Lunch Alternatives .....by Heather

Lunch (Me)

That was probably my standard work day lunch time menu for the last 25 years - except usually that would be white bread! Once diagnosed Coeliac, I flailed around a fair bit, until I found a good gluten free alternative from the good people at Genius:

But pure genius or not - bread has gone by the wayside, be it brown or white. And I have declared my lunchtime menu to be carb free. Despite the deep frost outside, salad has proved to be the order of the day - and I have become best friends with leafy salad bag - today it was Rocket/Spinach/Watercress for a more peppery flavour. But there is Baby Leaf or Crisp&Crunchy - and I mix these about a bit. In fairness - I am actually able to distinguish flavours now, whereas it largely went unnoticed before. Plus there is spring onion, cucumber, beetroot, celery & carrot to add to the mix.

With that I have added - tuna/salmon/sardine or mackerel - or sliced chicken/beef or ham - or avocado or boiled egg or cheese.

I was happy with that but on re reading Peter Attia at the Eating Academy and looking more closely at what he ate - I see that maybe I shouldn't be concentrating too much on loading up protein - and so it may be that I need to make sure I keep mixing it up a bit, rather than reaching for what is simplest or the thing nearest at hand - which is often just tuna!

I still find it difficult to swallow (no pun intended) that its ok to swim around in fat - but I realise that I have to go with his proven wisdom. To that end - the avocado, egg and cheese may be my first port of call.

During every day there are those times when you need to turn to a snack! This is always difficult in any diet situation, because if it can't be a chocolate bar or a danish pastry - what the hell is left? Well at first I thought my options weren't too terrible - Apples, Bananas, Grapes, Raisins & other dried fruits, Nuts, Yogurt, seeds............

..........however.
The nuts as I have blogged recently, have started to cause me stomach pain - and so although I love them, I have  had to cut back on them - I can now eat them intermittently without repercussion - but there's the rub - only every now and again.

Raisins and dried fruits - I knew these were high in sugar and so I had already scrubbed them from my repertoire. Gone.

Given my recent issue with slower transit - I was keen to up the amount of fibre in my diet - and so real fruit (rather than the dried) was my first port of call - but having looked at the sugar content in fruit - especially my preferred fruit of choice - apples, bananas and grapes - I realise that I have been eating these maybe a bit too often - maybe 2 apples a day plus grapes plus banana.

So now I have traded these in for berries instead - today was my first foray and boy could I tell the difference in the sugar load between my  usual 'Winter Wonder' apple fix and the handful of raspberries and blackberries I had in its stead!! Wow.

I had them with full greek yogurt - and it looked lovely in the bowl. But it became an exercise of me vs the bowl after the first mouth full - it was seriously bitter. I stuck with it - and the taste aside - I actually felt nicely filled afterward, and so as a snack - it proved a good one. I'm hoping with time, I learn to appreciate the fruit in the same way as I now appreciate the salad leaves - we shall see.











I have added in to my shopping list real coconut - not the dessicated stuff, but the real maccoy. Coconut seemed to feature in milk and oil on Peter Attia's menu a fair amount of time, so I thought the real thing might make a good snack too.

I have also added milk in to the repertoire  - real milk, full fat (haven't had that in years) - this works well for me as a snack, and it tastes sweet of course. But I think that I am ok to include some lactose - and the milk had the sweetness that the greek yogurt lacked.

For the family - well they are fairing much better  - fruit in all its forms are on the menu; as is wholemeal bread. What is off? - Well, mini cake bars in the lunch pack; the choccy bar after school, crisps, fruit juice - they have water and milk now - and haven't complained once!! Fizzy drinks - Coke et al - they are all off the menu. On a recent trip to Costa Coffee I was stumped at what our youngest might actually have. I had to relent somewhat - if he agreed not to have Coke - I had to agree to let him have a sugar free Ribena.

Nakd bars and natural fruit infused raisins - these are the very favourite of all - Hello gorgeous indeed. As a treat, I'm not averse to eating these lovelies myself.

The Scientific Stuff.......by Heather

Katy and I have when faced with an obstacle will both look at said obstacle and see it in the same way, we will chat, muse and concur - but then she will meander to the left and I to the right. We can see each other, and we can compare our journeys, but they are different journeys. And that is the beauty and value of real friends.

Here on our blog we wanted to share our journey through the pitted pathway that is the menopause and our personal battle with the bulge; but as with all things we differ in approach. Katy, the 'yank' half of the partnership is concerned with making healthy choices, nutritionally and psychologically - she has a holistic approach to most issues.

I do too - but the 'lobster back' half here has a distinct inclination toward critical examination, and the scientific method! I like facts and figures - its the accountant in me! And there is a lot of science to be had on the subject of food and weight.

So whilst I leave Katy to peruse the farmers markets for fresh produce - I have been looking at some of the science behind what I am trying to achieve.

Ok, I've lost a bit of weight, not a vast amount -and not - after over a month of keeping tabs on my eating, enough to be exactly proud of.

I do, feel better, less tired, less bloated, less desperate for sugar - and slightly lighter around the middle. Which is all positive.

What bothers me is that in a)cutting out sugar (thereby cutting out the obvious culprits of sweets, cakes, biscuits) and reducing my simple carb consumption - I am not seeing the weight loss I would normally, and when I say normally, I'm talking from past experience , expect of making these changes.

As I have gone along these past weeks - I am seeing myself cut out almost all added sugar (to begin with I allowed myself some dark chocolate or a teaspoon of maple syrup with my natural yogurt) - that has steadily declined.

