Well I survived my holiday. Just about. We stayed in my parents' holiday home and as always my mother stocked the presses with loads of treats for the kids. Pringles in every flavour, mini mars bars, chocolate hobnobs, after eights. The kids did their best but I think it was the first time we ever finished the holiday with treats left over. It was kind of scary how much was left actually - do I really eat that much every other year? The sun shined enough to warrant having to purchase quite a few 99 icecreams - which were eaten with gusto by the children.

One child couldn't always finish her ice-cream. I would normally do the honours but this year I had to leave the remains to the nearest rubbish bin and the very grateful wasps circling around it. For the first time I was not able to eat at the local chipper - the Salt and Batter - but I had quite a few nice pasta dishes in the café next door, Belle's Kitchen. Our farewell treat is always an ice-cream sundae in Belle's - as you can see, the children certainly enjoyed theirs. I had a bowl of soup. :(.

You'd think you could avoid junk food in athletics...

Junk food is everywhere. You just can't hide from it. I've been running lately as part of the Limerick Sports Partnership Feet on the Street campaign - they hold races every Thursday night throughout the summer and I took part in a few of them. Full of healthy athletic people and a few stragglers like myself. It's good fun and it's pretty hard to eat junk food while running so at least it's an hour where I don't dream about chocolate or chips. But junk food still manages to inch it's way into the world of running. Take the lucozade drinks. Apparently they aren't really necessary for runners unless you are doing more than 5k but sure any physical activity is a good excuse to drink one. Now some might argue that lucozade is not a junk food/drink - after all they used to give it in hospital. But I would consider it a bit of a cheat. It's fizzy and full of sugar so for me it's in the borderline category. Then there are jellybabies!! Yes jellybabies are part of the athlete's diet apparently. There are super-dooper running ones that help release glycogen or something like that but I'm told ordinary jelly babies are just as good. An expert told me eating a few before a race will definitely help your stamina. But I'm not allowed jelly babies. Maybe that's why I haven't won any races. Then, there are the raffle prizes. A hamper of health food? Not on your nelly. Bottles of wine and boxes of chocolates. Thankfully, wine does not fall in the junk food category so I was happy when my winning ticket netted me a nice Sauvignon Blanc - but fellow runner Suzanne won the Dairy Milk selection and brought them into work to torture me. Thanks Suzanne.

Come Dine With Me?

Like most people in Limerick, I've been glued to Come Dine with Me all week - and last night I found I have a kindred spirit in one of the contestants. Like me, Kathleen admits to being a junk-food addict. However, unlike me, Kathleen doesn't seem to like anything else - she's barely touched a morsel all week. So, while I'm finding this no junk-food lark a struggle - at least I can enjoy other foods. I've got some good ideas from the show too. I'm definitely going to be trying that spinach and apricot stuffed pork steak - it looked delicious even if Kathleen couldn't eat it. As for Cyril's double deep-fried battered jam sandwiches served with Bird's custard - that's one junk food I think I can quite easily avoid. Even the sprig of mint carefully placed in the dollop of cream fails to make it tempting for me. Although the contestants all swear blindly they were delicious, I remain unconvinced. Cyril swears you can batter anything and deep-fry it. I'm sure that's true but it doesn't mean you can make it appetising. I confess though that I've always had a hankering to try that Scottish speciality - a deep-fried Mars Bar. Surely the ultimate junk food? There's a chipper near Westbury that does them. I think I might reward myself when the 95 days to go. Heck, after 95 days I might even eat one of Cyrils jam fritters. In the meantime - anyone who feels sorry for me can sponsor me here: http://www.mycharity.ie/event/nojunkfoodchallenge/ And a big thanks to Mary McMahon, Eddie and Aileen, Denise and Nuala for the latest contributions.

My Secret Weapon

I have a really sweet tooth. The hardest thing so far has been avoiding the sweet stuff. I miss the chips and pizza but that's really only a problem when I smell them. Sweet stuff has been the real killer. I never really feel like I've finished my lunch or dinner unless I have something sweet at the end. Tea and coffee taste so much better when you have them with a chocolate biscuit - even a digestive is better than nothing. So no biscuits and no chocolate has been the hardest part of the challenge so far. I've been eating a lot of fruit. It's not as bad as I thought it was but it doesn't go very well with tea of coffee. You can't really dunk a banana in your tea. Yogurts are my substitute for ice-cream. Again, a poor substitute, but they've been keeping me going. Thankfully, for the last week I've had a secret weapon which has kept my sweet tooth very happy. It's the most divine blackcurrant jam. I wouldn't be a big jam person normally - I mean jam really belongs in a Victoria Sandwich Cake under a layer of thick cream - but if I'm going to have jam at all, blackcurrant is definitely my favourite. A very kind friend gave me a pot of home-made blackcurrant jam (although I do wonder where he got the blackcurrants - they're not in season yet are they? There aren't any around the Canal where I can normally spot them). It's no ordinary blackcurrant jam - it's rich, fruity, lucious, sticky and very sweet. And, as it's home-made and full of fruit, it definitely doesn't come under the junk food banner. It's been my saviour - and doesn't go too bad on a sandwich with a cup of tea. So a big thank you to my generous jam benefactor - if you are reading this you might notice that the jar is nearly empty (hint hint;)). And to the rest of you, if you are enjoying my blog - and if you have a fiver to spare - here's the website for donations: www.mycharity.ie/event/nojunkfoodchallenge/

