Kiwifruit and Yoghurt for Breakfast

On most mornings since I have been following my food plan, I have been have been having low fat unsweetened yoghurt and fruit for breakfast. The quantity of yoghurt I have been eating is about four good spoonfuls over one serve of fruit.

I am happy with a chopped-up kiwifruit or some mango or paw paw. My friends prefer the yoghurt sweetened with sugar substitute.

Clearwater's Organic Dairy Yoghurt

Comes as several choices including the fabulous Cream Top Yoghurt, but they also have a low fat unsweetened version that they claim is milk and culture and nothing else. This yoghurt is mildly acidic and quite loosely textured. The Clearwater's website has some fantastic recipes using their products as well.

Cyclops Organic Low Fat Greek Yoghurt

This one is a lot thicker and and a lot more acidic. I really like the texture of greek yoghurt, but I know that my friends prefer it whisked a bit to smooth and loosen the texture.

Biofarm Low Fat Yoghurt

I haven't tried this one yet so I am not sure about the sugar content as low fat does not necessary mean low sugar, so I'll update this post when I know. Their website looks like it has a nice selection of recipes too.

EasiYo Low Fat Yoghurt

Has a range of low fat and low sugar choices. The Berry version has 7g of sugar per 100g, and you could sweeten to task with a substitute. I don't have an EasiYo maker at home, but think I need to borrow one and try these out.

DeWinkyl Natural Unsweetened Yoghurt

This is a mild yoghurt with a firmer texture than the Clearwater's but not as firm as the Greek.

Recently I bought a six-pack of a new dairy dessert range and discovered that these pots had a ridiculous amount of sugar and fat. Maybe okay occasionally for the kids, but I am finally beginning to realise that some foods may as well be poison to me.

Jenny recommends a smoothie with banana, low fat milk and protein powder. Yoghurt, berries and low fat milk would make a great smoothie too.

Other ways you could have this breakfast could be flavoured with cinnamon, grated apple and sugar substitute to taste or with mango microwaved with a bit of water and mashed, then stirred through the yoghurt.

Remember that low fat dairy has been shown to help reduce the risk of all sorts of bad stuff and may help carry fat away from the body. And a protein-rich breakfast will reduce your hunger. Low fat yoghurt is also low GI, which means you won't be spiking your blood sugars, which will help stabilise your blood sugars for the day. And did I mention the calcium in the yoghurt and the fibre in the kiwi?

So get some today.

Detoxing from Sugar ... what a headache ...

Sugar, sugar everywhere!

It's in chocolate and lollies obviously. And cakes, ice cream and fizzy. But it's also in flour, fruits and veggies.

Did you know that two halves of tinned Peaches and one tablespoon of the syrup has three and a half teaspoons of sugar? And a hamburger bun has the same amount.

As for fizzy, fruit juice and other energy drinks, one glass can easily have as much as eight to ten teaspoons of sugar. Considering that these drinks are never limited to one glass just makes it worse.

And this stuff is addictive! Some people literally crave sugar. And mostly, sugar is sugar. A diet high in sucrose (white sugar crystals) or a diet high in fructose (fruit sugar) are equally to blame for all those bad things: diabetes, hypertension etc.

So put down that spoon! A bowl of fruit salad created from four pieces of fruit is still too much fructose.

I think there is only one way to detox from sugar: stop.

Whether you are going cold turkey, or doing a careful reduction to manage other medications, that means excluding anything made with white flour or white sugar. That means excluding fruit and veggies high in natural sugars. And that means headaches.

I don't really know what to say here except obviously if you are injecting insulin, you need to discuss something like this with your doctor and monitor and adjust closely. Fortunately since I was currently not compliant with my meds, I got to ignore this bit. Naughty, naughty.

Detoxing causes headaches and tiredness, so be prepared for this. Drink plenty of water to keep your brain hydrated and wash the toxins away and take paracetamol if you need it. Someone mentioned to me to avoid codeine phos, since it'll bung you up. And I read online that detoxing can also cause itching or rashes, just so you know.

