Banana Bread Supreme indeed!

I am more of a baker than a cook. This is the one thing I inherited from my mother, who was always baking things from scratch when we were growing up. (lucky me!)

If you are like me, you love a cup of tea and a little snack for morning tea. Just a little something to keep the 'think tank' going until lunch.

I'm a huge believer in home made food from scratch. You have control over every aspect of the ingredients and you know what's in your food!

In recent years with all the fuss about sugar and 'white foods' I've been trying to tweak a few recipes to add nutritional elements.

Two things that I've been changing with my baking is reducing or replacing sugar and seeing what I can substitute for anything that calls for vegetable oil.

This recipe calls for 1 c of sugar. I recently read that you can cut the sugar in any recipe and hardly notice the difference. So, I've changed that to 3/4 c of sugar and I use half rapadura sugar and half regular white sugar.

The rapadura sugar is an unrefined ingredient made from cane juice. It tastes more like molasses and gives the bread a lovely darker crust. (Using very ripe bananas will also add to the sweetness in this recipe.)

The other ingredient I add is greek yogurt. The original recipe called for sour cream.

I now use greek yogurt for EVERYTHING that originally calls for sour cream and that includes as a condiment for mexican food. Nobody in my family has ever noticed the difference and it works great in baking too! In fact if you have a muffin recipe that calls for oil you can replace it with the yogurt.

(Another little secret that my family don't know about is adding chia seeds. I grind a tablespoon in a coffee grinder and add to the batter. Chia seeds are packed with antioxidants, fibre, protein and Omega -3 fatty acids.)

So, here you go!

Banana Bread Supreme

1/2 C butter
3/4 C Sugar (1/2 rapadura, 1/2 white)
2 eggs
3 small mashed bananas (you can use defrosted bananas from your freezer)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C greek yogurt
2 C plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbs of white chia seeds ground (shhhhhhh!)
walnuts to stir in the at the end (do not use if putting in your child's lunchbox!)

Cream together butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Beat in bananas. Slowly add in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt mixture. Mix until moist. Stir in nuts with a wooden spoon, just before baking. Grease a loaf tin. (I usually make one standard size loaf with nuts and one small loaf or a few muffins with no nuts for the kids.)

Bake at 180/350 degrees for 45 min or 160/325 for 60 min. The loaf is ready when you can stick a knife in and it comes out clean. (Cool on a wire rack.)

You can enjoy this warm, cold or toasted with butter. I usually keep it in the fridge after it is cooled.

I hope you enjoy this. If you make any other 'tweaks' to the recipe or know how to make it gluten free, let me know.

See you soon,

Heather xoxo

PS If you like this blog, please like our Facebook page! Sending you lots of love today!

Who do you want to be when you grow up?

I'm sitting at the airport waiting for a flight that is eventually delayed. It's been a long day, waiting...

Whenever I'm stuck somewhere, I start watching people. (not in a creepy way)

Across the room is a woman sitting on a bench, her shoes are off and she is sitting yoga style with her legs crossed close to her body. She is reading a thick book intently and looks to be around 60 years old.

She is fit and I can tell by the 'yoga' style of sitting she is flexible and comfortable in her body.

I notice another woman. She is overweight and has a walking stick. When she gets up, it takes her some effort and she struggles to walk even a short distance. She also looks about 60.

I think about how I'm going to end up at the age of 60. I see two possibilities at either end of the spectrum before me.

I am currently skating on the coattails of my youthful health.

I've now stepped slightly into my forties.

Although not technically old, I'm at that point where youth will no longer be on my side to boost my metabolism and keep my cholesterol naturally low.

The choices I make now are more important for my health than the ones I made 20 years ago. If I don't take care of my body now, the down hill slide with gather momentum, and by the time I am 60 it will be a nearly impossible to change the tide.

Fast forward 6 months to this week.

I tentatively go to my first yoga lesson. I walk into the studio and meet my teacher. She is a small pixie like woman of about 65. She's been doing yoga for about 30 years. She's had her health issues, she told me, like a stroke, but yoga has helped her bounce back.

She puts me to shame with her flexibility and strength.

But now I know who I want to be when I grow up.

I've made the decision to act now.

It may not be easy, but there is so much to live for. I could be around for another 40 years. It's my choice now to make those years plentiful and healthy or the opposite.

When I grow up, I want to me the healthiest me, I can be.

See you soon,

Heather xoxo

P.S If you like this blog, please like our page! It would also mean so much if you shared this and other posts with your friends on Facebook. Let me know your thoughts about growing older.

How to know when it's time to stop and have a break

I could have named this post 'Why I hate Twitter' but that felt a little harsh.

I sat down last night for a little 'me' time. This meant that I finally had time to work on my website. 

