Reflection on another eventful week

Now I've got down that Blueberry Yoghurt recipe, I can go on to say this week has flown by and I have not even made a single blog entry, even though I have loads to report.

People at work are very interested in my diet, some positive and some less so. One lady said this week, 'but Amy, you're not exactly (she paused for a moment while she chose her word carefully) hearty are you?' Presumably meaning I was thin. I just stared at her trying to formulate an answer that would reveal and reject the implication that in order to be healthy you need to be a bit fleshy, all in one short and succint sentence. Of course I failed and said nothing.

After receiving a complaint letter from a customer saying that they'd had food poisoning for a week after eating some kipper fillets bought from the supermarket where I work, I jokingly said to my boss that, of course, you don't get food poisoning from vegetables. He, quick as a flash, answered 'No, you just die from malnutrition.' Why I can't I be so sharp as that! This time I consciously decided it best not to enter into discussion, gave a polite titter but said nothing.

On the whole though I think most people are genuinely intrigued - there are two colleagues who always bring up veganism whenever they talk to me, and they obviously give quite a lot of thought to it and seem to understand where I'm coming from, even if they don't completely agree. Happily, the one lady who has been rude to me ('Are you eating real food today or grass?') is out working in another store for the forseeable future.

Moving on - this week I have spent much less time preparing meals and neither my stomach nor tastebuds have suffered for it. One thing that is great to throw together is small cauliflower florets, cashews, flax oil and nutrional yeast. I had the idea from the ingredients of cashew 'cheese' sauces, and my (then) boyfriend told me he'd done something similar which brought it all together. They say nutrional yeast creates this kind of 'cheesy' flavour.

I have also mastered making a salad I used to spend ages grating up by hand by just putting all the ingredients in the food processor, and have re-discovered the hand-blender, which saves so much time spent jiggling the blender trying to get the mixture moving, then taking it apart and washing it all after ... hand-blenders are the way forward.

The day before last, I took my breakfast to work and ate nothing til 11am, which is the time I always get hungry, whether I've eaten before I've left the house or not. Then I skipped lunch and ate when I got home. I made my breaky more filling using an extra large banana and mesquite, which according to Shazzie holds your hunger for up to 6 hours! This seemed to work for me. Today I did the same but had green juice before I left the house, and had a raw snack bar at lunch time. Both days I ate when I got home and felt satisfied. I have been reading Tonya Zavasta and am trying not to eat too early in the morning or too late at night to give my digestive system a rest. I feel a juice fast may be on the horizon; however, I think I have been able to go longer between meals the last couple of days as they have all contained nuts, avocado and seeds... fats which won't be contained in a juice fast! So we'll have to see what happens!

Finally, I am going to London for a lecture tomorrow - 'The insider secrets to success on a living foods diet' with Brian and Anna Maria Clement (from the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida.) Will tell all when I get back. For now better get to bed!