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.
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