The first thing I would get done would be to reinstate my Twitter account so that I could use it to post links to my blogs, etc.

A couple of years ago, when I first had this idea, I built my twitter account up to about 800 followers. 

As I logged on, I hit the first road block - someone had spammed my account. There were about 24 'tweets' advertising the best place to buy a ROLEX.

I took a deep breath and began deleting all of the posts one by one.

Then, with great excitement, I wrote a clever tweet with link to one of my favourite blog posts.

Second roadblock - A message popped up saying that I sounded like a spammer and the post could not be sent. 

So, I tried to write something else without a link, same result. 

I figured I'd do it another way. I went to my blog and tried to post a link to twitter by hitting the tweet button beneath the post. 

Third roadblock - 'Your tweet could not be accepted at this time.'

FINE!

I looked up the troubleshooting on Twitter. I learned that if your account has been hacked you need to change your password.

So, I login to change my password and it says it is sending a verification code to my selected email address. 

Fourth roadblock - It is an email address I no longer have!

I try to login the the old email. Wrong password, wrong password, WRONG PASSWORD!

So, I ask for help, nicely. 

Fifth roadblock - 'Safari no longer accepts this platform.'

By now, an hour has passed. My head was starting to hurt and felt like throwing myself on the floor.

So, I finally stop. 

I find my hubby and start to tell him what happened. He runs the other way.

I follow him and say, 'I have to tell you what happened or I'll explode!' I start to babble and then cry. 

Then he looks at me like, 'REALLY?' So then I start to giggle-cry. 

'This IS SERIOUS. I couldn't get into Twitter. You don't understand. This is important to me!!!!!'

The next day, it took me five minutes to fix the problem (no roadblocks) and now I can happily tweet away. (@potaotsackdiet if you want to find me.)

The moral is, when you are doing something and it gets to the point where you are actually 'shovelling potatoes into your sack', it's time to stop. Walk away. Find something else, anything else to do. 

Save your sanity, and that of the people around you. Life really isn't full of roadblocks. The timing is wrong. 

It doesn't hurt to have a sense of humour about these things. Relax, breathe, let it go. Come back to it later. It works every time.

See you soon,

Heather xoxo

Finding hope and a road map

I was going to begin this post by writing about my inability to do housework and tell you that I'm just not wired to do that kind of thing. 

I don't like mess, but I hate the 'drain' of cleaning it up more.

I was going to fill you in about creating a plan that I could stick to, how getting on top of the housework would help me to build good habits and clear my mental clutter.

S0, I put a little teaser out on my The Potato Sack Diet Facebook page and I got a response from a friend that changed my thinking... and this post. 

She told me to look up The Fly Lady. 

So I did.

Here's what I found... hope and a road map.

This woman (who was also hopeless at keeping house) figured out a way to make it happen, to organise herself and then she wrote a book about it and then created a HUGE online following.

It all starts with cleaning out your kitchen sink, and I mean until it gleams. Then it follows with basically getting up and dressed in the mornings and doing a little each day. 

She talks about 'hot spots' those terrible places where junk continually accumulates in your house. We all have them, and I probably have about 5!

She is calm, she is in charge and she cares. 

So, I'm not going to pontificate about how to clean your house. I'm just about those potatoes, but if cleaning your house is going to help you let go of those potatoes, I suggest you check her out too.

I will let you know how it goes. This is a high wall for me to scale. It's been a life long struggle. I want to beat this thing. I'm going to ditch the CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome) and embrace pride in my home.

Thanks to Shannon for the suggestion! This is why I'm doing this, to build a community that cares and shares its collective resources.

I've thought about starting one of those Facebook groups where different people can chime in with goals, progress and tips but I'm still not sure about that. If you have an opinion, please let me know. 

In the meantime, I am here to grow and I hope you are too. 

My goal is to one day provide 'hope and a roadmap' to others.

If you are enjoying this website, please comment, like and share!

I'd also love to hear the little things you are doing to let those potatoes go!

See you soon,

Heather xoxox
(With a gleaming sink and husband who thinks she is mad!)

photo credit: After this, I give up. Probably. via photopin (license)

Welcome to the first Potato Sack Challenge!

It’s been exciting to finally launch this website and begin sharing my journey with you of letting go of all those potatoes that are weighing me down.

But the reason it is most important to me is because I feel it is through support, community and connection that we are able to change.

I’m creating a community of ideas and encouragement so that people know they are not alone, so that we can work on our potatoes aka ‘issues’ together.

So, I was overwhelmed when my friend and work colleague came up to me the other day and said she wanted to share and idea with me. Her eyes were sparkling and full of enthusiasm.

She said, “Let’s talk about it over a walk!” So we did. It turns out she is going to have to have surgery in 120 days. One of the things a surgeon will always tell you as you are preparing for an operation is ‘you need to lose weight.’ Excess weight can be dangerous when you are ‘under the knife.’

