My active week continues today, on a high after spring cleaning and changing the function and furniture arrangement in two rooms.

The office is now a walk in wardrobe room with a large sewing table and the iron and Elna press set up, mirrors, original art work and grandchildren’s photos mounted and storage on one side and under the table.

The kitchen has had a complete sanitising, everything in every cupboard and the cupboards themselves is sparkling clean and those little pesky field mice who made their home in the cupboards while we wintered in the north of Australia, won’t find our home as habitable in future. 

I dug out my CSIRO healthy heart cook book and I bought everything they suggested that I did not have, in the basic pantry supplies and everything they suggested for the week one menus.  I spent $600. on supplies and $150. on vegetable seedlings, seeds and cow manure so  would not have to continue to buy fresh herbs and some of the cut and come again type vegetables through summer and autumn. 

 

It took me three days to complete the kitchen dining area set up and  pack the pantry shelves expertly, and  have never in my life had such fully stocked cupboards and I extended the range of foods and spices I cooked with.

The past three days while working in the kitchen I have been trying out the recipes in this book and preparing luscious sit down lunches, again, strait out of the CSIRO healthy heart program cook book. 

Breakfast for me today was a break from my normal rolled oats, and I followed the plan to the letter, weighing my portions.  40 grams of Uncle Toby’s healthy heart, breakfast cereal, it is one of the few breakfast cereals without iron added and suitable for people with hemochromatosis and I am using one of the new special formula, with plant steroids to help lower cholesterol, healthy heart, low fat milk.  I have not used this before; we usually use skim milk powder.  The CSIRO healthy heart program will cost a little more than my usual eating plan but if you keep doing the same thing, you cannot expect different results and at my last two checks this week, it appears my blood pressure has gone up and I’ve requested time to try to bring it down naturally using dietary changes, walking and swimming exercise and releasing more of my excess body fat.  I believe I can do this.

 

Lunch today was 40 grams of roast beef for me, 60 grams for Reg, a delicious 8 vegetable mix salad, on third of an avocado as spread on a multi grain roll, very satisfying,  and tonight I am cooking 150 grams of gem fish for me 250 for Reg with low carbohydrate vegetables grilled skewers and serving them on a bed of salad with one glass of chilled chardonnay, mango, 100 grams of low fat, natural yogurt and 10 almonds as my snacks and two cups of express coffee, two cups of Dilmah tea, all with the low fat, heart health milk, and just checking over that, I will be taking two Blackmores calcium plus tablets (you can see our supplements,( used only when necessary),  in the pantry pictures) today to increase my calcium serves to four for the day. 

Now that is LIVING, not dieting, I feel so satisfied after my luscious lunch and as I have been very active all week I should have no problem coming in with a fat loss this week. J.
 

That is the bare kitchen end, BEFORE we laid the new floating timber floors throughout the entire home.  The second picture is one I love to show, of Reg laying the floor in our dining area. 
I turned that little dark room at the end of the kitchen into a light, (using mirrors to enhance the natural light from the side windows), walk in wardrobe room and sewing ironing, plus storage centre.
My kitchen looks more homely now, with my personal possessions on the benches and the small dining area and recline chair, TV set so the cook can listen to the news as I prepare evening meal, all set up, opposite this view, and I've planted a pretty and functional, flowers and vegetable garden down the side, plus shade trees and climbing ornamental grape vine and ivory rose, all to be views through the windows.