Category Archives: Healthy Eating

Healthy Eating… No More Diets…

19 Replies

Welcome to this week’s Healthy Eating…

How has your week been? Good or bad? Mine has gone well…I will get this over with my first sourdough loaf is cooked, eaten and was divine…I was so chuffed at the lovely comments I received…Of course, I had to sample it in the name of quality control and with proper butter as well…haha…

It was lovely I thoroughly enjoyed it…No guilt…Just pure enjoyment…It was healthy( wholemeal) grass-fed butter and my home baked bread …I savoured every mouthful…

Hubby ate the rest either a sandwich or toasted…

Sourdough Wholemeal loaf

The rest of the week has been just normal healthy eating and walking which has increased due to 2 factors one is that our granddaughter is staying with us for 8 weeks( school ) holiday and two my smartwatch is keeping tabs on my steps…The daily recommended guidelines are 10,000 steps which sounds a lot but doable…

As you know I advocate eating healthy balanced meals I don’t believe in cutting out food groups like meat, most fruits or pasta/rice/potatoes…I do believe we should avoid or eat little highly processed foods, food with added sugars, we should choose good quality cooking oils, avoid excessive intake of high mercury fish like tuna…Alcohol enjoy just not in excess. 

For me, that is easy to follow and coupled with the 16/8 intermittent fasting and exercise I am seeing results.

That hasn’t always been the case...At this moment I am the lightest I have been for a good few years …I have also accepted I will never be the weight I was when I married… More fat on a chip my husband used to say…haha

Life happened, I got married, I had kids… I ate what they didn’t, I worked and shopped in my lunch hour and while queuing to pay eyed the strategically placed sweets by the till ( those stores) know how to tempt one don’t they? The mums and friends who mean well…Just have one…That won’t hurt…

box four doughnuts iced

I feel your pain I know what you have been through or going through so does my friend Sally…Who is a Certified Nutritionist and knows the pitfalls and curve balls life throws at us …Both of us have struggled with weight at times during our lives …

It ain’t easy and while I may make it appear to be …I have eaten my share of what I shouldn’t and moderation did not come into it…I am now older and wiser…haha…Believe what you will…But I have realised I need to cherish this body as it is the one and only one I have or will have…Better late than never…

How to manage people…The well-meaning ones of course…

And remember…Losing weight is not a sprint, it is a marathon and your mental and emotional attitude towards the project is a key factor in your successful weight loss.

Sally’s posts are both informative with a little humour and she will tell you it is not easy she knows but I will let her tell you her story…

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/03/16/smorgasbord-health-column-size-matters-the-sequel-before-you-get-started-managing-people-environment/

♦♦♦♦♦

Stuck for Recipes? Need some inspiration?…

Honey…Nectar of the Gods and so good for us…Sally will tell you the why and I will provide the recipes…Enjoy!

 

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/03/13/smorgasbord-health-rewind-cook-from-scratch-with-sally-cronin-and-carol-taylor-honey-nectar-of-the-gods/

♦♦♦♦♦

Diets come and go...Faddy things aren’t they? Mostly a flash in the pan and not sustainable…A new one has arisen…A hybrid of the Paleo diet and the Vegan diet…All the good bits…The Pegan Diet…

I know it just had to happen, didn’t it?

The basics of the Pegan Diet…3/4 vegetables and 1/4 meat/fish @ each meal, the meat/fish from good quality sources…( no hormones and antibiotics)…It focuses on eating more fibre and low glycemic index fruits, eliminating sugar, dairy unless it comes from ( goat/sheep) products eating little or no highly processed foods thus avoiding foods produced using chemicals and pesticides…eliminating legumes except for lentils…

Great in theory and first glance and sounds similar to what I believe in however it is quite restrictive and would need some planning and the bottom line is we need a Healthy Balanced Diet…No eliminating essential foods… It seems to me that the people who market and promote all these diets think they have to come up with something new all of the time and I suppose celebrity endorsements don’t help that trend…

Frankly just because a celebrity endorses a product doesn’t mean it works…No one size fits all, no one’s lifestyle is the same as Fred’s next door we are all individuals with different needs, Stress levels, family commitments, work commitments so much factors into the equation…

Healthy Eating is a lifestyle choice and takes time to adjust…You will have blips or bad days/weeks but it is how you deal with it…

We just need to eat sensible, normal healthy foods and a balanced diet…Most of the time.

