It's Friday!!

Wow this week has been tiring!  I hope it is due to the fact that it was my first full week back in work after the Christmas Break.  

I am back in Swords for a meeting this morning and then in Blanchardstown for the afternoon.  My drive this morning took me past the National Conference Centre. I took the below photo of it as I was stopped on the new bridge over the Liffey.  I'm unsure of this bridges name - I just call it the new bridge.  In fact I don't think I know the names of any of the other bridges except the walkable Ha'penny Bridge (so named because it used to cost a Half Penny to cross!) and also Millennium Bridge

Currently there are issues with the Ha'penny bridge - damage is being caused by people attaching "Love Locks" to it. Along with damage, it costs Dublin City Council a lot of money to remove the locks.

Have you heard of "Love Locks"? They are currently the scourge of many European Cities.  The concept is that a couple buys a padlock, writes their names on it, locks it to a landmark bridge and then they throw away the key.  Cute concept perhaps - but not when it destroys heritage sites.  Maybe the council should provide a particular site for these love locks to be attached to???

 

Next time I am in the city I may take a stroll down to the Ha'Penny Bridge and take a few photos of the bridge and maybe a few locks if I can spot them.

 

I had a little time before my meeting so I went to Starbucks in the Pavillions Shopping Centre.

I bring my own cream to Starbucks - is that weird???

I can't use their cream because they add a vanilla sugar flavoring and I am not consuming sugar these days (I'm substituting fat for sugar to aid weight loss!)

Swords, County Dublin

I spent the day in Swords today.  It was a grey day here in County Dublin but I still got out for a walk during my lunch.

 

Here is Swords Castle which the Council has done a great job in removing all of the hoarding in front of the castle and making it a focus at the end of the town.

County Hall Swords, Fingal County Council - this is a very attractive building sited across the road from the Castle. 

Here's a picture of the main street.

I was saddened to see so many boarded up shops.

I am very surprised to see this café is closed - it seemed generally busy when I used to work in Swords.

 

This used to be a busy deli/supermarket.

And this store used to house a large hardware shop which seemed to do good business.

 

This seemed to be a shut up men's suit shop.

 

The other end of main street seemed to have less empty units with pubs, banks and a few other businesses.  I guess many of the businesses have moved to the large newish Pavilions Shopping Centre at the other end of the town.

 

I should mention that I am still losing weight on the LCHF diet - if you are interested in joining the Fat Revolution, click here for more info.  This diet is for you if you want to give up counting calories, feeling hungry all the time or constantly feeling like you have low blood sugar. 

 

LCHF in Ireland

Yesterday we started our day with coffee in Starbucks Rathmines.  I bring my own cream as I think they may put sugar in their whipped cream.  Rathmines is a nice new Starbucks. However, it can be quite loud due to the spaciousness of the design.  It also has a lot of hard surfaces - I think the new Starbucks have been designed to be a lot less comfortable than the older ones.  It means that people won't stay as long, hogging chairs and using their free wifi!

Afterwards we did our grocery shopping in Dunnes.  I bought meat, nuts, butter, cheese and fish.  Hopefully it will do us for 2 weeks as I am not too keen on shopping for food.

We bought rashers (bacon) for breakfast and had them with scrambled eggs.

Today the weather is quite wild and windy here in Ireland.  Annoyingly I woke up and remembered that I had put a rack of clothes out in the yard yesterday to dry and had forgotten to take them in last night.  They are soaked!  So that's two loads of clothes I have to rewash today.   :-(

Last night we went to see "American Hustle" which is based on true events.  There are parts of the film that are somewhat unbelievable but we thought it was an enjoyable film.  I do love the style of the 1970's - Amy Adams wore some awesome clothes in the film.  Of course we were unable to enjoy any popcorn, ice cream or candy at the cinema because we are on a LCHF diet.  We brought nuts and seeds with us and bought bottled water when we got there.  I won't lie seeing everyone around us eating goodies was difficult!

For fun check out this video of my sisters cat "Harry", being shocked by a wet feather.  Normally he is a big brazen cat that is shocked by nothing so it's cute to see him acting a little vulnerable!

Click here to read "Twingenious" a blog my twin sister and I write about the LCHF Lifestyle in Ireland.

It's the weekend!

My plan for the day is
1. Coffee in Coffee Society
2. Pay bills in the post office
3.  Breakfast of bacon and eggs
4. Go to the city with Ciaran - he's buying new clothes
5.  Clean my house - take down the Christmas tree
6.  Dinner of pulled pork (have it in the slow cooker currently)


******

Update>
Went in to town and browsed a few shops.  Bought a top in Zara and also a jumper and another top in TK Maxx.