She admitted she finally had the motivation to make some serious changes.

Then she read my blog… She got excited and knew that if I was on the same journey, she would have someone to challenge her and keep her accountable too.

My friend decided that each day she is going to add a healthy thing into her life. She said,  “It’s going to be 120 days of losing potoates! And each day when I do my healthy thing, I will say, That’s another potato out of my sack!”

So we decided that this would be the first Potato Sack Challenge.

Everyone has his or her own reasons for wanting to change something. And it doesn’t have to be anything to do with weight loss.

You may want to:

• ·      Declutter your home
• ·      Find time for creative pursuits
• ·      Drink more water
• ·      Spend less time watching TV
• ·      Save money or get out of debt
• ·      Get up earlier in the morning

You decide what small thing will make a big difference in your life.

Choose your goal, decide on what kind of daily changes that goal is going to take and give yourself a timeline.

Right now, my biggest potato is feeling out of control with my messy house. We simply have too much stuff. It is ‘weighing  me down’ too.

My commitment for the next 30 days is to put at least 5 things each day into a ‘give away’ box. (Yes, we have that much excess stuff!)

I don’t want to sell it, I really don’t have time, I just want to let it go.

My friend pulled out her dusty ‘ol juicer and is going to make some lovely apple and kale juice this weekend. She is also replacing unhealthy carbs in her lunch with a scrummy hard-boiled eggs and she’s even going to try her hand at growing wheat grass.  

It’s not easy to make changes. But I encourage you to think of something you could do. It will be a small daily investment that will pay big dividends in terms of your well-being.

Let me know what you decide. Put a comment below or comment in the Facebook link. I’d love the opportunity to offer support and be your cheerleader.

See you soon,

Heather xoxox

Why its never easy starting something new

Have you ever noticed that when you make a commitment to something new it seems like life throws every possible obstacle in your way.

You decide to eat healthier and your work colleague brings cake to celebrate her birthday.

You try to get to the gym and you pull a muscle.

You will definitely put money into the savings account this week and the car breaks down.

Life never fails!

Tonight, after a long hectic week of work, all I wanted to do was sit down and write.

I promise you the second I sat down, my daughter was next to me... I thought, 'great, I'll just focus on getting her to bed, get my chores done, and I'll be back in a jiffey!'

Two hours later, she's still not asleep. I snuck out to send you this message.

I recently read another writer who said he had to get up at 5am every morning to find the time to write each day.

HELP!

I will find a way.

In the meantime, I better sneak back into reality.

I so badly want to share the great things that happened today. The inspiring chat with a friend...

But promise me, you'll come tomorrow and I'll tell you all about it.

I'll probably be sneaking the time again, but I'll do whatever it takes.

See you soon,

Heather xoxo

How a sack of potatoes taught me to let go

In my last article, I gave you a hint as to why I named this website,

‘The Potato Sack Diet.’ Today, I’ll let you in on the full story today.

A few years ago, we were living in Northern Queensland. It was a romantic place with a lake, coffee plantations, banana farms, avocado orchards and exotic tropical rainforests on our doorstep.

Another less glamorous crop of the north is potatoes. This particular year, there was a problem and the potato farmers weren’t getting enough money for their crops from the big stores and many, sadly, were turning their potatoes back into the fields.

Consequently, there were many roadside stands advertising large bags of potatoes for very little cash.

I drove past one and decided to grab a huge 20 kg sack for something like $10. I pulled over and put my money in the honesty box and then struggled like crazy to hoist this big dirty bag of potatoes into the back of my car.

That  was the moment the light came on… The weight of the sack was the exact amount of weight I had put on over the past 15 years. 20 kg or 40 pounds!

It didn’t happen over night. But none the less, it was there and feeling the external weight of that sack really brought it home to me.

The cool thing is that I find a sniff of opportunity in the craziest things.

By the time I got home, I had hatched a plan to begin a new diet craze, “The Potato Sack Diet!” This would be a fabulous way to lose weight, one potato at a time… Gain back your life, let go of those potatoes, etc.

I was going to write a book, start a movement and get rich and famous because of my extreme cleverness… I even hired a web designer and got on with quite a detailed plan, nothing was going to stop me!

But then, I found out the truth. You see, the potatoes in ‘my sack’ have names. I’ll share just a few…

Guilt

Bad Knee

Anxiety

Painful Conversations

Financial Stress

Fatigue

Stress

Depression

Muffin Top

There was also Fluffy, Pierre and Chip. It was a pretty big sack, so you get the idea. 

The problem was, these ‘potatoes’ were so attached to me that it wasn’t as easy as thinking a ‘happy thought’ and wishing them away.

