Saturday

Yesterday's post brought both good and not so good news. The good news was a long letter from an old school friend announcing the birth of her new grandson; I think he's her ninth grandchild but he's the only child of her youngest daughter who suffered numerous miscarriages and was close to accepting that she'd never have children, so his safe arrival is brilliant news. 

The not so good news was a letter from my doctor asking me to book a telephone consultation to discuss the results of my recent blood tests. I phoned for an appointment but there are none available so I have to try again next week! Enclosed with the letter there was a leaflet about the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme so I am assuming that is what the consultation is about. I regularly test as being borderline but treatment has never been suggested so I am assuming this is either their new recommended approach or my results are causing more concern that previously. The Prevention Programme offers free attendance at one of their online Healthier You courses so I have requested a slot and am waiting for confirmation of the date and time. 

I know the suggested self help will be lose weight and exercise so I may as well make a start. My third piece of post will help with this - I'd treated myself to a new cook book, Doctor's Kitchen 3-2-1 by Dr Rupy Aujla, after seeing several of his recipes on YouTube and want to include some of his recipes in my meal plan. The 3-2-1 refers to the recipes themselves - each serving contains 3 portions of veg/fruit, each recipe is enough for 2 servings, and each recipe is cooked in 1 pan. Before I knew about this health issue I was thinking that, if I could work out how to keep a supply of fresh veg without going in to any of the shops in town, I'd move to having a veggie recipe from this book every day for lunch. Lots of the recipes are spicy which appeals to me and, if I only wanted a single portion I think the majority of ingredient quantities can be halved easily or I can eat leftovers the next day. 

Now it's become so much more important, managing the shopping side of things, together with exercise and weight loss has to be my next project/focus. I will probably need another supermarket delivery to restock some time in February so the first thing is to take another look at my meal plan and make any necessary changes. I will look at buying vegetables either from the farm shop in Winsley or Atworth as I think both allow you to make your own selection rather than buying a pre-chosen box of veg. I will phone both places later today to check but if not, I will have to rethink. As for exercise, I need to get a regular routine going but do need to speak to my doctor before I do anything too strenuous as my left knee is now permanently swollen and painful. As for weight loss, I'll follow the Slimming World principles but calorie count alongside that as I've had the most success in the past with calorie counting. First weigh in is tomorrow morning ... just as well my new bathroom scales are here!