♦♦♦♦♦

 

Smartwatch Corner.

Smart phone and watch

I am still impressed with my new toy…I will say it keeps me focused…

So far I use the step counter…It does have other functions like running and workouts but I enjoy walking …The recommended daily steps are 10,000 which is doable…..Last Thursday I achieved 14,000 plus steps in one day…I was out and about doing kids things and shopping so although tired it was a revelation as to how many steps I did do that day…An average day for me is 6-7000 I am working on getting to 10,000 more often…

The other function I love is the sleep function...

lady sleeping

It shows 3 levels, Deep sleep, light sleep and Rem sleep plus gives you the normal range and tells you where you are in that either normal, high or low. Plus it gives your overall hours of sleep, how many times you woke up with an explanation of your total hours of sleep and how long you were in the stages and what happens to your body while you are in each stage of sleep…

It also offers an explanation as to what causes any changes and how you can remedy it with links to other sites for further info.

I am finding this really interesting as I am gradually seeing a pattern forming and am realising which factors are influencing my sleep for example what I am doing prior to sleep or what I have been drinking as I don’t eat after 8pm.

It also tells me my heart rate …An explanation can also be found on heart rates.

What I do find amusing is the little green man who buzzes and waves at me when I have been inactive for a while…

It also has other functions which I don’t use yet or may not as I purchased this mainly to keep a little eye on my health. Which while it may not be exactly spot on but accurate as these can be but as the watch is on your pulse give or take a few beats it is accurate enough for me…

Thank you for reading and please tell me in comments your thoughts if you have a smartwatch…x

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 great week xx

Healthy Eating…SmartWatch…

21 Replies

Welcome to Tuesdays Healthy eating post…It seems like last weeks post on Intermittent fasting is something many of you are following or thinking about it certainly seems to be the way forward and is on many health professionals radar…

Healthy eating is not about deprivation but about choosing foods for the well-being of the one body we have been given…I believe as do many that we need a healthy balanced diet and the occasional treat is fine and to be enjoyed…

When I stated what I had cut out last week it was foods I believed were having a negative impact on MY body…It is foods which have empty calories, do not add anything healthy to MY diet…That’s it!

You are in charge of yours and nothing wrong with having a drink of alcohol or a biscuit or two if you fancy it… for me altogether they were having a negative impact …

Enough of that…I have attached this little chart of Sally’s for you to check out if you want…No pressure here…just conversations as to what works for us as individuals no one size fits all…

fat accumalation chart

 

This little table certainly focused my mind… As did Sally’s and my recent post… together we are aiming to help you reach your goals…There are some great ideas to help you with your healthy eating and some straight talking from Sally…I just provide the recipes…

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/03/09/smorgasbord-health-column-size-matters-the-sequel-emotional-factor-willpower-and-childish-things/

Nothing worthwhile in life is easy…Think about writing a novel….That bit is easy but what comes after …editing and rewrites etc BUT we do it…Healthy eating and or weight loss is just the same so… Let’s go and do it!

Stuck for recipes? Need some inspiration?…

In this series, we look at cooking and your diet from a different perspective. Usually, we emphasize the health benefits of food and how they can be incorporated into your diet. But, what happens if you do NOT include them in your diet.

We wanted to share with you what happens if your body is deprived of individual nutrients over an extended period of time.

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/03/06/smorgasbord-health-column-with-sally-cronin-and-carol-taylor-cook-from-scratch-to-prevent-nutritional-deficiency-vitamin-b1-thiamin/

Smartwatch Corner!

