The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl

The name's Di. Di Etplan.

2010-07-29T15:13:17+01:00

There must have been an International Comment Spammers Convention last week because I'm suddenly getting an excruciating amount of comment spam from a new fancy breed of spammer. I can just picture them frantically taking notes during the Advanced Comment Spam presentation: How To Promote Your Dodgy Diet Products On Some Dimwit's Blog And Make Them Think You're A Proper Commenter In Three Easy Steps.

Take the time to write an actual comment, perhaps actually even reading the entry.
Flatter the blogger by saying one or more of the following:
- I've subscribed to your RSS feed!
- I'm going to read all your archives!
- I'm telling my friends and family and the milkman about your blog!
ONLY THEN link to your diet pills or rapid weight loss scheme.

Bonus points if you can cleverly disguise your business name in the Commenter Name field. For example, Di Etplan. Doesn't she sound like a lovely lass?

I know people are trying to make a living. But I am not going to let them litter my personal blog with their dodgy links to improve their search engine ranking.

My apologies to the 99.9% of non-spammers out there in blog land. I know I'm due a new entry but this rant has been boiling all week and to quote the great Alf Stewart, I've had a flamin' gutful. RAH!

Friday Link Feast #9

2010-07-23T09:57:56+01:00

Too cool for school.

"Well, a person can cry for only so long. Then she has to find something else to do with her time."
– A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Betty Smith

It's been a quiet but gooooood week. Finished the above book and reluctantly returned to reality, honked into about 40 tissues a day with this endless bloody hayfever, ate raspberries and watched a lot of cycling. Happy days!

Now here's some tasty links from the past wee while.

The Onion: Fill Your Own G*ddamn Emotional Void - in which Food speaks up at last: "I hate to say it, but you can't come running to me every time something goes wrong in your life. Not anymore."
This is The Onion and I know it's meant to be funny but I read it and thought, "Food would totally write the same stuff to me." Mwahaha. [Thanks Molly for sending the link]
Frocks & Frou Frou - There are twentytrillion people out there blogging photos of their outfits but Lilli from Melbourne is the only one I've ever stalked all the way through the archives to read more of her thoughts on life and dressing a curvier bod. And to marvel at the clarity of the sunlight in the photies.. it could only be Australia. [via Kathryn]
Tavi The Style Rookie: An open letter to Seventeen Magazine, also, WHY ARE YOU UGLY WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU - "I am writing you concerning your headline on your June/July cover, “THE PARTY DRUG THAT CAN MAKE YOU FAT & UGLY.” I hope you keep these problems in mind for your future issues."
Derek Powazek: They Don't Complain And They Die Quietly - a very poignant post about growing house plants.
Copenhagen's Bike Friendly Streets - when I visited Copenhagen in 2004 I was spewingly jealous of their cycle-friendly streets... cyclists get their own traffic lights and everything! 37% of commuters in the city are cyclists. This video talks about the bicycle culture and makes you wonder how good it would be for the planet if more cities could invest in this infrastructure. [via Faith]

Podcast, comments and yogurt

2010-07-19T12:46:06+01:00

Running is the subject of today's new episode of Two Fit Chicks and a Microphone! Our American-Italian superstar Julia Jones is back to answer listener queries about stepping up to the 10K distance, stretches for runners, conquering hills, bathroom stops, staying motivated for big races and avoiding skanky black toenails.

» Check out Episode 15 over at the Two Fit Chicks website

I wanted to say a huuuuge thanks for all your incredible comments on the last entry. It really means a lot to read your words and to know you're not alone.

By the way, I've had to enable comment moderation because of increased spam, so your comments are stored and won't appear on the site right away. I usually get to them pretty quickly though!

In other news, here's one's for the UK yogurt nerds out there. I found a really good Fage Total 2% Greek Yogurt substitute! Onken Natural Set yogurt. I saw an ad in a foodie magazine which claimed it was "just as creamy" as Greek despite having less fat and calories. Pffft, I said. But beggars can't be choosers - no shops stock Fage 2% in my town (they only stock 0% which I don't like and full fat which is a bit too full-on).

Verdict: Surprisingly creamy. And much cheaper than Fage - £1.08 for 500g of Onken versus £2.20 for 500g of Fage. I tried a blob on top of some Red Beans and Rice where I'd gone crazy with the chillies. Also tried it with my pseudo-bircher muesli (fruit, oats and yogurt mixed together and left overnight) and it was a good consistency - thick enough to be creamy but enough "give" to blend with the other ingredients. It doesn't have as much protein as the Fage - 3.9g versus 6.8g per 100g. Rock n roll!

