Changing my diet one piece of toast and marmalade at a time…

I had a patient yesterday who desperately wanted to lose weight. As I gave her dietary and lifestyle advice along with the medicine that I had prescribed for her, I had to take stock of my own food intake and daily routine.

Would I be able to follow the advice I had just given her?

It’s so easy to tell other people what they should be doing [especially if it’s your job]. But as I said last week, I am at least 2 stones over weight and what am I doing about it?

I will tell you…

1.       I changed my breakfast routine. This has been hard but I am sticking to it. I don’t have toast and marmalade any more. I love toast and marmalade. Instead I now fry chopped onions, sliced courgettes and mushrooms in coconut oil or olive oil with sea salt and cracked black pepper, then shove in an egg. Sometimes I slice up kale or chard from the garden and add that.

OK, so I know what you are thinking. That sounds gross, is what you are thinking, and if you are slim you have the luxury of choice. But at some point, those of us who are overweight have to change what we eat and what we do or we will stay overweight. And one of the things I chose to change was the amount of bread that I used to eat – especially bread made with modern wheat [it contains amylopectin A, which raises blood sugar very high]. I am going to experiment with sourdough made with spelt flour [which doesn’t contain the amylopectin A] and introduce a slice of that every now and then. One of my sons-in-law makes excellent sourdough so it can’t be that hard to do at home…

And, by the way, don’t worry about the odd bit of coconut oil. Fat isn’t the problem with weight gain, but I am not going to argue about it now with the low-fat diet zealots – I just can’t be bothered...

2.       I have [mostly] replaced potatoes with pumpkin, squash or swede. This again is hard, but ditto to what I said above. A swede cooked well with plenty of black pepper, sea salt and some butter is OK. I allow myself roast potatoes when I visit other people if they have made them as I am not going to ruin the effort other people have gone to just because I want to lose weight. I just make sure I am more careful the next day. And if someone buys me chocolate, I don’t throw my hands up in horror and refuse it. I graciously accept and have some, then share the rest out, instead of pigging out on it all by myself as I would probably prefer to do.

3.       I walk more. I aim to walk every day. I try to walk before I eat so I use up fat stores and not just the calories I have just taken in. I have a brisk 20-30 minute walk around the docks, then back home for breakfast [or lunch]. If the weather is foul I will exercise indoors instead of walking. This takes the shape of short bursts of interval training. 30 seconds of running up and down the stairs, 60 seconds rest, then 30 seconds more exercise – I do that for 6 cycles at that’s it – exercise done for the day.

4.       I avoid red meat usually, and go for chicken or fish. I also use a lot more pulses and legumes. In fact, I soak black-eye beans or aduki beans, then cook them up and store them [rinsed] in the fridge to keep hunger attacks at bay. You know - the hunger pangs when you come in from town ravenous and just want a piece of toast and marmalade with a cup of tea. Instead [if I can hold my nerve] I put the kettle on and heat up some coconut oil, shove in some mushrooms and the cooked pulses I have in the fridge. I season them well, as they can be bland, but they stop me being hungry…

5.       Lunch is usually warmed up dinner left over from the night before, or I sometimes have fruit and organic full fat yogurt [but I avoid bananas], or I open a tin of mackerel or spread an avocado on Finn crisp crackers. I do not advise cream crackers and cheese from the point of view of; when do you stop? I could eat a whole packet…

6.       I have managed to train myself to not eat biscuits when I have a cup of tea. This has been one of the hardest habits to break, and is easier when the children aren’t at home. My kids buy stuff like ginger nuts, which is just plain cruel.

7.       Supper used to be a couple of slices of toast and marmalade. Now it isn’t. I try not to eat at all after dinner. And sometimes I succeed. If I am really hungry I try to manage on a handful of almonds or walnuts.

So – I will spare you a ‘before’ photo. But I may take an ‘after’ photo in 6 months’ time. But, yes, it’s going well. Thanks for asking….

WHAT TO EAT?

I have just bought and eaten a whole Twirl when taking my granddaughter to school. I had to bribe her, you see, and once in the shop by the chocolate counter I sort of found myself with the Twirl in my hand [I love Twirls] and was through the checkout and in the car park before you could say Cadbury’s.

