Psyllium husks and cute ears

''If you were here, I'd kneel for you, a thousand kisses deep."  L.Cohen

I never thought I could get so excited about psyllium husks. I have never been a breakfast person and I am not a great eater of fruit, plus I have a famously runny stomach. The Chinese say that the stomach is the second brain, and I certainly find that to be true. My stomach and brain are often in disagreement.  My stomach generally doesn't like to leave the house. I always have a little chat with it. 'Listen tummy, we have to go to work and I know that it's going to be a challenging day, but really it will be fine', or 'Listen lovely tummy, we are going on holiday but I promise to give you nice food at regular times'. I am forever coaxing my stomach to go with me without protesting.

Before going out the door, I invariably have to make a last loo stop. It used to be really bad, but since I have been living in Oman feeling much less stressed, my stomach has also settled down a lot.

 A BIG part of this because of Opra Winfrey. My goodness, is there anybody's life she hasn't touched in one way or another. There she was one night with Dr Oz. Bless the man. I always want to call him Dr Spock, I sort of expect him to have pointy ears. I like his ears, they are a good size. I absolutely do not trust men with small ears. Can't explain this phenomenon, sorry. Men are so bad at listening in any case, can you imagine what terrible listeners men with small ears are. Not to be trusted, absolutely not.

Back to Dr Oz with the ears. He was saying this thing like, Are you always rushed at breakfast or just skip breakfast all together? Do you suffer from an irregular tummy? Why don't you make yourself a shake in the morning with a banana and some frozen berries and some psyllium husks? Perfect, get your portion of fruits, give your body some sugar first thing in th day, fantastic anti-oxidants in the berries, and colon cleansing husks.

This idea literally changed my life. No more runny stomach. No more mid-morning sugar slump and frantic scavaging for food. I literally became a more emotionally balanced person overnight.

But what the hell are psyllium husks? I had a bit of a mission to find them, and my friend Renate has been posting them to me from South Africa. Or any unsuspecting friend has been bringing them to me from there. But these things are not cheap and I became determined to find them here. It has taken me months, and I have asked loads of people, most who look at me strangely.Completely by chance, I mentioned it to Vishkir, a friend going to South Africa, hoping he could bring some along.

He told me immediately that his mom uses them regularly and that you can get them in the local Lulu supermarket next to the panadols and the Vicks.We love the place, it has everything. I always take all my visitors there as part of the standard tourist trail. The name means "Pearl".  I made a bee-line there, and lo and behold, there was the little green packet with the deer on the front just as he said. And really reasonable. Joy.

I have been pleased about this now for more than a week. Everytime I see the packet in the cupboard my face breaks into a huge smile. What I am trying to say is that sometimes one can derive enormous pleasure from the smallest of things. Plus, sometimes something really simple can make a really big difference to your quality of life, you just have to have your ears and eyes open and be willing to give it a go.

The man in my life thinks I am a weirdo, yes, his word. I once asked him why he likes me. I think most of you can anticipate the kind of answer I thought I would get. I didn't get any of that. He answered that he perceives me as part alien, part mermaid and part unicorn. This is about as romantic as I can expect to get, and a huge compliment coming from this man. The one thing I can say about him though, he has very decent ears.