However, my simple reduction of carbs has been a bit more 'woolly'. I've given up bread. I have cut out carbs in my lunch, and  I have moved to wholegrain alternatives for all other complex carb options such as rice.

Evenso currently, despite all of this  I'm classified as overweight - and I do not seem to be losing weight  - a bit yes, but not enough I would venture.

I understand the science - carbs convert to sugar and sugar unless used as energy will be stored as fat.

Clearly, I don't move about a whole lot - not in a strenuous carb busting way - and so even small amounts of carbs are causing an excess. And if there isn't a natural deficit then i ain't going to burn the fat off.

Right now, I doubt my ability to reduce (happily and comfortably) my carbs down further - yesterday I reckoned that I had had somewhere in the region of 130g of carbs - none of them through excess sugar or simple carbs.

I also want to maintain my fibre intake to avoid problems with constipation.

I know from previous attempts at weight loss that I have to stick to no more than 1300 calories per day to lose weight and even then its hard going - certainly I find it easier to stick to the 1300 band when carbs are reduced - but it is a terribly boring existance.

My target is to live a healthier existence - but before I settle for that - I have to move some excess weight and reduce my hip/waist ratio - which presently is too high.

What I don't know right now is just how resistant my menopausal/thyrotoxic body is going to be to attempts to make it lose weight - and all I can do until I come across some article somewhere that deals with this issue - is stick to it.

Breakfast Alternatives.......by Heather

I really feel that I and the rest of my family have come an awful long way in a short time. Today, included in my online shopping order, was a box of Thornton's chocolates, because there had been a mistake with my last order  it was sent as a 'sorry' gesture. A nice one - but as I laid the lovely box on the dining table, we all looked at it warily, all except the 9 year old that is; who promptly ripped the box to get in. But the rest of us knew it was a box of trouble - because despite making all the right changes - here unplanned was something that embodied everything that is wrong with our old diet - and we all knew how much we liked it - chocolate, sugar, hydrogenated this and that, trans fats, E numbers and preservatives - a veritable smorgasbord of bad - gloriously yummy bad!

We have all had a couple of said choccies (actually the 9 year old has had more than a couple!) But in seeing it, and seeing our collective responses to it; I feel pleased with us. And I wanted to share how some reasonable and easy manipulations have made a huge difference to our diet overall.

Breakfast:  (Me)

I am a creature of terrible habit, and breakfast for me has always meant cereal. I'd actually happily eat cereal for dinner. Some time ago, when I was first diagnosed Coeliac, I had to undergo something of a mourning process for my best loved meal of the day. Most cereals are a Coeliac nightmare - but more recently, having checked out box label after box label I realised  it wasn't just the gluten that was cause for concern - but the sugar content of these things is mind blowing.

There is some options though, even for us silly-yaks!

I realise that this is carbohydrate, but it is natural, albeit glutenless, and is a good source of fibre and so isn't on my carb hit list - in winter I make hot porridge (I add a teaspoon of flax seeds post cooking); in summer I soak the oats in the milk overnight in the fridge and then zuzz it the following morning to make a cold oaty shake. I now nolonger add any sweetner - I used to add honey or maple syrup. But that has gone, and after some 5 weeks without, I can say I am happy with it now.

Breakfast: (rest of the family)

This was a biggy. My husband never used to eat breakfast, strong coffee and gone - but since his training for the marathon some 18months ago, and a massive overhaul of his diet generally, he continues to exercise well and breakfast is now muesli. I would like to introduce him to a homemade muesli - but at present, he eats  the recommended 40g of Alpen - and he likes it. Even the Alpen light has some added sugar - so to make our own muesli would be a better option, but for now I think that this is a reasonable mid way step.

The kids all like different things! The older two are somewhat easier - I buy them a box and tell them that's it. They both like Bran Flakes - again looking at the labels, its obviously not sugar free or as healthy as I'd like - but in fairness they now no longer add sugar/honey to it - so again that is a step forward.

The youngest was always going to be my biggest issue - and how!

Behold! His breakfast cereal of choice.

How do you move on from this?

Well first off, I wasn't alone in thinking that we had to tackle his diet, my husband agreed whole heartedly - and starting with this.

We decided that it would be a good idea to give him a choice, mix it up a bit - so he has a choice of 3 things for breakfast now - firstly, a slice of wholemeal toast with a little honey and a glass of milk. Secondly a bowl of low sugar cornflakes with no sugar/honey added, Thirdly, a bowl of greek natural yogurt with a little honey. (as a rule of thumb we used one teaspoon honey or maple syrup, he likes either, to one tablespoon yogurt).

This has worked. Surprisingly,the yogurt has been the preference, with the cornflakes being the least favourite. Having the choice helped make the transition.

For me, losing the sugar completely at breakfast and in seeing sugar consumption go down considerably with the rest of the family, has been a complete triumph. All teas and coffees are now sugar free for everyone and we have ditched all other drinks - that's fruit juices, isotonic sports drinks, squashes and cordials, malted and flavoured drinks etc. Acceptable drinks apart from tea and coffee include herbal and green teas, water or milk.

Sugar seemed for us to be an integral part of the breakfast experience; sugared breakfast cereal with sugar or honey added on top, sugar in drinks - or when time allowed, we would have toast (white of course), or muffins, or crumpets, or croissant ( christ almighty! all of em together) - all with jam, marmalade or wait for it....chocolate spread.

