No fish 'n chips on this lunch date but:
pan-fried chicken, stuffed with red pesto, wrapped in pancetta, with fresh vegetables, new potatoes and a tomato and red wine sauce....
It was very good but I just want to say that I mostly eat a cheese sandwich or scrambled egg on toast for my lunch!.
In fact, there will be no more chicken for me as my osteoarthritis has worsened over the summer and has been making me feel low.
At the pool this week I got talking to another health club member who told me she banished her arthritis pain 7 years ago by embarking on a vegan diet.
So I am starting by excluding meat and gradually working up to pescatarian, vegetarian and, hopefully, vegan diets.
I'll miss Sunday roast but not the pain.
In fact it's a win-win situation because if the diet works I will be mobile and happy again, approaching strangers in the street for a portrait and if it doesn't work, I shall enjoy roast dinner, take some pills and be too inactive, apart from swimming.
Sorry to hear about the arthritis but in the attempt to reduce the pain by giving up what you enjoy could have deeper negative effects. That's my excuse anyway! Also we can easily worsen pain by fighting it. Meditation helps me, perhaps because it involves acceptance. This can help remove that extra layer of pain that our minds lay on top of the original. Tomato sauce with chicken is a culinary no-go for me! Should I choose white wine for the chicken or red wine for the tomato? Decisions like that increase my stress levels which can increase the risk of atrial fibrillation! My mistake was to live beyond 70 !
Hazel, my husband and I went whole foods plant based a few years ago and haven't regretted it. Check out the Forks over Knives documentary and website for loads of inspiration and recipes. We truly don't miss meat. Also, nutritionfacts.org is very informative. All the best!
Have you tried an elimination diet? After you eliminate most things like meat, sugar, dairy, nuts then you add them back one at a time. It might be that you won’t have to stay off all meat altogether, but it is supposed to be better for the planet. I found out my sensitivity was dairy.
Julie, many thanks for the info and I have found and bookmarked the two sites. I just wrote a list of all the vegetable meals we already eat and found it quite long so I have something familiar to start with. I'll surely be letting you know how I get on.
David, glad you mentioned meditation as I struggle to remember to practise but today I have done some T'ai Chi followed by sitting meditation. I have to try diet for the arthritis as currently I am taking opiods (as few as I can manage with) for pain in order to get sleep particularly as lack of sleep affects bipolar disorder, and taking lithium for bipolar prohibits most painkilling medicines...... Thanks for your thoughts!
Wishing you all the best with the new diet plans Hazel, please keep us posted. I too suffer from OA, but fortunately only in the hands and fingers. I have changed my eating habits and gave up quite a lot that I used to enjoy. I cannot give it all up though ;-)
Nice capture in B/W hope you can get some relief from your diet my knee is now bone on bone and needs replacing I don't know if it is too late to change my diet.
Great still life! I like the way you captured the water glass. We went whole food/plant based in June of 2010 and haven't looked back. Let me know if you need any resources for recipes or ideas. We have been on the road for a week and are managing quite nicely.
I have already eliminated sugar ( as far as possible) but after that, feel it would be too cumbersome. The general consensus seems to be that the worst culprits are meat and dairy.
Thank you. I am optimistic having also heard some time ago of a lady who adopted a Mediterranean diet with the same good outcome.
Julie, many thanks for the info and I have found and bookmarked the two sites. I just wrote a list of all the vegetable meals we already eat and found it quite long so I have something familiar to start with. I'll surely be letting you know how I get on.
David, glad you mentioned meditation as I struggle to remember to practise but today I have done some T'ai Chi followed by sitting meditation. I have to try diet for the arthritis as currently I am taking opiods (as few as I can manage with) for pain in order to get sleep particularly as lack of sleep affects bipolar disorder, and taking lithium for bipolar prohibits most painkilling medicines...... Thanks for your thoughts!
I have already eliminated sugar ( as far as possible) but after that, feel it would be too cumbersome. The general consensus seems to be that the worst culprits are meat and dairy.
Thanks for input. I am interested in your reasons for the diet.
Thanks for the encouragement Richard.
Thanks, Jacqueline and will do!
Perhaps I can start dancing - instead of hobbling!
Marmite for Vit B12 - luckily I like marmite!