back to the 5:2 step

Okay I admit it. I'm ravenously hungry! Day one of the return to fasting and it's been a struggle. The fact that I had a summer - and a very long one - it's the 1st of October tomorrow - of indulgence is something I only reluctantly admit. 
Today I have eaten half an apple and a spoonful of goats yoghurt, 1 bowl of vegetable soup (home-made from garden vegetables minestrone spiced up with lots of chilli powder), 1 orange and 1 rice cake. I salivate as I write because under the grill sizzles a small salmon steak which I'm going to devour with some boiled vegetables.  Then, before I remember I'm still hungry, I'm going to work to give an aromatherapy treatment to one of my lovely clients. After that I'm rushing to bed, via a hot cup of herbal tea and going straight to sleep because, in the morning, it's time for TOAST!! with butter and home-made blackcurrant jam - I promise to stop at two slices....promise....

My one consolation is that I haven't regained the weight I lost last time I did a consistent bout of 5:2 fasting.  One more stone to lose and I'm done, it'll just be maintenance.  There's a long uphill slope to Christmas, will I make it?

Autumn hawthorn harvest

It's time to pick hawthorns.  Not superabundant this year, compared to last but considering the awful winter we've had inbetween, perhaps this signifies a mild, short winter.  I wish!  But folklore says that if there are plentiful berries in the hedgerows you can expect a harsh winter.  We found that the hawthorn trees that grew in sunny spots still had plenty of berries last week here in south Wales.  Of course, as is the rule with these harvests, the best berries were out of reach of us humans and at bird level so we left plenty for them.  My old walking stick came in handy though!



Before adding the alcohol solution it's important to bash the berries with a rolling pin to release their chemical properties.
Hawthorn is an important herb in my pharmacy.  It helps a tired heart to pump more efficiently.  It is energising in nature and can help to lower blood pressure that is a bit high.  Full of vitamin C too, as you can tell from its glorious red colour.



Here is my friend Kate hooking down the branches so we could get the juiciest berries.  Kate is a qualified herbalist too and it was so lovely to have her company on our sunny walk.  We each ended up with about 3 lbs or 1.5 kilos of haws which we brought back and tinctured.

 

All that needs to be done now is to shake the solution every day for two weeks and then rack it off, filter out the haws and bottle in amber bottles.  Then, most importantly, label and date the tincture.

workshop pictures now available

Pleased to announce that the photos of the first Gower Hen Party Bathtime Goodies workshop are now up on the www.gowerhenparties.com site.  Our lovely photographer, Ed, took hundreds of shots and it was really hard to select half a dozen.  We felt that these pictures really demonstrate the fun and spontaneity of the event and how hands on it was.  It's a pity viewers on the web can't also smell the results - the room had a heavenly scent!

Chilli Festival - hot, hot, hot!

Wasn't just the chillis that were hot at the highly successful www.gowerchillis.com festival on Gower, South Wales yesterday.

I was privileged to be part of the team that is launching www.gowerhenparties.com at the event. We sold lots of craft items - my own bath goodies and novels, Tricia's funky lavender bunches and Jane's beautiful beachcraft garlands.  Donna took loads of pictures of beautiful babies wearing her wonderful fascinators and chilli themed hats too.

Photos of the event can be seen at www.gowerhenparties.com

Thanks to the www.gowerchillis.com team who organised it. The sun was hot and warm but a lovely sea breeze took the edge of the heat. Perfick!

Pictures of new Bath Goodies Workshops on Gower

Here is a picture of our workshops on Gower making various beautiful bathroom goodies. 

We made bath melts - unctuous little hearts of moisturising cocoa butter and beeswax, scented with Tangerine and Sweet Orange oils and delicately coloured yellow with a gentle sprinkling of gold dust.

Then we made fabulous soap by hand. Everyone designed their own little beauties.

Next we made individual bath bombs and lastly aromatherapy massage blends.

Everyone took their hand-made products home with them in their funky brown paper bags, complete with full instructions and resource sites.

