It's been such a long time since I've posted on this blog. It's been a blog for everything in my life in the past. I read the last post Jan 2018 and realised how much I have grown in that area. I also realised how we build our own food philosophy and plans through the accumulation of knowledge. Not just knowledge about food though. Also, learning about how your own body interacts with food and exercise.
For many years I knew I had the informational knowledge I needed to make a change. I just couldn't stick with anything. I had hoped that the Intuitive Eating (IE) way of looking at food would help get me over the line. In the end I didn't stick with that.
At the end of that year (2018) though I had an appointment with the doctors. They put me on to a (free) health coach at their clinic that worked with me over the Christmas holidays. They gave me a meal journal (I hate those) to record all my meals. That in itself made me more aware of what I was choosing to eat. She also recommended I move to a Low Carb High Fat diet (LCHF). This was contrary to all I had read, heard and thought I knew about food. I was cynical. She gave me a website to look up, Diet Doctor.
I went away and did my research and found lots of information both for and against this way of eating (WOE). I saw that it wouldn't take much to change my current WOE to this plan. I still had the 'treats' (donuts, chocolate, lollies) once a week and I expected a reprimand for them. The coach though looked at my journal each week and said, "You are doing better than I do." This made me feel like perhaps following this WOE would be achievable. I then added in 40min each day.
Contrary to many of the objections to this WOE there are lots of vegetables and some fruits allowed so you can still do 5+ a day. It's just that I was now allowed to have bacon, cream, and keep the fat on the meat so I could eat the chicken skin without feeling guilty. Perhaps this is where the LCHF plan and the IE plan met for me? Now I was eating guilt free.
I joined a gym (hated every minute of it initially) and allowed the staff, posters and regular measuring to help me stay motivated. I went 6 days a week and it was manageable at 6am - walk to the gym, 30min, walk home. I started to see and feel the results. I even became more aware of how food affected my mood and body. Now I realised that my wellbeing was being positively impacted and I liked the change so staying with this WOE was easy. Again, I still allowed myself to go outside of the plan on occasions e.g. special events, caught 'out' without the right foods.
Then
Now
