Oh My Eye

I'm back in Cornwall after a short break. It's the school holidays and the tourists are on their way so, naturally...

...the council are digging the roads up.

I'm not a student of local politics so I don't know if this is the county council, district council, parish council, town council or some sort of national or subnational highways agency but please guys, do this in the winter! Are you trying to scare the tourists off?

On my more disturbing news, the BBC tells me:

An eye clinic at a community health centre in Cornwall is to close.

The clinic at Wheal Northey in St Austell has treated many people with serious eye conditions across mid and north Cornwall, but treatment is moving to the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Treliske, near Truro.

All glaucoma patients who attended Wheal Northey are being told that treatment has moved to the Royal Cornwall Hospital, with the rest of the clinic's services understood to be transferring within the next few weeks.

This is a 5 minute walk from my house (was 4 minutes until I got old) and I have a regular macular degeneration clinic every seven or eight weeks, during which a nurse sticks a needle in my eye (I know, it's fun). Presumably that will be part of "the rest of the clinic's services" but I have no notification as yet.

The Royal Cornwall Hospital is 18 miles away and I may not drive until 4 hours after the injection so I will have a choice of getting someone to take me, getting two buses each way or sitting in the car park for 4 hours until I can see to drive. Not only that but the procedures at Treliske are antiquated and waiting times horrendous.

I actually have a regular six monthly glaucoma checkup clinic tomorrow, as it happens, but that has always been scheduled for Treliske and there are no anaesthetic drops so I can drive straight after.

If this report is accurate, it will take me back to the time when my wet macular degeneration was diagnosed some 10 years ago and I had to traipse halfway across the county every 4 weeks. It was a great relief when the clinic round the corner opened. Now it looks like we return to the bad old days. My next clinics are scheduled for 30 August and 13 October and the NHS app still shows them for Wheal Northey. 🤞

I am not amused.

Spinach, broccoli and blueberries

I don't eat many vegetables. I eat lots of fruit and usually accompany my fish or meat with salads. I'm not sure this is a healthy, balanced diet, so I asked ChatGPT (I know, don't believe everything it tells you) "is it OK to eat lots of fruit but no vegetables" (I don't bother with question marks - if ChatGPT can't figure out it's a question then it's stupid). 

Answer: not really, because I'm missing various nutrients and "phytonutrients" (it can't resist showing off). "Would you like tips on how to include more vegetables painlessly?"

Sure.

"If you dislike vegetables, you might try blending greens into smoothies or pairing raw veggies with dips".

That's why I'm sitting here, waiting patiently for tonight's key Arsenal match, nothing else to do except write a blog post, and eating/drinking a smoothie containing spinach, broccoli, blueberries, 15 grams of protein powder, cinnamon, cocoa powder and peanut butter. What a weird mixture! But it's actually remarkably refreshing - so try it!

ChatGPT recommended frozen cauliflower for a creamy texture, so that's on tomorrow's shopping list. 

As for the dips, I checked out the nutrition stats on the labels of various types (I like to minimise carbohydrate intake) and ended up with aioli, which I tried last night with raw carrot. I'm not at all sure whether this aioli is healthy or not:

(per 100g)

• 2.7g carbs (that sounds good)
• 79.0g fat (that sounds horrendous)
• of which saturates 5.9g (that's OK then - or is it?)

I THINK that means that the 73.1 grams of unsaturated fats (beneficial for heart health) are OK. Phew!

I would actually like to make an effort to lose some weight, so I'm going with this and actually not even drinking 0% alcohol for a week or two. I see that the can of 0% Guinness in my fridge contains 16.7 grams of carbs, so that's it - in the bin! (Not actually; I may need a celebration after tonight's match, or alternatively a consolation drink). And the blueberries are much better than bananas in my smoothies.

In case you're thinking "Nigel, you should get walking", I'll be covering that in due course.

(I guess that's different from "Nigel, you should get out more")

Tips for nutrition, smoothies, painless vegetables (no potatoes) and weight loss welcomed!