Ciaran bought a shirt in Zara and a pair of black brogues in TK Maxx.

Then we got straight back in the car and drove home.

We visited French Connection, Dunne and also H&M.  We did not find the sales to be any good   :-(

  Later on I made LCHF "Chips". 

All you need to do is grate cheese in to piles on a baking sheet.

Pop the cheese under the grill.

Voila!  Cheese chips!

A tasty high fat low carb snack

 Have you ever tasted cheese chips?

Sugar is poison!

"Sugar is poison!" 

 

That's my current mantra as I tuck in to my Low Carb High Fat diet.

 

For breakfast I had scrambled eggs made with butter along with a cup of coffee with cream.

 

Here's a pic of my lunch.  Tuna from a can (in oil) with full fat mayonnaise and another cup of creamed coffee.

Dinner was a chicken fillet cooked in butter with broccoli cooked in butter along with ice berg lettuce with blue cheese and a blue cheese dressing - all so tasty!

After dinner I had a snack of Melted Cornish Cruncher Cheese with cider from Marks & Spencer - this tasted incredible!!

 

Then I had some nuts while watching TV

Come join the health revolution - ditch the carbs and embrace the fat!!

And remember if you are really missing your poison (carbs) there is always "Oopsie Bread"

We need to talk about butter....

"Eat less saturated fat: that has been the take-home message from the U.S. government for the past 30 years. But while Americans have dutifully reduced the percentage of daily calories from saturated fat since 1970, the obesity rate during that time has more than doubled, diabetes has tripled, and heart disease is still the country’s biggest killer. Now a spate of new research, including a meta-analysis of nearly two dozen studies, suggests a reason why: investigators may have picked the wrong culprit. Processed carbohydrates, which many Americans eat today in place of fat, may increase the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease more than fat does."  (From Scientific America)

 

After watching an hour long movie called  Cereal Killers my thinking on low fat diets has dramatically changed. 

 

Here in Ireland we grew up learning that the food pyramid was the recommended way to eat.  The food pyramid advises that the base of your diet should be carbohydrate.

 

The pyramid stems from research carried out in the States in the 1960's that said a low fat high carb diet was the healthiest. 

 

However at the same time research in England was showing that a high fat low carb diet was best for reducing diabetes risk, a healthy heart and less of a cancer risk.

 

The US research won out.

 

There is a change starting.  Sweden has become the first country to recommend the high fat low carb diet.  Have a look at this extremely thought provoking video.

 

Ciaran and I have decided to change our diet to a Low Carb, High Fat diet.  I will keep you updated with how it goes but in the meanwhile have a look at how we have started out, what we bought and what we ate for brunch.

 

Here is what we bought: lots of eggs, meat, cheese, nuts and fish.

 

For brunch I cooked scrambled eggs (with butter) and rashers (bacon)

Tasted great!

I plan to eat a lot of eggs.....

.....and butter! 

 

How cool is my Le Creuset Butter Bell - it keeps butter fresh at room temperature by using a seal of water at the base of the bell

Mmmmm.....lots of Kerrygold Irish Butter

This was dinner.  Steak with garlic butter and broccoli along with salad with blue cheese dressing (I crumbled blue cheese on the lettuce also).

Do you eat a low carb diet?  Do you have any thoughts or helpful hints on the above?

Happy New Year!

It's New Years Day here in Ireland and it is bucketing down rain.  We have had some serious storms over the last while which had left large parts of the country without power. for a little while.  Luckily the rain held off for the large open air concert in Dublin City last night.  We were not in the city, we rang in the New Year with friends in the local pub which was good fun!

 

Here's how my day panned out yesterday.  I was in work for a half day and had planned to take the bus in but instead Ciaran gave me a lift and we went for coffee beforehand.  I finished work and took the short bus ride to my parents house for lunch.  It was really nice and I enjoyed a glass of wine too.

 

Here is the table all laid out for dinner in my parents house.

 

For dessert there was a chocolate cake from the Butler's Pantry.  Yum!

 

At 7.30 we met friends in the Tap House for food.  The gang split at about 10.30pm with some going in to the City Centre for the NYE concert which "Madness" playing at.  About 8 of us stayed in the pub to ring in the New Year, leaving for home at about 12.30pm in 2014!

The sliders were great!

As was the platter of steak bites

Here I am pretending to be a giant while eating my slider!

All in all we had a good night, I hope you enjoyed your celebrations too!