Fruit n Nut

Back to work today with a bump - like most of the population.

Get up at 6ish. Wash, clean anything needs to be scrubbed. Make bed. Turn off electricals – straighteners etc. Look in mirror to ensure you look neat, when “OH MY GOD!” I screamed. Three ma-hoo-sive spots in the chin area and 1 extra nose growing on the right of my neck.

Spots for me are a physical sign of 2 things – stress and poor diet.

Stress can show its self physically in many different forms  – insomnia, irritability, panic attacks, eczema, headaches, eye twitches… well you get the idea.

I have been very stressed and this last week, a lot of junk food has been consumed with precious little fruit and vegetables. Result – The Big Dipper on my chin.

Work is very difficult at the moment and the bank holiday has mostly been spent eating rubbish with The Chap – Chinese, pizza, bacon sandwiches etc.

There is only two ways for me to get rid of spots, stop being stressed at work and eat well.

Since I cannot stop working, then it is time to try the latter.

So this morning, I deliberately did not take anything into work for lunch. Then at 12 I wandered to Asda. It is not a supermarket I usually frequent as I do not have one locally to where I live. I know from when I do visit it is cheap.

I was only going to buy fruit and nuts for lunches this week, I was expecting it to come in at about £6. Final cost £12. You can see the exact breakdown on my shopping page, but here is the photo I surreptitiously took whilst waiting to pay.

I get most of my fruit nowadays from the market, as it suits a singleton. No prepackaged goods, less waste and I can choose quantities. “1 onion, 2 bananas, 3 potatoes and a leek, please Mr Market Seller”

£12 I thought was ludicrous, but I was caught in the trap of needing food now. It does make lunches this week cost £3/ day.

However, lunch was healthy

(well ok apart from the snack a jacks) and nuts are expensive totaling £3.05, but I felt a lot more alert all afternoon than usual and hopefully a few weeks of lots of fruit and veg will help get rid of my “takeaway tummy” that is making me feel obese.

No wonder kids are eating chips, crisps and biscuits. Buying fresh fruit and vegetables for a family of say 4 must be so expensive. It will be cheaper to give high fat and low nutritious snacks than a banana or kiwi thus creating problems for these kids later when the grow up overweight. Not to mention a highly specialized diet with no exposure to other textures and flavours.

Interesting side point my weight is currently 11stone. I am happy around 10 -10½ stone (well I would like to try Victoria Beckham 7 stone, but NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN!- lol), at the moment I feel big. Trousers are tight, and certain clothes are being avoided.

However I have just checked and for my height 5ft 7 according to this site I am in the perfectly acceptable weight bracket. Goes to show the impact of the media doesn’t it? Never the less, lunch will continue to look like this for a little while, and by the way it was delicious.

(disclaimer – I just googled height to weight chart and this was in the result. I take no responsibility for it’s accuracy)

What physical signs do you get when stressed?

Frugally yours

Abigail

X

P.S. Family, friends and visitors have all been contacting me about the radishes. The truth of the matter is you cannot taste them at all on a pizza. With so much topping – mushrooms, onions, sweetcorn and 2 cheeses. The radishes got lost.

However, I have been ashamed at the thought of throwing away the last of the unending sack of radishes I bought. So watch this space for more top radish information! lol