Last year I made 24 x 12oz jars of strawberry and raspberry jam - it was beautiful, and we loved every bit of it - but for every kilo of fruit was a kilo of sugar and it makes my eyes water to remember how quickly it was all demolished! I really enjoy jam making - but if I do it again this summer (and the jury is out on that) - this is going to have to be something that lasts us considerably longer - because it will be a rare treat indeed! Last year I don't think my produce lasted beyond 4 months!

Interestingly, I would consider myself a bad starter in the morning, dragging myself out of bed, to stand miserably in front of the kettle waiting for it to boil, I would often munch on curiously cinnamon squares, or biscuits, or chocolate if it was there - all before I had even taken my first swig of much needed caffeine - and all well before breakfast. However, of late, I have noticed I am not sluggish in the morning any more - I don't crave sugar as I wake up - I have a tea or herbal tea - and am much brigher and bushier tailed - I have it seems, escaped that cloying need for the morning sugar rush.

Result!

Peanut Butter....by Heather

Time to introduce my 'interesting food/recipe' slot I've decided.
This is a lovely product, Meridian do a number of nut butters - as you can see this one is crunchy, they do a smooth too - without sugar or salt. Nice.

But what to do with it - apart from just eat it off the spoon?
I've always liked peanut butter (all the nut butters actually) - but apart from spreading it on bread or crackers, I've never known what to meaningfully do with it. Until now that is!

Enter Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, one of my foody heroes is our Hugh, I have his cookbook on 'VEG' -  a cookbook that has been massively overlooked for the universally popular Hairy Bikers or Lorraine Pascal with the family Kilburn - love them both as I do - I have been revisiting Hugh's simple ideas in the River Cottage staple, and he has come good for me of late.

I've been keen to experiment since my diet overhaul and I was intrigued to find a recipe that would utilise my Meridian peanut butter marvellously. I have to admit, I was unsure how it would turn out and more importantly, how it would be received by the rest of the family.

Hugh's Sweet Potato and Peanut Gratin

This is gorgeous! Seriously lovely. It has good carbs and fibre in the sweet potato (another food I struggle to know what to do with) - and who would have thought that peanut butter and sweet potato could taste that good together?

And the family? The family with the food adventurousness of a slug - well they thought it fab too.
Here's a link to the recipe  Hugh says you can leave out the peanut butter - but don't, you'll regret it.

It is 'sweet' however - so don't worry about teaming it up with something quite strong or even bitter - like spinach or rocket.

Enjoy!

Heather's Plan Part 3.........by Heather

Ok

Part one - give up the sugar - check
Part two - reduce the carbs - check

Part three - move.

The biggest defeats for me and exercise are - a tendency to choose something to do that I don't really like, but picking it because its supposed to do me good; not maintaining doing those things I do like to do; trying to implement a plan I don't stand a hope in hell of keeping to and then giving up because I've failed.

Truth be told, I don't enjoy exercising. I don't like sweating, I don't like the pain (just the actual sensation of forcing myself to move), I don't have the inner mettle to force myself through the pain barrier and don't get anything out of pitting myself against a target - I am also right now, the weakest I have ever been in my life.

Again, the thyroid dysfunction has been to blame for robbing me of what little muscle tone I did have. As my thyroid condition worsened, I was unable to walk upstairs without holding on to the bannister rail for support; once in a squat (to pick something up from under the tv say) I couldn't actually then lever myself back up again.

Having a small holding, I'm used to lugging bales of hay around and cleaning out after livestock - at the height of my illness in 2011 I couldn't even get the horse food from the trailer in to the back of the car - the effort nearly made me pass out.

Despite the improvement to my overall health, the meds haven't miraculously improved my wasted muscle tone. The short lived efforts I have made to improve my lot have been half- hearted, because exercise has become really uncomfortable - for uncomfortable, read difficult.

I know the solution - I just don't like it. But now is the time.

In an effort however to embrace what I have learned about myself over the years, I'm not suddenly going to pretend that I am off to train for a marathon - no siree.

I have conflicting views about exercise - that what I know I should do and that what I know I am likely to do.

I know I ought to be doing some sort of weight resistance training for muscle strength and some cardio.
I don't like the sound of either.

I am working on the principle that anything I do is better than the nothing I have been doing to start with and if I can manage to make it habitual; I stand a chance of moving up a gear as the weather improves.

So - first off - daily, will be yoga. I have been doing yoga since before Christmas and it has made an amazing difference. I am getting a little stronger. I can hold poses more than a couple of seconds without my legs and arms shaking like jellies! And I am getting much better flex in my hips and shoulders.

Second - like Katy, I have secret fantasies about hula hooping like Salome - right now that's more fantastical than I'd like. This is something she and I fancy doing and we're hoping we aren't mistaken in thinking it will help tone our middles - but we shall see. That too has to be a daily occurrence.

Finally I aim to resurrect the 'Wii Shape' I bought a couple of years back. It helped me then to start a very laudable exercise campaign that was only derailed by ill health - so I don't see why, it shouldn't help me now.

I have a fight on my hands for the telly - but I am finding 3-4 times a week when the rest of the family seem to be out and about on a regular basis - which gives me a chance to reclaim the remote control and work out in private.

The other thought is that over the next couple of months, the weather and the dark nights prevent me doing anything more ambitious - but if I stick with the Wii, I stand more chance of evolving in to something more adventurous by the time that light nights arrive.

So this begins part three....

Slow Progress....by Heather

Slow Progress. Ummm.

Neither Katy nor I are fond of the scales - but I have stepped on them intermittently since the New Year to find generally, my weight loss is small  and slow. But it is a loss. I said in the New Year, that I could feel weight piling on, and I honestly could, it was unnerving; but in a wave of positivity, I am happy to say that this is not the case now.

