Recently I have been becoming increasingly aware of the reaction of my body to everything I throw at it.
When I eat a low fat, low sugar diet, avoid alcohol and wheat, I feel bright and lively.
When I don't, I don't!
I am bad at change, particularly my diet, especially when it smacks of 'deprivation' but I am finding that the more I eat fresh, non-processed food, the better it tastes and the worse the so-called treats taste (take-away food, cake, biscuits, cheap chocolate etc)
We went out for dinner last night, I had haddock and chips, and when I had finished I felt bloated, sick, heart thumping, nasty stuff. It took a couple of hours (and some peppermint tea!) to restore some sort of equilibrium.
So, maybe I'm finally learning the lesson!
x x
Monday, 13 July 2009
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
The Edible Garden - An Update
I have just enjoyed freshly picked raspberries on my morning muesli, and not for the first time! The raspberry haul is fantastic this year, although access to the canes is a little challenging, so must remember to cut them back at the end of the season to try and keep them under control for next year.
The carrots are growing (very very slowly, it seems) in a pot on the terrace, but have not been nibbled yet, so am hopeful for a small haul sometime in 2010(!)
The tomatoes in the hanging basket are going great guns, about to flower, so tomatoes are go for later in the summer (you see, it helps if the slugs don't eat your seedlings, eh Donna?!)
The 3 year old apple tree is covered in growing apples, so assuming they don't get eaten by anything else, we should get a few in the autumn, and even the newly planted cooking apple tree has one lone fruit on it, so if that makes it to fruition, I'll post a picture of the resultant apple crumble!
That's all the good news, only one major disaster so far, the runner beans, nurtured from seed in the kitchen propagator, carefully hardened off in a pot outside the back door, lovingly planted around a wigwam of bamboos, eaten by snails within 48 hours of planting out *sigh*
Ah well, you can't have everything!
x x
The carrots are growing (very very slowly, it seems) in a pot on the terrace, but have not been nibbled yet, so am hopeful for a small haul sometime in 2010(!)
The tomatoes in the hanging basket are going great guns, about to flower, so tomatoes are go for later in the summer (you see, it helps if the slugs don't eat your seedlings, eh Donna?!)
The 3 year old apple tree is covered in growing apples, so assuming they don't get eaten by anything else, we should get a few in the autumn, and even the newly planted cooking apple tree has one lone fruit on it, so if that makes it to fruition, I'll post a picture of the resultant apple crumble!
That's all the good news, only one major disaster so far, the runner beans, nurtured from seed in the kitchen propagator, carefully hardened off in a pot outside the back door, lovingly planted around a wigwam of bamboos, eaten by snails within 48 hours of planting out *sigh*
Ah well, you can't have everything!
x x
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
The start of an edible garden
Mr Bunch of Old Nonsense and myself have decided to make a few changes to the garden.
Our garden, I should explain, is on the small side and slopes alarmingly, so doesn't exactly lend itself to being an allotment. However, after some research and discussion we have decided that a boring old allotment is not the way forward, so we are going down the fruit and some veg route.
To explain, this weekend we planted a Braeburn pear tree, a Bramley apple tree, a gooseberry bush (thanks Donna and Bobbie!) and a loganberry plant. This adds to existing raspberry canes and an eating apple tree (that has failed in 2 years to give us any edible apples, but we live in hope!). Plus I have planted some carrots in a large pot and have runner beans and tomatoes in the windowsill propagator in the kitchen, the beans will be planted within the existing flowers and fruit in the garden and the tomatoes will go in the hanging basket outside the back door.
Our aim is to have a really pretty, wildlife friendly, fragrant garden, with edible bits!
I'll report back as it develops.......
x
Our garden, I should explain, is on the small side and slopes alarmingly, so doesn't exactly lend itself to being an allotment. However, after some research and discussion we have decided that a boring old allotment is not the way forward, so we are going down the fruit and some veg route.
To explain, this weekend we planted a Braeburn pear tree, a Bramley apple tree, a gooseberry bush (thanks Donna and Bobbie!) and a loganberry plant. This adds to existing raspberry canes and an eating apple tree (that has failed in 2 years to give us any edible apples, but we live in hope!). Plus I have planted some carrots in a large pot and have runner beans and tomatoes in the windowsill propagator in the kitchen, the beans will be planted within the existing flowers and fruit in the garden and the tomatoes will go in the hanging basket outside the back door.
Our aim is to have a really pretty, wildlife friendly, fragrant garden, with edible bits!
I'll report back as it develops.......
x
Monday, 16 February 2009
A tale of a sore throat
Since the beginning of December I have caught two head colds and suffered a nasty flu bug and frankly apart from the fact that being ill is miserable I can't afford any more time off from work. So you can imagine my consternation last week when I started a sore throat, I swung into action and employed a combination of magnets on carefully chosen acupoints, chamomile tea with honey, rest and chi gung to combat the symptoms.
