As always I start my day with a pot of Green Oolong Tea and I have mislaid another lb this week…I have also upped my exercise as I need to firm those triceps or bingo wings call them what you may but they exist…

Many of you like me were amazed at last weeks wacky diet… the tongue patch…I mean who are these people who think these up?… It is so just about making money out of someone who is so desperate to lose weight without as my good friend Sally said rather than learning to say No! I think if many more people learnt that word the world would be a better place…

Let’s start with this die(t) today shall we and get it over with and then we can talk common sense…

Wacky Diet Corner…The Master Cleanse Diet… 

First created in 1941 by Stanley Burroughs he promoted it as a  liquid cleanse a healthy and natural way to flush the body of deadly toxins, pesticides, and other impurities. It was originally intended to treat ulcers and act as a detox.

Some 63 years later…  The cleanse became popular again after Peter Glickman’s book “Lose Weight, Have More Energy, and Be Happier in 10 Days” was published.

Fast forward to the present time and celebrities like Beyonce, Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow are spouting the merits of this diet…This diet which has NO supporting scientific evidence that it clears toxins from the body…For those who did not know our bodies are designed to eliminate toxins through our kidneys, liver and lungs…

Why would you exist on lemon, maple syrup, cayenne pepper plus a nighly laxative like Senna and /or a morning salt water flush when it is likely you would also have headaches, nausea, diarrhoea and feel dizzy …Just to lose a few pounds which in all honesty as soon as you eat properly is likely to go straight back on…Could someone explain that to me??? If you still feel the need then please watch the video …I have…Nice lady…But by the time I was halfway through I felt the need to scream…

My thoughts on this… I think that all these words and phrases which are suddenly in words or fashionable whatever handle you wish to apply are all ways of body shaming…all words which people automatically in their minds make a connection…For example, the opposite of clean is dirty….The opposite of good is bad…

Currently, the buzz word is Clean Eating…which has replaced the good/bad food complex…

The phrase Clean food makes one think of food which is as natural and as close to the natural product as possible with minimal processing…But words like that do have the effect of shaming people…They feel inferior if they cannot afford organic produce or buy food at a farmers market …

So what?… you can buy fresh food from stores just make sure it is well washed…Many stores now are selling misshapen fruit and vegetables…So what?… It is fresh and good to eat…You may not have a big garden or any garden…So what? Try container growing this new soil free concept some of which you can grow indoors…Find out if there are any communal gardens in your area…There is no shame in any of this …It teaches your children to be self-sufficient to eat healthily from the best you can find which is available to you…Learn to cook from scratch…No shame in that… See what your local school is doing is it teaching children to grow food…Can you help..Can you get involved? It all widens your contacts …It all shows your children what can be done with very little…

Low carb/Cutting carbs…

Some fruit is high in carbs as are some vegetables it doesn’t mean that they are not good for you…Again it comes back to that good/bad concept…

On this blog…and in my healthy eating…Nothing is banned…You are in charge…You should be enjoying every mouthful of what you eat…End of…

I just keep away as much as I can from highly processed foods …If I can make a healthier alternative…I do…If I can’t …If I really feel the need to use it or eat it…I do…I just use moderation…

Guilty Pleasure(s ) 

Another phrase which is bandied about which screams at you for a TV advert…Why? Mind games played by advertisers…We should feel no guilt over what we eat…Just pleasure and enjoyment…

Confession Time…

 

Before I start I will tell you that I mislaid another lb this week…applause…

I also ate nearly the whole bag of Tesco’s fudge…Did it taste good? I kept telling myself it did as I ate another piece…I do much prefer a more solid butter fudge…

Yes, it was probably pure sugar …No probably about it although I opted NOT to read the label…It was! But that is fudge for you…

I just opened the packet…Ate the contents…

Did I feel guilty...NOPE!…Will I repeat the exercise? Probably not…Well if it happened to be a proper butter fudge…I cannot lie…I would… The one thing I would not do is feel guilty…

Tomorrow is another day…

However if unlike me you really want to avoid giving in to temptation…I will be kind and give you this link to Sally’s Blog where she knows everything about cravings…It could be something as simple as being dehydrated…

Did you know? 

Air popped popcorn is good for your waistline? 1 cup equals 31 calories and 1 gm of fibre. You can save calories by making it at home substituting Virgin olive oil for grass-fed butter and add your favourite herbs or spices i.e cinnamon, Paprika or thyme for example…

Time for a recipe…

Paella…I love a good Paella and always add a mixture of chicken and seafood…

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of Aribo Rice
• 1 Litre of chicken stock with a few strands of saffron added.
• 2 Chicken Breasts cubed.
• A piece of Chorizo about 150 gm sliced and quartered.
• I onion.
• 3 cloves garlic.
• 1 chilli.
• I red Pepper.
• Half Kilo of Prawns.
• 1 kilo of Mussels.
• 5 baby squid.
• Half Lemon.

Let’s Cook!

Cook Chorizo in tbsp Olive Oil until lightly browned add chopped onion and cook for 2 mins. Put in a dish and leave on one side.

Lightly Brown Chicken in remaining oil and put on one side.

Cook cubed red pepper, chilli, garlic until softened. and put in a dish on one side.

Add rice to the pan and stir to cover with remaining oil( can add peas at this point) and add stock cook on rolling simmer 5-10mins or until the rice has nearly absorbed all liquid. Add chicken and either continue to cook on the hob or put in the oven on 180 degrees. Check and top up with water or stock if required if rice is too dry for 20 mins.

Add Chorizo and Pepper mix cook for further 10 mins checking or topping up stock if required. Add Prawns and Mussels and cook another 8-10 mins until open. Add squid for the last 3 mins of cooking.

Squeeze over lemon and garnish with lemon slices or quarters and if you have parsley in the fridge add some chopped as a garnish. If the rice still has not absorbed all the stock I cook-off on top of stove until absorbed.

Then serve…….. this is very much a recipe where the amount of stock depends on rice absorption and also what meat or fish you have. If I have some to use or in the freezer then I might add or use chicken thighs instead of breast. The mussels we got yesterday were quite big so we steamed before adding to Paella or if I have just shelled Mussels I stir through.

So really anything goes just you and your imagination, as you make more you will learn how to adjust to your own taste and once the initial prep is done it is quite easy to make…enjoy experimenting. It can also be cooked on a BBQ and then you get that lovely crust the Spanish call socarrat, on the bottom of the pan…lovely.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this and that it proves helpful to you in your healthy eating journey xx

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

More and more of my blogging friends have joined me on MeWe…A social media site which is fairly new and which promises much without the restrictions some other social media sites are choosing to impose on many of us…Join me if you will on  mewe.com/i/caroltaylor3 

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Phuket-Island-Writers-Anthology-Stories-ebook/dp/B00RU5IYNS

Connect to Carol

Blog: https://carolcooks2.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRealCarolT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.taylor.1422

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caroltaylor56/pins/

Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all have a creative week ahead xx