I have a smartwatch….Yeah…It is smarter than me…Honestly not something I would ever have envisaged buying…Why? I am really not a gadgets person…Or one who has to have the latest phone person either…However when I could not have the apps I wanted on my phone because Samsung loaded all their bloatware and by the time they had done that it left me very little to play with and I ended up having to uninstall an app to add another app and my needs are small…I don’t play games, pay with my phone or any shopping channels not of my choosing…

This made me have a rethink and consequently, I bought another phone which allowed me to install the few apps I do have …It also had a pre-installed fitness app which one’s grandson alerted me too…Thank you, Aston x

It also focussed my mind…Told me how many steps I have taken in a day…Also, lots of other stuff if I wanted…I found I did…

legs people walking

Image by MabelAmber on Pixabay

Hence some research into smart watches …So starting next week there will be a smartwatch corner as I discover new things about it…That saying about there is life in the old dog yet is coming true…Haha

The lovely girl in the shop set it up and synced( get me) it to my phone…It has just waved at me and shown an image of someone getting up and walking…Please, I am writing…haha…

But joking aside it is showing me the error of my ways..She who tries but is not perfect..is listening oh hallowed smartwatch… just don’t get too smart…

It has however piqued my interest about my sleep pattern for example…I was normal on all counts the first night..It also explained every step with links …I was impressed as I like to know that statements on health are backed up by research…

Then life in the form of my grandsons birthday cake stepped in…I had two pieces and enjoyed them (I also) knew I should have stuck at one…The second was I am loving my Green tea but not a good idea to have a late night pot of the said green tea( caffeine)…My smartwatch had a hissy fit yesterday morning reflected in my sleep pattern stats…

It bloody knew…Haha

Once I had digested those stats and I didn’t like them one lickle bit but I also knew what caused the blip…This morning I woke up bright and bushy-tailed unlike yesterday and my sleep pattern was much better so hopefully, tomorrows will be back to absolute normal …Smartwatch it is… I am impressed (so far)

I am also impressed by how our bodies react…A wonderful piece of machinery which we can abuse and abuse and then we can much of the time apply a little moderation and TLC and it purrs like a well-tuned car…Mine will never be a Rolls Royce but maybe, just maybe a little Honda Jazz…

Until next week…xxxx

Thank you for reading and please tell me in comments your thoughts if you have a smartwatch…x

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 great week xx

 

 

Healthy Eating…Intermittent Fasting…

12 Replies

Good Morning…Today I am going to be talking about intermittent fasting what it means and what you can do when fasting…And how it works for me…

steaming tea in a cup a book and a flower

Tea Image by Free-Photos on Pixabay

For quite a while now I have been intermittent fasting and didn’t know it… Last week I discussed the Keto diet as my son is following this eating plan… I  listened to him and some things I agree with and Keto does recommend that you do take part in intermittent fasting.

As you know I believe in a healthy balanced eating plan, eating normal food not calorie counting unless you really want to…Healthy eating should be a way of life …There are very few people who can stick to a restricted diet for any length of time…

Unless medically advised our diet should be balanced and not loaded one way or another with certain food groups.

I also know how hard it can be for some who are addicted to sugar either soda drinks or sweet processed foods…I have been there …Sometimes though as Sally explains it is not you who is lacking in willpower but a fungus which is living in your tummy and the sugars which feed it… To read more about the subject pop over to Sally’s it is a very good series and although I don’t have a problem with sugar I have learnt quite a lot about healthy eating…

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2018/06/05/smorgasbord-health-column-candida-albicans-part-two-sugars-and-yeast-free-bread/

Well… we only have one body and when you look at it we can abuse that bod but if we start treating it properly it responds really well…To me, that is an awesome piece of machinery…Don’t you think…

Fasting has also always conjured up that image of being starved of food or a feeling of calm…I certainly didn’t look upon my eating pattern as fasting or starving myself but I am calm …Most of the time …

Intermittent Fasting.

What is it?  Short term fasts which mean you are consuming fewer calories and that is it!

There are three main categories:-

Some people reduce their calories over a two day period and consume 500-600 calories a day during those two days …The other 5 days they eat normally…which doesn’t mean binging to make up for those two days when your calorific intake was reduced…It ain’t that easy…

Others opt for 24-hour fasts either dinner to dinner the next day or breakfast to breakfast the next day just 24 hours straight… This they do once or twice a week and eat normally on the other days…

Me…I follow the third option...I don’t eat after 7 or 8pm at night and don’t eat before 10-11 the next day…It is called the 16/8 method…For me this is easy…What I hear you say what’s easy about that???