I am holding my own.

I feel lighter, no bloat going on and I am feeling less headachey, less irritable and actually, yes more energetic. I am finding myself missing the sugar much much less. This is actually a BIG thing for me - its big enough for me that in honesty, I should be raving from the rafters - I would never have thought I could lose the craving - but as I sit here and think on it, I really have. I like it. But don't feel I need it.

But the weight, on the scales, is very much still there -  I was aware when I started this journey, it wasn't going to be easy. My consultant had already told me that my medication may cause some weight gain. Forum's on the web I have found, show me that many women, following the same route, have also lumped on weight - in fairness, I am actually something of a steaming success in comparison to their tales of weighty woe.

But I'm not going to be a poster girl for lbs lost on anyones wall yet.

Slow progess too in the digestive transition stakes. This is a topic I'm not terribly familiar with and something I am more happy leaving Katy, the herbalist to tackle. But it is causing me difficulty - and this is I know exacerbated by my being a coeliac.

You see Katy is the natural healer of this outfit - and I'm the natural medical disaster!!

I have gone to some lengths this weekend to tackle the slow transit problem - and I might encourage Katy to talk about natural alternatives she has steered her clients toward.

If all improves, I will talk more about the initiatives I have employed - I have spent some time checking over menus to improve the fibre content of my diet whilst not compromising on the reduction in carbohydrates I am working with.

The holy grail it may be, but I want something that means I don't suffer cramping or colic; that doesn't give me drastic urges to go at anytime day or night and  doesn't irritate that fine balance I have that can throw me the 'other way'!

First and easiest remedy - water. Personally I really struggle to drink the stuff, stupid as it sounds. I have no idea why, I used to love and only drink water when I was a kid - so why I am water averse now, I don't understand.  So that really has to be my first port of call - that, and moving around. But much more about that next time.

Subtle Basic Changes - by Katy

I don't know if it's the winter, hormones or what but I've been feeling very blase and this is helping me realize at the moment my zest for weight loss and toning up are at an all time low. I HAVE made changes (yes yes, it's something!) - my foods are 80% healthy, meaning all from scratch, home-made and/or fresh food. Actually probably 90% but I am allowing for the occasional lapse when at work. My downfall!

I have also added some basic resistance and stretching to my days - granted this will not make me a starlet overnight, but what it has been doing is helping me feel 'better' in general.  More flexible and less stiff as I tend to be when it's cold and I feel like hibernating and not move most days!  My cardio is still up in the air.  I have started to Hula daily, adding on minutes each time.  It's funny how one day I can go almost the entire time-frame without dropping it and other days, you'd think I just picked the darn thing up!

I also know that water intake is key for me.  It helps keep things moving as well as keeps my joints lubricated. It also keeps me from that foggy feeling I can get when I know I've been slacking on my water.

So yes, I know hormones are kicking in at various times during the month.  I'm more Peri-menopause than full out Menopause at this point which means I have PMS as well! lol  At least it seems like a double whammy somedays.  This is where I am coming from lately. So while I know Heather going strong with her focus on food haves and have nots, I'm afraid I'm finding I don't have the motivation for it.  My feeling lately is to keep my head above water with mood ups and downs.  Staying on top of that, is helping me stay on track with my food choices at the very least and thankfully it's working. 

Baby Steps -I feel like both the Tortoise AND the Hare as I know I have to work within my current needs/pace even though I would like to be accomplishing everything yesterday!  I have to tell myself, progress is progress.

We'll see how next week shapes up!  (pun intended!)

Katy

Portion Control .......by Heather

My Mum would call this 'eyes bigger than' syndrome; and it's true. Problem is often my eyes fully understand what my stomach wants; and, even when I am well intentioned, I can still very much get it wrong.

Correct portion sizes take some getting used to. My breakfast portion of 30g of oats is actually tiny and over the course of time, by degrees, if I don't weigh out those 30g, it will inch up and up and up. 'Thats close enough' usually isn't, and by quite a long way.

I have deliberately set out to live with a livable diet - one that isn't going to impinge on the just 'being' that is my normal life.

Despite giving up sugar and reducing carbs - I still can't eat what the hell I like. I want to lose those excess lbs, not just maintain what I have; and at my age and in my condition - this isn't just going to give up and submit. I have to manage the expectation of both my eyes and stomach!

Be aware too, that correct portion sizes may vary between cooked and uncooked variations - 40g of uncooked pasta is vastly different if the recommended portion size is 40g of cooked pasta for example.

And food labels give every appearance of trying to be helpful and honest - but they can obscure key pieces of information. The fact that they are unstandardised helps with the confusion too.

Even if you are pretty confident about the portions you should be eating - like with me and breakfast cereal, its worth just weighing a portion every now and again to see how far your eyes have given in at your stomach's behest!!

It's a hackneyed old practice, but changing plate size can help - there is nothing more disconsolate that a tiny portion swimming in space on your dinner plate. And large plates encourage you to load up. Downsizing is a good ploy to help when its all hard work in the early days.

And in maintenance mode; keep mis calculating what you're supposed to be eating, and it will just add on calories you don't need - because you'll never see them mounting up.

I was actually very shocked at what I thought was an acceptable portion as against what I read was the recommended portion. Very shocked indeed. And I don't consider myself a particularly large eater.

Exercising some restraint when eating those meals that I can have, is helping - I can feel it helping. It gives me some faith that what I am attempting isn't impossible.

