Thursday, 31 May 2007

One of those days

I'm having one of those nibbly, unsatisfied by food days. :-(

It's not being helped by the office being freezing cold and for once the cookies being passed around with cups of hot tea are almost appealing. My body seems to want sweet and warm and comfort. It really didn't want the bitter lettuce and chicory salad I fed it at lunchtime and would have been happier with some steamed spinach, but it was lettuce that was in P's veggie box and lettuce the veggie must eat.

I've tried appeasing it with miso soup in anticipation of tonight's dinner which should consist of the first three dishes from these recipes from one of the Sunday papers. It's not working!

Oh well. I keep saying I must up my calories. I guess today is going to be a day when I do just that.

But not with cookies!

Wednesday, 30 May 2007

I've been slightly lamenting the fact that postings from this little community have been getting fewer and fewer as the months go by; I quite like having random musings to read in the mornings over my coffee - I miss them when they are not there! But looking at my own blogging stats from the past month, I am blogging less and less myself - yet I think I am always rambling on about stuff and nonsense. :-)

I guess with CRON more or less under control, there's not a whole lot to write about (to do with CR). Actually, sometimes I am getting too good at the CR bit; I thought I was eating all day yesterday but when I came to add it all up into CoM I was under a 1000 calories. I'd had a few cups of Green and Black's cocoa made with water and a glass or two of sauvignon blanc so the day's total wasn't really that low, but with hovering just over the lowest weight I want to go (I think), I need to be careful of being too low on a regular basis. 100% ON though, according to CoM. Bar the wine, of course.

I'm mildly fretting about this protein restriction thread that's going on on the CR mailing lists. Arturo posted last night/today begging for a layperson's explanation (especially for us vegetarians) and I totally second that because I really cannot understand a word from the more hard-core scientific contributors' posting (yes, I do read them!).

But only mildly fretting. It's not like I'm mainlining steak at la Atkins. It's just that I upped my protein this year to eat CRON and I'd actually be fine lowering it again - this should we, shouldn't we, is getting a bit tiresome for me. I guess I should just make my own decision based on my own instincts - which lately has been cut the eggwhites, and get non-vegetable based protein from non-fat yoghurt, low-fat cottage cheese and LLBY. I'd be quite happy going back to all veggie protein though.

Off to London again later this afternoon. I've almost completed the CRON colonisation of P's cupboards - my nuts and seeds are there, my goji berries are there, my fat-free yoghurt is there, my flax oil and my scales! It makes such a difference knowing there are nutritious foods available, and P's health-kick continues. I am promised fresh tomato soup with braised fennel, and salady things for dinner. Lucky me. :-)

I just cannot believe that it is almost June.

Monday, 28 May 2007

Meme - eight random things about me me me

It's a bank holiday in the UK, but after driving back early this morning from a visit to my mother yesterday, I have done nothing with the day apart from wash the kitchen floor, nap, put the rubbish out, and watch Spiderman III which has to be The Worst Movie I have seen for long time and I would like my brain back NOW please.

It has been really terrible weather up until the last hour though; freezing cold, torrential rain and northerly winds. The broad beans in the allotment patch are flattened, and the rocket, carrot and beetroot seedlings are looking none too happy either.

Still, I am incredibly tired and achy for some reason so doing nothing probably hasn't been a bad thing. I'd like a few more days of the same. With sun. My sleep is still appalling, and the shadows under my eyes are defeating industrial strength concealer. Not pretty. *sigh*

So - eight random things, tagged by Nenette. Well, what haven't I already randomly babbled on about myself in this blog?

1)I have a tattoo of blue lilies on my right ankle, vertically along the bone. It hurt.
2)I love snow, and mountains, and that deafening silence when the flakes are falling.
3)I never liked cats until my Tigsy decided to adopt me.
4)I adore hot-tubs, preferably on high buildings at midnight in the snow.
5)I am innumerate.
6)I was going to write I didn't know what my natural hair colour was anymore, but April already did that one. Oh God, and the shoes - you too, April??! Okay, um... oh yes, I don't have a TV and haven't watched TV on a regular basis for ten years.
7)I have never tasted fish (except in batter, with chips, out of newspaper by the sea) or shellfish of any kind.
8)I also love the sun, to the point of giving myself sunstroke every time P and I go somewhere hot - I throw myself into sunbathing with abandon, and poor P spends the next three days mopping my fevered brow and feeding me watermelon.

There. :-)

(I've deleted my links to some recently deleted blogs. If you come back, let me know!)

Friday, 25 May 2007

Seasonal Treats and Unnecessary Decadence


Walking back to the tube on the way back to P's from work yesterday, I had an overwhelming urge to buy some foodie deliciousness for us to share. I was walking past Clarke's on Kensington Church Street and loitered outside the window... but I knew if I went in, I would buy bread and cheese and other treats for P and I would spend too much money and the evening would be one of gluttony and about as far from CRON as one could get, and there would be wine and... No. I wrenched myself away. How virtuous.