It makes a fun creative and money saving workshop for hen parties. Perfect for weddings, birthdays and any celebration for thoughtful, inspiration people.

book your place on www.gowerhenparties.com

National collection of aquilegias (columbines)

 

Yesterday I had the joyful privilege of spending time with my lovely friend Carrie Thomas.  Carrie is a woman of great depth and sensitivity.  She  lives in a pretty cottage on the edge of some venerable woods with ancient trees (which are currently under threat of development but that's another story).  Carrie is amongst many other things, a fantastic gardener.  Her patience and delicate artistry are the backbone to the dedication she gives to her collection of aquilegias - which has now been recognised as the national collection of this beautiful flowering plant.  A cottage garden perennial aquilegias, under Carrie's care, form three main morphologies in their flower shapes.  The 'crinoline ladies' as Carrie dubs them, are many petalled flowers in cascading skirts, the 'pom pom' flowers are rounded and jolly orbs of colour and the traditional trumpets can be bi or even tri-coloured.  Carrie meticulously recordeds all genetic variations and cross pollinates by hand to produce new and exciting varieties .  You can see by these photographs how many colours and varieties she has crammed into her cottage garden.  The garden is open to the public during the columbine season.  I'll leave you to read Carrie's own words about contact details and more specific information.

SPECIAL GARDEN OPEN IN KILLAY UNTIL THE END OF JUNE

If you like visiting cottage gardens, then you should enjoy visiting Touchwood in Killay. And if one of your favourite plants are aquilegias (granny’s bonnets, columbines) then you MUST visit, because this is the BEST place in the whole of the UK to see them in flower, as Carrie Thomas has BOTH the UK National Collections of Aquilegias.

The garden is open whenever the aquilegias flower, which this year should be until the end on June. You can email carrie.thomas@ntlworld.com to arrange a convenient day and time (usually 7 days a week including evenings) or go along to the Open Garden sessions each weekend from 2-4pm.  You will see a greater range of these plants than you ever knew possible. Full details of garden openings, directions etc is found on http://www.touchwoodplants.co.uk/Touchwood%20garden.htm  ...and I recommend peeking at the aquilegia seedlist page  http://www.touchwoodplants.co.uk/aquilegiaseed.htm as you’ll see the range that is grown there. 

 

It’s been on TV Too! Having appeared on Gardeners’ World a few years ago, you can actually watch what went out on S4C last year on this link:  Byw yn yr Ardd  

 

thanks Alex!

 

Best Wishes, Carrie Thomas Tel 01792 522443
'Touchwood', 4 Clyne Valley Cottages, Killay, Swansea, SA2 7DU South Wales, UK

www.touchwoodplants.co.uk : Seeds & plants by post. Aquilegia specialist.
www.touchwoodspirit.com : Help & healing for body, mind & spirit. Flower essences.

Launch of new hen party/wedding craft workshops, Gower, South Wales | PRLog

Launch of new hen party/wedding craft workshops, Gower, South Wales | PRLog

Follow the link to read the latest press release about thoughtful, creative and downright crafty hen parties now available on the beautiful Gower peninsula from www.gowerhenparties.co.uk

The Weeds We Walk On - Woodland venue for walks

These are some great pictures of the finishing post for the Woodland Walks for www.gowerhenparties.com. We'll be walking through woodland to a beautiful lake by a stream. The lake is covered with yellow lilies in the summer and is very beautiful. 
We'll gather herbs along the way, learning about their healing properties, before making tinctures under the refuge of the sedum-roofed roundhouse at the Gower Wildflower Centre.  We'll explore the herbs we pick (very carefully without damaging the local environment) by tasting and smelling them and learn about their properties.  Then we'll make some medicine for you to take home, with a printed handout about gathering herbs and making tinctures, so you can carry on the good work at your leisure.
The centre boasts a fantastic cafe featuring local produce cooked by the charismatic Gregg Sandles.  He's got some great reviews already on www.tripadvisor.com for his fabulous cooking.  Herbal hunters can order their lunch before settling down to the workshop at the end of the walk.


Follow the link below to see the fabulous Wildflower Centre and some of the food they serve there! Yum!

http://animoto.com/play/0bVx0IcIg1CceV0b1yyRSg?utm_source=&utm_medium=player&utm_campaign=player

www.gowerwildflowercentre.co.uk

 a bud of Hypericum, St John's Wort

 

Soap making and other bathtime goodies - new workshops

I've been very busy making aprons for new workshops in league with www.gowerhenparties.com and getting the ingredients together to make various luscious goodies for bathtimes.  The workshops will cover how to make soap from simple ingredients including flower petals, oatmeal, herbs and glitter and also the tricky business of making bath fizzbombs without letting them explode! Also covered will be sensuous bath melts and best of all disclosing the secrets of making a love potion.  A blend of oils in a beautiful base oil for massaging the one you love. Today I wrote a booklet with all the instructions and the resource websites for ingredients.