Scott the Strawberry

2010-07-16T13:31:24+01:00

These past few months have been rather batty. Stuff that is too personal or awkward to write about in real time. Also, stuff that is too personal and bloody tedious to subject you to.

A healthy eating poster at the local primary school

Basically I took myself off to a shrink. After a year or more of saying I should be able to fix this on my own I thought I'd try talking to an objective person about things.

It was very fruitless to begin with, because I was being very half-arsed about it. There were many conflicting voices:

Shame and Fraudulent: I'm wasting her time, I should be able to fix things on my own.
Denial: There's nothing wrong with you; harden the f*ck up whinge bag!
Hopeless: You've cocked up so badly you're beyond help
Blogging Out Loud: telling "hilarious" stories and not being honest about how crappy things were, in case she didn't believe me and/or thought I was pathetic.

It was three expensive months of not much progress and soooooo much denial. I bawled and/or binged and binged and binged after every session. I was tempted to churn out a few of my "I'm doing great now!" blog posts even when I wasn't, because I felt like I should have been doing better.

But slowly, slowly... light bulbs started going off. The energy saving kind that take awhile to warm up, but still, progress.

Recently I got home from work and went to get changed for a workout. I saw my favourite winter coat in the wardrobe and for some reason decided to try it on. It was so tight that I couldn't get it over my shoulders. I looked in the mirror and the bullshit and denial just fell away. I plonked on the bedroom floor and had a cry for twenty minutes.

Then I thought, Righto, ENOUGH. I got up, put on my gym clothes and did a Cathe weights DVD. I started sniffling again halfway through because I couldn't lift as heavy as I used to, but it still felt like a minor triumph over the "you suck, you're doomed!" voice.

"What has changed?" the shrink asked in our next session. What's changed is that I finally accept that I have work to do. I accept that I need to change the way I think and I accept that this takes hard work. I accept I need to communicate properly with my loved ones and not hide or deny problems.

I accept that I need to build a healthy relationship with food that will sustain me for the rest of my life. I had to buy size 18 jeans recently. I want to get back into my 14s but my approach is different now. It can't be about losing weight so I'll fit into a wedding dress, or have an ending for a book, or look acceptable to promote a book, or to live up to the expectations of certain people. It will never stick until deep down, I want to live a healthy life just for me.

I finally see how damaging the language of shoulds, musts and have tos has been. I see how needlessly worrying about what other people think has steered my actions. I see how hiding my problems has made them worse. Man, it's really embarrassing to realise how you've let things go to pot. Even more embarrassing to see how powerful the LA LA LA EVERYTHING'S FINE denial has been.

But I am writing this with a dopey grin on my face because I feel alive and clear-headed and unburdened. I've just spewed this entry straight from the guts today and feel like a complete WANKER for all the psychobabbly dullness but thought an update was overdue. It's been a very insular, delicate, roller coaster process that leaves you feeling very raw and haggard at times, so hopefully you can understand why the blogging has been sparse. I hope you're well and dandy and thank you, as always, for sticking around!

Dance Crack

2010-07-02T11:14:23+01:00

So far this week I've had three hits of Dance Crack, a.k.a Zumba. I'd do it seven days a week if I could. And I'm not alone in my obsession - the town has gone completely bonkers for it.

It seems every week a new class pops up. I mosey along hoping I'll be the only one who's heard about it, so there's enough space to move without getting my eyes gouged by a stranger's flying arms. According to new research 97.5% of Scots are apparently leading wildly unhealthy lives - surely everyone is too busy deep-frying their cigarettes to check out a dance class?

Nooo. The queues are always out the door and they actually have to turn away some booty shaking addicts.

On Wednesday I cheated on kickboxing to try a new class and it was good, aside from the hysterical gigglers. You do laugh a lot at Zumba - it's the best way to cope with the discrepancy between how you feel when you dance and the actual sight of your dancing in the mirror. But these two dames were insane with their constant, high pitched vuvuzela-esque squealing. They did not let up for the whole hour. I cannot salsa under those conditions!

Last night's class was in a primary school sports hall. The laughter levels were ideal and the pace was furious. It took two hours for my face to return to its normal colour. Definitely a keeper.

The only problem I can see with this evening dance frenzy is that it turns you into a zombie. When I got home I flopped on the couch to wait for my heart rate to return to earth. Gareth flopped beside me, equally knackered after doing a Sufferfest on the exercise bike. We were so powerless against our knackeredness that we could not summon the energy to stop watching one of the crappest movies of all time - Cleaner, starring Samuel L Jackson and Eva Mendes.