I dropped quite easily into this eating pattern when I moved here one because of the heat and two I can’t eat 3 meals a day it is too much for me…Now that could be an age thing or the fact my tummy has shrunk…

I will be honest I have cut out certain eating habits for example when little Lily visits it is a treat for her to go to 7/11 after she has eaten her dinner and she has always bought Nannie 2 bags of jelly teddy bears which of course I ate…It would have been rude not to…haha

Sunny evenings also are conducive to a sundowner or three they creep up on you, don’t they?

Numero three was when hubby brought me my morning cuppa he also added two digestives to the plate…Sally’s little chart soon put paid to that habit…Do you know how many calories and lbs 2 digestive biscuits(graham crackers) a day add up to over a year…I do now…That habit was kicked into touch…Those biscuits were the first to go…

The jellies were next to go as because Lily brought Nannie Jelly’s when she was here so did grandad when he went to 7/11…It has now been at least 4 months since a bag of jelly teddies has passed my lips…

The last habit to get kicked into touch was my sundowners…28 days without a drop and that included 2 nights out and a weekend visit from my son…So I feel I have a right to be chuffed with myself…

Why am I telling you this?

To show you that

1. It can be done.

2. It has been done over a period of time and not all at once…

My belly fat is still reducing and I have lost a few pounds and inches…

Do I count calories no and I enjoy my two meals …Lovely curries or stir-fries, maybe a cheese platter with some fruit…I eat what I fancy and I will be having a pancake tonight as it is Shrove Tuesday …

I snack on fruit as it is so plentiful here or enjoy a fruit smoothie…Which is why I will not be following the Keto eating plan as it restricts fruit and certain vegetables and although I have been told there are good fats…Please, how many avocados can one eat in a day…You do invariably then eat the bad fats, the processed fats and that much fat is not good for your long term health…

How do I get through my 16 plus hours without eating???

lady sleeping

Image by xiangying_xu on Pixabay

I will break it down for you…

From 8 pm until whenever I sleep which could be 10pm it could be 2am…During that time I am writing, watching a movie or reading…I also have a pot of green tea…Yes, that is allowed on Intermittent fasting…

You can drink water, coffee, tea or other non-alcoholic drink any beverage which is under 50 calories..a splash of milk is fine in your tea or coffee.

I then sleep ..very well I will add especially since I cut out the sundowners out until my alarm goes off at 6 am…

I then get Aston up… my grandson as he leaves for school just after 7 am…I get his breakfast, iron his school shirt then when I have seen Aston of to school I have my pot of green tea while I check my e-mails and answer any comments on my blog.

I also start writing as I am doing now @ 9.47 am…10 am I feed my sourdough and today I am having Grapow Moo with an egg which I will cook once I have fed my sourdough…It will then be 10.30 ish maybe 11 am…Am I starving…No!

This routine works for me…

I will then go for a walk as hubby wants some grass seed and hang the washing out…

When I come back I will have a glass of coconut water and probably an apple, some Marian fruit and tamarind with maybe a little piece of the lovely blue cheese I bought on Saturday. I have found someone who imports cheese at a very good price…yummy 🙂

During the afternoon I will have another pot of green tea and then probably a Thai green Curry tonight.

Then it is evening, Green tea and bed at some point…As you all know if we get engrossed in our writing/reading the time just flies by.

I really don’t see this 16/8 as fasting as some is sleeping and being busy… I walk every day, some days I am trying out new recipes and of course, I am reading and writing…I honestly am busy most of the time and sometimes I have to remind myself to eat…My bad 😦 

Whichever one of the fasts you choose to follow you can drink which I didn’t know until I did my research I thought fasting meant no food or drink…Especially if you follow these short fasts.

Common Sense should have told me that we need to keep our bodies hydrated…There are so many lovely teas we can drink to help us stay hydrated while we fast.

Tea ginger lemon basil

Image by Leon_Ting on Pixabay

The benefits to our body are many by following intermittent fasting…

Belly fat will reduce, you will lose weight and inches.

It increases fat burning

Increased energy

It lowers your blood  insulin and sugar levels

Helps your memory…

I feel so much better my energy levels have increased and just overall I feel better. Fasting is not starving yourself it is just choosing when you eat.