Book your place for a hen party with a difference and learn new skills while enjoying the heavenly Gower peninsula.

Just signed up for this exciting event for herbalists - so fresh and dynamic

• About
• What is Radical Herbalism?
• The Programme
• Practicalities
• Booking Form
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• The Collective

Radical Herbalism

Health justice & ecological herbalism from the grassroots

About

The Radical Herbalism Gathering will be held on Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th June 2013 in Compton Dundon, near Glastonbury in Somerset, UK.
You are invited to join us for a weekend of discussions on community herbal medicine in a social justice and ecological context. The gathering will be an opportunity for informative workshops, rousing discussions, herbal skill sharing and to make new connections.
It is being hosted by a diverse collective of medical & lay herbalists, plant lovers, medicine growers, community organisers & other health workers.
We have been inspired by the collaboration of herbalists, growers, wildcrafters & other health workers in North America. These projects demonstrate that herbal medicine can play an important part in addressing health inequalities. We want the gathering to be a place where similar conversations on sustainable and integrated healthcare can evolve.
Amongst the range of topics for the weekend we are particularly interested in: the connection between herbal medicine, social justice and health inequalities, community herbal projects, increasing accessibility to herbal medicine, the impact of the current dismantling of the NHS, sustainable growing and sourcing of herbs, a radical approach to plant communication, different plant medicine traditions and cultural appropriation, defending plant medicine from ecological destruction (e.g. Tar Sands in Canada) and the role of big pharmaceuticals in healthcare.
There will also be a herbal first aid workshop, a range of medicine making workshops and plant walks in the afternoons.
A full programe for the gathering will be available in May. If you are interested in being part of the working group or would like to contribute to the gathering by running a workshop or in some other way please contact us on: info@radicalherbalism.org.uk

new departure for #www.gowerserenity.co.uk -> #www.gowerhenparties.co.uk

Proud to announce that herbal walks are starting up again in liaison with www.gowerhenparties.com

and we are also setting up workshops for inclement weather too! We will have tremendous fun making bath fizzbombs, natural soaps, bath melts, love potions flower petals, natural pigments, glitter and lots of laughter.
A good friend of mine and I have been industrious making chintz pinnies for the workshop. You can protect your clothes from splashes and look glam at the same time.

 

And it won't matter what our contrary weather is doing either!

check out the website at www.gowerhenparties.com

 

And get crafty!

 

grumpy gains

Gained 3 lbs in France. I blame the baguettes and the amazing butter of Noirmoutier that had grains of sea salt in its creamy depths.

BAck to work and fasting on Monday!

Holiday in France and still 5:2 ing!

Have managed one proper 500 calorie day in France - how's that for discipline and a mini-fast when (admittedly after an enormous lunch at a cafe) I didn't fancy supper and missed breakfast the next day. Not bad for the home of gourmets.  My halo is shining with French polish.

