Ultimate Challenge. 457 days / £16600!!!

NinjaSavingKat

Yup - missed payment. I paid it over the phone on Sunday though. How weird that you used those smoothies. Yes I will be looking into the whole frozen fruit thing - the LLL has frozen mango so I might invest in something similar for an added antioxidants! I usually like apple juice in mine but will try it "straight up" as she suggests and see if the sugar content is suficient - yes pond scum springs to mind! Lol!

NinjaSavingKat

Right then! My diet has been taking a battering recently ( for the good ) and I was thinking that since I wanted to make this into another challenge ( oh no!!! ) I need to write about it! Then I wondered where I could write in order to create a "cravings and gripes" log of how I drag my sorry carcass into healthy-habit forming goodness! Then TA DA!!! Why look any further that right here alongside my money gripes...:rotfl:

There will be a lot I need to take into consideration if I am to continue on my tight budget as I am AND eat healthier! So where better than you cheese loving ladies to share my woes, my dreams of goats cheese on Ryvita and hearing halloumi sizzling on the grill while cooking quinoa...blurghhh! :rotfl:

But seriously.... my desire for clear skin is so self ensompassing I am ready to do anything. If it weren't for the fact I update regularly at work I would identify myself and let you see the state my skin is in at the moment. But I can't risk being found out and sacked! :A

So I am starting to slowly follow the diet advise from Kimberly Snyder! I am not sure how close to the mark I can do it but I am going to try. I have her book that's called The Beauty Detox Solution and is the only one that I have found that focuses on skin, the effects of certain foods on skin and most of all ENERGY levels! It makes sense... but there are aspects I need to get used to...I need to read more of her book and go over a few points as I like to know the science behind things, why I am doing things, how they effect my body etc etc..I am actually quite annoying!..However I have gleaned this so far..

So ...

• No tea. I can't drink it without milk and sugar so it's being cut out altogether.
• No Dairy for 3 months of any kind. (Milk, eggs, yoghurt, CHEESE, cottage cheese or anything with dairy added to it).
• No fizzy drinks, cordial or fruit juices due to added sugar.
• Limited sugar, and chocolate.
• Vegetables intake will be exponentially increased.
• Smoothies incorporated as a breakfast replacement after water with lemon juice.

Now I am not going to say this will be easy! Actually I found myself on the cheese isle in Morrisons the other day just looking, and looking and salivating. I would have bought goats cheese but there was none... I bought avocados instead!

So this is my aim - to have beautiful skin. And be a little more clever about how I eat...

I managed to cut out tea already, sugar intake is down to an all time low. I am in taking a green smoothie every morning for the last three whole days...:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:..I have had only a small block of cheese bought two weeks ago and consumed ...and that was only 180g (although that cheese pizza at my friends house on Saturday might count as well )... but all in all I am doing better than I have been and think these headaches are something to do with my body expelling all the cheesy / sugary nasties... I hope...

I need a nap now though. Might have a wee swim and sauna tonight...

liltdiddylilt

Up up up up your intake of water to combat the headaches. 3 days of being very very good & drinking tonnes and they will go.

When I did a very low carb diet for a while to kick start my body a bit, the lack of carbs & sugar gave me a never ending headache. Be warned, pills do not work on it. Only masses of water & some exercise!

Good for you on starting being healthy. I bought quinoa today as I want to give my lovely jelly tot some may try to incorporate it into some foods myself...

May I ask, the tomatoes & lentils with chilli... Can it be stored? Does it freeze?

Hope the headaches go! Remember to incorporate some good fats into that diet. They are as good for your skin, hair & nails as anything else. Coconut oil maybe.

Hugs!

NinjaSavingKat

Helllllllllllllllllo Lilt!!!

Well I am now up to 2 litres a day and that's without the pint in the early hour when I get up with lemon and hot water. I carry a 2 litre bottle with me to work so I can keep track. Am feeling naturally very thirsty recently so it's not that much of a problem to keep up.

I am also going gluten free. Forgot to add that earlier. I slept from 1745 - 2030. Which was more than I wanted to but I think my body required it. Headache gone. Water doesn't help throughout the day with headaches but I shall prevail.