But we still would need to eat. P had arranged a couple of organic vegetable deliveries but I'd eaten most of that already in my lunchtime salad (oops), leaving just the potatoes, a less than perfect beet and some runner beans in the box. That was not going to make dinner... I had a bunch of asparagus in my bag, and a pack of spinach - but I was intending to steam that and eat it as soon as I got home. So that wasn't going to make dinner either.

And then I remembered. It's samphire season. I adore samphire; I love the green saline crunchiness of it. I haven't been able to find much nutritional information on it so far, but it's a dark green asparagus-y veggie - what can be bad? Mmmm. So off I went to the fishmongers on Notting Hill Gate and bought half a kilo of it for a king's ransom and three rock oysters for P. When he got home later on in the evening, we ate it raw with lightly steamed asparagus and lemon juice, and drank a chilled Albarino.

And, um, a 1971 Riesling Beerenauslese. But that's another story.

Tuesday, 22 May 2007

Zzzzz.... I wish. :-(

I'm not sleeping well lately.
And when I am sleeping I am dreaming I am awake not sleeping.
It's getting quite tedious.

I read a really interesting article in one of the Saturday papers relating to this book which touched on the decline on vitamins and minerals in vegetables grown since the 1950's until the present day. The figures were quite alarming, but I'll need to read more about it before worrying unduly. I seem to remember that one of the CR lists touched on this recently and it hypothesised that the research was undertaken by companies interested in pushing supplementation... which I guess reverts right back to the premise of the book anyway, so it might be worth getting hold of. Unfortunately I can't find the link to the article because The Guardian has completely messed up its pages with a recent redesign. Irritating. So actually me telling you about this really interesting article is totally pointless. Sorry! :-)

I blame the lack of sleep.

But I do sometimes feel a little concerned about trusting the nutritional data we have so absolutely... not much choice there though.

Anyway.

I've been to the gym the last couple of mornings but haven't increased my (food) calories accordingly. I have actually been ravenously hungry and eating lunch and dinner really early, at around 12 and 5pm, but once that is done I lose my appetite for having any more - which is good and bad, I guess. I think my increase in appetite is also to do with having started drinking caffeinated coffee again - because I can't wake up because I'm not sleeping... Hmm, I think I see a vicious circle there. Anyway, I need to lay off the coffee for a few days and see if that helps. Surely nature will take its course and I'll have to sleep eventually?! *hopes*

Today's (food) crunch.

===========================================
Nutrition Summary for 22 May 2007
===========================================

General (85%)
===========================================
Energy | 1078.8 kcal 90%
Protein | 89.5 g 99%
Carbs | 152.6 g 127%
Fiber | 37.1 g 124%
Fat | 22.7 g 57%
Water | 1719.7 g 64%

Vitamins (99%)
===========================================
Vitamin A | 66143.3 IU 2835%
Folate | 1624.0 µg 406%
B1 (Thiamine) | 1.9 mg 171%
B2 (Riboflavin) | 3.4 mg 307%
B3 (Niacin) | 20.2 mg 144%
B5 (Pantothenic Acid)| 7.1 mg 142%
B6 (Pyridoxine) | 3.3 mg 257%
B12 (Cyanocobalamin) | 2.2 µg 91%
Vitamin C | 410.3 mg 547%
Vitamin D | 425.4 IU 213%
Vitamin E | 20.3 mg 135%
Vitamin K | 1518.1 µg 1687%

Minerals (98%)
===========================================
Calcium | 1222.1 mg 122%
Copper | 2.5 mg 282%
Iron | 19.4 mg 108%
Magnesium | 548.5 mg 171%
Manganese | 5.2 mg 289%
Phosphorus | 1464.7 mg 209%
Potassium | 5786.8 mg 123%
Selenium | 71.8 µg 130%
Sodium | 1245.0 mg 83%
Zinc | 10.3 mg 129%

Lipids (61%)
===========================================
Saturated | 4.0 g 40%
Omega-3 | 2.5 g 229%
Omega-6 | 5.3 g 120%
Cholesterol | 9.6 mg 3%

Monday, 21 May 2007

My CRON staples

Sort of leading on from my previous post about knowing where to get my nutrients from now, and because I am a little - shall we say - bored, here is a list of what a Sara has in her fridge and cupboards on a regular basis to sustain her CR Life.

Total 0% Greek yogurt
Low-fat (1%) cottage cheese
Free-range eggs

Alpro Light Soya Milk

Lewis Labs Brewer's Yeast

Blueberries
Strawberries
Melon
Lemons

Spinach leaves
Romaine lettuce
Broccoli (calabrese)
Asparagus
Zucchini
Red, yellow and green peppers
Tomatoes
Celery
Mushrooms
Butternut squash

Almonds
Hazelnuts
Brazil nuts
Pumpkin seeds
Flax seeds (whole and ground)

Goji berries

Canned lentils
Canned cannellini beans
Dried oregano, thyme, rosemary

Cinnammon

Grapenuts
Oats

Flax oil

Balsamic vinegar

It doesn't seem like much considering the length of other CRON-practioners' staples, but I find that if I have all these things available, and add to them with other bits and pieces (I eat more variety of vegetables than listed here, for example), I easily get all my nutrients every day - I am usually at 90% of vitamins and 80% of minerals by the time I've eaten lunch, which isn't bad going really and good to know! Looking at that list, actually - I will have eaten everything on it by the end of the day bar the oats and cannellini beans! Yep, there is a lot of food when eating CRON!

