Frazzled Shell - Neglected Much?

Wow, over 2 months since my last post!  The children are back to school in a few days, and I haven't written one holiday post.  They would have been back in school yesterday if it wasn't for a friend of mine telling my son that they weren't back until Monday!  The school website had them back on Thursday the 1st September!  I have been really busy but that's no excuse really.  Looking at my blog stats, it seems that nothing much has changed anyway, people visit here for - a) the two chicken Doner recipes, b) the Doner recipe and c) the Chicken Tikka recipe. 

The big news, I suppose, the news that has been keeping me so busy, is that Mr G and I have been following a new diet since the 11th of June, very successfully too... It's called The Blood Sugar Diet, and it's devised by Michael Mosley, the creator of the 5:2 diet.  Basically, it's a diet devised primarily for Type 2 Diabetics, and eating this way reverses the disease (if that's the right word for it).  I know many people now who no longer need their diabetes medications, their bloods are normal in addition to coming off other related medications; high cholesterol, hypertension etc.  Neither Mr G nor I are diabetic, but the size we were, it was probably only a matter of time.  Anyway, one of the very welcome added bonuses of the plan are that there is very speedy weightloss involved... very speedy indeed.  The diet is restrictive, you would need balls of steel to take it on; no bread - not even gluten free, not even wholemeal, no pasta - no, not even wholemeal, no rice - no, not even brown!  No potatoes, no white flour, no couscous, no sugar except natural sources, no sweet potatoes, no junk food such as crisps, chocolate, biscuits, pizza... the list goes on and on.  Full fat dairy is encouraged.  Butter, not margarine.  800 calories a day.  For a minimum of 8 weeks.  But.  The weightlosses...

We are 12 weeks and 1 day into the plan, although we are no longer restricting ourselves to 800 calories a day since the start of this week. We are following a more relaxed version of the plan - still low carb but with a few extra daily calories.  I have lost over 40lbs and Mr G has lost over 32 lbs in that time, that's 5 stone and 3lbs between us.  In 12 weeks.  We have a son who is 5 stone 12lbs!  We're absolutely thrilled to bits and looking and feeling better than we have done in a long time!  This is us last weekend before our great nephew's Christening.

Shrinking slowly but surely

There are ways around eating naughty things on the plan though!  All is not lost!   Lovely cakes can be made with almond and coconut flour!  I even made the most divine flourless cake the other day, with peanut butter!  One of the nicest cakes I have ever made in my life.  And Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Olive Oil cake is to die for, and you can substitute coconut sugar there for caster sugar.  My kitchen cupboard is (probably) like Gwyneth Paltrow's... ground flaxseed, almond flour, chickpea flour, spelt flour, coconut flour, coconut oil, coconut sugar, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, all manner of nuts... There's only about three tins in my cupboard, and they are coconut milk, chickpeas and tomatoes!  What is happening to me???  We've also discovered spelt flour this week and I baked the most divine bread and bread rolls, tasted like proper bakery bread.  It is still high carb, so it will have to be an exception rather than a rule, but the high fibre content makes it much better for you.  The flour is endorsed by Bowel Cancer UK so it doesn't come better than that for me, if I am going to eat a slice of white bread occasionally.

How good does that look! 

We went camping, or rather glamping to Llangollen a few weeks ago, to our usual haunt - Abbey Farm.  Mr G looked online and they had a few pods available at a very reasonable price, including one night free.  We knew that we would have to take the trailer with us if we wanted to have any chance of taking even skeleton camping stuff.  So, without having to pack the tent and porch, we just about managed to get everything we needed into the car.  We loved staying in the pods, with lights, heating, electricity, it made things so much easier for us, and did away with being frozen at night!

Our pod

We went on the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct boat trip, which was a lovely way to spend an hour.  We were stuck on the Aqueduct for about quarter of an hour as it was really windy there.

 We walked miles along the Llangollen canal, I got my step count up while they played crazy golf...

We went off to Park Hall Farm in Oswestry again, the children had really enjoyed their day out there two years ago and requested to go.  There was a new exhibition there, where replica World War 1 trenches had been built on site.  It was both interesting and sobering to walk around there and imagine how life had been like for the troops back then.

Then we watched the pig racing...

Took a stroll through the maze, and got lost...

We went to Techniquest in Glyndwr University in Wrexham, which is a science museum for children, we all had fun there and it passed an enjoyable morning for us all.  Mr G is just as big a kid at heart as the children are!

The following week I had been asked to cater for my great nephew's Christening, for around 70 people.  I've been asked to help out with so many family parties by now that I whizzed through it, started 4.45 am and finished 9.15 am, giving everyone ample time to get ready, including me for a change! 

We went into Wigan on the Saturday for a wander around and Steve found a statue of one of his heroes - George Formby (yes, really) and Adam saw a T Rex walk through the streets.  

L-R Mr G, George Formby

T Rex

So not the most exciting of summer's that we have had, but you can't do it every year can you?  I really didn't think I would say this after last year, but I really think we missed our Devon holiday this year?  So, rather than leaving it the two or three years I stated after last year's disaster, we will be going back next year.  I just need to find a self catering apartment with a washing machine this time, as we have a much smaller car now, the amount of stuff we can bring is much less.  Especially clothes for five for a fortnight!

Crusaders play their last home game of the season tomorrow, so we're off to Wrexham for that, unusually on a Saturday.  I don't know where this season has gone.  After having two or three games held in Chester RUFC, which it has to be said was a really nice ground, this game is being held at Queensway.  We've been there once before for Stu Reardon's testimonial.  It still looks up in the air about where we'll be playing our home games in the future, but it looks like our days at The Racecourse are numbered.  Whether Cru remain a Welsh team too, remain to be seen if a suitable ground can't be found. 

Looking forward to my best friend's wedding in Norwich in a couple of weeks too!  Never been to that part of the country before and her wedding is so... different to anything I have ever been to in the past.  I can't wait to show you the photographs of that one!  If she doesn't mind, of course.   

If the next couple of months go as quickly as these have, it will be Christmas before we know it!  There's already a touch of Autumn in the air after our blink-and-you'll-miss-it Summer!