12 Days of Xmas to go
Why not get the kids together – and do this.
Put it in a tin…
And that is Xmas visitor munchies
“who wants tea or coffee?” people sorted out
while you make that face again…
Sugar-free Christmas Cookies. – Hazaa to you!
“Yeah, Auntie Val…they ARE homemade
I know – I am rather awesome, I won’t lie…”
Sugar Free Xmas Biscuits
Worth it for the smell when they’re cooking.
Ingredients:
- 4 tbsp honey
- 160g unsalted butter, softened
Yes. Actual real butter.
- 250g whole-wheat flour
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tbsp of ground ginger
- Zest of 1 Orange
- 2 tsp Orange juce
- 1 tsp of mixed spice
- One medium egg
Method:
Preheat your oven to 180c (gas Mk 4).
Melt the butter and honey in a small saucepan over a low heat.
Pour into a large bowl and allow to cool.
Beat your egg and stir into the liquid.
Sieve your dry ingredients and slowly stir in.
Roll in your hands until you have a smooth dough.
Dust a clean surface with flour and roll out very thinly.
Using a festive cookie cutter, cut into the desired shapes.
Place on a greased baking sheet and place in the middle of your oven.
Bake for just 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Put in a tin.
If they don’t get eaten by then, they will last a week
in an airtight container.
Which they will, so that was purely theoretical.
So, anyway, how is going?
I spoke to a woman today,
for whom…it is not going so well.
Long story (as they all are)
but the upshot of it is – she’s in a no-win situation.
Now I don’t know about you
but I am usually of the opinion
that I can come up with an ingenious solution
to most things.
If someone presents you with a dilemma
then, you normally can quickly give
your best fix.
Right?
But for this lady
there just isn’t one.
She and her family are facing storm ahead they can all see it looming and there isn’t a thing that any of them can do
about it.
They are just waiting..
And brilliantly she said to me:
(actually she attributed this
to the fact that she practices Mindfulness daily)
“We are just going to ride it out.
And deal with things as they come”
How BRILLIANT is that?
Whilst most people would go to pieces and lose the plot,
Start shouting at everyone, sobbing “why me?” between mouthfuls of chocolate Ben & Jerry’s…
this superb woman is going to keep calm, practice Mindfulness, and make the best of whatever life throws at her.
Because:
“I’m no use to anyone in hysterics, am I?”
Blew my mind for about ten minutes
And it made me think about perspective.
Every little problem in my life pales into insignificance
compared what this lady is dealing with.
And then, there’s;
Ebola, Middle East Unrest, War, the fact that every 80s TV/Pop star I liked when I was growing up has turned out to be evil…
(please never ever tell me anything bad about Brucie
as that would be the last straw)
Incurable illness, Poverty, Inequality, Climate Change,
Water Shortages, Credit Crunch,
Tragic news every day
The stuff we see on the news every day
is SO big
and SO awful
and SO massive
That it almost becomes like a fiction..
A REAL fiction.
Anyway – have you got all your Christmas
Shopping done yet?
What did we do there?
We, quite rightly, put all those things into the folder
marked ‘things that I cannot do anything about’.
And there is this other folder, on the mental shelf entitled…”things I am going to do later.”
If there is one thing we want to convince you of
is that procrastination…pretty much ENSURES failure.
Every time.
That’s what everyone else does.
When someone says: “I will try to get along to the gym”.
I know it’s highly unlikely
The World is full of people who are going to just
- have a last tiny little bit of that cake
- cut out that ever increasing number of evening glasses of wine
- get back to exercise after Xmas.
MORE Real Fictions
stories we tell ourselves..
to let us off the hook of doing anything about it now.
Now is what is going to make it happen.
Now is what makes it PERFECTLY OK to make biscuits and have one with your tea..
and enjoy the festive season, being Mindful and measured..
According to the British Dietetic Association
the average person put on 5lbs over the festive season.
Anecdotally, that seems a bit low
Still not nice when you look at it…
Incidentally – 5lbs of fat on the left – 5lbs of muscle on the other side
#justsaying..
The way to success is every decision that you take from this second onward.
Not Fiction.
- Swap the unhelpful food for better food at every opportunity.
- Burn some extra Calories off every day.
- Get more sleep
- Practice Mindfulness.
Tiny steps that won’t impact on your life.
Damage Limitation.
Even progress.
(incidentally, We have the usual flurry of people already getting in touch to start their Annual ‘New Year – New Me’ regime…..
but the ones I know WILL succeed
no question
are the ones that want to start BEFORE Christmas
There is no other moment than the one you are in.
As we said last week – we spend time in The Project helping you have brilliant sleep in The Project.
Here’s a 20 minute sleep hypnosis that you can try tonight.
Look out for our Sleep Training video which shows you some shocking science about how a different sleep routine can DRASTICALLY change your body shape.
We’d love to hear how you got on.
Lots of Love
xxxx
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