You can't beat the Real Thing

My kids are healthier than I am ... which is a very good thing. They are normal kids so they are not joining me on this 95-day challenge which means I'm forced to witness them eat all their goodies. They've become very generous all of a sudden - I always get offered a few crisps or a bite of chocolate bar if they have one now - something I had to drop serious hints to get a few weeks ago. Then of course they fake the 'Oh, sorry Mom, I forgot!'. They are loving tormenting me. One bad habit that my girls have managed to avoid inheriting from me is my love of that all-American drink - 'Coca-Cola'. I wouldn't be the worst Coke addict, I cut down consumption some years back when I discovered other drinks such as beer and wine, but I do have a sincere appreciation for its finer qualities. Like red wine with steak and white wine with fish, Coke goes really, really well with pizza, burgers and/or popcorn. It's also a lot better at quenching your thirst. My son has got the Coke thing bad but the girls have always hated bubbles and won't drink anything fizzy. This can cause some problems - particularly when we go places where only fizzy drinks are served for kids. Recently my youngest was invited to a party at the cinema and like any sensible parent bringing 20 kids to the cinema the treats were dealt out of the boot of the car before the movie rather than investing an IMF-sized loan in paying for treats indoors. Unfortunately they only had fizzy drinks so I had to make a quick dash inside the Crescent to buy something non-fizzy for her ladyship. That meant queuing at BB's Muffins. Can you imagine it? A no-junk food challenge and being forced to queue for ten minutes watching and smelling the most delicious muffins ever. They even had a plate of free tasters on top. Torture. I bought the blackcurrant juice and fled.

Why don't cinemas sell healthy snacks?

Stupid question, I know - who the hell wants to munch on celery while watching a movie? Certainly not me. But the cinema is a real problem when on this challenge. I mean you can smell the popcorn from the carpark. My personal favourite is to get a big bucket of popcorn and then empty a giant bag of Minstrels into and give it all a good shake. Wash it down with a monstrous-sized coke. I would share my popcorn - I'm not a Joey (http://bit.ly/d8BUkA), but I'd probably be subconsciously counting every time a fist goes in the bucket to make sure I get at least 50 percent of the goodies. The whole cinema experience just demands popcorn. So, it was with much trepidation that I ventured to the Omniplex to try and enjoy a film with nothing to munch on. I was clever enough to choose a very hot day and an early showing which meant not too many people in the cinema and so a lot less smell of popcorn. I was also clever enough to arrive almost late so there wasn't even time to inhale the aromas as I passed the popcorn and goodies counter. I got through it. Granted, I felt a bit cheated of the whole experience but I saved a few bob and I proved it can be done. An achievement worthy of someone sponsoring me a fiver don't you think? If you do - then go to this website: www.mycharity.ie/event/nojunkfoodchallenge/and donate! Pretty please!

P.S. A big thanks to Katie Walsh for her donation yesterday. It put a big smile on my face.

Are Chicken Wings Junk Food?

So the latest debate around the water-cooler has been 'Are chicken wings junk food?'. Now, opinions on this one I have to say were very divided. I mean, chicken is just chicken, isn't it? Well if it's deep-fried in batter and has a KFC sticker on it, then even chicken is classed as junk-food. Or if it's been shaped into dinosaur shapes, alphabet letters or 'nugget's, covered in breadcrumbs and once again, deep-fried, it's definitely junk food. Or if it's shaped into a round, flat circle, slathered in mayonnaise and ketchup and stuck between two burger buns - even then - it really is junk food. But what about chicken wings? You can eat chicken wings lots of different ways. Barbequed or deep-fried, marinated in hoi-sin sauce or barbeque sauce or honey and ginger. Or turn them into buffalo wings. And what's with that? Why do Americans call chicken wings 'buffalo wings?' Buffalos can't fly. I always wondered about that but until now I had no desire to google it. Curiosity got the better of me today and I discovered that it's because they were 'invented' in the Anchor Bar in the town of Buffalo near New York City. Here's a link for the recipe if you want to try them: http://americanfood.about.com/od/appetizersandsoups/r/bufchicwing.htm

I decided that it's a bit touch and go with chicken/buffalo wings. The deep-fried kind that come in a foil bag at the local Spar or Centra are definitely out - but if they are stuck to a roast chicken I think I'm allowed them. The Cornstore on Thomas Street do some particularly good chicken wings with blue cheese sauce - much nicer than the ones in the picture. Something to look forward to 80 days time!

