The Food

The key to sticking to my One Year Lifestyle Commitment for the long haul is - I’ve got to like the food. I love spicy food —more than I like cheese — and that’s saying a lot! So, I added chilli to my stew each day. For the first month, I ate 5 pieces of fruit for breaky, one bowl of stew (that I made, recipe forthcoming) for lunch and another bowl of stew for tea. After the first month, I no longer craved chili (or cheese) and have reduced the heat. I still enjoy an occasional hit of fire on my tongue! 

Over the past month (month 2) I have created a new favourite food. My daughter, Rachael, calls them my ProOatTeen Patties. I make a weeks worth each time and have been refining the recipe. I made a batch this morning and we (Rachael and I) agree we’ve found the final recipe. Yum! They are great because I use them as a bread substitute and top them with flavoured tuna, oven-roasted chicken breast fingers (Recipe? really? Ok, I’ll pop that up, too), or turkey breast slices. I have also moved from fruit to fruit juice. Not exclusively - I still love grabbing a piece of fruit and tucking into it! I know fruit juice isn’t as good, but I love apple/cranberry juice! Just make sure it’s real juice not ‘juice drink’...

I have some general rules for when I’m planning new things to cook or go out to eat:

1. If it’s processed, it’s worse for my body. My body wants to do the processing. So, I avoid:

• Anything packaged (yes I know carrots come in a bag - be serious! You know what I mean!)
• Any bread or pasta (whole wheat is better, but processed wheat is like the black stuff that glugged up the engine of our Camry. It was so bad, the mechanic said it would be harder to clean it than replace it. We got a new engine. ‘nuff said.)
• Milk Products (I still have a drop of milk in my coffee, but I stay away from the cheese, yogurt, milk chocolate [I have one row-off-the-block of dark chilli-chocolate three or four times a week as a nitecap - little mercies!], milk drinks, and sour cream.)
• Fast Food is bad, bad, bad! If you want a burger, make it yourself - it's much better for you (Use a lean cut of meat. Mince is not typically healthy meat.) If you want chicken, cook it yourself - it's actually great for you! Bake don't fry. 
• Processed vegetarian products. If you want beans, eat beans. If you want a big slab of gluggy gluten in your gut... why would you want that? lol (I have occasional vege-products when they are served to me, but I do not seek them out. And, in all fairness, Gluten is high in protein, and low in bad stuff.  But gluten-flour is highly processed. So, it's a sometimes food.)
• Desert (It’s not necessary. It doesn’t make me feel better. There’s nothing healthy in it. I prefer a savoury flavour remaining after a meal, so this rule is a lot easier for me than most people!)