Morning lynne, so good that your little grand daughters get to play so much with you. I really do not know what the answer is to all the junk food people eat. There was a case a year or so ago of a 26 year old single mother who complained ‘the tax payer should give me more money so I could eat healthy foods’, that she needed moremoney because she couldn’t buy any fruit or veg. Then she allowed a newspaper to photograph her in her kitchen with the food cupboards open. I used mysupermarket to tot up the cost of the several tins of heroes, pack upon pack of chocolate biscuits. She admitted to several takeaways a week and weekly trips to McDonalds. 3 times the amount I spent for healthy food for two adults.
So, education is the answer,but who and when and how? Who pays for it? Schools in deprived areas are not supposed to ask parents to pay for school trips etc so who would pay the cost of the ingredients for 30 plus children in every class every week? As it is teachers dip into their own purses quite a lot, especially in deprived areas.
Speaking from experience I know that in primary schools there is not access to a kitchen equipped for a full class of children and that the curriculum is so broad there are simply not enough hours in a school week to cover weekly cookery classes. We tend to cover it by lunchtime or afterschool activities or, in my case, science or history lessons. In large primaries where there are 3, 4 or 5 streams to each year group it would not he possible to fit in every child every week into a kitchen classroom – even if one existed.
Also, when children have enjoyed cooking something in class they return next day to say their parents have said they can’t afford it at home. Lynne, I have had children work out the costs of a meal (maths skills) but the answer for most children is still a resounding no.
The problem is huge and I can’t think of a single viable solution to it.
If budgeting and cookery lessons were advised before pregnancy, in an ideal world that could be an answer but the couples who need it most would be the most unlikely to attend. So another idea down in flames.
TBH those kind of classes I would be interested in teaching if my health was more reliable.
Oh and that is my second long rant this morning. It is clearly something that you, cherrieanne and I have passionate feelings about

On a different note i had a chuckle about your skirt slipping off – the same happened to me with some jeans not so long ago. After the initial shock it is a joyous moment! 🙂

Well we are definitely singing from the same hymn sheet ladies!!
I started off doing paediatric nursing after I qualified and the sheer number of children who had no bedtime routine, no idea of how to wash themselves or clean their teeth was astonishing. These were children who were well and truly old enough to be reasonably independent in these. They would still be on the go, unless post op or very sick, until really late at night. Some didn’t own pyjamas, apparently their parents waited until they fell asleep where they were, and then put them to bed clothed.
A lot of them couldn’t recognise different fruit and vegetables and had obviously never tried them.
Nowadays even the children’s hospitals have a McDonalds in the foyer so what hope is there if the government allows that?
CaptainLynne you are building so many great memories for your grandchildren! They will never forget the special times they’ve had with you. Who knows what influence you will have on their futures. Both my grandmothers made a big impact on the way I live, from the Italian one came the love of big family gatherings, shared meals and general silliness and fun. My English one could make a meal from anything, fresh from the garden usually, and everything you could pickle, jam or otherwise preserve she could accomplish. A real countrywoman who taught me to knit and sew.
You are right Judith about the rewards of working with children, I help the ones with learning difficulties and autism and I just love it. So glad you have some sun at last, I know you’ve been longing for it. Now those tomatoes will seem a bit more achievable. Still around 20-21C here but getting very cold at night. Thoughts have turned to firewood supplies, and my husband has already had the chains for his chainsaw sharpened and had it in bits to service it. He’ll be buzzing away up in the scrub one day soon, and we will be stacking wood and hoping not to find any spiders or snakes up there lol.

Lynne there is no way your family will fail to notice the new you! Your grand daughters will enjoy your new way of eating and helping you to prepare the recipes! They could have heaps of fun with decorating a bowl of yoghurt from a selection of berries, nuts and seeds. A blueberry smile, pumpkin seed hair and any myriad of ideas!!! Their imagination can fun riot!
When i took jacks and other fun activities into my class for wet dinnertimes the fights over whose turn it was to use the ipads stopped. They were left deserted. Its much more fun to do something for real instead of playing a game watching other people having fun.
:). :). 🙂

Judith, this is something I’ve been looking at for the last few years. Before I moved here there was a good sized kitchen at work and I was looking at starting up some kind of healthy cooking/eating club. But the food hygiene regulations are now so strict, and it’s hard to find helpers because of the need for DBSs. Potential volunteers are getting older, with associated health issues too, and those who do volunteer are getting too tired to carry on because there is nobody to share the load.

