Paul's Corner

Flora Three Week Challenge

With Paul Mercurio

Day one 15.306

I am really excited about this challenge. I’m not overly concerned about it working as it has been medically proven to lower cholesterol. I am more concerned about how much I can get my cholesterol down and about how am I going to eat that much spread!! So I have decided that every morning when I get up the first thing I will do is to weigh out my Flora Pro Active – I am using the light brand – and have it there on the bench ready to lower my cholesterol. Today was a good day to start as after my hour long walk in the park with the dog I then had a two hour long meeting with the creative team who are putting the campaign together. It is going to be a great three weeks and a great campaign to be a part of. I raced home from the meeting to have the rest of my Flora on a smoked Kipper sandwich – I love em!!! – and spent the rest of the arvo as usual picking up kids from school, doing some shopping and cooking dinners etc.

Day Two 16.03.06

Another beautiful Melbourne morning enjoyed with toast, jam, flora and washed down with a coffee. I had an early meeting with a bloke that is going to print my new beer labels for the next couple of beers that I am bringing out later in the year. I’ve had my own beer on the market in Victoria for about a year now – lots of hard work but good fun!. After the meeting I took the family to Prahan Markets – a fabulous fresh produce market that we all love to go to. The only part the girls don’t like is the seafood section as it smells a bit too much like fish!! Whilst there the girls snuck off to buy my birthday presents. I am not supposed to know what they are but I do! Because we had lunch at the markets when I got home I had a piece of fresh bread, from the markets of course, with the rest of my flora accompanied by a cup of tea – delicious! The rest of the afternoon was crazy dropping Elise to a friend’s house, Erin to another’s for a sleep over and then Emily had three friends over who stayed the night. I made them cook fresh minestrone soup under my guidance of course.

Day Three 17.03.06

Up early to cook pancakes for 4 hungry and tired teenage girls!! I then retreated to my office, toast and coffee in hand, where I had a couple of interviews to do, one for Dancing With the Stars and one for an article about what I would cook my Mum on Mothers Day. Maybe it was talking about Mum because straight after the interviews I went inside, cleaned the kitchen, thoroughly cleaned the stove and then cleaned the oven!! During the cleaning frenzy I hijacked a left over pancake and had it with the rest of my flora – you know this flora spread tastes pretty good. Once all the visitors had left I went for my usual hour long walk, it was a slightly gray and drizzly Melbourne day. I realised it was also St Patrick’s day so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to pop into the pub for a pint of Guinness. Well lets be honest you don’t just pop in for a pint on St Patrick’s day and to cut a long story short I had to call my wife - Andrea to come and get me. I had stayed too long and I knew she would be near by picking up Erin from school. Perhaps it was the Guinness talking or maybe I was just too tired to cook but we celebrated the girls starting their school holidays with home delivered Chinese!

Day Four 18.03.06

It turned out to be a rather busy socializing day today! I stuck to my usual start for the day of two pieces of toast with flora, fruit jam and a cup of coffee. By the way the jam does not have added sugar but uses fruit juice to sweeten it, is all natural and very yummy! I had lots to do but couldn’t get started as I was waiting for my friendly plumber to come around and fix a small leak in the exhaust outlet. That done Andrea and I went for our hour long walk stopping for coffee at our local café. Whilst there my friend and producer of the TV show I host- the Food Trail, dropped by with a bag of figs and a story about the best pizza he has had recently. It was a caramelized onion, blue cheese and fig pizza! The challenge was on. I had to go home and cook but not the pizza, I had some other friends popping over and was making some special afternoon snacks to have with them. Today was the ideal Saturday – friends, family, good food, good beer and good wine and lots of noise!

Day Five 19.03.06

I love Sundays! They are for lounging around playing with the kids just kicking back and relaxing. Well normally they are but this Sunday was a busy one! I had the pizza challenge in the evening and a BBQ luncheon to go to first. One of the other things I like about Sundays is that it is a good cooking day and I often cook with the girls. I got my exercise in by walking down to the local shops to buy all my ingredients for the day then walked home – under load! I then cooked off some caramelized onions, a pizza sauce for the girls and made the pizza dough! Then I went out to our friends BBQ – Thankfully they were cooking for me and it was great. Part of the challenge is cutting down on your saturated fat intake so no BBQ snags for today! I did however indulge in the home made pizza later that evening which by all accounts was as good as the one my friend had eaten at the restaurant.

