs carbs. We can't survive without protein and fat...but we can without carbs. Low carb diets are also being recommended more for diabetics.

[xstitcher]

It looks like a lot of us are dreading tomorrow, myself included.

[wendilla]

Morning all . Not so bad as I thought just a slight gain of about half a pound so it will have to be a good week to stay the same for next week which I can safely forecast .On way to naughty step.

[wendilla]

Shouldn't have eaten the batter with the fish but that's the best bit . lol

[xstitcher]

Good Morning All,
Down just a little, but had feared the worst. I did my Christmas baking on Sunday....diabetic recipes so that helped a bit, but would be down more if I hadn't thrown myself so whole heartedly into tasting my results.

[Maydup]

I have just managed to keep off the step too this morning, but it was tough. I'm permanently hungry at the moment and am struggling a bit to resist the carbs; it must be the cold weather. Porridge for breakfast, that's warmed me up now.

[wendilla]

Good Maydup that you think positive . Its not always the carbs that stop you from losing . You will slow up as you know when near your ideal weight .

[Old_Geezer]

Half a pound is a lot of batter ! :-)

Too high to record last week, same again this week. Unsure if it is claiming up or down; I'm not really desperate to know. I'll start again when it starts showing something I'm willing to believe.

That said I am aware my appetite has increased of late. I eat and then ten minutes later realise I still want something else. Not sure why.

For sure I ought not have spotted the sandwich steak in the freezer, realised it has been there for ages and defrosted it for last night. 100 gms of that between 2 sandwiches with onions, mushrooms, & mustard took me from being slightly high intake for the start of the evening, to, "Oh gosh maybe I should fast Wednesday !"

[Jomlett]

A half-empty stop for me this week, but a step too far, as I've neither gained nor lost, though the thought of goodies over December is making me hungry!

[xstitcher]

I have what I call hungry days too Maydup and I can't figure out why but I always have a bowl of shredded carrots with salt and lemon juice so I eat some of that and since it's not what I'd like to eat it usually shuts up my stomach. When I say salt I always use lo salt....still not the best but not the worst either.

[Old_Geezer]

Shredded raw veg shudder

Yes I tend to use lo salt too, becuase I was foolish enough to start addng salt to my food when I first started working as a teenager (it seemed an adult thing do) and now food is fairly tasteless without it. Cutting down just makes eating a chore rather than a pleasure. :-(

I think the amount of extra bread I've been eating, when I was deliberately trying to cut down, is due to having to have something to stop me feeling, and being aware of being, peckish still.

[xstitcher]

We can stretch our stomachs and I certainly must have done that but by cutting back gradually it must be back to normal because I couldn't possibly eat the amount that I used to.
Last night I had something that translates into aspar agrees broccoli and I think the other name was broccolina or something like that. It looks like long thin broccolli stalks and you just give it a quick blanching of about 2 min. It tastes really nice. I had it with fish but I'm sure you could eat it with any hot meal. The rule of my thumb is if it's green eat lots of it. It's good for you, but I'm getting sick of regular broccolli so was glad to find this. I'll google it again to try and check out the name.

[xstitcher]

It's called brocollini. I couldn't copy and paste it but you can google it.n

[Old_Geezer]

Thaks fo rthe tip. Must try to remember broccolini when I am next at the supermmarket then.

Really has to be the whistling swede tonight. (It was supposed to have been last night until I'd remembered the defrosted sandwich steak.) Wonder how much salt & pepper it needs ?

[xstitcher]

With lo salt OG no more than a teaspoon and add your pepper after you've plated it.

[Maydup]

How did you get on with the whistling swede OG? We had one at the weekend with some roasted vegetable and it was fab! The flavour was wonderful.

For anyone who's wondering .... Place a swede in the microwave for 8 minutes. Turn it over an cook it for another 8 minutes. Squeeze it to check its soft and give a few more minutes as necessary depending on the size of the swede. It should whistle and sing when its cooked!

Remove, cut the top off and scoop out the lovely cooked swede. Serve with pepper.

No more fights with a heavy swede peeling and chopping it, and no more eating watery mush. Oh, and no you don't need to prepare it in any way or even prick it. It won't burst on you as the bottom is cut off so breaking the skin already.

[wendilla]

I am def going to try it at the weekend Maydup.

[xstitcher]

Aha, I didn't realize that when I was talking about salt that is was to be done in the microwave. Thanks for that Maydup. You really come up with interesting info.

[Old_Geezer]

Hi.

I undated here thanks. http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Food-and-Drink/Question1383186-3.html

Basically it cooked fine but it did explode. Not badly but enough that I had to clean up a corner of the microwave. Wasn't even clear where it ejected from as the skin seemed whole, more or less, although the underneath made a small mess on the turntable (yes I know, should've put it on a plate).

But 15 minutes was fine. Added salt & pepper (confess I put a chicken breast fillet with it to make a meal) but aside from that it was easy and went well.

[Old_Geezer]

Thinking about it, it looks cut it both ends. Maybe I should have rested it on the cut on the other end, or something. Or perhaps trimmed the end first so it was a fresh cut, maybe.