Belatedly, summer appears to be arriving to the British Isles - hoo bloody ray!! Oh wait, what the hell am I supposed to wear now?
Because I have had some success in following a plan of no sugar and reduced carbs, but not enough - the crux of this is that when I say 'follow', what I mean to add on to that is the teeny little corollary - in principle.
Because unlike Dr Peter Attia on the Eating Academy, I have struggled with it. Not the principles, but the drudgery. As a coeliac, I can't do gluten anyway so you would have thought I would have found it more acceptable - but it always left me with what Gwyneth Paltrow described as 'that specific hunger' - something I wouldn't have understood had I not been trying to live it these last few months.
Gwyneth is right, it leaves you wanting. And some days I just caved. In fact, once the cave in came, I found myself unable to stop. So yes, I have had some limited success - but in order to get success such I was wanting - I realise unless I do something quite drastic, I am doomed to failure.
In fairness, I want to shout from the roof tops the successes I have had - I and the rest of the family have massively reduced our sugar content - and this I intend to be a continued focus, because for its health benefits alone - losing the sugar is something we will continue to strive for wholeheartedly.
But what of the carbs? Well our success has been in our happy transition from white to brown - but potatoes, rice and pasta remain such a firm family staple that there is no getting us away from it - and as I hinted at the other week when I posted about the family, eating as a family; I was undone by the need to cook separate meals for myself, or to try and impose impossible standards on the rest of the family. So the carbs it appears are here to stay.
So where exactly does that leave me?
Well a few weeks ago I mentioned in a post that Katy might find the new 'Fast Diet' worth a second look, because she too has struggled with the diet.
And in writing of it, I found myself looking at it more keenly. Today I intend to go to WHSmith and buy the book - for my weekend reading, in the sunshine!
I know the basic principles - 5 days eating normally, 2 days of mini fasting - not wholly fasting (and that was a massive plus). If it suggested no food at all for 2 days, I wouldn't be that enthusiastic.
As karma would have it, a couple of weeks ago I had to have a back molar extracted. That necessitated not eating anything at all after my breakfast, nor drinking - it was a bit of a dental drama. But what struck me that day, was that after having had breakfast, I didn't particularly struggle without any more food, knowing it was only for the day; and it was this that got me thinking further about intermittent fasting.
Yesterday, I decided to do a mini experiment - breakfast as normal - muesli; and apart from one coffee I stuck to herbal teas, until quite late on I had a very small meal in the evening. This wasn't a particularly well thought out experiment to be honest - the late meal last night came from having to take youngest child to a cricket match that went on for an absolute age - and it was gone 9pm when we all came home ravenous. Normally it wouldn't be that late - but even so, apart from a brief pang whilst preparing the family lunch - I honestly didn't particularly stuggle.
Reading between the lines, I noticed that Dr Michael Mosley, says that this diet suits the badly overweight/obese very well - does that mean that it only has results for those with very much weight to lose? I don't know. I'm not obese - but there is no deluding myself, there is real weight to shift - and if it works for Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall - then I'm in for a shout surely.
So here goes........
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