Day Six 20.03.06

Today was one of those Mondays that you really long to have after a crazy weekend – lazy! It started out with a big surprise as the girls made Andrea and I breakfast in bed!!! And yes the girls remembered to give me my Flora Pro Active. After that it was out to clean up the kitchen – the girls can cook but they haven’t quite got the cleaning down yet. I then spent a couple of hours in the office doing emails, getting quotes on packaging for my beer and general bits and pieces that go into maintaining earning a living away from the camera. I had a great walk for an hour and twenty minutes before going back in to the office, with my chicken, tomato and flora roll, to organise amongst other things a charity photo shoot to raise money for Barnados. I’ve been an ambassador for Barnados for the past 11 years and they do vitally important work to help families and children in need.

Day Seven 21.03.06

Had to set the alarm this morning as I had an early radio interview. Now I know 7.15 am is not all that early for most people in fact it is late for a school day but when the kids are on school holidays we often sleep in till 9 am and the girls sometimes later. Anyway I took my toast, flora, jam and coffee out to the office and did two radio interviews and then a phone chat with the dietician who is watching over me during the three week challenge. I sent her my food diary for the last week and she rang to give me feed back on how I was doing. I reckon I probably got an eight out of ten, losing a couple of points on not being as disciplined with keeping my saturated fats down – hey I managed to stay away from my favorite sausage roll for a whole week! I finally got out of the office after two and half hours of talking and emails and went for my usual walk. The rest of the day was spent at a Direct Factory Outlet store!!! I have three daughters and a wife who like to shop – actually I like to shop too but not with them when they are buying clothes. We as usual did have a good time and got a couple of bargains to boot!

Day Eight 22.03.06

I had another early interview today so took my toast and coffee out to the office and waited and waited and waited – apparently it had been cancelled the day before but no one told me – don’t you hate that! Not to worry as it was another beautiful Melbourne morning so my wife and I took the dog for an hour long walk. I am lucky I have the time to take these walks with my wife as it gives us time to quietly be with each other and talk about life, the girls, work, the girls…you get the picture. The afternoon was spent dropping Elise to a friend’s house, helping Erin with some homework and then picking Elise up and taking her to a photo shoot I had to do. I don’t normally have the girls around when I am working so it was nice for Elise to be at the photo shoot with me and even better as the photo was with me on my BMW K1200s Motorcycle and Elise and I were able to have a bit of a ride on a perfect afternoon.

Day Nine 23.03.06

It is the week of photo shoots this week! One yesterday, one today and then another tomorrow – it never rains it pours! It was funny this morning as Andrea had to do an interview for a news paper story being written on me and she was a bit nervous – she did well but I wasn’t allowed to listen to what she said so I guess I will have to buy the paper and read it! I went off on the motorcycle to do my photo shoot which all went well. Some of the photos will appear on the packaging of the Flora Pro Active and I also had some taken for a new head shot. The rest of the day was fairly normal – went for an hour long walk and then retired to the office to work on developing and drumming up support for the next series of the Food Trail. The girls don’t like me working in the office when they are on holidays because it means they can’t play games on the computer! Andrea made a great dinner – life’s pretty good!

Day Ten 24.03.06

Up early to shave, shower and wash my hair for this mornings photo shoot. The only problem with riding a motorcycle is Helmet Hair! Not a great look going to a photo shoot and you take your helmet off to reveal a fairly interesting hair style that couldn’t be replicated by a professional!! I need’nt have worried though as the photo shoot was actually in a car wash and I got pretty wet doing it. The picture was to appear in the paper later in the week to promote a gold coin donation day for every car that went through the wash - all money going to Barnados. I promised to take Erin and a friend to play Laser Force this afternoon but before I could do that I popped into my agents to look at a proof sheet of the head shots from yesterday. I don’t know about you but looking at 25 pictures of yourself is not my idea of a good afternoon so I took the proof sheet home for Andrea and the girls to look at. Late that afternoon Andrea and I found ourselves free as all the girls were out so we went for a walk to a friend’s restaurant and indulged in a quiet beer before walking home.

