Avoiding the Worst of the Weather

   The family "Festive Special" outing on Sunday went well and the tree is now decorated, thanks to the grandkids. I love Swiss Chalet chicken and indulged in a glass of wine along with the meal as I wasn't driving. Instead of just five adults at these special meals we now have six as oldest grandson (almost 14) can polish off as much food as his Dad, and ask for more. You'd better not leave anything on your plate or it will disappear "toute suite"!

Don't know why it's so out of focus, but, hopefully, you get the idea.

    Today was the last Osteo Fit class and the Senior's Centre was very quiet so I didn't stay in the kitchen making coffee and heating pies too long. We have one more class on Friday and then a break until the New Year. My new eating regime went quite well - no food from 8:00 p.m. until 9:00 a.m. I need to shave an hour off that (it's supposed to be a 14 hour fast) so will start dinner earlier tonight so that I am done eating by 7:00 p.m.

   Currently I have the last wizened tomatoes from the garden bubbling away in the kitchen to make the last jar of tomato chutney. It smells delicious so I hope it turns out well. A snow squall just blew through (seemingly there was a 30 car pileup on the main highway from Toronto to Montreal earlier this afternoon) so I am glad to be indoors, warm and dry. 

Time-restricted Eating

    I read about this in today's newspaper. Basically it refers to limiting your food intake to just 10 hours a day. For instance, breakfast at 8, last meal at 6. For me it would work better if I waited until 9 to eat breakfast as my usual dinner time is 7. My problem would be not to snack during the evening as I seem to get off to sleep better with something in my stomach.

    The improvements noted in the trial subjects were, among other things, lower blood pressure and cholesterol (both of which are high for me and require medication) and better sleep. However, subjects had to be careful to avoid dehydration. Also, by following this regime, their caloric intake was reduced resulting in some weight loss. This wasn't the goal of the program, rather allowing your organs to recuperate during the rest period. I'm all for that!

   I might try to follow this for a few weeks and see how I feel. Getting a better night's sleep would certainly make it worth while. I know I will find it hard as will power is not one of my strengths!

Over Indulging

   Not feeling 100% today (I have a headache) so have been rather lackadaisical about getting on with chores. The grandkids (or at least two of them) are coming over tomorrow to help decorate my (artificial) Christmas tree so I dragged it up from the basement this afternoon and will put on the strings of lights later this evening.

   It has been a week of overeating, both times at buffets which always test my self control. On Wednesday we dined at the Scarborough Golf and Country Club, which is lovely, and the spread of food was just so tempting, especially the dessert table. They even had plum pudding and custard but I managed to abstain. By that time I was too stuffed anyway.

   Yesterday it was the Mandarin buffet and I started with a plateful of sushi, went on to dumplings, hot and sour fish fillets, egg rolls and lots of other goodies. I did manage to add some servings of vegetables but was, again, tempted by the desserts - my downfall. Today I am eating lightly. I thought I had a small piece of salmon in the freezer but couldn't find it. I will make do with sausage and beans for dinner.

The naked tree...….

….and now with lights . I will post the decorated version tomorrow.

All I Want For Christmas.......

My favourite Christmas song from my favourite Christmas Movie `Love Actually`