Took pooch for a walk, came home and made a smoothie for tomorrow morning and it's refrigerating as we speak. Had a lovely garlic salad before some pesto pasta and made some non-gluten free-cause-I-have-no-gluten-free flour baps with pineapple and sultanas. Snacks for work...

So sat here under a blanket enjoying the living room as the landlady is away until Saturday. My blanket is the same colour as pooch who was perched on top and snoozing.... in pads puddy-tat feeling super brave. She saunters passed the snoozing [STRIKE]dragon[/STRIKE] pooch and hops onto the sofa beside me, realises the camouflage doggy is VERY close so nestles on the armrest slightly out of view.... amazing. Both creatures within inches of each other and not going mental. It didn't last long though.. I had to get up and Mog was spotted... que hissing and swiping...:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

So I might stay up and watch trash on TV...;- )

Buffythedebtslayer

hello

just dropping in to say, I had dreadful acne for years, triggered by the pill, horrid scaring and disgusting spots. made me utterly miserable. hated my face.

Then I went to a Beauty Salon about a year ago, Dermalogica products and Bare minerals make up plus facials and 4 months later skin looked excellent, now getting a spot is a rarity and people comment on how good my skin is. I am SO pleased it is untrue. Best thing I have done.

I do find drinking cherry coke makes my skin worse and eating lots of meat as well.

I really think Dermalogica is fantastic tho.

take care xxxx

Siouxsie32

Oh I love Dermalogica Buffy...when I was busy building my debt I used to have the occasional facial and it was lovely. I wonder if I'll ever go back to them when I'm debt free.

Kat, did you ever get your £5 from Halifax?

I'm TERRIBLE when it comes to drinking water. I mean terrible. I never get thirsty so I have to remind myself to drink. I can (and very often do) go days without a single drink. I have a mug of coffee most days (5-6 a week) but otherwise nothing. I've always been like this....storing up kidney problems for the future? I guess I'll be the last survivor if there's a world end style disaster

My payslip has been published so I'm currently bashing figures around, plotting how much I can afford to pay towards my ever-decreasing debts! On top of that, I'm plotting the next 18 months and my journey to zero debt Oh, and I've even been getting excited about what happens after that (current plan is to spend January 2015 to June 2015 filling 2 years ISA allowance, giving me a £10k cushion. Actually, I'm desperate for a house move so the ISA cushion may be pushed to the back burner as soon as I can afford to move out of my current place.

I have a family holiday next month so I'll set aside £150 to cover petrol, food and general entertainment while I'm away...not sure how this will fit into July's challenge but I'll join anyway and somehow make it work. Otherwise, roll on payday so I can pay another chunk of debt off

his_missus

Kat, have you thought of trying dairy free "milk" in your tea or does it not taste the same/too expensive? If you enjoy a warm drink you should really try herbal teas.

What about sugar free cordial too? Though my friend won't touch the stuff due to the saccarine/ sugar substitutes.

I gave up caffeine once and suffered bad headaches. Your headaches are probably due to you giving up some foodstuffs.

Good luck with the healthy diet xx

NinjaSavingKat

Morning all...

Am about to have lunch but wanted to check in and say hello! HM I have been drinking herbal teas for years so they are not something special to me - dandelion coffee is and allows the transition away from tea to be a little more stress free. It can also be drank with soya milk. Tea with anything but cows milk is not nice but I am open to eliminating the caffeen altogether.

My friends husband is wanting to pack it in as well and is suffering headaches. If this is what our bodies go through while giving the stuff up what on earth is it doing on the inside? Drinking tea has no affect on me - I can sleep straight away. But clearly something on the inside is being affected.

I am feeling very hungry now - I have pesto pasta with garlic fried (naughty) corgette strips for lunch shortly. I have just eaten a small tub of carrot sticks, had a litre of GGS (green glowing smoothy for breakfast), have brown rice, a quorn fillet and lightly grilled vegetables for dinner around 6pm before heading home and probably not having anything else before bed.... with a home made sugar-free apple sauce and sultana muffin AND a Sunshine bun from Jack Monroes page..