Nuts....by Heather

I've always been pleased I didn't find myself with nut allergies because I really like them. So when banning the sugar over the last few weeks, it was a pleasure still to be able to indulge in what is to me a form of comfort food.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't binge or go on a nut gorging spree. A handful of almonds as a snack; or a teaspoon of peanut butter in my greek yogurt (surprisingly pleasant I thought) and I introduced myself to half a glass of almond milk - all quite low key.

Of late - and I couldn't tell you when I began noticing something might be amiss - I keep getting what started as vague stomach pains and have increased steadily in tempo until some days its felt more like full on colic.

Real griping pains, and bloating with it - so much so my trousers felt uncomfortably tight was I sat down at the desk.

All would have more or less righted itself by morning, although again lately I noticed it was taking longer to subside.

I now realise the culprit is nuts. Almond nuts more pronounced, but that peanut butter had me too I realised. The last time was particularly painful - less like an ache, more like a full on attack of something nasty.

I don't know whether it is just almonds or all nuts now. I don't know whether this means that I will get this effect everytime I ate them or whether I will be ok eating them infrequently as a treat.

All I know is, after that last attack - I'm pretty loath to be eating them, any of them, any time soon - it wasn't nice.

And I'd just splashed out on almond milk and peanut butter - both still full and in the fridge.

Its disappointing too because nuts were a good snack - easy and tasty and filling, even a small amount. So that is a bummer.

I googled nuts and stomach ache and surprisingly, its not such a stupid notion - I found a lot of people on different forums and such, complaining about the self same thing.

There must be something in nuts that irritates - someone mentioned diverticulitis and nuts and seeds, something I don't need. Nuts are off the menu. (if I had one, there would be a very sad faced emoticon right just here!)

Weight Loss - What to Eat? .....by Heather

I have lost about 3lbs.
My weight loss to date has been less than half a pound a week.

From a standard weight loss regime perspective, this represents small and slow loss - however, it is a loss overall and I have not actually been dieting per se,what I have done is simply cut out the added sugar.

I have faltered too - often unknowingly, I think something is ok to eat, only to find it isn't. But I learn every day.

Also, I won't lie. Reducing sugar like I have leaves me with a hollow sensation, even when I haven't really made very much effort to reduce my meals in many other respects and technically I know I'm really not hungry. I also know that in days gone by, following this sugar restricted diet would have seem me dropping off the lbs much more readily - a few weeks would have seen a much more obvious loss.

When I talked about moving on to part 2 of my plan - I talked about reducing my reliance on carbs - and I have spent some time looking at my regular menus and family favourite meals - and what I realise is  we have a very heavy reliance on carbohydrates for practically every meal. This actually shocked me a bit.

Generally my overall goal is to lose some weight now, especially that dangerous middle weight that in my age bracket signals some serious crap around the internal organs - 2 stone would satisfy cosmetically and would probably do the biz with regard to my hip/waist ratio; but that's not really such a small thing to accomplish.

So whilst I aim to work toward an overall healthier diet that will be a blue print to work to for the rest of my life, in order to really move this 'overweight' I am carrying, I have to make some sacrifice now to start to actually shift weight more consistently, and more in line with what the standard diet suggestions of 1-2lb per week.

It's been quite interesting this week - looking at new foods, things I wouldn't normally eat or tweaking old favourites. Traditionally when I start looking at trying to lose some weight,  I always fall back on apples, bananas, raisins, diet yogurts (full of sugar of course!) to fill the void. This time, even though fruit doesn't fall in to my 'added sugar' ban, they are particularly sugary in terms of the biochemistry of the things once they have been swallowed.

I want to try and break some of my old habits, because clearly, now, I have to shake things up a wee bit - or else my actual weight loss will be negligible.

Time is a constricting factor for me during the week - kids and office hours, mean I am stripped of time for leisurely breakfasts; I'm sorry to say I eat my breakfast on my feet - it's gluten free porridge with linseeds in mug, I make it sloppy so I can drink it as I herd the kids from bed, to breakfast to bathroom and make packed lunch.

I do intend however to be more considered about my weekend breakfast - I like porridge and don't really want to forsake something I really have always liked and is very convenient during the week - but weekends will see me shake it up a bit and go for more protein based meal options - like hey ho, Bacon & Eggs say.

Lunchtime will see the drastic change - instead of opting for the lazy cheese sandwich, I will be thinking more leafy and more protein based.

Instead of snacking on apples, bananas, and raisins - instead I am thinking of Greek yogurt, nuts and even some Almond Milk or some nut butters - organic unsweetened peanut butter or almond butter - not entirely sure what to do with them other than spoon them in my mouth - but this gives me something else to investigate over the weeks to come.

Our main meals are a challenge simply because I don't want to be massively out of step with the rest of the family, I don't want to be cooking two meals at a time - for both time and money considerations. We have started migrating from white flours to whole grain - but for the sake of our home economics, I have stuff still in the kitchen cupboards that need eating before the change occurs wholesale. I will over the weeks to come introduce recipes as I find them to hopefully balance the plate for the entire family and reduce our preponderance of carbs in our dinner.

Alls good really, it will be interesting these next few weeks to see how it develops.

Heather's Plan Part 2 .....by Heather

I do think that my learning curve is set to start today.

A few days ago I talked about the start of my lifestyle diet plan - which was all about the sugar.

Ditching the sugar additives in my food was all about making what I believe to be better choices, healthwise, for my overall diet. I really think that Robert Lustig's lecture explains this far better than I could here. True, by limiting the amount of added sugar in my diet, I am instantly cutting out the cakes, and sweets and biscuits, and the ready meals and the rubbish sugary drinks etc etc. Which is all good from a weight loss point of view.

