I think the time has come for some good ole healthy eating. I always that little “click” before I can step forward into action.. Maybe sniffing a delicious mango was that “click”… or was it the belt of my jeans that needed a different hole. Whatever. A click is a click and can’t be ignored! Let’s do it! This simple salad is chock full of vitamins and fiber and very few calories.

Recipe:

  1. Cleaned 1 mango and sliced it into juliennes.
  2. Cleaned 1 handful of mange tout and sliced it on the diagonal into juliennes.
  3. Wash 1 handful of mint leaves and Italian parsley leaves and break into a bowl.
  4. Cut 1 large spring onions on the diagonal into strips and add to the herb leaves. Add a handful of haricot mungo sprouts, the mango slices and the mange tout strips to the salad.  Add 1 lemon grass stick, harder outside removed and finely chopped to the salad.  Mix lightly with your fingers.
  5. Drizzle the salad with some olive oil, a bit of nuoc nam sauce, lemon juice, chopped fresh ginger and a  teaspoon of acacia honey anf season with salt and pepper.
  6. Finish off with a sprinkling of dry roasted almonds and lastly black sesame seeds.

Those who bask in summer at the moment, will enjoy the salad as is, but for us in the North, it is probably a little too cold.  So I enjoy it with a big pot of green tea. You can always drink a tisane(herbal/flower infusion). Along with the salad it will be great for digestion.

…walk, walk and walk..

…load up on fruits and vegetables…

…eat more  fish..

  • drink enough water every day…about 6 to 8 glasses.
  • eat smaller and varied portions.
  • have an extra light hand on the salt, sugars, butters and creams.
  • Cut off fat from your meat.
  • when and if choosing bread, then choose whole wheat…whole wheat rice, grains, lentils, wild rice, quinoa..
  • and….

…laugh…

And lastly something I received from a friend.  I don’t know where it originated and some of you might already know it…but here it is, hope it cracks you up like it did me..

“The Bathing Suit (by a middle-age woman unknown).

When I was a child in the 1950s, the bathing suit for the mature figure
was-boned, trussed and reinforced, not so much sewn as engineered.  They
were built to hold back and uplift, and they did a good job.

Today’s stretch fabrics are designed for the prepubescent girl with a
figure carved from a potato chip.

The mature woman has a choice, she can either go up front to the
maternity department and try on a floral suit with a skirt, coming away
looking like a hippopotamus that escaped from Disney’s Fantasia, or she
can wander around every run-of-the-mill department store trying to make
a sensible choice from what amounts to a designer range of fluorescent
rubber bands.

What choice did I have?  I wandered around, made my sensible choice and
entered the chamber of horrors known as the fitting room.  The first
thing I noticed was the extraord ina ry tensile strength of the stretch
material.
The
Lycra used in bathing costumes was developed, I believe, by NASA to
launch small rockets from a slingshot, which gives the added bonus that
if you manage to actually lever yourself into one, you would be
protected from shark attacks.  Any shark taking a swipe at your passing
midriff would immediately suffer whiplash.

I fought my way into the bathing suit, but as I twanged the shoulder
strap in place I gasped in horror, my boobs had disappeared!

Eventually, I found one boob cowering under my left armpit.  It took a
while to find the other.  At last I located it flattened beside my
seventh rib.
The problem is that modern bathing suits have no bra cups.  The mature
woman is meant to wear her boobs spread across her chest like a speed
bump.  I realigned my speed bump and lurched toward the mirror to take a
full view assessment.  The bathing suit fitted all right, but
unfortunately it only fitted those bits of me willing to stay inside it.
The rest of me oozed out rebelliously from top, bottom and sides.  I
looked like a lump of Playdoh wearing undersized cling wrap.

    As I tried to work out where all those extra bits had come from, the
prepubescent sales girl popped her head through the curtain, “Oh, there
you are,” she said, admiring the bathing suit.  I replied that I wasn’t
so sure and asked what else she had to show me.

    I tried on a cream crinkled one that made me look like a lump of
masking tape, and a floral two-piece that gave the appearance of an
oversized napkin in a serving ring.

I struggled into a pair of leopard-skin bathers with ragged frills and
came out looking like Tarzan’s Jane, pregnant with triplets and having a
rough day.

I tried on a black number with a midriff and looked like a jellyfish in
mourning.

I tried on a bright pink pair with such a high cut leg I thought I would
have to wax my eyebrows to wear them.

Finally, I found a suit that fitted, it was a two-piece affair with a
shorts-style bottom and a loose blouse-type top.  It was cheap,
comfortable, and bulge-friendly, so I bought it.

My ridiculous search had a successful outcome, I figured.

When I got it home, I found a label that read, “Material might become
transparent in water.”