Day Eleven 25.03.06

It is the Saturday taxis service day where all you seem to do is drop someone somewhere and then pick another up somewhere else only to pick the other up whilst you drop the other one wherever they say they are going? Oh and you have to shop in between which of course means right in the middle of isle eight you get a phone call telling you you’re late for picking up the third one up who has a play date arranged 27 minutes ago and is currently upset and wants you to get home now. Ah it would be boring with out kids wouldn’t it?! Andrea and I did manage to fit our walk in with Erin tagging along on her bike.

Day Twelve 26.03.06

Today was the sort of Sunday you need after the sort of Saturday we had – quiet! I had my toast with Flora and jam and my cup of coffee whilst I cooked pancakes for the girls – I have a terrible habit of eating standing up which is better than laying down, but only marginally. Andrea and I, again with Erin tagging along, went for a walk and looked at a very brand spanking new home for sale in our area. We are not looking to buy but would love to build our own home one day so we often look at how other new homes have been designed etc in fact, don’t tell anyone this but every so often on a Sunday the whole family goes to a display home village and checks out all the homes open for inspection – it’s good fun! For lunch I tried something different with my flora instead of my usual roll or sandwich I melted it into my mushroom soup, it was delicious. Although today is almost the end of the first month of Autumn it was very hot, so late in the afternoon we all went down to the Bay for a swim before going home and all getting in the kitchen and cooking up a big Pasta Bolognese for dinner.

Day Thirteen 27.03.06

Erin started back at school so it was a slightly earlier start to the day than over the holidays which meant I could get in to the office a little earlier and get stuck into the usual emails and phone calls – all pretty standard really. Small steps can take you a long way! I also decided today to clean out the office, so after Andrea and I had our walk I got stuck into it. Wow what a mess!! I took everything out of the office and washed it all, washed the floor, the walls and wiped down all the books and cd cases etc. The worst part of job was putting it all back in as I decided to re design the office layout. Thankfully the girls were home to help me out with their advice – hmmmm. I didn’t get the job completely finished as I still have books and artifacts to put back in but it was getting late and time to cook dinner so I stopped. I cooked a dish that I have often made before but not with flora. It is a scrambled egg and vegetable soup. I usually use butter so was a little worried as to how the Flora Pro Active would be. I fried up all the veggies etc in some flora and then added the rest of my daily challenge amount to the soup in my bowl and I am happy to say it was really good.

Day Fourteen 28.03.06

We have all uttered the following words – “I hate computers” well I try not to hate anything as I believe it is not good for you but lets just say my dislike for my computer grew steadily as the day wore on. As computers do it just decided it wasn’t going to function normally today so I spent much of the day trying to work out what was wrong until I finally wised up and took it to my computer guy who is a lot wiser than I. I managed to walk the dog but only for 30 minutes, had my mushroom soup with Flora – it really does work well together and then got my self ready to go in for Dancing With The Stars. Elise came in to see the show which she loves and I really enjoy seeing her in the audience. She will give me a thumbs up or down after the scoring to let me know how she felt about it! Olivia Newton John was singing that night and Elise wanted to meet her and get a photo with her, which she did. She also got a photo with Grant and Toby – two of her favourites and of course a photo with Kostya and Luda, two more of her favourites!

Day Fifteen 29.03.06

The elder two girls started back at school today so Andrea was up early with them and I had a bit of a sleep in. Unfortunately Erin is home with some kid of a tummy bug which is no good but part of having kids! I took Andrea and Erin out to the Station Pier which has some lovely cafes and restaurants. As the name suggests it is right on the water and a very lovely and relaxing spot for a morning coffee. After coffee we all dropped in to my agent’s office to pick up my tickets for the F1 Grand Prix. – The Barnados charity event had been organized by the Ferrari Vodafone team and as I had helped them out by doing some publicity they very kindly invited me to the Grand Prix. If you put good things out there you are likely to get good things coming back in. They also invited my wife and I to a Bollywood dress up function sounds crazy but fun. The rest of the day was as usual a bit of exercise and a bit of picking up ie shopping, the girls and my computer which sadly was better but not completely fixed.
Day Sixteen 30.03.06