However, if I'm honest, whilst I love most of these things, I have known for a long long time that these things have to be limited, I have never done sugary drinks - I hate Coke and Pepsi et al. I don't have added white or brown sugar in any drinks or breakfast cereal; so saying I am dropping these things out of my diet is no biggy. The biggy for me is in not having a pudding after dinner, or if I'm feeling virtuous, a sweet yogurt say. Not having a chocolate bar during mid morning break or a few biscuits with my afternoon tea. In times gone by, just cutting these things out has been enough to bring my weight to some acceptable level - not a perfect model figure, but one that looks vaguely acceptable.

I have never had to think harder than that - until now.

Ditching added sugar overall (all items with sugar/syrups/'oses' 3 or higher in the ingredients listing) has and will for some goodly time I know, been hard. Despite eating unchecked, all other foods, life without sugary food feels hollow - literally. And I'm not exactly sure whether it is addictive or not, but I have this weekend, thought of little else than what I can't have.

For all of that, I don't believe my weight has shrunk measurably - ok, I think I do feel less bloated, but that is because we are now back at work, having previously been off for Christmas - but weight loss? No I don't really think so.

So, part 2 of my plan, is to be kick started today. And I am already in a quandary with it - and I am sure will blog in more detail over the days to come.

My present weight (and the fact I would like there to be less of it) is presently being exacerbated to greater or lesser degrees by 2 facts, for which I appear at least to have little direct control.

Fact 1 is I have a thyroid disorder.

Fact 2 is I am menopausal

I will revisit both of these wonderful arrivals in my life, I'm sure - but not right now. For now it is enough to say that their existence makes for complications to the matter of  my losing weight.

Undeterred I move on the the second phase of my plan of attack - like Air Chief Marshall Dowding, I haven't as yet dropped the pencil!

My corollary to the sugar ban is the management of my carbs.

I have been reading with interest Peter Attia M.D. at the Eating Academy - presently, I'm seriously not in a position to emulate him - however he does say that his present eating regime took some time to refine and become use to; I am not entirely sure I want to go so far. But seriously I do want to start introducing modifications.

I like Carbs. A lot. Especially the grain variety and what manufacturers can do with it!

I have thought for some considerable time I needed to look at managing the carbs more vigorously. 

There is a slight added point for me, with regard to carbs - I am a coeliac  - not the end of the world but it adds to the mix. I am also a coeliac who isn't averse to cheating a bit. I realise its only myself that gets cheated - but hey, my husband makes fresh pasta to die for!

I wasn't sure exactly what the best way to manage my carbs was - for a start, my family, some months back moved wholly to brown bread - but there has been a general reluctance to change to brown rice, brown flour or wholewheat pasta - since the new year however, my husband has agreed that the family will make a wholesale move to wholegrain where at all possible.

I took the view, that I would happily forgo gluten free bread altogether, be that brown or white (include here too any gluten free equivalent to muffins, crumpets and rolls) - I have experimented with different makes and found a few really good attempts at providing real alternatives for coeliacs; but I think that all too often I default to bread and it wouldn't hurt my weight loss attempts to shelve it, unless it feels absolutely necessary to a meal.

But just moving to wholegrain isn't going to help me with the waistline. And it was whilst reading a grubby copy of 'Women's Health' magazine over the holiday, that I read about using mobile apps to track Gi and GL foods - and so I downloaded a couple of apps last night.

I've flirted with GI before - but because it targeted my most foody nearest and dearest, I lost interest.

Part 2 of my lifestyle diet plan is to stop flirting and just proposition the thing!

Right now I don't have a full handle on it all - so homework for me this week is to read up and learn. In the meantime, I will track my meals and see what its saying about what I eat - I have an immediate and not so startling inkling that its all gonna be 'red' - the key will be to see what this means exactly and refine plan part 2 to shape what my carb eating should entail, and whether GI is relevant or just a useful tool

Be assured, I will be revisiting this again shortly.

Taking A Look At Food

I love food, have always enjoyed cooking, baking, eating out...trying something new.  As a kid I was spoiled as my mom was a great cook...she cooked for 9 of us with varying likes and dislikes but kept us well-rounded with nutritious food.  And on a budget!  I miss you mom!

Fast forward to me moving out, on my own with my own apartment.  I was 18 and ready for the 'new life' I had been waiting for.  Well it wasn't as easy as it seemed!  Meal planning and ideas for one person?  I found myself floundering.  I would have a few basics I could rely on...but really my main meals came from work (all home cooked in cafeteria) and many dinners at mom and dads!  I know...what a wimp eh? 

10 Years or so later and divorced, I'm cooking for myself and daughter, I have been vegetarian for about 16 years -  not that I feel animal products are evil but after my schooling in herbal medicine I was turned off when ex CEO's from the meat and dairy industry were some of our speakers!  While I was very adamant during those years about what is right or wrong for overall good health, over the years I have softened my views to a less judgmental approach of any one food - and simply am trying to start getting back to basics.  It's the processing I have trouble with and GMO foods which have turned me off and how they are turning up even more health and allergy issues than ever before. I have never felt any one food is the enemy - it's the kind of foods and how much of it we eat.  I like to think I'm on track with this mindset as I've always felt I was a 'farmer' in a different life!  lol  I certainly can appreciate going back to the basics of growing my own - even the meats if I so chose! I am big supporter of local farmers markets and will even be venturing out to the local cheese maker I recently found out about.  If I'm really feeling adventurous I will take a trip out to 'Amish country' as folks call it around here - everyone says their cheese is top notch!  Again...limits to any one thing, but if I am going to enjoy a treat now and then, this would be it! 