*******************

And all that... gives me this.

===========================================
Nutrition Summary for 21 May 2007
===========================================

General (82%)
===========================================
Energy | 1025.9 kcal 85%
Protein | 84.0 g 93%
Carbs | 142.2 g 118%
Fiber | 37.1 g 124%
Fat | 23.0 g 57%
Water | 1573.7 g 58%

Vitamins (99%)
===========================================
Vitamin A | 57585.1 IU 2468%
Folate | 1290.7 µg 323%
B1 (Thiamine) | 1.9 mg 177%
B2 (Riboflavin) | 3.9 mg 358%
B3 (Niacin) | 20.9 mg 149%
B5 (Pantothenic Acid)| 6.4 mg 128%
B6 (Pyridoxine) | 3.3 mg 256%
B12 (Cyanocobalamin) | 2.0 µg 84%
Vitamin C | 407.7 mg 544%
Vitamin D | 433.9 IU 217%
Vitamin E | 20.9 mg 139%
Vitamin K | 1737.4 µg 1930%

Minerals (97%)
===========================================
Calcium | 1226.7 mg 123%
Copper | 2.5 mg 275%
Iron | 20.8 mg 116%
Magnesium | 483.3 mg 151%
Manganese | 4.7 mg 263%
Phosphorus | 1193.0 mg 170%
Potassium | 4839.7 mg 103%
Selenium | 98.4 µg 179%
Sodium | 1016.1 mg 68%
Zinc | 9.3 mg 117%

Lipids (58%)
===========================================
Saturated | 3.0 g 30%
Omega-3 | 3.6 g 331%
Omega-6 | 4.7 g 106%
Cholesterol | 5.8 mg 2%

Sunday, 20 May 2007

You've got the tools, so use them...

I'm pretty used to having a couple of days a week when it's difficult to impossible to record my nutritional intake in CoM - because I am eating out, away from the machine, without my scales... that sort of thing. But most of the time when I am able to, I use CoM and am glad I do because it lets me know where I am. Today I haven't recorded, and I really wish I had! I had breakfast here, and I had dinner here, and I should have weighed and measured and I didn't... and now I am sitting here wondering, did I get enough iron? and, there's no way I got enough if any B5; maybe I should eat some mushrooms.... Hey ho.

I'm not too bothered really. I let today be kind of a free day because I dropped to 110.6lbs on the scale this morning, and while I know that was probably because I was dehydrated after drinks with friends last night (oops) or because I skipped lunch the last 2 days (no choice), I really don't actually want to be under 8 stone. Well, I don't mind being under eight stone as long as I am not getting a skinny heart... I don't care what my BMI is as long as my heart is fighting fit and keeps doing its job! And as long as The Dress isn't too big on the day, of course.

The funeral on Friday went as well as these things go. Sad, quiet. I hate the conveyer-belt feeling of crematoriums (crematoria?). But it is amazing that they are such quiet, empty places, considering the amount of traffic that has to go through them... Amazing, and horrific. Urgh.

Yesterday P and I went up to Stratford on Avon again, this time to see The Seagull. LOL. That didn't really cheer me up! P enjoyed it though. When we got home, we joined my neighbours for drinks and later, a pot luck supper. I ate asparagus and purple sprouting broccoli, and salad leaves with chives and chive flowers (yum), and even a spoonful of the rhubarb from the rhubarb crumble that had been made for dessert. We drank a lot - tested out some more wedding wines and settled on our red - a Chinon.

Today I made brunch for us all to eat in the garden - coffee and croissants (I had half of one) and strawberries - and then P and I went to Bath to sort out the family meal for the evening before the wedding in one of our favourite pubs. We ate lunch there and it was as delicious as always - watercress soup, and asparagus with poached egg and hollandaise for me, and some cheese - but annoyingly there is not the space to have such a large group of people all sitting together, so we'll have to resort to Plan B for that. And then we went and bought more wedding wine... and test-drove another in the garden afterwards.

So, I guess I don't really need to worry about the weight! It will be back on soon enough. But I do wish I had recorded breakfast and dinner (asparagus (no, I can't get enough of the stuff), broccoli, peashoots, LLBY, spinach and lentils) in CoM. I'd feel happier knowing I was in the nineties on most things, even if the calories are higher than usual. No, not happier; safer. It feels irresponsible to be CR'd without tracking my nutrition... and it is. I must remember that, in future.