Hello,
Dry January got off to a spectacular start and continued as such for exactly 14 days and 16 hours … then a rat strolled across our yard as nonchalant as you like, I could be mistaken but I think he was smoking a cigarette – YES he was THAT CALM!
What followed was the freak out of all freak outs on my part and after a brief draining of blood from his face a very calm taking control of the situation by Dave! Rats are one of my biggest fears in life, second only to death and in joint place with falling and breaking all my teeth, so as you can imagine I wasn’t too happy seeing one in the middle of what had been a lovely afternoon. Mr Rat, as the neighbours have taken to calling it (they had been watching him for a while it seems .. no, I don’t understand this either) had eaten all our chillies and was probably heading for the capsicums which were starting to rot in the sun. Dave disposed of all our veggie plants in one swift movement, laid poison, set traps and poured me a glass of wine. There really was nothing else for it, the only way to stop me crying was to have me drinking!
The rest of January although not strictly dry was very restrained until Australia Day which became a 4 day weekend of immeasurable fun lubricated with various alcoholic beverages … Oh the fireworks! The laughing! The fun!
And shur then it was February ….
I started reading about going sugar free in earnest after Christmas, my main source was Sarah Wilson’s blog and e-books. Any fans of Masterchef Australia may remember Sarah presented the first series, she has an autoimmune disease as do I so this really interested me as she claims to have healed herself and lost weight by cutting fructose and wheat from her diet. It was something I had been thinking about for years so I decided it was finally time to give it a shot. So from Feb 1st I have not eaten any fructose including that in fruit and avoided wheat as much as possible, I am doing really well! My tastebuds have recovered to such an extent that a glass of full fat milk now tastes deliciously sweet!
This week I joined the local library, it was such a shock to see how high tech libraries have become its a long way from the stuffy little place we used frequent in Arklow in search of Roald Dahl & Enid Blyton books! For one thing the books check themselves out these days, you can keep them for 21 days, there’s dvds too and its not quiet AT ALL! My main reason for joining was that I wanted to read another book on giving up sugar called Sweet Poison by David Gillespie, Sarah Wilson refers to him as an inspiration. The book is incredible, I read it in 24 hours (it would have been less but I had to keep stopping to get into the pool and sleep) and would recommend it to anyone interested in health, the food industry, why we are getting fatter, heart disease, cancer, diabetes or just looking to expand their knowledge base (in other words info-hungry like myself!).
I’m not going to try and convert everyone but if you have ever wondered why humans are doing more exercise than ever but getting fatter, eating more low-fat/light products than ever but getting fatter and why this has all come about in our lifetimes this subject is worth looking into! Oh and don’t worry I will be eating fruit again in a few weeks, I am detoxing totally first then I’ll start eating it again.
Are you wondering what I am eating? If so let me know and I’ll do a post on a few meals ….
Today I made these rice paper rolls, very simple and filled with all sorts from the fridge such as peanut butter, courgette/zucchini, cucumber, carrot, capsicum/pepper, fresh coriander, last night’s roast chicken, avocado (of course!) …I’ve munched on 3 as I’ve been writing this! Other filling ideas are cold rice, noodles, meats, prawns really anything works as long as its not liquidy. Great with a simple little dipping sauce of lime juice, tamari (soya sauce) and chilli …
Of course February is the month of love with Valentine’s Day falling slap bang in the middle of month! I just love love and not just the romantic hallmark flowers and chocolates sort but the real life best friends, sisters, parents, family, being there for each other, knowing you are not alone in this big bad world sort of love! In the past few weeks I have come across some really beautiful stories that I want to share … if you’re a Hurley get the Kleenex out ..
Bill and Shelley: Their love story
The Race Grows Sweeter Near its Final Lap
And lest we forget those that were not so lucky to know love in life …. Margaret Magdelene No. 322
And as for me well I am super lucky and know first hand all sorts of real love but none so greater than what I feel for my early Valentines gift …. isn’t she a beauty????
Yip, I’m as shallow as they come ,
Be good,
SJ xx
Very interesting article SJ. Maura has recently been diagnosed as Ceoliac, so we’ve changed a lot of our shopping habits and are baking with all sorts of non wheat based products now, and they taste pretty good! It’s insane how many things have wheat in them, and god know what else, once you actually read the ingredients. It’s basically a lot of the processed rubbish that have things in them that just seem totally un-neccessary, and are only added because they are cheap, so we are trying to cut them out, although we don’t eat a lot of processed foods anyway. We definitely haven’t been eating any horse, as we have been making our own burgers for years now, although I have no issue with horse in principle! I might look up some of those book/blogs that you mention, but probably not the love stories!
Read the love stories Billy, go on!
Wheat is cheap, sugar is cheap and we’re all getting fatter – funny isn’t it?!
Gluten free products are getting so much better but Maura will probably find in time she won’t even miss bread etc, I hope she’s not too unwell with it!
X
Hey SJ, falling and smashing all my teeth is too one of the big fears in my life. The bold John Walsh once laughted at me for not running to catch a bus incase I FELL AND BROKE MY TEETH…..I knew it was just one of those days where you daren’t take the chance…….I missed the bus but am still smiling for colgate!!
Oh Mel manys a laugh I had with the bould John Walsh about that story, you really are one of a kind
Teeth are precious though so I totally get where you are coming from, I’d be nothing without mine 
xx
Hi SJ! Check out this documentary if you haven’t seen it already, it’s called Hungry for Change, I think you’ll like it! Loving the blog
Ciara I will check that out for definite! Thanks for reading, maybe you should do the Canadian equivalent xx
There are some virtually sugar free fish sauces you can use to make a sauce with lime juice, fish sauce and chilli. Yum.
Must look out for the fish sauce – thanks! I love a good salty & tangy & spicy dipping sauce