I know Heather is cutting out sugar and I know there are some things I am avoiding and putting on the back burner as well - but more due to my quest to get back to basics than anything else.  My only comments on sugar, for me would be to say I don't overly crave sugar.  The only time I do is that time of the month...and even then I will 'treat' myself to the local candy store who makes it in house or the nearby family owned Ice-cream parlor who also makes a creamy frozen yogurt from unprocessed ingredients.  I don't keep treats in the house.  If I do use sugar in baking - I am always happy to see that one can cut the amount in half and not affect the taste.  Hence yet another benefit of cooking from scratch.  But I don't do enough baking to worry about it and end up throwing out any sugar as it has sat there too long anyway to be fresh!  White flour products will be something I am omitting as much as possible and will be an effort as of course they are 'convenient' but also from the standpoint as they are mucus-forming in the body and due to over processing - void of any real nutrients!   

My daughter has since grown and on her own and I find myself back to cooking for one most of the time, unless my daughter or my boyfriend are in residence. :)  So I realize I have been feeling like I was when I was 18 and unsure of what to eat!  

I do supplement with nutrient rich 'green foods' in my organic green drink and other supplements for where I am in life - so I do feel good about that at least.  In my quest to shed some extra pounds, I'd say for me, I am trying to approach my food intake with as much unprocessed  as possible, more fruits and veggies,  lower sugar and processed salt/sodium (I only use celtic sea salt) and spacing out meals so that my blood sugar levels don’t get too low. This will mean some serious recipe gathering and raiding my mom's recipe box as well. That’s really it.  Fingers crossed!!  I may even treat myself to an apron!

Katy

Heather's Plan. Part I......by Heather

So here is my plan, part 1.

Sugar obviously is my first point of call. But I am conscious that just like giving up the ciggies, I am going to have some serious issues just dropping all sugar - sugar consumption is also more complicated than just cutting out the white stuff in drinks.

Katy is particular irked with a whole list of 'no's'; but for me it  makes for an easy reference point - eat what I will except...... All products that contain added sugar - either home made or shop bought where sugars/any product ending in 'ose', corn syrup, syrup, treacle, mollasses, appear in the ingredients list - 3rd place and higher.

The kinds of products that are easy to spot are: sweets and chocolate, sweet pastries, cakes, puddings and biscuits - but other culprits would be ketchups, pickles and chutneys,  pasta sauces, yogurts, rice puddings and custards, curry sauces and pastes, tinned tomatoes, baked beans, tinned pasta types, ready meals, squirty cream, hot chocolates and malty drinks, almost all breakfast cereals, juices and other soft drinks and some breads

Not an exhaustive list but you can't fail to get the message - and this is why this is part 1 because this is a big ask. I am effectively boxed in with not much in the way of escape or diversionary tactics available to help me out when I get the call. At least smokers can call on nicorettes!

And I don't doubt that I am going to find this hard, I've tinkered around the edges of this before, and it doesn't take long before I am thinking of nothing else. Going in to a shop is like bringing a vampire into the blood bank - and it affects my mood. Without a sugar fix I get really ratty, depressed and lose concentration. Actually having Googled this phenomenon, I really don't know whether this is a real physiological response to sugar withdrawal or all in my mind. But the outcome is not - grouchville here we come.

What I can't quite believe, is that by encouraging my other half to watch the Lustig lecture the other day, he is pretty much with me on this and wants to start looking seriously at incorporating a sugar reduced menu family wide. (My daughter is gutted) but we are hoping that our youngest son will benefit from this approach because of the 3 kids, he is more prone to weight gain and has the crappiest diet. It's not just this though - we are on board with the health benefits and we as a family are pretty 'up' for cooking from scratch, my husband enjoys cooking - and despite what looks like a depressingly comprehensive list of goods on the NO listing - we are committed to filling our lives with quality, fresh food.

I'm not big on new year resolutions - but if I had one this year, it was to work hard at including more veg to our meals generally, having more than one serving per meal and if necessary turning sergeant major on our youngest and force him in to a more healthier approach.

Last nights meal had a bottle of tomato ketchup accompanying it, sat in the middle of the table - and both my youngest son and daughter looked at it forlornly, like an old friend was about to die; because I had said there wouldn't be anymore replacements once it had gone.

I haven't gone mad. The whole family will not be catapulted into sugar oblivion, as I. Not yet anyway.

Sugar, the Bitter Truth. Robert Lustig M.D. -by Heather

The YouTube clip above is a lecture, its a long one (hour and a half), so this isn't something you can dip in and out of - however, it is excellent, and if you need the science without the sugar coating, this is the guy to debunk the myth for you. I asked my husband if he would watch this - and he did, the fact is he stayed the course and listened to the whole lecture, which for me is testimony to the quality of the whole thing.

We actually had a long conversation afterward, about food; what we eat, but more worryingly for us, what we had allowed our kids to get away with eating. Of late I have found myself cooking two meals side by side - and for parents who love their kids to bits - we have been serving them up a pile of crap.

I am going to talk about menus - and the problems I face (which I don't believe is very different from other parents out there) getting my kids to eat well.

For now this is the homework - listen to Dr Lustig.

He has books you may be interested in here: Fat Chance - the bitter truth about sugar and here:Pure White and Deadly (which was written by John Yudkin, who is dead now sadly, but Robert Lustig mentions this book in the lecture above and has written the intro to the newly released original which was written a long while back)

Sugar......by Heather

Thought I should raise this subject sooner rather than later.

Because I'm giving it up.

