Juicing

I was listening to Radio 2 whilst in my car about 6 weeks ago and Stuart Maconie was interviewing a guy called Jason Vale, the UK's Juice master. He was talking about juicing fruit and vegetables and the benefits you get from drinking them everyday.

This got me thinking. I was very overweight by at least 4 stone, I felt tired most of the time and I generally felt like a turd warmed up all of the time. I would go to work and get a headache by mid-morning and after lunch I would feel lethargic to the point of nearly falling asleep. On getting home all I'd want to do was flop in front of TV or the computer.

So I looked up his web-site and from that moment on I've changed my whole life-style. I now drink at least 2 vegetable juices a day. I've stopped eating junk food including bread, pasta, biscuits, processed foods of any kind, red meat, dairy products, the list goes on. I've replaced them with whole foods like nuts, friut, oily fish(salmon, sardines, tuna etc). I eat rye bread and wholemeal pitta, brown rice and porridge flavoured with organic honey. I've started parking the car further from work and walking in. I do a bit more exercise on a rebounder and an exercise bike and the last few Sunday's have been going on 7 to 8 mile walks in the country and loving it.

And the benefits...
I feel wonderful and full of energy all of the time. I get out of bed in the morning without groaning and moaning. I don't fall asleep in the afternoons anymore. 2 months ago I would'nt have dreamed of walking 2 miles never mind 7. I'm actually planning a 15 mile hike across the moors. Unheard of before. My skin feels marvellous not like old paper. I don't get headaches anymore. My joints don't creak like they used to. I feel as if I can take on any challenge not hide from it. But the major benefit thats happened since I started juicing 5 weeks ago...

..I've lost 24lbs and 3 inches off my waistline.

If this strikes a chord with you, check out Jason Vales web-site here.

The First One

The little lass has viewed her older brother with increasing envy over the last two years.

"That's another one," he would say to her. "That makes three now."

"Aw, it's not fair," she would cry. "When is it ever going to happen to me?"

We would explain to her that it most certainly would happen to her, but she had to remember that she was two years younger than her brother, and eventually it would happen. She would just have to be patient and wait awhile.

"But Susan in my class is two months younger than me and she's had her second one." she moaned.

Yet again we had to explain that everybody was different and it would really, really happen to her.

Well the other day it did happen to her. She came rushing in from playing in the garden.

"It's happened," she said jumping up and down with excitement. "My very first one."

Lets hope the tooth fairy comes to visit her.

Ditchmonkey

I was listening to Radio 2 today and Stuart Maconie did an interview with the Ditchmonkey.

Who's the Ditchmonkey? Click on the link to read his blog and find out.

Then be very glad you sleep in a bed and have a roof over your head.

Howarth Moor and Top Withens

Just lately, my wife and I have had the urge to do a bit of walking, and we started by doing a 7 mile round walk taking in Howarth, Howarth Moor and Top Withens.
Howarth is famous for the birthplace of the Bronte sisters and on the day we parked up the Japanese tourists were all there with their Nikons. Apparently the Japanese are big fans of the books written Charlotte, Emily and Anne and Howarth is like a magnet to them. As we don't like touristy places we headed out of the carpark in the opposite direction towards the moors, destination Top Withins. (This is the lonely moorland home that Heathcliffe is supposed to have lived in as described in the book, Wuthering Heights.)
Half a mile down the road you are out of the town and straight into scenery like in the picture on the left. We carried on walking past Penistone Country Park, over a cattle grid and were greeted by hundreds of sheep. The little lass was a bit wary of them at first, but as they were only intent on chewing the grass she soon got used to them.
After a couple of miles, we came across Bronte Waterfalls, (Bronte again!). I don't know why they call it a waterfall, because it was more like a trickle on the day we got there. We had our lunch here and then pressed onto Top Withens, another mile and a half further on. We had to negotiate a few stiles on the way which caused much merriment amongst ourselves. The path to Top Withens was uphill all the way, so we were all a bit knackered when we got there but it was worth it for the view.
The purple heather was in full flower and the scent coming off it took your breath away. In the photo, top left, you can see Haworth which will give you an idea of the distance we had walked. Walking around Top Withens, which is just the ruins of an old farmhouse, you can sense the desolation of the place and appreciate the hard life the people who had lived there in the past must have had. We were there on a nice sunny warm day, but I bet it's a different story in mid winter.
We took a different route on the way back, following the Pennine Way for a couple of miles. That branched off and stayed on the tops, whilst we went down and walked through the village of Stanbury. A quick right past the village and we were walking across the head of Lower Laithe reservoir. A couple of more miles and we were back in Howarth, sitting on a wall eating fish and chips out of the wrappers with a smug look on our faces whilst we watched the antics of the Japs. I wonder if they knew where Heathcliffe used to live, and would they walk seven miles to find out?