Samuel is an ex-cop who now cleans crime scenes for a living. He lands in deep poo after realising he's cleaned away evidence of a terrible murder. The suspense builds quite nicely only to have a bucket of cold water chucked over it by a pitifully dull plot "twist" that makes a Law and Order rerun look like Shakespeare. Then there's an awful voiceover at the end about cleaning and carpet stains as metaphors for the human condition that is so lame you will HOWL at the ceiling.

So the moral to the story is, if you get hooked on Zumba stay away from the telly afterwards. Just have a shower and go to bed!

Two Fit Chicks Episode 14 - Intuitive Eating

2010-06-28T13:50:40+01:00

We're talking about intuitive eating in today's new episode of Two Fit Chicks and a Microphone.

Intuitive eating has a gazillion aliases, such as mindful eating, non-dieting, conscious eating or just plain Eating In A Way That Doesn't Make You Want To Stab People.

I read a lot of Intuitive Eating books about four years ago and thought, "Well, derr" because I was going great guns and full of smug at the time. And then when things went off the rails I started re-reading in panicky, "Show me the holy grail" fits of desperation.

Carla is a veteran intuitive eater - she was at it for years, intuitively, before she realised it had a fancy name. Her calm attitude to eating convinced me to revisit the concept and now I'm working like a mofo to forge a healthier relationship with food. I thought I was there a few years ago, but clearly I have more work to do. That is a giant beast of a post for another day.

In the meantime, if you're a serial dieter and wonder if there can ever be an end to the struggle - why not give this episode a listen. Carla shares how she became a mindful eater, I talk about my experiments with it, then we share some tips and ideas for getting started.

» Check out Episode 14 over at the Two Fit Chicks website

Who are your self esteem heroes?

2010-06-21T14:22:38+01:00

Recently I linked to Already Pretty, a fantastic blog by Sally McGraw about personal style and body image. Last Monday she wrote yet another brilliant post about her self esteem heroes.

It's easy to focus on and amplify the memories of those who have given your self-esteem and/or body image a kicking. Family members remarking on sturdy thighs, teachers pointing out chubbiness (so professional), or girls who called you a "red-headed slut" in high school. Despite having red hair themselves.

(Actually that last one made me chortle at the time and still does two decades later!)

Sally wrote:

But let’s talk instead about the quiet heroes of your self-esteem. Who in your life makes you feel gorgeous, powerful, perfect? Which friends and family members are quick with a compliment, or eager to re-route the conversation when you start tearing yourself down?

Such a cool idea. Here's my list - incomplete for sure, but it's been awhile since posts. No time for dilly-dallying!

Colin the Kickboxing Coach - I wrote previously that he deserves a knighthood for services to self esteem. He makes everyone in the team feel welcome, from prize fighter to prize wussbag. Whenever I'm about to punch myself in the noggin with frustration he'll pop up and say, "nice kick" or "good work, keep going!" and that you suck! voice is sent back in its box.

Kellie the Zumba Lass - I'm an anonymous number in an insanely crowded classes - she wouldn't know me if she tripped over my beet-faced sweat-basted semi-conscious body. But her classes make me feel so freakin' alive - I'm always there, fully present with shaking booty. Afterward I'm giddy and can't shut up about it all day.
Sister Rhi - We dissect our lives in a weekly phone debrief, lifting each other up and laughing at ourselves and our misadventures.
Carla - Our podcast calls leave me buzzing and determined to make the most out of my days. Carla makes me see how important it is to be passionate about what you do and not let other's opinions stop you.
Dr G - He is very economical with his words - a man of action to my slug with verbal diarrhea.

"Your eyes look especially blue today" I'll say.

"Yeah," comes the reply, "Blue EYE BAGS!".

Or: "You're looking very tan lately, Doc!"

"It's just dirt!"

But he makes me feel loved and happy to be alive by making me laugh - half the time he doesn't even realise he's said something funny, which makes it even better. He also knows when to give a hug and can tell the difference between carefree joke and joke-to-disguise-inner turmoil.

He also always remembers when it's Haircut Day so he can say, "I like your 'do!" when I arrive home even though he can't really see a difference.

How about you?

How to grow pea shoots

2010-06-14T10:00:00+01:00

I've been busting to tell you about the quickest, cheapest and easiest-to-grow salad leaf ever - pea shoots!

Pea shoots are simply the young leaves of a pea plant. Normal garden pea plants take months to grow and require more space and effort that my garden and enthusiasm currently allow. But pea shoots take just 2-4 weeks, and with minimal effort you are rewarded with delicate, juicy and tender leaves and tendrils.

I'd seen pea shoots in restaurant dishes or in expensive plastic bags at the supermarket and thought they must be a bit posh. But when Alys Fowler recently demystified them on her show The Edible Garden, it looked so foolproof I had to give them a bash. She has red hair and you have to trust your own kind.