I am pleased to report that it worked within 36 hours the sore throat had gone and I felt generally much better.
So next time you feel you are coming down with something, don't automatically reach for the lemsip or other drug-based options, consider a more natural approach, it really works and is really cheap!
x x
I am pleased to report that it worked within 36 hours the sore throat had gone and I felt generally much better.
So next time you feel you are coming down with something, don't automatically reach for the lemsip or other drug-based options, consider a more natural approach, it really works and is really cheap!
x x
Friday, 30 January 2009
Aaarrgh!!
Have just come back from the local supermarket and witnessed something which made me slack-jawed in amazement.
The person in front of me in the queue bought about 5 items, which he carefully placed in the freely provided single-use carrier bags (you know the ones, blight to the wildlife and marine life worldwide, been all over the press over the last year etc etc). He then carefully placed the full carrier bag inside the lovely nylon fold-up reusable bag he had with him...... Go figure! (as they say in the US)
Ah well, back to campaign to get the supermarkets to just remove them, as people are obviously too dumb to stop using them of their own accord :-)
x x
The person in front of me in the queue bought about 5 items, which he carefully placed in the freely provided single-use carrier bags (you know the ones, blight to the wildlife and marine life worldwide, been all over the press over the last year etc etc). He then carefully placed the full carrier bag inside the lovely nylon fold-up reusable bag he had with him...... Go figure! (as they say in the US)
Ah well, back to campaign to get the supermarkets to just remove them, as people are obviously too dumb to stop using them of their own accord :-)
x x
Saturday, 17 January 2009
Saving the world
In this time of new starts and new beginnings I have been thinking about why I am getting increasingly involved in the green movement.
The media (and other biased detractors like the obnoxious Jeremy Clarkson) always bang on about global warming being the reason for doing anything 'green' and then point out that global warming may not be as bad as we think, etc etc. It gives them a really easy stick to beat us with, so perhaps the time has come for a re-emphasis on the whys and wherefores.......
The way I see it, it's more about simple mathematics than complicated science. The earth has finite resources and a growing population, so it only stands to reason that the more we squander those resources the more problems we are creating. So perhaps its time to stop using global warming as the reason for doing anything and start treating everything from recycling to reducing material goods as a housekeeping exercise.
In simple terms, we do not have the right to have everything we think we want, all the consumer goods that we are bombarded with every day, all the food we can eat and then throw half of it away. Not only is it ridiculous to waste so much money and resource, but it's very disrespectful to those on our planet who have nothing.
My mother was the queen of 'make do and mend' (being a war baby) and we used to laugh at her thrifty ways, but she was right (as always!!) and the sooner we all catch on to these ideas the better.
We only have the one planet and the planet only has a finite amount of everything, so lets live within our global means.
Happy New Year!!
x x
The media (and other biased detractors like the obnoxious Jeremy Clarkson) always bang on about global warming being the reason for doing anything 'green' and then point out that global warming may not be as bad as we think, etc etc. It gives them a really easy stick to beat us with, so perhaps the time has come for a re-emphasis on the whys and wherefores.......
The way I see it, it's more about simple mathematics than complicated science. The earth has finite resources and a growing population, so it only stands to reason that the more we squander those resources the more problems we are creating. So perhaps its time to stop using global warming as the reason for doing anything and start treating everything from recycling to reducing material goods as a housekeeping exercise.
In simple terms, we do not have the right to have everything we think we want, all the consumer goods that we are bombarded with every day, all the food we can eat and then throw half of it away. Not only is it ridiculous to waste so much money and resource, but it's very disrespectful to those on our planet who have nothing.
My mother was the queen of 'make do and mend' (being a war baby) and we used to laugh at her thrifty ways, but she was right (as always!!) and the sooner we all catch on to these ideas the better.
We only have the one planet and the planet only has a finite amount of everything, so lets live within our global means.
Happy New Year!!
x x
Sunday, 26 October 2008
Getting all thoughtful on a Sunday
I recently joined the 21st Century by joining Facebook, I am still getting to grips with all it can offer (and what to avoid!) but today I joined a few fan groups.
On the Amnesty page someone had posted the following that I remember affecting me deeply when I first read it, which was when I was doing Theatre Studies A-levels (about 3 million years ago!). It still has that same power today.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me...
there was no one left to speak out.
Bertolt Brecht
On the Amnesty page someone had posted the following that I remember affecting me deeply when I first read it, which was when I was doing Theatre Studies A-levels (about 3 million years ago!). It still has that same power today.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me...
there was no one left to speak out.
Bertolt Brecht
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