But, no matter what, even when the website had long expired and the realization that this idea wasn’t going to be a cute and clever fix to my weight, or any one else’s… the concept still stuck with me. I knew there was still an element of truth to the whole process of letting go.

None of the potatoes I carry around actually serve me. So, yes, I am trying to let them go. I know for me, weight gain and stress go hand in hand. Studies show that even when we eat with a happier heart, we lose weight quicker… but more on that later.

For now, I am signing up. I am committing to sharing this ‘potato sack’ journey with you. It’s not really about losing weight. It’s about letting go. It’s about getting on with life, despite those awful things that happen. It is about moving forward with guts and determination to change the tide.

If you want to hear more about my journey and to join me in taking up the challenge of letting go of all those nasty potatoes in your life, then please pop your email in the subscribe box or like my Facebook page, The Potato Sack Diet.

See you soon,

Heather

PS On a funny note, I was looking at this website last night before bed, and I noticed my very first post was on May 16, 2014. That’s pretty much where I left it again… and then I saw the date on the Begin Again post, May 16 2015. Maybe there is just something right about this season to begin afresh… xoxo

Begin again!

So this is how it all begins… (again)

You sit down and let it all hang out.

I sat down earlier, had a panic attack and shut the computer. Now, I’m at the desktop so I can’t shut it… 

This is my dream, to write, to communicate, to reach out, to share.

But, I’ve been worrying about all the ins and outs … what domain name will I have? (that’s not taken), will a ‘free’ Word press theme do the job? How will I know how to add plugins and buttons? 

The truth… I was really just putting off the most important thing. The writing.

Sitting here, not knowing who will read or even care about what I, Heather Jackson, have to say and trying to figure out why I am bothering at all is one of the most confronting things I have ever done.

Which leads me to suspect it is exactly what I should be doing.

I felt this terror recently when I decided to try the Fremont Street zip line experience while we were visiting Las Vegas. This was not my normal everyday type of activity… (being an over 40 mother of 3 that is a little overweight and not overly adventurous) … but I figured, ‘why not’?

Well, I was sure I’d figured wrong when I got to the top and looked down.

I was belted up real good and then they took me to edge of the platform where you walk down a few stairs and then basically the stairs just fall away as you hang very high, high enough that people are looking very ‘ant like’!

For me, looking down, was not a pleasant experience.

My family was down there, somewhere looking up at me, and I suddenly realised that I had made a terrible mistake. My legs turned to jelly and I could feel myself involuntarily backing away from the edge of the platform. For goodness sake, I’m old enough to make my own decisions and I was NOT going to get talked into doing something that I did NOT want to do!

I am sure that this is not such an uncommon experience, but what made it uncommon for me, was that at the point when the panic set in, the people behind me began to cheer and offer words of encouragement.

All of them were complete strangers. (Of course, they probably didn’t want me to hold up the line.) None the less, it was enough to make me turn around and think ‘might as well’.

Off I went. Zoom!

They’d taken my glasses so it was kind of a blur of bright Vegas lights and the feeling of breeziness and freedom. It was actually kind of fun. Of course, I was filled will self-satisfaction and adrenaline when it was all over.

Those kind strangers, cheering me on, got me over the line.

Maybe this blog will find a few kind strangers that will also cheer me on and get me over the line. However, I know this time, to begin with, I have to make the first move. I am pushing off into the unknown, feeling blind and exhilarated all at once.

I want to make a dent, I want to share what I know. I am committing to knocking down the walls and letting go of my emotional weight.

I see other women who also limit themselves and it hurts my soul. I want to reach out and help them recognise their beauty.

This blog and the name for it started out when I lifted a heavy sack of potatoes and realized that this was the amount of extra weight I was carrying on my body.

From that moment, I knew that losing weight or getting happier or feeling like the ‘ol me' or finding my passion was not about what I needed to add to my life, but instead, what I needed to let go of. (those damn potatoes!)

When we leave here, we cannot take one single thing with us. Not one thing. How does that make you feel?

But we can collect our moments, our precious scrapbook to savour for eternity. We can take our joys and sorrows, the lessons learned, the dear connections that have seasoned our lives. So, why let our weight, our gripes, our hardships stop that from happening?

We are not stuck, like we think. We are free. We need to unstick ourselves, knock down those walls of emotional overload and take what is ours.

Trust me, God is on our side!

So I invite you to come on a journey with me to explore this freedom, to see what exactly in means to live on the edge of reason.

I will cheer for you too. I can be a stranger that connects with you, urges you on, so that maybe one day you can give yourself that little push too.

See you soon,

Heather

PS If you feel like you'd like to read more, you can subscribe and get my posts in your email or if you are really keen to cheer me on, share this with your tribe! :) Thank you.