I had a Claytons meeting today – you know, the meeting you have when you’re not having a meeting. Yep I was up and out early and on time for a change for a meeting with a brewing friend of mine. Unfortunately he completely forgot about it and was very apologetic, these things happen and I am fine about it but I thought I would mention it here just because I could ! I went back home to do my usual office emails and calls, have my ham, tomato and flora roll and then did my hour walk. This afternoon I was a guest at a promotional event for an over 55’s retirement village. It was an open day for the village and they had put on various events including a Latin and Ballroom dancing demonstration. They asked me along to make some comments and talk a bit about dance and the wonderful dancers that they had performing there. It was a good afternoon and also a moving one. I met some lovely people including of course quite a few elderly people including a lady who had cancer and who in her own words said it wouldn’t be long now. She was so beautiful and courageous in accepting those inevitable and final small steps toward death. I hope I can be that brave. Mind you taking the challenge is also about giving me the best opportunity of being around for as long as I can be and healthy for that time too.

Day Seventeen 31.03.06

You would think on your birthday that you would get a sleep in followed by brekky in bed and lots of presents. Not for me today as we had decided since the girls had to get up early and go to school we would celebrate my day of birth in the afternoon. I did get a bit of a sleep in and I did get my own breakfast and then strangely enough I had to retire to the office to do a couple of radio interviews where by they were ringing to wish me a happy birthday! Erin is still home from school unwell – I hate it when your kids are sick you just want to wave a magic wand over them or take it off them but you can’t so you feel a little helpless. Andrea went off to her gym class whilst I did the usual emails and things and kept Erin company. When Andrea got home I took the computer to a store 40 minutes away where I had bought the component that wasn’t working for twenty dollars cheaper than anywhere else. Never mind I was now spending forty dollars in petrol to get it working again!!! Which it isn’t! While I was gone Erin made me a birthday cake and Emily helped to decorate it. With the girls home it was present time and then out to dinner for a lovely family dinner. I may have dented my challenge with my birthday pizza but hey I am 43 today and I deserve it!

Day Eighteen 01.04.06

Grand Prix!!!! I love the Grand Prix it is such a fantastic event and weekend. I have also been lucky enough to drive in two celebrity race event so I know what it is like to be out on the Albert Park circuit albeit at a relatively slower pace than the V8’s or F1 cars! Because I was away the whole day and that evening I had my usual toast and flora and then before leaving for the track I had a piece of bread with the rest of the flora –functional and tasty. Andrea dropped me at the track where I met my mate Chris and off we went to watch cars go around in a circle for the rest of the day. As guests of the Ferrari Vodafone team you get quite spoilt with food and drink and a pit tour through the Ferrari Garage!! We were staying in a hotel for the evening so we could attend the Bollywood Ball. Emily and Erin came along also and stayed in the room with us ordering room service and watching movies while Andrea and I Bollywooded away. Elise stayed with a friend for the night. We all missed her.

Day Nineteen 02.04.06

Had breakfast with the girls and Andrea at the hotel. No Flora this morning as I left it at home- why don’t hotels offer it at the buffet?? I was champing at the bit to get back to the track so I left the girls at the hotel and off I went for more of the same – great food, great people and great racing! Sadly Mark Webber’s car broke down and both of the Ferrari’s crashed out of the race but what an exciting day and race it was! Andrea very kindly came and picked me up from the track and took me home. I felt like I had been away for days not just a Saturday, Saturday night and the day Sunday – I guess that is the world of motor racing and the beauty of the event itself. When I got home I had a cup of chicken noodle soup with my daily ration of Flora in it, very yummy and homely, then I got stuck in to cooking the Sunday night roast chicken.