For me, this is the way forward and I have lost quite a lot over the last 7 years BUT those little treats I mentioned started to notice on the belly etc… Which why I cut them out gradually I have also cut refined carbs and changed to brown /wild rice which will increase my fibre intake…But I actually prefer the taste of brown/wild rice, especially as now I know how to cook it properly…

This has kick started my inch loss and I do feel better for it…

I hope that you now find intermittent fasting a bit clearer…Thank you for reading any questions please ask I love to hear from you and always reply to my comments xxxx

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!

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 great week xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CarolCooks2…Weekly Roundup…

14 Replies

Welcome to my weekly roundup if you have missed any posts  …Take a pew, grab a drink, settle down and enjoy!

great reads a weekly roundup lady with electronic reader

Sourdough is still on the agenda but this lady is not going to let it defeat her…British to the core we don’t give up…

Thanks go out to Tabula… she has helped me immensely she also has a lovely blog so pop over and say hello…That link you sent me Tabula was awesome ..I have a book which is ok..but it doesn’t cover the what if’s like Maurizio does…Today we carry on following Maurizio’s instructions and we will have bread!

♦♦♦♦♦

We then came to roundup numero 2 from my friend Sally for whom I write and collaborate with on my weekly food column over on Smorgasbord…This roundup includes book reviews, Old Australia, Chopped Liver, Health and even chicken poop a plethora of fun, facts and the plain amazing.

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/02/24/smorgasbord-blog-magazine-weekly-round-upjazz-chicken-poop-chopped-liver-old-age-australia-and-sheep-farming/

♦♦♦♦♦

We then came to Tuesday where we discuss anything healthy and how we can make healthy eating the norm…A way of life!

I touched on the Keto way of eating which my son is following joined a FB group for Keto beginners and did some research and some of it is similar to the way I eat BUT I cannot get my head around the amount of fat and such a low carb and protein allowance…Good fat or not we need balance I believe  I love vegetables and fruit and cannot limit myself so strictly…Yes, there is fast and massive weight loss… But I am asking myself is that healthy, sustainable as the Keto diet is so restrictive?

What are your thoughts?

Spoiler Alert! One thing we are agreeable on is intermittent fasting which I follow which was 17 hours yesterday/today…More on that on Tuesday…

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/02/26/healthy-eating-no-more-diets-but-a-way-of-life-2/

♦♦♦♦♦

A Sunday Roast…How many of you love Sunday Roast? But don’t cook it? The art of cooking a perfect Sunday roast including Yorkshire puddings and perfect pork crackling is revealed here.

sunday roast pork

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/02/27/smorgasbord-blog-magazine-cookery-column-with-carol-taylor-how-to-cook-the-perfect-sunday-roast/

♦♦♦♦♦

The hardest post I have written for a long time purely because I am so disappointed, angry, upset that any government can sanction such a devastating blow to one of their natural beautiful landmarks…By allowing one million tons of sludge to be dumped on The Great Barrier Reef…Shame on the AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT!

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/02/27/waste-not-want-not-australia-plans-to-dump-one-million-tons-of-sludge-on-the-great-barrier-reef/

The heartening news is that if you are Australian and have a vote then you can become a Climate Voter…So if you care about your beautiful natural wonders and want to stop pollution sign up…I just wish I was an honorary Aussie and could vote as I would… These politicians who endorse and allow these acts to go ahead need telling and voting OUT!

Be a climate Voter!

https://www.acf.org.au/

♦♦♦♦♦

I have never needed to feel the sunshine so much as I did after writing that post on the Great Barrier Reef…I was honoured to receive the Sunshine Blogger Award from Sally…Of course for that honour, I had to bare my soul and reveal a little more about Moi…I hope you enjoy and if I nominated you I look forward to reading more about YOU…

sunshine blogger award

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/03/01/the-sunshine-blogger-award-take-2/

♦♦♦♦♦

That was followed by my post on my week in my kitchen…

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The continuation of the Sourdough saga, stinky beans and Mayong otherwise known as the Marian plum…And of course Aston’s unusual birthday gift…

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/03/01/week-9-in-my-kitchen-it-floats-to-the-top-and-wont-rise-my-sourdough/

♦♦♦♦♦

Thank you for reading I hope you now feel refreshed and enthused and have a wonderful weekend  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!