So, if you happen to be on the beach or near any other body of water
this year and I’m there too, I’ll be the one in cut-off jeans and a
T-shirt!

You’d better be laughing or rolling on the floor by this time.  Life
isn’t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain, with
or without a bathing suit!”

Until next time,

from the middle aged, dieting, but laughing diva.

19 thoughts on “Herb and mango salad..and diet truths.

  1. A great post! I try to eat as healthily as possible. Once you get used to doing so, it becomes a routine…

    That salad looks and sounds amazing! A great combination of ingredients and flavors.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  2. We eat healthily too and never too much..I know my desserts may lead you to believe otherwise..But I don’t eat them..jJdoes and is very fit..and it takes him a long time to finish them..:)
    I must say that too thin is not good…if it is not your composition..
    Eating is a luxury.We take it for granted..We don’t know we do..but we do.
    The simple act of being able to chew.. seems so normal:)

    Yet not for everyone…~So enjoy all the lovely healthy food you can..im moderation albeit..just maybe not all the time:)

    So I would suggest..to all..just don’t try on bathing suits:)

    There’s nothing worse:)

    And I love those long sarongs..they camouflage and are so feminine…they blow in the sea wind..and caress the sand beautifully~

    We have to see that being healthy is very important.the most important… not mean having the physique of a mermaid is not important.
    You are beautiful..

    I will be the one in the sarongs:)The wide brimmed hat..Trying to dance in the rain~xxxxx

    Those happy photos made me smile out loud!!

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  3. Oh my word Ronel! So wonderfully written! I’m ROLLING on the ground with laughter! How we can all relate to this post! Very befitting to go with your gorgeous-looking salad!

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  4. Rosa may – Yes, heatlhy eating every day is a good thing(did I just pull a Marhta Stewart?

    Lori – I think the best solution is to go without the swimming suit and rather find a suitable beach..

    Monique – I love a sarong too…feels very romantic. I have an image of Rita Hayworth swaying down the beach…in her sarong…towards the handsome fellow approaching her…on a black horse…

    Jimberley -Thank you…it is rally a crunchy delicious little salad.

    Maree – Mmm, I would’ve loved to rather relate to the salad than the image in the written piece, but life is just too real…

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  5. You crack me up this morning. Ah, the joys of finding the perfect swimsuit. Worse than choosing the right jeans. Great salad and just the kind of meal we all should eat. Eating small portions is hard, but if you practice it long enough, it comes somewhat more naturally. At least that’s what I tell myself.
    Sam

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  6. Loved this post! I was reading it on the train on my way home from work and it gave me such a good laugh. Thanks!
    And your mango salad sounds like a good idea for my lunch box too!! Thanks for sharing 🙂

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  7. Sam – I too enjoy small portions and larger variety., but oh my, jeans are just as difficult to find, tier too tight or too loose or to prim and proper or too low on the hip…

    Gloria – thank you, I had some leftover salad this evening and yes, I can say it again..quite nice!

    Erin, hope the passengers joined in…I have a picture in my mind of a whole coach of laughing people!

    Merin – happy you joined in and thanks for the thumbs up on my blog.

    Ronelle

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  8. What a funny, truthful and wonderful post, Ronelle! Swimsuit shopping and this (my) age is not a fun affair but I don’t let it stop me from wearing one. Nothing will. Nothing wtill stop me from enjoying the things I love either – but always in moderation. My jeans are my watchdog too 🙂 When they get tight I have to cut back.

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  9. Very impressed at mango in January! The local season is winding down, but if we can get them before the possums and bats do there are still some in the trees.
    I used to worry that a sarong just made me look like Humpty-Dumpty…now I don’t care as long as I feel comfortable! 🙂

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  10. LOL Fabulous post! A note of encouragement- I followed this/your plan for the last year and I’ve lost 30 pounds!

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  11. Susan..such an important point..don’t let unimportant things keep us from enjoying and appreciating life to the fullest!

    Diahn…ditto to what you said…comfort…much more important now. that explains why I don’t even OWN any high heels any more. comfort…a great word!

    Rita…not better philosophy that moderation…which goes for everything we do in life…eating drinking, spending money and time..

    Barbar.a..NO! That is wonderful! 30 pounds…incredible…congratulations!! Bow that is truly inspiring and encouraging!! thanks for telling it here, we ALL need to hear it!
    Ronelle

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  12. That was hysterical!! It’s as if she had been in my dressing room suffering through my very own pile of spandex and lycra. Thanks for this Ronelle. You made my morning. Now I’ll get back to my pancakes. ; )

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  13. Loved the post, the photos, the laughter photos – made me feel like laughing also …wonderful spontaneous laughter in those photos… And as always your food looks divine.

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