Day Twenty 03.04.06

Back to reality after the all encompassing glamour of the weekend of motor sport. Kids up and out to school, including Erin who is now back to 100%. I had my toast, flora, jam and coffee and retired to the office to catch up on weekend emails. Later Andrea and I went out on a date –to the gym – we like to think of it as a date as it is something we do together and without the kids so it is kinda like a date. Plus we enjoy it! After the date at the gym we went on a date to the shopping centre – it never ceases to amaze me how often you have to go shopping for things. I actually do prefer to buy my veggies the day I am going to eat them or maybe the day before that way they are fresh, same with my meat and fish so I guess that means shopping more often but getting better quality produce and therefore healthier for you too. Still trying to get the computer fixed – small steps will get us there eventually! I had to pick Elise up from school on the motorbike. I love to see the look on my girls faces when I pick them up from school with the motorbike – firstly they like to ride on the bike with me and secondly they like the looks on the boys faces as they look on with cool appreciation. It’s fun being a Dad!

Day Twenty One 04.04.06

I wont bore you with the usual in’s and out’s of my day today. I did the usual emails and phone calls. I am still trying to get to the bottom of my computer troubles and will eventually sort it out. Andrea and I had our walk and talked about all the good things in our lives and about our kids – we have certainly had our hard times and it makes you appreciate the good times even more. I had my favourite lunch of smoked kippers with flora on sour dough bread – I hope you try it. I am sorry to admit I haven’t gotten any further in finishing the office. I picked the kids up from school and enjoyed listening to how their day went. I went in to Channel Seven and shot Dancing With the Stars – yes it really is live – and raced home to do a late night radio interview. Importantly I finished the Challenge and have organized to get a blood test to find out my results. I am not worried as I said at the start of the diary I am looking forward to seeing how much my cholesterol has dropped. I enjoyed the last three weeks and the focus the Three Week Challenge brought to my life. Don’t they say that it takes seven days to establish a habit? Well over the last three weeks I feel I have in fact been establishing a new and healthier lifestyle, one in which I intend to continue on with. The Three Week Challenge is over but the next challenge begins, to maintain the good work achieved and not slip back into old habits! So I guess there will be no more sausage rolls!

I enjoyed reading the diary, Paul.
Well done on the challenge, great result!

I've made something for you, click on my name to see it!

Love Clair.
XXXXX

Hi Paul--it was fun reading your diary. We have a similar product in the States called "Balance" and it claims to help reduce or maintain a healthier balance of the good and bad cholesterols. It's made from healthy vegetable oils (like olive) and it tastes well and cooks up great. (Another product called Promise also promotes a healthy alternative, but it's not recommended for cooking or frying.)

But like everything, we're still looking at it working in conjunction with balanced eating and physical activity.

Congrats!

I had read the diaries while you were taking the challenge and found them very interesting, at times humorous. Congrats on making it through the challenge and on your awesome results. So are you going to stick with that "diet" (whatever you call it)?
Just as Melody indicated, balanced eating and physical activity as part of life style changes is what i'm working on. Right now it's going well for me, lost about 6 kg during the lasts 6 weeks, long term goal, another 10 kg, although that might be pushing it a bit. Will see...

WOW! If I ate like that and walked an hour a day, my cholestrol wouldn't be the only thing that would do down!

Great job Paul.

Go Evelyn!

With all the travelling I have been doing I have slacked off on the Flora, didnt want to be lugging it in my suitcase. Being away from home getsin the way of set routines and health y eating patterns although I try to keep it good. I just drink too much beer!

Balance is the key word! Now I am back home I can get the balance right again.

Hi Paul

I am sorry to be a pain but i would LOVE to know the secret to that big slide! Still can't do it myself. Maybe there was a skateboard??

Kind regards
Amanda

Paul, I can see how difficult it is when you do all that travelling to keep up a healthy life style, esp. when you are tied to eating out.
Yesterday I wore my white jeans I bought about 2 months ago when they fit perfectly, although a bit on the tighter side, well now they are rather loose, but oh so comfy and I get to see the result of what I've been doing, made me feel REALLY, REALLY good!

Happy balancing things to you, Paul and enjoy being at home!
Evelyn

Are you gonna be on dancing with the stars ? I dont usually watch much tv here in the states it pretty much bites big time,but if paul joseph mercurio is gonna be on it we'll have to make an exception. I think most people that have ever emailed you feel like you're family. I hope I didnt already miss it if you were on it,that would be bad...real bad
I need some green tea !