Posts tagged diet
A little of what you fancy
Dec 14th
I’ve just been out for my daily walk to get away from the desk and do some little jobs, and it’s one of those dark, damp, cold winter days that seeps gloom and lethargy. Days like this always seem to make me hanker after a treat to eat. We have supper all planned, so a little something at teatime fits the bill. A little smackerel, I think Winnie the Pooh called it, but you have to be careful or after too many little smackerels you too will have a Pooh girth.
We are lucky in still having an M&S food store, always a good source of smackerels, so as well as the virtuous leek and cooking apple, my bag also contained an apricot pastry for A and a packet of chocolate rolls for moi. They cost the same, but the enjoyment in a pack of mini rolls can be strung out so much longer!
I have to buy my edible treats one by one, as anything stored in the cupboard simply cries out to be eaten. (Actually so did 2 bags of lovely German lebkuchen A had bought as gifts for friends. I promised to replace one I wanted to take along to a meeting with Louise Billington, my excellent coach. Rushing out slightly late, I forgot it, but then of course it was as good as mine and so I ate it later. And the other bag, because in for a penny…)
So to those people who worry that working from home will make them fat, I’d say that yes, you do have to be disciplined, but no more than you have to be working with other people who probably eat crisps, chocolate, biscuits and all that tempting stuff in front of you and ask you out for coffee and drinks. Just don’t stock up with your favourite indulgence at the supermarket – you might save pounds in one sense but you’ll gain them in another!
Finding out where the fat lurks
Jul 20th
Reading the F2 Diet book has been a revelation, as I’ve never given any thought to calories or what kinds of food might make me fat. Running my cleaning business meant putting on weight was never an issue, what with all the dashing around and the stress of trying to keep both cleaners and clients happy. Not to mention living in dread of the afternoon phone call – ‘I won’t be coming in tonight…’
So I entered my forties in the misguided belief I could eat whatever I liked, despite the growing evidence to the contrary. The F2 book has a section on the fat content of various foods and I can tell you it’s been an eye-opener. I have become one of those people who reads labels like a hawk. I mean, how come plain chocolate has more fat than milk, when everybody knows plain is (sort of) good for you? And you know those teacakes, the kind with marshmallow on a biscuit base covered in microscopically thin chocolate you can bash with a spoon and peel like a boiled egg? 16g of fat per 100g when I could have sworn I was eating mainly air. I can see that to get and stay slim I need to wisen up.
I’m fat because I haven’t been eating enough fondant fancies
Jun 19th
Perhaps the worst thing about spending lots of time at the computer is spreading bottom syndrome, and not just bottom, come to that. When I ran my cleaning business I stayed slim without any effort at all, due to the physical work and the stress of wondering which of my cleaners wouldn’t turn up for work that night. The weird thing is that at the time I never actually believed I was slim! When I was clearing the house ready to move last year, I came across a photo of me from the early 90s, wearing a sweatshirt tucked into my jeans and I still had a clearly defined waist! Couldn’t do it now.
So it’s time for some fatbusting and I have been reading The F2 Diet
The wonderful thing about it is that you never feel hungry, and start to feel lighter very quickly, as all that fibre makes its way through your system. That of course can be a bit of a social liability, but working from home makes it much easier! You are also allowed a number of fat units a day, so you can still have a bit of chocolate or something sweet. I was astonished to discover that a fondant fancy has only one fat unit, the same as a boring old digestive biscuit. I haven’t succumbed yet, but I found it pretty heartening.
Note to self
May 7th
Lately I’ve been ignoring my own advice to always keep a pad of paper and a pen handy, which makes no sense as I know full well I tend to think about writing when I’m in bed, about shopping when I’m at the computer and so on.
So the other night I eventually got out of bed in the early hours and crept downstairs to write down the vital few sentences that had been eluding me all day. I had to use a thick felt tip so I could vaguely make out what I was writing in the light from the street lamps. Putting on a light would have been too much of a shock to a semi-comatose sleepwalker.
Today as I tackled my emails I had the brilliant idea of taking the coolbag and ice packs to Bath so I could stock up on my favourite Waitrose stem ginger ice cream, which is on special offer. But it was one of those brainwaves that zoom in and out too fast to record, and I was halfway to Bath before I realised the coolbag was still in the kitchen. Just as well, as A isn’t around tonight and I might well have taken sly advantage of his absence to eat a whole tub for supper, instead of the nutritious local vegetables from the box that was delivered today.
I digress. From now on I’m sticking to my advice and equipping myself with pen and paper everywhere.
Home Baking
Apr 3rd
Homeworking for me for the last week has included regular baking sessions in preparation for my book launch tomorrow. I used to enjoy baking, but haven’t made a cake for years, mainly because having one in the house would be far too much temptation for a sweet-toothed homeworker like me. So I’m out of practice and my right arm is aching from holding my old electric hand mixer upright in the bowl, but I have the satisfaction that comes from a freezer full of brownies and coffee cake.
As I’ve moved away from Cornwall, a lot of people who helped me with the book in many ways – my tutors and colleagues on the MA Prof Writing course at Falmouth and homeworkers who told me their stories – won’t be able to make it, so I’d like to acknowledge their part in the process. I’ll raise a brownie to you all!
Unlike Proust, for me it’s bacon sandwiches
Mar 20th
For me, one of the best things about working from home is that you can be flexible about when you work and so take advantage of beautiful weather, quiet times in the shops and so on. This morning we took some time off to try out the breakfasts at a café we’d spotted in nearby Bradford-on-Avon.
A had the full English, which came on a plate almost the size of a dustbin lid, and I had a BLT, served with salad and coleslaw. All the food and coffee was well-presented and delicious, and the whole experience reminded us of the halcyon days of the late Strand Café in Newlyn.
The Strand Café consisted of just a few tables in a conservatory tacked onto the side of the kitchen but the consistent excellence of the coffee and fresh, local food were legendary among its cult following. The bacon sandwiches were quite literally the size of doorsteps and included liberal amounts of mayo and fresh organic herbs. Eating them required at least two napkins to clean up face and fingers and maybe a shower if you were a messy eater. Only if you were extremely hungry or particularly greedy could you manage a slab of sticky fruit loaf afterwards, but somehow we usually did, along with another mug of coffee with a biscotti on the side.
We had despaired of ever finding anywhere even remotely similar in quality of ingredients and generosity of portions but Canterbury House comes very close. Fortunately for our waistlines it requires a drive rather than a short stroll down the hill, like the Strand Café.