Only 81 days to go :(

The suffering continues. Just in case you thought this lark gets easier - it doesn't. I would dearly love to be able to report that despite the suffering, my new-found purity has led me to discover a new lease of life and I now have glowing skin, silky shiny hair and boundless energy. But honestly, I notice very little difference, if any at all. Which, of course, is good news because it means in 81 days time I can return to my usual diet of chocolate, biscuits, chips and pizza. Any of you currently munching on that stuff needn't feel guilty - I've noticed no major health benefits from giving it up and I haven't eaten any junk in the last 14 and a half days!! It's actually a bit longer than that but I'm only counting from the official launch day because mentally I don't think I could cope if I thought it was more. So, I've now survived much longer than I ever did on Lent. I always cheated for Lent. I'd give up treats and by day two that had changed to just chocolate, by day three it was just chocolate biscuits, by day four it was only chocolate hob-nobs and by day five I decided maybe I'd just watch a little less telly during Lent. Maybe that gives you an idea of how momentous this challenge really is for me. Of course, the support from my work colleagues is boundless. Grace emptied her goodies store cupboard at home and brought the goodies in to work for all to share. All except me, that is. Pat Shortt was a guest on the breakfast show last Friday and Mark decided to bring in chocolate chip muffins for his special guest and he left the rest of them in the staff kitchen. They looked so yummy. Coffee just didn't taste the same without one. :( Someone sponsor me a fiver please just to keep my spirits up. Pleeease.

Sorry Teacher, the dog ate your chocolates!

The dog ate my homework is certainly an over-used excuse, but what about the dog ate your chocolates? Today is my daughter's last day at school before the holidays and she wanted to give her teacher Mr O'Connor a thank-you present. I suggested chocolates but she was a little reluctant. Chocolates are for girl teachers apparently. But I managed to convince her that the Merci chocolates were definitely unisex. So the box was purchased and carefully placed in daughter's bedroom. Just not carefully enough. The ever-intrepid Ollie, our faithful Jack Russell, sniffed them out, tore open the box and was in the process of demolishing them when he was caught out. One very upset daughter. Thankfully, a replacement box was found after trekking half-way across Limerick City and daughter was cheered up. However, I now have a half-eaten box of Merci looking up at me in the hallway. The chocolates are wrapped so there's no danger the dog has licked them. They look yummy. It's just not fair that the dog is getting more chocolate than I am.

Yum Yums

Have you ever tasted a Marks and Spencer Yum Yum? If not, you haven't lived. (Cue Marks and Spencer food ad music). These aren't just ordinary treats. These are lightly whipped bars of batter, loving shaped, tenderly coated in gooey Canadian icing sugar, then deliciously deep-fried -melt in your mouth treats. They are quite simply, heaven. I'm told they go lovely with a cup of tea but I think they're great with coffee. Heck, Yum Yums would go great with a glass of prune juice. Never have I come across a more aptly named food. Alas, I have 90 odd days to go before I taste a Yum Yum again. Mark Whelan brought some to work this morning and left them in the kitchen - cruel. I'll have to satisfy myself with smelling the wrapper later. I promise not to lick it.

Launch Day!

So now I've gone completely public with this I suppose there is no going back. Today I launched the challenge on Live 95FM. It's a bit scary now because potentially thousands of people will know if I fail. Hopefully it will mean that there'll be a few more bob for the charities. The link for donating is on the top right-hand corner under the heading. Hint, hint!
Today's suffering started very early when Liam Aherne arrived back from holidays, sun-kissed and smiley, with a box of Toffifees in his hand. If you've never heard of Toffifees they are a hazelnut in caramel sweet with creamy nougat and chocolate. My colleagues inform me they are the nicest chocolate sweets they have ever tasted. They certainly smell pretty good. And the box rattles every time they stick their fists into the box. The sound alone is driving me crazy. I also had to clear an empty Domino pizza box and a half-empty can of coke out of one of the working areas and throw them in the bin. Who doesn't finish a can of coke? It's sacrilege.

Official Launch and name-change tomorrow!