#5:2 Dancing

It all started with painful feet.  I had corns, the physiotherapist told me.  I think it was due to wearing croc shoes and ignoring the hawthorns that pricked the soles of my feet through the plastic.  We have a hawthorn hedge lining our garden path you see.  Great for hedgesparrows and cat defence. Not so good for thorny walking.  Bluntly, the physio told me it was because I was overweight.  Oh.  Complacency flew out of the window at that point.  She advised me to shift it via "The Fast Diet" as advocated by Michael Mosely on BBC2's Horizon programme.
Feeling both humbled and miffed, I watched it on Iplayer when I got home and refrained from a biscuit with my herbal tea as I sat, contritely, at the computer.
Now 2 months later, I am a convert.  I can eat what I like (always healthily I hasten to add but greedily I reluctantly admit) five days of the week but on two days I restrict myself to 500 calories for each of those days.
I haven't found it that hard.  It helps that when you are hungry (oh yes, you do get very hungry), you can tell yourself that you can have whatever craving is plaguing you in whatever quantity you want the very next day.  Psychologically, I find I can tolerate that much better than the continual tedium of measuring and counting with normal diets.  It's boredom that makes me give them up, not a lack of discipline.
I started the diet in December and lost half a stone in 3 weeks.  Then Christmas came.  We had lots of visitors to feed and I came down with a vicious form of flu on Christmas eve.  Normally herbs will fend this off, no problem.  This time, thanks to the check out lady in the supermarket who coughed, sneezed and wiped her snot over my vegetables, we all got it. Me worse than anyone.  I was really ill for weeks, with asthma (something I've not had before but runs in the family) and bronchitis.  If I went out (and there was snow continually on the ground or lashing sleet), I was set back a few days.  I used steam inhalations, my Blue's and Flu's tea and lots of Tranquillity tea with honey.  This was better than anything for the wracking cough that kept me awake at night.  By mid-January I was fine again and had no need of antibiotics, steroids or inhalers.  Elderberry and other herbs had got me through.
So, I returned to the Fast Diet.  I had gained a couple of pounds lolling about on the sofa watching old movies and eating chocolates while I convalesced but they went on the first fast day.  I'm now actually enjoying the fast days.  I get a bit of an adrenaline rush and feel high and light - partly because my halo is blinding.  Then I appreciate my food even more on the feast days.  Everything tastes wonderful and I don't stuff myself so much now.  I'm aiming to lose another stone.  I'll keep you posted.
Michael and Mimi of The Fast Diet website recommend two meals a day.  I fast on work days and find the gaps between meals too sugar-dropping.  Here's a typical day for me:

Breakfast (100 calories) : 1 egg omelette in tiny amount of olive oil with tomatoes and garlic. 
(Strong flavours like acid tomatoes and pungent garlic really help to make you feel full.  I fry the little baby plum tomatoes - maximum flavour ones - until they are a little caramelised, then add the garlic for about 30 seconds and swirl in the seasoned whipped egg).  I have this with some Ricore - magnesium rich chicory coffee from France.

Lunch (150 calories) : 1 bowl of a beany soup.
A favourite recipe is:
1 onion,
2 cloves of garlic
6 big carrots
Thyme and sage (or dried mixed herbs)
1 teaspoon of turmeric (fantastic colour and highly anti-inflammatory)
Seasoning
1 can of canneloni beans

Saute diced onion in tiny amount of olive oil, add diced carrots and crushed garlic.  Sweat for 5 mins to get maximum flavour.  Add water (stock is too dehydrating for me but it's up to you) and herbs.  Cook for fifteen minutes on a gentle simmer.  Blitz with a Billy liquidiser stick thingy until smooth.  Return to pan and tip in the drained beans.  Warm through.  Sprinkle over chopped fresh parsley or coriander or chives - or all of them.
Enjoy.

This lasts me well into teatime but sometimes I might have a small apple or orange to tide me over.

Tea time (250 calories) :
1 small fillet of skinned salmon
1/2 bag of ready prepared bean sprout stir fry vegetables, add other vegetables at will - red pepper for colour, spinach, but nothing carby like potatoes
1/2 teaspoon of shoyu (rich soy sauce)
1 level dessertspoon of cornflour
1 teaspoon of tomato puree
Any other spices that you like - coriander, cumin, turmeric, paprika, fennel etc.
Black pepper
1 red chilli
1 thumb of fresh ginger
2 cloves of garlic.
1/2 teaspoon of olive oil
Fresh lemon or lime juice to serve

Chop the chilli, ginger and garlic.  Grill the salmon for about 10 minutes or until done.  Meanwhile toss the vegetables with the garlic, chilli, ginger in a non-stick wok for about 3 minutes.  In a mixing jug stir the cornflour, seasoning, shoyu and spices with about 250 mls of cold water and add to the wok.  Stir until the cornflour thickens and then stir a bit more so that it all cooks through.

Serve the salmon, with a wedge of citrus, on top of the steaming fragrant vegetables and tuck in.

This sounds like a lot of food for one day but, amazingly, only adds up to 500 calories.  You will be hungry but you will feel great and insufferably holy.  It's a good feeling - and it's only for one day.
I do this every Monday and Wednesday.
It's the only diet that has given me such quick results.  I'm happy to continue to employ it until that stone is just evaporated energy in the cosmos.
I'll keep posting daily menus here on this blog.
And post the weight loss.
Oooh, I've just realised what a public commitment that is!

My washing line covered in snow! Note hawthorn hedge!

 

Link: The Fast Diet » the secret of intermittent fasting: lose weight, stay healthy, live longer http://thefastdiet.co.uk/ #fastdiet