Life Challenge Week 4: Kate Birch
Kate enjoys a home-made, gluten-free pizza, and looks forward to a weekend of snorkelling at the end of Week 4
Day 26: Who says you can't have pizza?
Feel battered and bruised – fell over twice while roller skating at Wafi, before being shot with paint at paintballing, but feel very energised and active, and ready for my weekend snorkelling at Snoopy Island. Made another gluten-free pizza last night (though forgot to add the yeast, which makes it a little more doughy). Really easy to make, though, using the Casino gluten-free pizza mix from Organic café. Simply add water and olive oil, knead and roll out to make base. Add a gluten-free tomato sauce, like Classico sauce, plus mushrooms, peppers, salami and dairy-free cheese (found organic soy mozzarella at Organic Café. Et voila – a gluten-free, dairy-free pizza, which I admit doesn't taste quite like pizza, but tastes very good, all the same.
Day 25: Mall-ercise
Though I'm not a massive fan of malls or manufactured entertainment, I spent the day in Dubai Mall with my kids and had a blast. With fitness and food always in the back of my mind, I wore my pedometer and was pleasantly surprised to discover that I managed to clock up 12,000 steps and burn some 350 calories. Granted, I spent a sweaty 45 minutes speed skating on the ice rink, but pretty good results for a day of fun. Tonight, I'm off for a paint balling session, so let's see what fitness records I break there. Fitness can be fun.
Day 24: Lessons from my children
My two older children have come to stay for half-term week, which means a few days off work to spend with them. Thankfully, they're super-active, so I'm hoping to 'up my game' on the fitness front while they're here.
Did some rather sweaty basketball practice with my 14-year-old son last night (he's so fit, and I'm so not) which really took me out of my comfort zone. But it was great fun. I then returned home to find my 12-year-old daughter had cooked up a storm in the kitchen and created a masterpiece of a pizza: a gluten-free pizza sans cheese, but with feta - perfect for my dairy/gluten intolerances. What a star! Since her father is also gluten-intolerant, she's become a bit of whizz at such things. How proud am I? Who says your kids can't teach you anything…
Day 23: It’s all about teamwork
The wonderful thing about doing this Life Makeover with my team is that we’re all in the same boat: not only are we able to give each other moral support, and provide motivation for each other, but we also share ideas and new discoveries, which makes the process so much easier.
Charlene has let me borrow her gluten-free recipe book and Louisa has inspired me to start smoothie-making in the mornings. This morning, I copied her raved-about smoothie recipe: soy milk, strawberries and banana – and it was fantastic and filled me up.
On the fitness front, it’s clear they’re both doing so much better than me, but rather than feel down or guilty about it (thanks to life coach, Shana, ‘guilt’ is no longer my friend), I’m inspired by their good examples and achievements. I may not have done anything about it yet, but I’m going to. My point: when doing any kind of challenge or makeover, it’s great to mix with people who are the doing the same – it’s positive, motivational and makes the learning/coping process so much easier. Here’s to my team…
Day 22: Am I a nuisance?
Being away from home, staying at other peoples’ houses, and travelling is a real challenge when you have intolerances as I’ve discovered this weekend. I’m constantly apologising for being gluten/dairy intolerant and it feels like it’s becoming issue: ‘I’m sorry, but does this beautiful sauce that you’ve spent three hours making contain any of the following…?’
People are beginning to look at me like I’m a bit of a nuisance and, quite frankly, I’m feeling like one. Are these intolerances going to make me socially inactive? Back at the airport, I struggle to find breakfast items sans gluten/dairy, so end up eating sushi for breakfast. While buying Krispy Kreme doughnuts for my kids, I discover rather obscurely at the Krispy Kreme counter, a gluten-free flapjack. It may cost three pounds, but I snap it up – I can nibble my way through it on the seven-hour plane journey home. Sometimes, you find just the right thing when you’re not even looking for it…
Click here to read how Kate got on during Week 3 of the Challenge