These sunshine buns are great... flour, pineapple, carrot, sultanas, yeast and water. 6 buns made and freezed to fill me up and they are sweet due to using the pineapple juice in with the water....Although shall try them with gluten free flour soon. That should be interesting..

Siouxsie I am going to think through July's challenge today. I think it's important to remember people will be going on holiday and there needs to be days out planned... my pay slip has NOT been published yet. I am hoping above hope there is enough to throw an extra £1000 at the debt this month. I will cry otherwise. It means I can move my repayments out of January 2014 and get some headway as the current OT has not been forthcoming... GRR!!!

However I must admit, when I was at Uni, when my cystic acne hit and flared up to the point I have massive boils on my face Dermalogica facials didn't help nor did their products. I am having less massive cysts now but what is created on my face takes a while to heal ( although not so much recently when they have started to fade quite quickly which is weird ) so I ahve tried a good few products over the years - but like Siouxsie and her water I can be useless at keeping up a beauty regime until recently wher I have had a nice area to get ready instead of sitting on the floor like in most place I have rented..

Right I am off to gas the place out with garlic.... :rotfl:

Indebted2U

Hi Kat. Well done on the diet plan. I just wonder what you are going to do as a challenge once you're debt free, super healthy, with amazingly clear skin?

I gave up coffee once and can confirm the headaches seemed to disappear after 3 days or so? As for your skin, I had terrible acne in my teens, the only thing that worked was sunshine and a course of oral antibiotics from the doctor. Both combined to completely clear my skin in about 4 months and thankfully the acne never returned. If you've not tried the medical route I'd really recommend chatting to your GP about it & trying to get some sunshine on your face as often as possible. If you're not wearing any sunscreen about 20 mins a day seemed to work for me

NinjaSavingKat

Hello Indebted..... and Good Morning to Everyone Else...

I don't have acne perse.. right now my skin is almost entirely clear. I am on a preventative strike more than anything. I have meds from the Dr and have been seeing them for years but nothing has seemed to keep the cystic acne at bay. They won't seem to change the one I have, just suggested taking more of them (12 a day) but I think if something isn't working it isn't working. So I have stopped taking them. And I haven't had a flare up yet.

Also when I went to see a Dermatologist sod's law states my skin was super smooth and lovely and no where near what is required to prescribed stuff like Roaccutane.... so preventative is the way forward (although am booking to see a new GP soon as I have moved areas in the last few months)...

When I am debt free...... the urge to travel long term is getting stronger and stronger. So ultimatly the aim is to ensure I am completly debt free by the end of the year - 6-8 month will be spent creating a financial base in order to leave the country.

I am toying with selling my motorbike. It will be sad to see him go but needs must. I would intend to spend a month with my parents back in Northern Ireland and then travel through to various countries that have always peaked my interest...Japan / Columbia / Peru / Vietnam / Cambodia / thailand / Laos / Morocco... all the places a mother doesn't want her daughter going on her own...

I know there are dangers, there is a risk, but I will plan and have started already. I will incoporate a section on the Tran-Siberian or Trans-Asian railway as I love trains... (have done the Tran-Sib already)... incoporate Alaska into the fore and eventually end up in Australia to see family. I will need at least £10,000.

I just cannot settle into the struggles of saving for a house and miss what the world has to offer. I want to eat noodle soup in Thailand for breakfast.. buy myself a longyi in Burma.. visit the cat cafe in Japan... and generally live out of a rucksack for as long as possible.. blog my way around the world (need to create a viable niche that people will be interested in - "NSK on the Road"?..:rotfl:)

The most difficulty I would have is leaving my own cat. How sad. I would feel guilty and would take her with me if I could....hmmmmmmmmm "Round the World With a Mog" - theres a niche market....Otherwise I would tranport her to Ireland where my parents have agreed to look after her.

Don't get me wrong.. I know the pitfalls with my plans. How am I going to raise £10,000 in a 8 months.. how am I going to feel sellingmy most precious item... how will I survivie on my own ... these are things I need to research.

Simple as that. Why wait...