Diets. The recession (again). Vegetarianism/pescatarianism

Sorry guys...its another food related post I'm afraid LOL.

Roday I wanted to talk about 2 things:
1 - people keep asking me how the diet is going...or not going
2 - pescetarianism/vegetarianism/anything related to it...and the recession again

First, the diet. Well I'm trying not to call  it a diet because well its just off-putting, but for the last couple of weeks I've done pretty good. I've had a couple of slip ups during each week, but on the whole I've managed a minimum of 5 portions of fruit and veg and also reduced my salt/sugar intake. So far so good...not sure what the weighing scales think yet...I'll let you know in a couple of weeks.

And now onto the other things, I was just reading on the news that in the recession more people have been staying away from meat and have become vegetarian (not eating anything killed at all) or pescatarian (eating fish). Personally I am not a huge meat lover, particularly if its processed meat, but I do succumb to eating meat most days. I generally stick to white meat though as I prefer chicken/turkey over the other meats. I'd probably eat pretty much vegetarian if I lived on my own, but I don't and it's just easier to cook the same thing. We do try to have a couple of meat free days a week now though, partly to save money and partly because its a good way of squeezing in some more veggies.  I was also wondering about trying to add in a fish day - I'm not a fish fan at all (unless it's hidden under batter or a layer of mashed potato LOL) but I guess I could grin and bear it for the sake of my health. Ok I'm rambling so I'll shut up now.

Today's questions...you know how I'm nosey...
Any one eating less/more meat/fish/veggies due to the recession. Any veggies or pescies out there? Or vegans?

Giveaway - Ave is giving away a TON of stuff!

The lovely Ave at Made In Canarias is having a birthday giveawy where she is giving away a TON of stuff between now and her 25th birthday in November. She has loads of really cool stuff in her giveaway so remember to check back there every day to see what is the current giveaway item.

The current giveaway is here
Or go visit her blog here and look in her left sidebar for the other giveaways

Good luck!

Have your eating habits changed due to the recession?

I keep reading on the news that our eating habits are changing due to the recession. According to the news reports, we are generally eating out less, but eating more take aways.We're also switching our food choices at the supermarket for lower cost ones such as downgrading from "supermarket's best" to regular or from regular to "smart price" or budget ranges.

I can certainly vouch for this. Me and Andy used to eat out at least once a week before he lost his job...now it's maybe once a month or less, but we have a takeaway from the local Chinese take away once a week. At first, when we started doing this, I kind of threw a tantrum and paddied a bit. I liked how we could dine out whenever we wanted....call it the positive side of not being able to have kids LOL. But actually I'm quite enjoying eating my take-away in front of the TV, in my cosy winter PJs.

The reports also seem to say more people are going to all you can eat restaurants. Until recently there have been few of them about, but they do seem have exploded in numbers lately....maybe with a corresponding increase in people's waist sizes LOL. Personally I avoid these for hygeine reasons, but also because as a fat person, I feel liek everyone is watching what I'm eating, so I tend to hold back and only get 1 small plate, meaning that I don't tend to get good value for money. I wonder if I'm the only fat person that does that? Maybe I'm just paranoid, but you'll never see me making a pig of myself in public. According to this report, the average number of plates eaten at Taybarns (like Golden Correl) is 3.37. Now call me a wimp, but even I couldn't fit that in, so I'm wondering how people who don't normally pig out are fitting that in....ok, I digress...

As for the supermarket choices, well we watched an interesting program on TV about 2 families who downgraded their food choices and had to survive off supermarket budget range food. At that time we were buying all regular brand, with some supermarket brands and some of the luxury brand foods like "Tesco Finest". Anyway, in the TV program, the family said they couldn't really taste the difference at all, so that spurred me and Andy into trying out some of Asda (Wallmart) budget range. We did come across some really awful items in this range, such as basically anything with processed meat and their fruit yogurts...but many of them such as the pita breads and natural yogurt were the same as the regular range. And in the case of the chicken, it tasted BETTER and had a nicer texture than the regular range, that was a complete surprise. We'll never buy the regular chicken again.

So talk to me, I'm interested in this. How have your food habits changed? Are you eating in more? Have you downgraded your food choices? Would you consider downgrading?

Halloween plans

I can't believe how quick the week has gone since we came back from London. Andy had a job interview on Friday which would be absolutel perfect for him, so I'm hoping this is the one. He'd really love it and the location is like 1 mile away. We don't know what the salary would be but, who cares? Money isn't everything.

And onto next weekend, I have my sister (and possibly her housemate) coming down from Scotland at the weekend. I'm sooooo looking forward to this. We have a children's choir from Africa visiting our church this Saturday and they're supposed to be REALLY good! So we'll all be going there on Saturday night...what better? Spending Halloween in church...heck I don't even need to buy any Halloween sweeties for all the kids LOL.

What are your Halloween plans?

I think I just had my wake up call

So I was looking through some f my favourite blogs this morning and I came across one of my favourites, April Showers blog design. Now I know its bad business sense maybe to mention other blog designers, when I also offer designs, but I just have to mention this one. She is different. Her blog is funny and from the heart - and she's genuine. Also she doesn't delete my comments (although she never responds either) like other designers generally do...although I try hard not to comment for obvious reasons.

Well the day before yesterday, at the tender age of 28, her husband had a heart attack. He's in ICU and I pray to God that the recovery is going well. But the fact that he's only 28 and her 24...well I can't get that out of my mind. For one thing my heart aches (scuse the pun) that 2 such young people are having to deal with this, but also I know that I have abused my body and generally not taken care of it for many years. I don't know why but I've kind of always had the thought that actually I probably am going to die of a heart atack one day and seemed resigned to that fate....I don't know, it's hard to explain...obviously I don't want to die. I guess I feel helpess from all the trying and failing to lose weight and get fit.

Anyway, I think I just had my wake up call :(

I doubt April will read this, but if you do then know that I am praying so hard for you guys. Anyone else reading, could I ask that you say a quick prayer for April and her hubby, and maybe go leave a comment on her blog to give her your support? I'd love you forever if you did :)

In other news, I have posted the next Blogger Uncovered at Adori Graphics....its an interview with myself I'm afraid LOL. But go check it out anyway, I did try to appear less boring than I am in real life LOL.