My Butlin’s weekend has caught up with me! Yes, I had an egg and bacon sarni and yes I had 3 bottles of cava over the weekend! Ooops, so I’ve only lost a pound this week, but it was worth it! But a pound is a pound, it’s 2 packs of butter!

So to recap on last week’s first Flabby Friday blog; I explained how I had finally ‘got it’ and dieting was not the answer. I lost 14 lbs, yes, 1 whole stone, in 4 weeks by just cutting out the manufactured food and eating a quarter less than I usually would do. As someone who has worked with food all of my life, I already understood food, so I was obviously eating too much of it, and hey presto! I didn’t diet, I just cut down on what I was eating as my diet was already full of healthy stuff.

I talked about how to plan, shop and cook and like I said last week, you’re only ever 30 -40 minutes away from a fresh, home cooked meal, like stir-fries, one-pot meal, rice and pasta dishes, chops or steaks with salads or veg.

Did you try it or are you planning on jumping on board? I am in the middle of creating some delicious, quick recipes for you to follow.

Breakfasts are relatively easy; fresh fruit and yoghurt with a handful of oats, porridge, 2 slices of nice artisanal LGI toast, some sugar-free cereals and milk, there are not many; shredded wheat, all bran, Weetabix and bran flakes have a little bit but otherwise stay away from breakfast cereals! If you take sugar in your tea or coffee, cut it down gradually too.

If like me, you need a snack between lunch and dinner when your blood sugar is getting low, it should be fruit or natural yoghurt or a small handful of nuts, although I say don’t diet, you can’t kick the backside out of it either! Even when we cut out manufactured foods we obviously can’t eat high fat, sugar or salt foods either, even if they’re homemade! Step away from the chips, cakes and biscuits generally, but as a treat in moderation are fine.

Lunch could be homemade soups, a nice sandwich made from bakery bread with tasty fresh fillings. I often make a chicken liver pate and have with water biscuits or crispbreads. And your dinners as I explained last week. Check out my Mental Monday blog which is also about which foods to swap out to make you feel better.

Denise x