But guys! I have a clear idea of what I should be eating, and why. I understand the dangers of consistently eating processed, refined foods. I am aware of how much better/thinner/lively I would be if I ate more fresh, raw vegetables. What I am trying to say is that the Twirl is not an isolated incident.

Old habits die hard, and I was brought up on the same diet that most people had in the 60’s and 70’s. It included a lot of toast, beefburgers, sausages and Vesta Curries. [I’m not complaining Mum, I enjoyed it at the time.] Quinoa hadn’t been invented and seeds were things you sowed in the allotment during the spring, not things that the nutritionally aware sprinkled on their porridge.

But here’s the thing; nearly all of my family have diabetes now AND THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL for me. I am a good 2 stones overweight and although I am losing a steady 1lb a week, which is healthy, I sneak a Twirl and a packet of ginger nuts for a reward and I put it back on again.

I was inspired recently by a woman in Norway. She paid a GP a lot of money for a diet plan that was exactly the same as the one in my head that I think I am on. Except she was sticking to it. I think she was sticking to it because she paid so much money for it and the one in my head costs me nothing.

So, I am making an announcement. The next time it is my turn and not Moo’s to post on here is 29^th – exactly a week away. It is one day before I go to Portugal on holiday [which is another thing but hey] – and I will honest-to-goodness post here if I managed to lose any weight by getting the meal plan out of my head and onto my plate and by pretending that I have paid shed loads of money for it.

Do you think I can do it?

LETS GET ON WITH IT...

Well, summer is over and autumn is just about upon us again.

This is the grown-up version of ‘What I Did in the Holidays’, an essay I always dreaded at school because we used to do such weird things in our family, e.g. as mentioned in a previous blog, Grave-spotting and Uncle Hunting. We never went away on holiday, except rarely and only to visit family. There were a few day trips to the coast, but these were very rare indeed, as our parents weren’t too keen on the chaos at the beach. Or the journey with squabbling kids in the back, though I seem to remember they were as bad as us for bickering, maybe worse. We could hardly get a mile down the road before we were all ready to give up the trip and go home.

It may seem strange but we enjoyed our summer holidays immensely despite the lack of trips abroad or days out. People didn’t tend to do so much of that sort of thing back then. We were left much more to our own devices, and this suited us fine.
It wasn’t easy, when tackling the inevitable What I Did  essay on returning to school, to make our holidays sound interesting, or entirely believable. At least, not to normal people like teachers and other kids. 

But at least when you are a child, you get some time off. Once you are an adult and have your own family, ‘holidays’ are never the same again. They are just everyday life on steroids. When the kids have all (just about) left home you’d think things would be a lot quieter. And so they are I guess, but YOU are also a lot older. So it still feels like chaos. 
I guess this is why pensioners spend their time cruising round the world and the rest of us spend our time dreaming of enough pension to do the same one day.

So, what did I do all summer?

Well, I’ve had some lovely moments... Visits from grandchildren, evenings eating ice creams on the beach and watching the sun go down, spending some time with my parents, starting an online photography course… The best thing all summer was the birth of another granddaughter. 

Oh, and we sold the house and are about to buy another. Anyone who has been through house sale and purchase will understand what’s involved in THAT.

While Saggy has been gadding about Norway and sorting out her Herbal School stuff back home, I’ve been working hard at my photography these last few months. To be honest, you can’t call it work. I really love it and I’m out most days with my camera and the dog. It’s not so easy getting my head round the technical stuff though. 

How I will miss those beautiful swans at the bottom of my garden when we move!

So it’s been very busy this summer.

I seem to have spent all my adult life waiting for a time when Things Get Back to Normal, but have to wonder if such a state of what I imagine to be Normal really exists! And just think – countdown to Christmas will begin before we know it…

So, as I embark on the chaos that is Moving House, I’m taking a deep breath and bracing myself for an even busier autumn. A few weeks ago I heard somebody say of me that I am someone who, when faced with problems ‘just gets on with it’. This chirked me up no end. I have always thought I was someone who makes heavy weather of things. Now I have a reputation to live up to.

It’s been a good summer, taking one thing with another. I’ve laid down some great memories. Now I’m ready to ‘get on with it’ this autumn.