Watched this rather disturbing documentary last night called Zeitgeist. It’s all about how the wool’s been pulled over our eyes regarding religion, 9:11, the threat of terrorism and the control over finance. Anyway, I went to bed last night and couldn’t stop thinking about what it was saying. Very interesting points made. Had a good discussion about it over tea and cakes with some friends earlier today.

I saw Zeitgeist on Netflix and it has some really interesting documentaries. Normally, I don’t both with documentaries because I often find them depressing. However, this afternoon, after lunch I decided to have a look at Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead which is the story of Joe from Australia who goes on a 60 day juice fast to lose weight and reboot his body. He goes to the US to journey across the states, mainly, I think, to take his mind off his task and give himself something to do – although he does come across a whole load of poor food en route, but sticks to his juicing. Anyway, he meets this guy Phil who is obese and really, really unhappy. They both have the same skin condition and bond right away. Joe says he’ll help Phil if he wants. Phil contacts him after Joe’s juice challenge is over. They both lose weight and become much, much healthier. Their skin and other health problems disappear and it’s a good feel good documentary movie. Really enjoyed it and it just proved to me that eating real foods is the way ahead for health. By real foods, I mean meals made from scratch and lots and lots of veg and fruit. It’s encouraged me to be healthier.

I learned to cook because I was brought up largely on home cooked meals and when I moved out to live on my own I initially embraced the ready meal culture. Within a couple of days I couldn’t stomach them because I could taste the chemicals and rubbish in them. Yeuch!! That’s when I started to learn to cook for myself. I could already make the basics, but after a few phonecalls home to my mum and the purchase of several cookbooks, I was off. Don’t get me wrong there are days when I can’t be bothered cooking, but generally I enjoy it and hopefully will mean my kids grow up healthy. I don’t understand why people don’t cook…it tastes a million times better, is healthier and is cheaper too. I do get the ‘fear of failure’ thing with cooking, but it’s really not that difficult, especially things like home-made tomato pasta sauce which is pants easy to cook.

Anyway, back to the documentary. It’s made me stiffen my resolve – AGAIN – to be healthier. I don’t want to go on a 60 day juice diet, but I could be eating more fruit and veg, which I like so there’s no difficulty there. I also need to exercise more. I have taken up walking for an hour twice a week and am back at swimming once a week. I just need to make sure I do something every day. Because I work at a desk all day it can be difficult to get enough exercise, I just need to make time for it.

Anyway, once the film finished, I got the kids wrapped up and we walked to our local shops which are less than a mile away and our local pharmacy, which is about a mile away. It’s quite blustery weather today with lots of wind and rain showers. We got caught in one shower, but it didn’t stop us. We picked up the things we had to pick up and came back the river way, which is muddy, but the kids really enjoyed it. I feel like I’ve blown away a few cobwebs too! We were all muddy returning home, but that’s part of the fun. That and seeing a double rainbow!!

Hark me wittering on!! Hopefully I’ll stick to this. I have a wedding to go to in June, so I want to lose a bit of weight before then…a stone would be good. Wish me luck!

So how have you been? What’s been happening? The girl turned nine this week, which is a bit of a shocker for me and hubby because one minute she was a tiny wee baby and the next thing she’s tall, lanky and with the confidence of a teenager. Her grandparents and one of her aunts (plus kids) came to lunch to celebrate, which was great.

This week has been relatively quiet. The kids are off school, so we’ve been catching up with tasks around the house and the kids have been out playing when the weather permitted. I managed to finish my Tsh Oxenreider book Notes from a Blue Bike: the Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World which is full of tips for slowing down. Interesting book and very readable just from the point of view of someone dipping into someone else’s life. Have now taken up J R Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, which I am ashamed to say (as a lover of fantasy) I have never read. It’s good. It’s very good.

Anyway, that’s been my week. Not terribly exciting, but interesting none-the-less…to me at least. Been nice not having to drive through rush hour traffic or rush the kids to school or generally be a bit mental.

Right, am away. The kids are demanding me to do stuff again. No rest for the wicked!! Til next time.

Dawn xxxxx