Ok, so I've decided I'm going mega-public on this. It's the only way to make me stick to it properly. So I've decided to do an official launch on Live95FM tomorrow - the thing is, if I'm getting the radio involved and getting them to support me on this, it makes sense to change the name for 'marketing' purposes. So my 100-day challenge is going to become a 95-day challenge - geddit? Live95FM? It's not cheating - in fact, in the end I will actually have done more than 100 days - but the 95 days has more of catchy ring about it for the radio.
I had that 'brainwave' on Friday - but I decided not to stop and start again because I was afraid if I stopped I'd just give up altogether. So the suffering has been continuing. The picture is of the sausage rolls Denise brought to work and offered around on Friday. It led to a debate about whether sausage rolls were junk food. The vote concluded that they are. Big, fat, greasy sausage rolls that smelled divine. The pleasure that my work colleagues got out of eating them in front of me was a worrying indicator of what I've got ahead of me.
There is some very good news though -I'm almost at 100 euro. A big, big thanks to the latest donations from Elaine Wilson, Suzanne O'Brien and Nessa Murnaghan.

Is Diet 7up considered Junk Food?

Just to prove how seriously I'm taking all this - let me tell you about the sacrifice I made this afternoon. Grace 'Mad' Dowling took me on a run halfway to Ennis this afternoon (I only did half the run and waited to meet her coming back) and it nearly killed me. It was pretty hot this afternoon and when I got into the car after the run I was dying with the thirst. I was in a rush to make my son's graduation ceremony (primary school before anyone makes a cheeky remark) and so no time to stop for a drink. Then I remembered - I had a bottle of diet 7up in a drawer under my car seat for thirst emergencies. But then I stopped. Is diet 7up junk food? Of course Coke, Fanta and all that stuff comes under the junk food label - I'm not that big a cheat that I'd argue they are drinks not food. But diet 7up?? I mean, real 7up is practically a health food - it's what they always recommend you drink with a dicky tummy - of course, without the bubbles. Medicinal properties notwithstanding, I'm prepared to accept that the full sugar version of 7up does indeed constitute junk food. But I wrestled with the debate on the diet version for a few minutes. After all, the label says: Sugar Free, Calorie Free, Colouring Free and Caffeine Free. However, the label also says it includes things like malic acid, acidity regulater, aspartame, aceulfame K, and sodium benzoate. So, I ultimately concluded that I couldn't take the risk. It's rubbish in a bottle really. Just a load of chemicals in liquid form made to taste nice with zero nutritional value. I suppose that's enough for it to qualify. That's why being on a diet would be so much easier - I could drink diet 7up and eat low fat chocolate brownies.
I stayed parched. I attended the graduation ceremony looking like a dehydrated sweaty tomato. How's that for dedication?

98 Days to Go!

This morning I thought up a sneaky way of being able to get out of all this. You see, I'm really not doing this for me - I've tried to do this sort of thing for myself tonnes of times and failed miserably. I really am doing it for Limerick Kidz. So if people don't support this challenge, I may as well give up. There'll be no point. My target is 500 euro (minimum) or five euro a day which I reckon is pretty achievable. Most people can spare a fiver - or if they can't, then they have something they could sell for a fiver which they could then use to sponsor me! So people are going to have to pay me to stay on this. If, for example, I don't reach my minimum target for that day - like for the 5th day it would be 25 euro - then I'm going to break out and go to McDonalds. I'll send out a warning first - and if by teatime no one has put their hand in their pocket then my suffering will end with a Big Mac and chips followed by a Moody Cow Milkshake. And if I do break out I'm under no obligation to return sponsorship as each fiver only buys you that particular day of suffering - if you want me to suffer for longer then you'll just have to pay more.
The photo shows the remains of the little snack 'him indoors' had with his cup of tea last night. In front of me! So much for moral support.
Thanks to Eric, Fiona and Mike for their donations today. Looks like I'll be on this for a few more days yet.

Day 99

So I confessed all to my colleagues at work. I had little choice when they presented me with a yummy birthday cake which I regretfully resisted. The upside is that I raised my first 10 euro for Living in a Window for Limerick Kidz. Thanks Denis! Five minutes later I got an email inviting me to eat for free at McDonalds. How freaky is that? Thankfully the invitation was not attached to the email or I might have had to give Denis back his tenner. So - just 99 and a half days to go.

Day 100

I'm going to count backwards to Day One rather than upwards to Day 100 - I think it'll be easier to cope with that way mentally. Only x number of days to go - and that number getting smaller all the time.
So now - just 99 days to go! YEAH!
It wasn't too bad today - a trip to hospital in Dublin meant little opportunity. Although mother did produce Fox's Chocolate rings with my coffee when we went to visit afterwards but I found it easy enough to resist.
Less easy tonight with my cup of tea, but I managed.
I see half choccie bar I've hidden that I will have to throw out as it's dark chocolate which no one else likes and it will easily be stale in 100 days. Maybe the fact I haven't thrown it out proves I've little faith in myself.
We'll see.