Day 45

Tuesday 13th November 2007 - today on the way back from Cardiff I called in to the Market at Neath. My purchases - a small jar of crushed chillis which I find invaluable as they sit in the fridge for when I run out of fresh chillis and a new bottle of balsamic vinegar from the delicatessen for £3.50. The veg stall was potatoes, carrots, swede and 2 lbs of ripe tomatoes for sauce which cost me £5 and the butcher for two lamb chops a half pound of best loose butter, half a pound of cheddar and half a dozen of the big, big free range eggs for £7. I think I am now right for food until James turns up for a long weekend. The pop man came today and I replenished my store cupboard with some more potatoes, again a big Gower cauli which I know is fresh because the slug that crawled out of it was still crawling. I remember the days when we would have to wash and wash the lettuce and cabbage to make sure you got all the little slugs out. Today supermarket produce seems to be slugless, which to me sends out a warning signal straight away. If it is not good enough for the sluigs, is it good enough for us ? Well the popman cost me another £7 and on top of the potatoes and cauli I got another 2 glass bottles of pop, a bunch of green grapes, 2 pears, 2 oranges and 4 tangerines and all carried into the house for me. Life is still good and my bin is empty. I went to Slimming club and have lost another 2 and a half pounds. Since commencing my challenge I have now lost 10 and a half pounds and have eaten like a queen. Some things I have noticed about my eating habits are that I no longer crave bananas which I had always had one a day. I now prefer fruits like apples and pears for some strange reason. I am eating more protein than I ever have in eggs and meat and cheese. Prior to this challenge I had always eaten very little protein. Now I am eating more fruit and vegetables than ever and more meat, fish and cheese. I also no longer crave nuts as I used to and visited Holland & Barrett today where I bought porridge oats for £1.55 and was not even tempted by the bags of nuts. Even shopping more often and walking to the market combined with the physical exercise needed to prepare my food is working in enabling me to eat well yet not put on weight. I am impressed and binless and believe the biggest most important point of all this is the inability to just reach into the fridge grab and eat. Every meal needs thought and preparation and this is definitely in my book not a bad thing.