Ground simple rules

As with everything else, I like simple ground rules. Once I found the right ingredients and amounts that work with my metabolism, it was easy to set those rules. Following on from my first post about fighting my winter cravings, once that was established then I just needed to adjust everything else around it to make it work and for the sake of consistency.

Times - THE BIG FOUR

Consistently maintaining four meal times (two extra light snacks) equally spread across the day to prevent giving in to any cravings.

Portions - NO REPEATS

Sticking to food portions. Absolutely NO repeats.

Water - ALWAYS

It is so important to reiterate time and time again. Everybody knows this, however, it seems to be one of those things our brain needs constant reminders for. I think TOXINS: “Get rid of them, water plays a massive part in that.”

Meals - INCLUDING THE FAMILY

It makes it easier if I’m able to integrate my diet with the family meal plan for the week. It’s actually a good step to introduce things like leaner meat, more greens and even the odd brown carb version in between. It will help them start developing healthy taste buds, and I’m hoping in the medium term they’ll actually be asking for these versions instead. But I can't do it all in one go. Unfortunately, I'm still bound by other people's likes and dislikes. I’m sure it will be a shock to their system, especially more for Gary than for the kids since he’s not used to a wide variety of ingredients...

Being Naughty - ONCE A WEEK

Treating myself is something I do look forward to. You probably may have picked up that I enjoy my red wine. Apart from the wine, I still try and have healthy naughty treats, if I can. So, for instance, when we’re going for a pizza night, after a few previous attempts, everyone now actually prefers our homemade whole wheat flour pizza. We try to recreate a lovely pizza that a local restaurant used to make. They called it the Five Cheese Pizza. We can’t make pizza without at least five cheeses, so we might as well make it worth it.

I'll share the 5 Cheese Pizza next Sunday

There’s definitely no hard and fast rule on monitoring our eating. It’s very personal. It depends a lot on our tastes, intolerances, cravings, time and lifestyle. I would not have been able to commit to - or enjoy - healthy eating if it was going to feel like a chore and if the lack of some nutrients were going to make me moody.

For it to be successful it was essential to find a balance between all that. It required a little bit of focus and dedication. I took the opportunity that the lockdown and remote working were offering me to make a life-long change, as I was always very sceptic about diets. I’m not a fan of the word, even today. It always makes me think of withdrawal symptoms, similar to the idea of a drug detox. Yes, I added five supplements to my diet, which suppress some symptoms I was starting to get that were hormone-deficiency related (the women will relate). Natural only.

It was the right time for this change. I am older and I like to think wiser too. In other words, I don’t care as much about what other people think as years ago. That helps when you are trying to make a commitment of this dimension and like me, prepare meals and take them to work. Funnily enough, I tend to have a lot of compliments on the appearance of my packed lunches... Or maybe they're just nice.