Unfortunately my work kitchen here needs a refurb so is limited to the hot drinks and biscuits kind of thing 😱

I remember when I was at school, we had cookery lessons. One week we made a mixed grill, another it was Apple streudel. My mother was not impressed! She cooked everything from scratch and money was tight. Nothing ‘messed about’ as she would say.

A local project in County Durham runs an interesting 6-week project, free of charge. Called the Victory Programme. Dig for victory – growing veg, save for victory – budgeting & saving, and cook for victory – learn how to prepare and cook a meal, then take it home. Those who complete the 6 weeks are given a free slow cooker.

In a meeting I mentioned this, the local authority thought it great but one woman from the DWP said ‘the ministers won’t like it’. When I asked why her response was ‘it sounds like blackmail’. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! Head hits wall.

But I continue trying to find a solution in my small part of the world.

Brilliant idea about decorating the yogurt 😃

Keep forgetting jacks. Must see if I can find some (think shop at Beamish had them , but it’s a long way) and gen up on the rules 😳

Cherrianne, love the sound of your childhood. I grew up in a city with no garden so everything was shop bought. My father worked regular nights so everything I did had to be quiet. You’d not believe that of me now, would you LOL

Really interested to hear views on cookery at school. My first practical one was how to make a hot milk drink and toast – and no I’m not joking. My mum had me doing that at 5! My girls have just finished the compulsory home economic classes and loathed the lessons as the ingredients were substandard (they used stork in a totally tasteless crumble) but they agreed there were folk sorely in need of the knowledge.

This thread sems to have been somewhat derailed!

Bill – hope the party was a great one!

Lynne, I thought of running something similar for parents but as you say food hygiene rules are so strict and there are tests to be passed. Now I am too tired/old/lacking in health/energy.
Why was a slow cooker ‘blackmail’ when the authorities have no difficulty handing out ‘certificates’ for courses? Isn’t that blackmail as well? 🙁 ?

I wish I could remember where I bought my jacks, it was only a few years ago. I’m wondering about it could possibly have been a garden centre or somewhere like Boyes? It wasn’t ToysRus because I haven’t been there in over 20 years.

We had cookery lessons at school – limited to girls only – but it was at senior school not primary. These days schools cannot exclude pupils on gender grounds so that is double the number of kids needing lessons using the same facilities and the pressure of all the other subjects. My son had 6 weeks of cookery lessons once a year at his school but that was not a problem as he had already learned to cook and bake at home.

Your mother sounds like my dad – he didn’t like food being ‘messed about’. He would eat a bowlful of tomatoes fresh from the greenhouse but he would not have tolerated them in a cooked dish!

Marbles is another favourite old fashioned pastime – I let my class devise their own rules indoors as they needed to make some kind of barrier come target – marbles all over the classroom floor would definitely be a health and safety issue!

Oh, Lynne, another one is knitting bobbins. Remember the ones we used to make from old cotton bobbins and four of dad’s nails? Well the bobbins are made of plastic now but I bought some knitting bobbins from Hobbycraft, they do require fine wool though or the long thread gets stuck inside.

Have you got a Junior Scrabble? My class loved that during wet dinner times.

Oh well, we can’t fix the world but you have two little ones who are going to love being with you and will be learning about healthy eating. I have never forgotten the time I stayed with my aunt and uncle (now in Australia) and they let my sister and I make ice-cream. In those days!! It was magical. When I reminded my uncle saying it was one of my best childhood memories he said he had been disappointed because it didn’t work. I only remember the fun of making it with him! Just goes to show! 🙂

Hi Lynne, just googled it – you can get games of Jacks from Amazon!! 🙂

Julia it is interesting to hear the experience of you and your girls, especially your girls views on it being so necessary for a lot of pupils. We have derailed this thread (unintentionally ) but unless people can cook how can they eat healthily? Looks like that’s a few of us highlighting the problem.
What lynne said about food bags with fresh food being declined one is left with the troubling question has modern affluence been our society’s downfall?
So glad to hear of you, lynne and cherrieanne teaching young ones to cook 🙂

😃

Bill, just read your whole thread and oh my goodness I am so glad for your daughter – what a lot you’ve gone through. Thank you for posting and this amazing thread that has helped me so much today with feeling very unwell – not sure if it is a cold or sugar withdrawal. I was convinced it couldn’t be sugar withdrawal as I thought it was too powerful. However, I ate five large strawberries a couple of hours ago and caught myself yumming as though they were sweets. Magically feel better now – could that small amount of sugar have made the difference?