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 great weekend xx

Healthy Eating…No more Diets…But a way of life…

6 Replies

Good morning…After the mother of all storms last night the watery sun is trying to come out…The birds are singing and the squirrels are playing on the trees outside my window…

It is day 21 of no alcohol and going well… 3 nights out and I stayed on the water…I also feel much better and have lost a few inches which is a bonus…A dress last worn on Christmas day is a lot looser around the hips and tummy area …My new phone tracks my steps which is another incentive to up the ante…

How is your healthy eating going??? Have you any tips to share?

Salads… If any of you buy ready prepared salads I read there was yet another recall…Not the first I will add over the years and there have been fatalities in the past… it can take a couple of weeks for greens to get from the farm to your plate when they come in the form of bagged lettuce, and nutrition is lost during that time. Another thing that adds to the degradation of vitamins and minerals in bagged salads is the washing they go through before being bagged.

Then there is the water issue…triple washed? If it’s in [California’s] Central Valley, then it most likely becomes the single most important environmental consideration, and the triple-washed thing becomes very difficult to defend.”  90% of U.S. lettuce is produced in California and Arizona.

Plastic bags…It’s just another one …So many issues surround these pre-packed bags of salad…I for one don’t touch them with a barge pole…

If it is just the fact that you love a plate of salad greens…

Salad greens on a plate

Image by msqrd2 on Pixabay

Lettuce greens are the easiest to grow at home…

So really, what’s the point of buying supposedly clean lettuce that isn’t really clean at all?

As you probably know my big boy came to visit it was lovely and has been 3 years since I saw him in the flesh…We have planned our next visit we are not leaving it so long next time we are meeting in Bangkok in May which is his next visit to Kl, Malaysia for work a short trip for us both with no stopovers…

One of our conversations was the Keto Diet which he is currently following properly I may add he has done his research and is tracking his carbs and fibre to make sure he is getting the correct amount.

I believe in a healthy balanced diet and I get the fact that Keto targets the burning of fat and how…Long term isn’t his plan just a means to an end…I understood everything that he said and the why’s and hows and wherefores…

He sees the problem as being that people who were not brought up to eat proper food and cook from scratch are the ones who are just eating everything that they like and can now eat…As much as they like and still lose weight and inches…A recipe for problems later on…

Sean is eating the good fats and making sure he gets his recommended fibre and carbs as fresh food does contain carbs e.g starchy vegetables, legumes, grains, bread so it is opting for lower carb vegetables so drilled down it is a more sensible diet than I originally thought…I still think a healthy balanced diet is the best way as weight loss is not so easily gained…

Do you follow the Keto diet? What are your thoughts?

How am I losing weight and inches?? 

By cutting out alcohol, processed foods, no more biscuits, swapped English tea for green tea which avoids the need for a biscuit to dunk, changed to brown/wild rice and eat rice once a day instead of twice a day and substituting cauliflower rice or zucchini pasta, eating more fish which cuts down on the red meat. 

zucchini pasta

That’s about it…Update it is working my clothes are looser and a great tip my son gave me was instead of using a tape measure use a ball of string and hang them up every time you measure yourself and you will soon have a decreasing line of strings showing your inch loss….I thought that was a great idea!

My recipe this week and it is my favourite soup…Tomatoes, chilli, egg, mince, spring onions and Dill…. A virtual assault on my taste buds… The fresh taste of tomatoes is intense and heavy on dill which I love this is one of the best soups ever…

Egg drop Soup.

Egg-drop-soup-recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 tbsp oil ( I use coconut)
  • 3 spring onions
  • 3/4 lb ripe tomatoes ( chopped and cored)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1-2 tbsp Fish Sauce
  • 1/3 lb finely minced pork/ chicken
  • 1-2 chillies diced diagonally
  • 2 eggs beaten or you can just drop the egg in whole and the heat of the soup will cook the egg.
  • 2 sprigs of coriander or dill or more
  • 5 1/2 cups water
  • Black Pepper to taste

Let’s Cook!