You start with a bag of ordinary old dried peas from the supermarket. This 500g bag cost about 60p and I've sowed six batches from it already.

If you're lucky you might come across these daggy Leo brand dried peas, just like the ones Alys used on her show. These were 51p for 250g so you are paying for the retro packaging.

Grab a container of choice and some potting compost (potting mix as they call it in Australia. What do you call it in the US? Is it all the same? Help me, proper gardeners! I guess I mean some nice healthy brown stuff? I use peat-free). You're only after the shoots here so you don't need it to be very deep - I use an inch or two.

Now scatter over some dried peas, then lightly cover them with some more compost. Water them gently - don't get too carried away like I did otherwise the peas will float to the top and you'll be cranky.

Leave them outdoors or on a sunny window sill. Water them whenever the soil looks a bit dry. If the sun is blasting hot move them into a shadier spot so they don't wilt. Not much of an issue round these parts :)

While you wait for the pea shoots to grow you can observe the loony squirrel across the street that climbs up to a second-floor window ledge then can't figure out how to get down.

Honestly he sat there for two hours. At first I thought he was asleep but then I zoomed in on his little face and it was a genuine "how the feck did I get into this mess?" expression. We were just about to head across the street with a ladder when he finally scrambled down.

So here's the first batch of pea shoots. I went completely overboard with the dried peas so it was like a pea afro. Once they're an inch or two high you just head outside with your scissors whenever you want a salad and snip off some leaves! Or just stick your face right into the plant and nibble like a rabbit.

They taste best when they're young and crisp - here in Scotland it's taking about two or three weeks. The flavour is delicate and fresh and faintly pea-some. After that the leaves start going a little flimsy.

Uses for pea shoots: Salads (especially when feta is involved!), stir-fries; garnishes for soups. Maybe stick them in those green smoothies. I like just munching a handful of shoots by themselves.

Growing pea shoots is so easy and perfect if you're short on space. They grow in pretty much anything - I'm using old yogurt pots and those dishes that mushrooms often come in - just punch some holes in the bottom for drainage.

So if you love your greenery and resent paying £2 for a plastic bag of weeds down the shops, why not give them a go?

Friday Link Feast #8

2010-06-11T12:24:05+01:00

World Cup! World Cup! World Cup! What do you mean you don't care for football, it's the World Cup! World Cup! World Cup! Party!

It is not going to be the same this year without my lustbucket headbutting supercrush Zidane but I can't wait to see if a new athletic lad captures my imagination. And of course I hope Australia does alright but I drew Holland in the office sweep so their triumph could mean a mighty £30!

Meanwhile I'm huffy because I pulled my calf muscle at kickboxing, doing a tuck jump. Okay, attempting a tuck jump. I'm just not built for anything plyometrical. I looked in the mirror and noticed I was barely leaving the ground so thought, Must try harder. I leapt up then felt a horrible twiiiing!

I hobbled around yesterday, then felt okay this morning until I was running late for the bus. I stepped off the curb with too much vigour and the calf twiiiinged again. Had to shuffle back home and ask Dr G for a lift to work. Now it hurts like a bastard!

So no Zumba for me tomorrow. I'm pathologically addicted to Zumba at the moment so this is crushing. Why is it whenever I finally get my exercise groove back, I always push too hard too soon!? Boo.

Some links for you today!

Gwen Bell: Hooked on Social Media? From Addiction to Discernment
Do you check your Tweets on the loo? Maybe it's time to scale back a little!
Green Gourmet Giraffe: Advice for Gluten Free beginners and kids
If you or someone in your family needs to eat gluten free, or just have a gluten free person coming for tea, this is great basic advice about what to eat and how to use those weirdo flours.
Already Pretty: Figure Flattery Priorities
How does dressing to "flatter your figure" fit in with positive body image and self acceptance? Interesting post and comments.
Tonya Leigh: 10 Compelling Reasons to Stop Complaining
A very convincing list... but where would blogs be without the incessant bitching?
Pink of Perfection: $5 Dinner - Spring Vegetable CousCous
Another insanely quick, genuinely easy but very lush dinner from the lovely Sarah.

Two Fit Chicks Episode 13 - Growing Old Disgracefully

2010-06-07T11:33:49+01:00

After six weeks in the wilderness, today there is a brand new episode of Two Fit Chicks and a Microphone!

Carla and I chat to Stephanie Dolgoff, author of My Formerly Hot Life about her experiences of changing identity and body image as she gets older. We also tackle some more listener questions on topics including losing weight in a hurry, protein and exercise guilt. We finish up with a spectacular bumper edition of Blogger News!

» Check out Episode 13 over at the Two Fit Chicks website