Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
My mother has just the two small apple trees in her good sized garden; this is a bit of a come down from the garden of my youth where we had three huge apple trees, one small one, two huge pears and a plucky little Victoria plumb, but these two small apple trees are enthusiastic all the same.
This year more than most. Last year I pruned quite a lot off the older of the two trees so wasn’t sure what sort of harvest we would get. In the end it was about enough to fill two huge trays to double depth, fill a trug for my mother’s church and for us to take 5 very large bags with us to distribute.
Oh, and what wonderful apples they are! Crispy, juicy, sweet and sharp – everything you want from a good English apple tree. I love harvest season.
Too much for the dog, however.
Saturday, August 6th, 2011
Just a quick update post here. In January this year I was 140kg (give or take a little.) For the old fashioned of us that is about 22 stone and gave me a body mass index of 45.56 – not good.
Since mid February I have been dieting, doing a sort of make it up as I go along low carb thing (basically, remove most of the carb, but dont replace it with too much other stuff!)
My weight as of the 1st of August is 120kg (just under 19 stone) and my BMI is 39.05.
In under six months I have lost 20kg. Yipeee!
I am very comfortable with the way I am eating now – so much so that the once or twice I have suddenly had a helping of potatoes I have ended up feeling bloated and horrible.
I have not increased my exercise much (though a few hikes in Dartmoor at the end of July was a good idea), but I hope to as my weight loss reduces the pressure on my painful knees – an affliction since childhood, but hardly the end of the world.
At this rate, by Christmas I should be around 100kg (15.5 stone) which will be a BMI of 33 (Still obese by the way)
And by Next summer I should be 80kg (12.5 stone) which will be a BMI of 26. I will still be technically overweight, but only just, and with any luck I will be getting a lot fitter too.
Should I have considered an operation instead of a diet?
The important thing will be that in 18 months I would have lost about 90% of my excess body weight starting at a point where many private hospitals say I am a perfect candidate for Gastric Bypass surgery (at a cost).
However, in their advertising blurb, the hospitals are boasting that 75% of people who have the surgery lose up to 80% of their excess weight.
I AM DOING BETTER THAN THAT!!
On the hospital websites they point out, quite correctly, that a Gastric Bypass is not an end in its self. I am quoting here from The Hospital Group website:
“The Need for Long-Term Follow Up
An important thing to remember is that surgery is not a cure for obesity. It is not a magic bullet and will not guarantee results without complete dedication by yourself and by your physician.
If you are going to be successful you will have to continue to work on the behaviours which are important for anyone attempting to lose weight, including physical activity, reducing portion sizes, avoiding energy-dense foods etc.
For this reason, you should ensure the hospital of your choice has available a structured, long-term behavioural and lifestyle programme, with nutritional advice, which you should follow immediately after surgery.”
So, a person has to do exactly what I am doing in order to gain a long term benefit from the surgery (and spending all that money!)
Which begs the question – why bother with the surgery in the first place? Especially if for 25% of people it does not even work!
I am not saying that surgery should never be used, but I do wonder if its growing popularity is really such a good thing.
Monday, July 11th, 2011
I have to be fairly straight up here – although I am heavily overweight, I have not got some of the side effects like Type 2 Diabetes as this poor man has which makes my situation different.
I was 22 stone at the beginning of this year, which is pretty horrendous and rather embarrassing. I am only 5’9 and most of the weight seems to be on my stomach so getting clothes to fit is maddening. There are health problems too – I have always suffered from painful knees (even as a light, fit teenager) and my additional weight has made it much worse. I have a similar issue with my back. In addition a few years ago I discovered I had gall stones. I was on the list for having my gallbladder removed, but after a couple of cancellations I gave up wait6ing and reduced my fat intake so I could manage the problem. I was a very heavy smoker for 30 years and when I gave up seven years ago I put on a lot of weight. The result is that I have not appreciated the improvement in my breathing that others boast. I also sleep badly. It is very difficult to get comfortable and I am aware of the pressure my large stomach is causing to my insides.
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Tuesday, April 26th, 2011
I do not often recommend products, but this range of Burmese products from Chinthe in London should not be missed.
My Mother was born and brought up in Rangoon (now Yangon) in Burma in the nineteen twenties. Descended from good Irish stock, her life was very different from the classic, often distorted view of the British in India that is portrayed on TV and film. Her father was a local garage owner and mechanic (and sometime inventor) who walked out of Burma when the Japanese invaded and my mother’s upbringing was neither isolated nor exclusive. She shared her schooling with Burmese, Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Europeans, Australians, Siamese (this was before Thailand) and others and she enjoyed the markets and people of Rangoon and the Hills in the north, all of which left their mark indelibly imprinted upon her heart. She has written a book about it all – one day I may find a publisher who is willing to print this precious moment of life in the far east from someone who has no fame outside of her family. (It seems that publishers are only interested if you are famous in this celebrity lead world.) (more…)
Sunday, April 10th, 2011
Sorry no picture, I am just reacting to a post I saw on a recipe site for a Vegetarian Spaghetti Sauce. I despair of people making recipes a) complicated, b) using packets of rubbish and c) not understanding Italian food. Firstly, if you are making a chunky Italian sauce do NOT serve it with Spaghetti! Spaghetti is meant to be served with small amount of smooth sauce that can gently coat the pasta – you want a chunky sauce, serve it with something like Penne.
Secondly, if a pasta sauce recipe says use just a small amount of oil (and not even mentions olive oil), run for the hills. If you are making a tomato based sauce a great big splashing of good olive oil is mandatory. And when they say “freezes well” and it has courgettes in it, well stand by for sloppy mush when it thaws out, to be honest.
Vegetarian pasta sauces take but minutes – prepare them fresh and do not drown in jars of spaghetti sauce! This is a nice, Italian, family way of doing it:
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Friday, March 4th, 2011
Frying is best
I have just eaten four wonderful rashers of fried bacon – not grilled, but fried. For some fairly obvious reasons we tend to grill bacon these days – it can be a bit easier and it reduces the amount of fat by dripping it out into the grill. The problem is that assuming you have found decent tasting bacon in the first place, half that taste is now sitting in the grill pan where it will get washed away later.
Although healthier, this is also rather disappointing. Frying bacon, on the other hand, allows the fats to become sticky and concentrated and nicely glued to the bacon itself, meaning that every couple of bitefulls you get hit by a super concentrate of bacon flavour. This really is easy stuff, but I have put it down as a recipe to make the point that we should all, once in a while, taste the joy of beautiful bacon FRIED!
So, hunt around for some really decent bacon (sorry, but that can be hard work in the UK), and follow this really simple recipe!
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My mother has just the two small apple trees in her good sized garden; this is a bit of a come down from the garden of my youth where we had three huge apple trees, one small one, two huge pears and a plucky little Victoria plumb, but these two small apple trees are enthusiastic all the same.
Oh, and what wonderful apples they are! Crispy, juicy, sweet and sharp – everything you want from a good English apple tree. I love harvest season.
