We had a teacher named Miss Foley who was brought out of retirement, a retund woman who clipped us around the head with her hand or anything close to hand.

Anyone else at Blanchardstown at the time.

That Stevia sweetener is definitely an acquired taste and I think I may go back to my half-way-house of some sugar plus a splenda.

I decided that both the cheese substitutes were just a bad idea so I’ll exclude cheese totally except for the very odd pizza.

Weight is coming down slowly but surely and I never feel hungry.

I was very unimpressed with a lot of the meat alternative products alright.

Big fan of Tempeh and the Smoked Tofu I got last week. Also had quinoa for the first time in ages today and it was lovely.

Always liked avocados and mushrooms so I’m lucky there and will keep using them lots,

Had my first chia seeds today too. Tasteless as promised which is good. Sound almost too good to be true.

Every morning is porridge, goji berries and linseeds which keeps me full for ages.

I’ll definitely shout if I run into problems. Looking forward to trying your new meals. Are they in Bandon or Clon?

Well done on making such positive changes to your diet. I am pretty much a lifelong veggie. I’d recommend the falafel burgers in Gourmet Burger in Bridge Street in Cork. They also do a fab haloumi salad. Qourn (especially in the chicken) is an excellent replacement for real chicken. I totally agree with your comments about aubergines and courgettes being in far too many veggie dishes!!

Best of luck,

Linda

Delighted you are giving this a go, lots of others should too – we really don’t need to eat so much animal protein it is a waste of money and resources! Vegan and Vegetarian food also have what I would call Veggie Junk Food and consist of very heavily processed soy (textured vegetable protein – which is extracted with supercritical hexane – a toxin) and gluten – these 2 partners in crime blend together to give that “fake meat” texture which is then added lots of salt, probably msg or dubious “yeast extracts” and to make the soy palatable they also have to use lots of fat. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking this stuff is better for you, it’s not.

Stick with naturally fermented soy products like tofu or indeed seitan. Tofu gets a different texture altogether when you freeze it also. You can use nutritional yeast to it’s full advantage to make cheesy flavours – this is a source of B vitamins for veggies.

Make sure to increase your citrus fruit intake as this helps absorp the non-haem iron from plant based foods like beans.

Also watch your intake of vitamin B12 -you may want to eat marmite! And munch on lots of omega oil rich foods, avocados – spread avocado on your toast instead of butter it is YUM also, grind hempseeds down – keep in a jar and sprinkle on your porridge in the morning. You could also experiment with making your own nut milk. Though that might be a step too far : )

Mushrooms of all sorts will become your new best friend, they contain that precious umami that your tastebuds crave when you give up the old meat. I have a Mega Marinated Portobella Mushroom recipe that is UNREAL!

Best of luck with things, any queries you know where I’m at! Dee

Irish people who want cheap prescription medicines should do what most people do: get their friends who go on holiday to Spain to buy them, without prescription.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/1001/1224305065821.html

Not that I don’t agree the prices of some items are crazy. A friend buys nicotine patches up north and saves a fortune. I have also found shipping from china cheaper than UK!

The NSAID rip-off is particularly disgusting since you have only two options when your kids’ temp goes through the roof, paracetemol or ibuprofen.

The sooner this old-boys-club is blown wide-open, the better. Find out why you can’t get meds in certain Boots in Cork and you’ll see just how broken this part of the market is.

Recently I’ve been enraged by the lack of sensibly priced ibuprofen in Ireland. For some bizarre reason it is now behind the counter, so you can’t pick it up in supermarkets. Ibuprofen is the recommended NSAID for children these days and is safer than paracetamol. Yet paracetamol is still available on the shelves. So to get our supply of ibuprofen we’ve been paying €5 for 24 tablets in the local pharmacy. Whilst I’m happy to support these small businesses and realise they perform a valuable service I’m not prepared to pay 20 times the price for a generic product. In the UK you can walk into Tesco’s and get 24 generic ibuprofen for around 20p.

This should be a national scandal and if I was more energetic / engaged I’d be looking to start a campaign!

Thanks for the info on Drugstore and US Unlocked – I may reluctantly start diverting some money out of the Irish economy, as being ripped off to this extent is just too much… I think I’d better sit down and take a few tablets to calm down