Its important to say from the onset that I have been a devotee of the stuff, I have worshipped at the alter of all things sweet for as long as I can remember. So this certainly isn't something I am taking on lightly.

Only today I  nipped in to our local Co-op to pick up some basil; and as I walked around the shop I realised there were whole aisles put over to the sweet stuff. And its depressing, .because I like nearly all of it.

However,
I firmly believe its bad for me.
I believe it is the mainstay of the more obvious foodstuffs that a person wanting to lose weight should be avoiding as a matter of course.
Worse - it has become a secret ingredient in foodstuffs you wouldn't imagine should have sugar in it.

I  tried to ignore these points last year when I attempted to diet whilst still maintaining I could eat the stuff - in moderation of course!

That piece of stupidity left the door wide open to eventual failure -and even ran contrary to the known fact that it was a lot more serious than just because I like it.

Cigarettes. Lets just consider them for a moment.

I have never smoked, roundly put off of the habit from years of watching my parents chuff like a billy train, rattling and sputtering on them and the trail of ash trays, and brown ceilings that followed. I'm glad I never was tempted, having seen just how difficult it was for my Mother to actually give them up - an achievement never matched by my Father, it took a triple heart by-pass to get the message over to him. And you would have thought that I,  with my smoker aversion, would never have fallen for a 40 a day-er? Not me! And it was no easy thing to watch him struggle to give them up - but give them up he did.

The main reason for the smoking ban, wasn't just the ash trays, or the smell - in fact very little of my revulsion was to do with the cosmetics of the habit. Cigarettes are killers. We know this, we know, whether we want to acknowledge it, that with each smoke comes the ever increased risk to our health.

I have always been a bit sneery about smoking - why would anyone take to a habit that clearly is so dangerous?

Move forward and substitute nicotine for sugar.
There is a growing band of folk who would have me believe that sugar is every bit as dangerous to me as nicotine is. Neither of them are acute, I'm not going to drop down dead from one drag or a teaspoon of the white stuff - but just like with smoking, at some point I will have had one teaspoon too many.

I am 50 years of age.

Old enough to know when I should be grown up about dealing with this problem.
And just like my Mother and Husband - I need to go cold turkey. And unlike my Father, I don't intend to  have heart disease before I tackle it.

I am going to beat this particular drum a number of times. Because just like the committed smokers out there, some of you may need some evidence, rather than just my say so.

Motivation? Yes - Follow Through? Working on it

As Heather has stated, the motivation is definitely there.  It has been for over a year.  To be and feel healthier, to move with more ease and flexibility - to look and feel as young as we think we are! lol  And yet the follow through can wax and wane.  I almost feel I need a drill sergeant blowing his whistle at me when I get up in the morning.  Me, cringing, but moving and then when done, thankful I did it and the feeling of accomplishment that follows. For now I will have to blow my own whistle!

I sit here looking at my high-tech recumbent exercise bike I pushed into my dining area yesterday.  I will get on it, after I'm done here because it's taunting me.  Which is what I intended! For those of us who workout at home I am always grateful for the exercise I do manage to finish on my own, a real accomplishment if you ask me.   I find it a bit harder then when I used to walk to the gym a few years ago.  But since it's 19 degrees outside and 15 mph winds -  the comfort aspect of it, isn't lost on me! 

Motivation today is to be a better me - I look older with this extra weight, so maybe vanity has something to do with it.  Like Heather I doubt I will get on the scale anytime soon.  My clothes are my best indicator at the moment and I don't need to see what has or hasn't budged determined by standing on a scale.  I will give it some time this month to see when I notice a difference and I will celebrate it as I go.  

My meditation is equally as important as my exercise of late - and also a routine one must set aside time for.  What I do know is I DO feel the difference when I do it, and when I don't.  So it contributes to feeling better about me and as Heather and I both know - this is key in any self improvement undertaking.  

Ok bike...I know I know - time to get up off the couch and start peddling.  

Katy

Life style diet...by Heather

Last year I made an abortive attempt to lose weight, reducing my calorific intake weekly, finally settling on 1300 per day, which appeared to be the most I could eat to lose anything.  I also became a slave to the scales - becoming increasingly desperate to see some movement downwards.

It all ended badly. I put back the weight that I had managed to lose, plus some -  and I became frustrated and angry with myself each time I got on the scales. Until I just said, 'sod it'.

What is worse about this scenario is that it flies in the face of everything I know and everything I expect of myself.

This time around is the final time around. Because the goal is different - and there has to be a goal to make this effective.

This time, I really am not interested in the scales. I am sure that for empirical comparison and for the sake of the readership here - I will need to go on the scales intermittently, but that's it.

This time too, whilst I can't pretend that I'm not looking to see some weight loss - I am more focused on improving my health - I am scared that on my present course, I am gearing myself up for more problems health wise - its hard enough being ill, but to know it might have been avoidable would be all the more galling.

So there is no time limit to this - this is my life. Nor do I have a definitive known plan that is miraculously going to 'work' - the key is I do have a plan. A plan that I will stick to, a plan that is progressive - but one I'm prepared to tweek, if necessary.

I know that Katy and I want the same outcome - but I am pretty certain we are both going to take different paths to arrive there.

I really can't see myself living forever with a calorie counter in my hand and a set of scales under my foot - I really am looking for something that is more intuitive - and simple. I'm a simple kind a gal!

Simple and intuitive however doesn't  mean easy - in fact, I know what my initial plan entails, and I know that it is anything but easy. Corny though this sounds - the things worth having often take some effort -and there is some real effort involved here -  and I'll talk about it next time.