Most definitely it could jpscloud! Be kind to your body for a few days, stick with the low carb but don’t expect too much of your body for a few days. Some people feel energised, others feel tired, nauseous and downright grumpy! If your cold-like symptoms come and go with eating then they are definitely withdrawal. If they hang around, treat them like you would any cold, just in case that’s what it is. We’ve had a couple of cases of genuine illness reported (not as a result of the diet just coincidentally) and of course, its important to look after yourself at these times with protein, good sources of vits and mins and plenty of fats.

Bill. Fantastic news. Really pleased for you all.
Penny

So, two days back on the wagon and I have lost once more 3 of the 4 pounds I put on during my week of catastrophic eating. Hopefully this is all the proof I need that this does work!

Great news Aly 🙂

Bill1954…. I have just logged on after a few days away and seen your post. I am so thrilled for you and your family its the best news you could have. As you get older you hear about so many people suffering with cancer and it is lovely to hear a happy ending to yours. I am sure you had a fabulous birthday. Well done for sticking to the healthy eating throughout all the stress. You and all the other people who are posting fantastic results are a reminder to me to keep with it as it is so easy to slide back into old habits when weight is nearly down and blood sugars are stabilised. I have been telling everyone about this diet!

Thanks again everyone for the good wishes. I tried a Southern Comfort last night – horrible, far too sweet for me now. although I did permit myself a birthday treat and actually had a yorkie with Sunday lunch 😉
Doesn’t seem to have done any harm, fasting sugar reading this morning was 6.9
Aly, great to see you back on track again.
Penny, hope you’re enjoying India, lots of new recipes on your return please.
Jpscloud, thanks for the comments, it proves that, even under high stress levels, this new lifestyle still works.
Best of luck to all this week, especially those just starting out.

Morning bill, isn’t it amazing when a single yorkie can seem the height of indulgence? Glad you enjoyed your birthday, you deserved to 🙂

Morning all,

Bill – amazing news, so happy for your family. Have come home with 4 packs of Craster kippers which are delicious.

Ladies, have just caught up on the thread as have been away a few days. Re. cooking in schools. This is actually my job! I live and work in one of the most deprived areas in the country. My company bids for community funding from the council to go to different ‘target’ schools in the area to teach parents how to cook. We work out the costings of different foods, put the parents through their food hygiene cert, and teach them easy healthier recipes over 10 weeks. It helps that the recipes are things like chicken nuggets (chicken egg wash, breadcrumbs) and pizza. There have been a lot of Change for Life initiatives which alienate the parents, because the food is too different to what they are used to, having familiar food, but teaching them the basic cooking processes, means a lot of my parents can now make better choices for their families as they have some confidence in the kitchen.

I had a very young mum on a course last year who was determined to do the best for her child. She had been brought up in foster care, and had never been taught to cook. She watched a well known tv chef and thought that she would try to re create a *simple* chicken dinner. She and her toddler ate the meal, then she threw everything leftover away, as she did not know if it was safe to eat and was terrified of giving her child food poisoning. She spent £20 on all the ingredients, which was over half of her weekly food budget.
We are inundated with schools wanting our course, and sometimes we are oversubscribed with parents wanting to join, but as far as I am aware, we are one of only a very few companies that do this.

Hi ditzidora

Glad to hear it, wish there was something like that locally.

I guess some of us are through the 8 weeks now, or at least near the end.
Is there a thread for life after?
If not, perhaps we could start one up – I guess we will all need some moral support as we try to stick to the “M” principles.
It might also be useful for MM if we were to log our results on it as we finish the 8 weeks – it seems a shame that there is all this useful data which will be lost otherwise.
Following the mention on the radio and in all the papers today about Prof. Taylor’s work, I imagine there will be a whole lot more adherents joining up soon – let’s hope so.
Awful happenings in Brussels – what a shocking waste!

I can hardly believe it, the actual NHS website item on the Mediterranean diet says the following:-

“You can make your diet more Mediterranean-style by:

eating plenty of starchy foods, such as bread and pasta……etc etc

!!!

https://thebloodsugardiet.com/forums/topic/over-the-8-week-line-and-after/
Thats the thread you’re looking for stringbreaker.

it goes on —

“. So, try to stick to these guidelines:

Base your meals on starchy carbohydrates, such as bread, pasta, rice or potatoes. Choose wholegrain var,,,,,,,

Bill,

Thanks – see you there

Thanks Bill, you beat me to it.

See you over on the other thread stringbreaker. Welcome to the over-8 club.