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add tomatoes and salt, cover and cook until soft about 4-6 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking or burning.

Add fish sauce and chillies….I would add I tbsp of fish sauce and taste and adjust seasoning before serving.

Add mince and move around to break up any big clumps.

Add water, bring to boil and skim off any scum that arises.

Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes add spring onions and simmer for another 10 minutes.

If you are not serving immediately then remove from heat and keep the lid on.

To Serve:

Bring soup to simmer, Taste and adjust seasoning, fish sauce or salt.

Pour beaten egg into a bowl in a wide circle; stir gently to break up into strings.

Ladle soup into a bowl, add a generous sprinkling of pepper and garnish with Coriander or Dill.

Enjoy!

That’s all from me for this week I hope you have enjoyed this post…How is your healthy eating going ???

Thank you for reading this post I am happy that you joined me today for our little chat on how we can improve the health of both our body and our purse/wallet.

I hope you thought so  too xxx

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!

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 great week xx

CarolCooks2…Weekly Roundup…Rambutan and Sourdough

7 Replies

Welcome to my weekly roundup of posts I hope you have all had a productive week with lots of creative thoughts, no kitchen disasters and if you have please tell…haha

My week started with sourdough starter Take 3 which I decided to feed for another week as it didn’t float in water and if a spoonful doesn’t float to the top then it is not ready…Today…This morning it floated…Hallelujah…So it is shaped and kneaded and proving( we hope)

My weekly roundup…Let’s begin!

You know the routine by now…Settle down in your favourite chair, grab a drink and enjoy!

great reads a weekly roundup lady with electronic reader

This week started with a challenge not that every day isn’t some sort of challenge …haha I  was nominated for a getting to know you challenge …The questions were not too daunting so I accepted the challenge…It doesn’t really give too much away about me …We ladies have to keep a little to ourselves it all adds to our air of mystery doesn’t it ladies?

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/02/17/getting-to-know-you-challenge/

It was then that time again when we looked at our eating and our health… I am pleased to report that even if one’s eldest son came to visit that I didn’t waver and I am now 20 days into my alcohol-free challenge …There were all sorts of bets placed as to how long I would survive especially going out and with my boy here but he was also on his new eating challenge so we both did well …He is following the keto way of eating and has researched it a lot and explained much to me…That is this weeks spoiler alert! All will be revealed on Tuesday…

Book and glasses

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/02/19/healthy-eating-no-more-diets-but-a-way-of-life/

Before we knew it was Wednesday and time for the Sally and Carol show…Something new and exciting…How many of you have been told by your doctor or health professional that your body is nutritionally deficient in something? Then the panic sets in as you wonder how or what you can cook or eat to replenish and increase that deficiency in your body?  Never fear we have it covered Vitamin by Vitamin Sally will cover what you need to eat and I will supply the recipes …

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/02/20/new-series-smorgasbord-health-column-with-sally-cronin-and-carol-taylor-cook-from-scratch-to-prevent-nutritional-deficiency/

Thursday bought us to week 12 of Waste Not! Want Not!… There were brilliant ideas of dispensing books instead of sweets from a school vending machine and the idea of 6 pack plastic holders being food for turtles instead of a danger to them…On one side it seems like a good idea but on the other side, it won’t encourage people not to dump their waste…What were your thoughts?

kids reading books

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/02/21/waste-not-want-not-week-12/https://carolcooks2.com/2019/02/21/waste-not-want-not-week-12/

Friday bought my sourdough update and it is proving in the basket as we speak, some recipes and other bits and pieces…Blackberries and Rambutan Fruit was on the menu.

blackberries on the bush

It was also an exciting day for me as my big boy arrived for the weekend and as we haven’t seen each other only online for 3 years it has been a lovely weekend which ended this morning as he had to return to Malaysia for work on Monday and then he is back to the UK on Wednesday…He travels a lot for work but we have decided that next time he is in Malaysia for work we will meet in Bangkok for a weekend and not leave it so long…

https://carolcooks2.com/2019/02/22/week-8-in-my-kitchen-mangosteen-and-sourdough/

Enjoy your Sunday and thank you for reading …xx

If you liked what you read please let me know in comments I love to hear all your comments xxx

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!

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 great week xx