natjtan Happy July!
June flew by leaving me scratching my head if I actually did anything. The days were somewhat Groundhog yet raced by. This week I’ve been experimenting switching things around to find a better routine. TBH, if I got up earlier things would be done earlier. Anyway, Weekend Friday Favourites, things that have made me smile or caught my eye.
Cherries
I’ve never been a cherry girl. In fact as much as I love fruit I can never eat fruit unless grapes on its own. I have to have yoghurt or something with it. In May I started a low histamine diet to help try and find the source of constant bloating and sometimes pain after eating. All my favourite floods, basically most of the foods I live on were out. Tomatoes, avocados, strawberries, mushrooms, lemons, cinnamon, chocolate to name a few. I’ve been good and have stuck to it. I drew the line at peanut butter as I live on that and tea. Coffee was off the list and I don’t drink it anyway. Peanut butter, darjeeling tea and green tea weren’t going anywhere. Oh and ketchup. That was staying too. I’m gradually introducing the no no list to see how much my tummy accepts. What has this to with cherries? I’ve replaced cherries instead of strawberries in my porridge/oatmeal for breakfast and they’re delicious! If only they could be in season all year round as if there’s one meal of the day I never tire of or get bored on being on repeat is breakfast.
As for the bloating, it has gone down. The biggest issue is making sure I get enough fat. I still get regular allergies however maybe having healthier gut bacteria I can handle regular alleriges as my body isn’t fighting everything. Let’s just say I know when I’ve eaten something I shouldn’t the next day or earlier that day. TMI Nat!
Climbing In Shorts
I’m happy wearing shorts all summer long except in gyms. I happily too wear them running and working out at home however for some reason I’m really uncomfortable and self conscious wearing them in gyms. Thanks to various injuries behind my knees and thighs I have spider vein maps and my mums varicose veins are peeking. Plus the jiggle jumping, sun damage beginning to show on my knees (the creepy skin which is the worst. My age is showing.) I get embarrassed. I shouldn’t, I’ve been working out half my life and still not confident in shorts in gyms. It’s like the fact I’ve been working out I shouldn’t have the veins
Wearing leggings last week climbing it was so hot. The legging were old too so the wicking ability was less and I had enough. Other girls wear shorts. Okay, they’re 10-15 years younger than me, they’ve still got collagen reserves, the triangle face lift as opposed to mine to start of the inverted triangle face. The result? Nothing bad happening wearing shorts. Nothing. I didn’t care. I was cooler, the shorts were new so things felt lifted if you get me, my legs jiggled, I climbed the same and nobody looked at my shorts. In fact I felt more confident. The moral, just wear the shorts, life’s too short. If anybody has an issue with it it’s their issue.
Ice Lolly Molds
I can get vegan ice cream here, but it’s so expensive and sometimes too much or rich to eat. Most of the time in the summer I just want an ice lolly that’s not filled with sugar. I’ve been seeing cute flat shape molds in watermelon, rocket, teddy bear shapes but they come in plastic and we’re talking about me who still can’t find where her mouth is. These are a better shape as not to drip down your arm or break off going every where. I have some but no idea where they are. Probably buried in the freezer. They were more expensive that the cute flat moulds which are around €3-5 each at €14 for 3 however they’re Nat friendly for spills.
Radish Leaves
Did you know you can eat radish leaves?! I didn’t! I’ve been growing my own radishes this summer on the balcony and I felt so bad that I grew so few and threw most of it away. A quick search later, radish leaves are edible. The kind I’ve been growing are a little barby, yet chopped up in a salad with dressing they’re nice. Peppery with a little kick.
Mullets and Pompanos
As much as possible I’ve been in the water this week. The pompanos are back, bullying I think the mullets. There’s been 2 massive mullets which made me jump first seeing them. The water is quite shallow and I got stuck in my head the mullets might try to bite me and got a little argh scared. I was no, keep calm. If dogs can sense humans are nervous around them, I’m sure fish can too. The mullets just look up then ignore me.
Baby Orangutan
There’s a new resident at Barcelona Zoo! Please excuse the photo quality.
Business Insider: How Sand Made From Crushed Glass Rebuilds Louisiana’s Shrinking Coast. World Wide Waste
Did you know there’s actually a shortage of sand for glass and concrete? takes glass and turns it back into sand. Ideas like this make you feel really dumb that you don’t come up with the know how to do this. I wish more places would do this.
My escape from the world this week, Taxi Driver. Set in Seoul, the Rainbow Taxi service provides what the police and prosectors can’t for victims and families of the victims, revenge.
Petitions To Stop The Yulin Dog Meat Festival
Please sign to stop this pointless cruel festive:
What’s been making you smile this week or caught your eye? Please share in the comments below!
Thank you for stopping by and have a great weekend!
Thank you for sharing, Natalie. My youngest daughter was home from Western Canada for 11 days. It was really nice to see her again, which made me smile. She went back early this morning.
I was curious to learn more about the Histamine diet so I checked out your link. I learned I do eat more low histamine foods than high histamine. I’m glad blueberries, apples and oats are low. I do eat beans 4 or 5 times a week however. And most days I will add a banana and frozen pineapple in my smoothie. Interesting the article mentioned that “freezing foods lessens histamine generation in foods.”
Even guys can be self conscious in shorts, Natalie. I myself have nasty varicose veins (from my mom). If I run alone I’ll most likely be wearing shorts. But in a group or race it is usually long compression socks and longer tights.
I hope you are doing well. Have a great summer. 😎
Hi Carl! Thank you for stopping by! I hope you had a good time spending time with your youngest daughter! Does she run too?
It’s a maze with the histamine diet. I’m slowing working out what levels my body can handle if it’s the food causing all of it. It doesn’t help like I said some foods that are high I drew a line at eliminating. The key I think is to eat varied so the mircobiomes don’t get same old same old.
I’m happy guys can feel self conscious in shorts too. It’s hard sometimes being a girl and we think that guys have it easy as they don’t always seem to care! Compression socks would be my number one if I did long distance runs. The furthest I run know is 7km which is like sprint to you, hehehe!
Have a fun summer too! It’s so short so I try to get outside and enjoy it as much as possible 😃
Hi Natalie. My daughter used to run but has gotten away from it. She keeps fit, but doing more hiking these days.
Looking at the weather in Europe these days you are definitely going to need shorts. Please keep safe. 🙏
Hiking is great exercise. Walking in general is very underrated!
Thankfully here in Barcelona we rarely hit 35C. It has been hotter than usual and shorts are very much appreciated. Sadly further out in Catalunya there has been wildfires. Inland gets so much hotter than the coast. I hope Canada manages to keep cool this summer!