Thanks, captainlynne – BTW, how did you manage to contact the team?

stringbreaker -scroll to the bottom of this page and you’ll find ‘contact us’. They emailed a response quickly.

Unbelievable stringbreaker – I’m glad I have started this petition.

Another pound off so back to where I was before going off piste! It begins here.

Well done Aly, perseverance pays off. Now you are back to good health there will be no stopping you. Can’t wait to hear how the rest of your 8 weeks go 🙂

Aly is back in da house !!!
Well done, now we all want to see you posting great weekly results.
We know you can do it. You know you can do it

Roll on next week. 🙂

I am already sleeping better and feel generally better so I can see this works. My tummy is reducing too. This Saturday will be the end of week 3 with a blip in the middle and I am 9 pounds down from where I started. As I am still having a small amount of porridge with milk and honey for breakfast I am really pleased.
My younger sister who has been type 1 since the age of 5 has now developed heart problems. I will continue to talk about this way of eating.

Aly it’s lovely to hear you are back on track and seeing the results of your efforts 🙂

Lost 2lbs in a week, now weigh less than I have for 12 years, am over the moon. My husband has had to tighten his belt by 4 notches so we might well have to go shopping for some new jeans! We both have had a couple of wobbles when going out, but are determined to stick with it.

Well done to both of you – isn’t it wonderful that such change can be achieved so rapidly using the BSD? You must be over the moon FiFiP! Wobbles are okay and to be expected, it’s what happens the rest of the time that really matters – as you have proved. Keep in there and see what else you can achieve.

Thank you SunnyB, we are both very happy. We are encouraging my husband’s brother who lives in NZ to ‘get on board BSD’ too, he has a couple of stone to lose as well. We have told him about this forum, as he lives on his own, we think he’d benefit from the online support and help everyone gives each other, which I find so heartwarming.

I love seeing happy people as their results start to show.
Well done FiFiP on recommending this to your brother, the more people who get ot know about this, in as many countries as possible, the better.
Imagine the attention this could get if there were petitions like judiths going to governments worldwide.

Well done FiFiP and husband!

Thank you Patsy! We are having the pork, apple & mushroom dish from the recipes listed on this site tonight, looks very tasty. My green-grocer must think I have a family of about 20 to feed, the amount of vegetables we are eating, we have always liked our greens, but with the absence of carbs, kale, cauli, asparagus, peppers and mushies are getting more than a look-in. We were keeping the excess veggies in the garden on a table whilst it was cold, but now it’s getting nicer my fridge is set to explode!

We are not big confectionery eaters so Easter is not an issue for us, but my fingers are crossed for everyone out there who is struggling with choccy-egg temptation. Good luck!

Hello Bill, thank you for your input, have just emailed NZ with details of some easy recipes to follow, fish is so good there he should have a head start!

Petition, what have I missed…. Sorry, is there something I should be signing?

Today I have been offered my once favourite jammy biscuits and a piece of home made cake, said no to both as I honestly did not want it. The thought of my former binge habit puts me off! I am not hungry either. Have I turned the corner at last? I am no longer looking for the next thing to eat and am happy to wait for a meal time. Strange stuff!

Sounds like you’re well around that corner Aly
one long finishing straight now 🙂
Isn’t it strange how you just don’t want the sweet stuff any more

I always had a very sweet tooth which is why this is strange for me. Am still taking this one day at a time as I do not know how long it will last.

Hi Aly
It’s because sugar is an addictive substance. We ve all been sold this drug which makes us want more. If we stop it then the addiction isn’t working on us anymore. Luckily it’s quite quick to recover from
Good luck
Penny

It’s weird, but isn’t it great not to be wanting the sweet stuff?

This is a record for me, 6 full weeks with no chocolate and only one moment of craving in all that time.

It’s weird and wonderful isn’t it janet, lynne and aly. A friends partner offered me some chocolate yesterday, I felt like he was offering me poison – which I suppose he was – embarrassingly I think it showed on my face. What? Me? The one time choccy lover? I’m still giggling (and commiserating) with bill having to wash his mouth out after a smidgen of low fat yoghurt last night.
This diet is certainly changing us 🙂

I think it’s changing us in more ways than one Judith.

As well as losing our various addictions to sugar and carbs, we’re regaining control over our health and our lives.

We’re also uniting against the massed forces of professionals who led us into the state of dependency on sugar, carbs and medication.

BSDers of the world unite!!!!!! 😃

Bill, I am delighted to hear the good news about your daughter. Sorry for being so late to reply, my email has been going into the Junk folder, how ironic! All the very best to you all. x