THE HERBALIST

The visit to Jan, the Herbalist at the Earth Energies Clinic in Ashby,went well and I now have a better idea of what I'm doing, foodwise and generally.

It looks like I do have candida in my gut and it needs to be tackled so I can get my health back and lose that two stone the GP said I should lose. Here's an interesting link for those who want to know more about candida. Glad to say I'm not on the strict diet yet - Jan felt I needed to be built up first and she also wanted me to enjoy the festive season without too many restrictions and guilt trips. I'm also still OK to have our regular Saturday night curry too. Fine by me! LOL

Out of my diet so far are: sugar and sugary/processed stuff; salt and items covered in salt; cut right back on pasta; chips - only occasionally can have spuds; milk/cream - allowed some bio-yoghurt occasionally; cheese (though allowed my fave tuna melt panini at the weekend); coffee and any other caffeine drinks (allowed a cappuccino at the weekend, as a treat); sausages (because of the rusk in them); gravy (though I shall be ignoring that Christmas Day and Boxing Day!) and anything with yeast in it (except for the odd slice of wholegrain bread at the moment). Shopping involves much more packet reading these days!

The regime: instead of toast and honey for breakfast it's porridge oats, made with water, with grated apple or mixed berries or a little cinnamon mixed in - alternatives are wholemeal toast (just discovered I like Warburton's Wholegrain loaf and it doesn't give me indigestion) with scrambled egg or griddled bacon and tomatoes. I'm having an apple a day which Jan said to have mid-morning but I feel hungrier between dinner and tea, so have it then. Dinner (or lunch, if you're posh) is any kind of fish with green leaf salads, celery and other salad stuffs, usually with a little left over couscous or rice. Tea is meat and vegetables with brown rice (basmati rice is OK too) or couscous. As much of the food as possible has to be organic, to avoid the anti-biotics, growth hormones, genetic modifications, pesticides, additives plus the extra salt and sugar that is in much of the food produced today. I also have to drink a litre of bottled spring water a day....... so I'm currently peeing for the whole of the British Isles, not just for England!

Before each meal I take 5mg, in water, of Jan's herbal concoction. I can't remember everything that's in there but the ones I do are: milk thistle, mint (for taste, aid digestion), fennel (help with bloating) and mistletoe. Basically, there's a selection of herbs in there to help my circulation, aid digestion/absorption, stop fluid retention and to help with the weight loss. All I can say is: it's the most foul tasting thing I've had in a long while - seriously dirty stuff - but it does seem to be helping. I've lost a little weight already. :0)

As well as the diet info and dirty medicine I came away with a selection of herbal teas to try, as an alternative hot drink to the coffee I can't have for now. There was another one called Cleanse but I've already drunk that one - looks like horse pee but smells lovely and tastes nice! LOL

I thought I would miss the hot java and caffeine hit way more but, at the moment, it's hardly bothering me at all. Who would have guessed? LOL

As well as DS stocking us up with organic meats (and other things) from Brigg Farmer's Market each month we have also now signed up for a fortnightly organic veggie box from Woodland Farm. Yesterday I used some of those veggies to make a beef and veg stew - no beer added this time, so I got inventive with the cooking herbs and also added some paprika, for a change. Yummy! It must have been good because DH said "that was tasty"...... and he's not usually one for the compliments. LOL For afters I found some pears in the pantry that had gone soft, so I peeled and cored, then roughly chopped them into a pan, added enough Orchard Pig apple juice to cover (sweet enough - no need to add sugar like most recipes seem to call for) and gently simmered it to reduce the liquid, then added a little cinnamon. That was served in glass dishes and topped with Tesco's No added salt/sugar Muesli and a dollop of plain, set bio-yoghurt. Double yummy!

There was enough pear mix left over to have on the top of my porridge this morning - great way to start the day! Plus, as it was a full family-sized slow cooker's worth of stew I made yesterday, we're having what's left tonight with some cabbage (also from the box). Bet my two have to add some chips! *sigh*

With all those changes I'm now well on the way to having the recommended 5-a-day, so that's another plus, and suddenly I now seem to be enjoying food much more - the choosing, preparing and cooking, as well as the eating, so that's another plus. :0) Energy levels can still be a bit hit and miss but that will take time to sort and it's still early days.

I go back for a review and more of the dirty stuff on the 30th and I think more restrictions will come in then too, so wish me luck. ;0)