My headache lasted a couple of days and I took paracetamol a couple of times. I read online that if the headache lasts longer than three, you need to see your doctor.

Stick with it and the headaches go away and you will feel new energy. And for me, this is part of my long-term health plan and I am on my way!

Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Protein Reduces Hunger

Researchers don't really know why yet, but it makes sense to me that Protein reduces Hunger given our original diet as humans. We were designed to work most effectively on the foods that would have been most available back then.

Online reading suggests there are no dangers with a high protein diet unless you have kidney disease. And that based on existing research, we should be aiming for around 120gms a day total, so you need to decide if my plan fits your circumstances for yourself. Please they always say you should see your doctor to be on the safe side ...

So what is an appropriate serving size for protein? Well it changes depending on the item, for example Peanut Butter would be 2 Tablespoons vs a piece of Chicken Breast the size of a deck of cards.

I am eating protein with every meal and making sure that I eat three meals a day.

I have started with just a few options:

100g Lean Chicken

100g Lean Beef

100g Lean Fish

60g Low fat Cheese (Ricotta, Cottage)

60g Low fat Yoghurt

1 egg

maybe a few walnuts at some stage ... VNess has reminded me how fantastic nuts are ...

I am not particularly fond of shellfish - blurk - but Mussels, Oysters, Prawn etc all seem a fantastic choice for someone who is.

Image: vitasamb2001 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Incredible Shrinking Stomach!

OK. I admit I can be as gullible as the next person and I truly believed that if you eat smaller portions over a period of time, your stomach actually shrinks!

This was the theory I was working to when I deliberately reduced my portion sizes recently as part of this new food plan.

Apparently this fabulous myth is bollocks. Your stomach is like a balloon and can inflate or deflate as needed.

That's disappointing.

But there is good news! Reduced portion size may not shrink your stomach but it will shrink your appetite.

So I have found that with only a couple of weeks of controlled portions, I have already reset my 'appetite thermometer'. Which I am very happy about. This means that as long as I continue to saviour the food I am eating and choice smaller portions, I am feeling full and satisfied with less.

I definitely recommend that if you have begun to control your portion size, and you are struggling with hunger pangs: stick at it and you will notice a difference before too long.

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Too fat, too thin ...

I know that for all the overweight people in the world, there is another group equally battling to keep weight on.

Since I am such an expert, I thought I'd share my recipe for weight gain.

Step One

Make sure all choices relating to food are based on emotions: the more stress, the greater the quantities.

Step Two

Don't eat breakfast.

Step Three

I know it seems like not having breakfast might not help with weight gain, but trust me, by 10am, that pie or leftover pavlova is going to look really good. So go ahead and eat something that tastes really good and is either high fat, high sugar or both.

Step Four

Because everyone else is heading off for lunch at twelve, feel free to join them. Go to the local food court and pick anything you feel like. Make sure to add a drink to that, but avoid diet or water.

Step Five

Don't bother eating again if you get caught up in work, we can make up for that later. But feel free to drink as much coffee as you choose. At least enough that you have headaches on the weekend when your intake falls.

Step Six

When you get home, snack on anything. After all, it's been hours since lunch. But don't count it as dinner, more of a "late afternoon snack".

Step Seven

When dinner is ready, make sure to serve yourself a big plateful. You want your stomach to stretch and not feel full unless you jam plenty in.

Step Eight

Feel free to have dessert, if you wish. Same rules as dinner apply.

Step Nine

As long as we are still eating, feel free to pull out a packet of dip and chips and chow down.

Step Ten

Repeat daily.

Additionally, enjoy unlimited chocolate, lollies, birthday cakes or other food opportunities that present themselves. Make sure to also eat plenty of healthy fruit and vegetables.

Your body will be so confused, it will simultaneously think it is starving and malnourished. Because your stomach is so stretched, you will still feel hungry all the time.

Just keep feeding the hunger and the weight will pile on.

Image: zirconicusso / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Them scales, they lie!

I have been on a mission to Dick Smith and picked up a packet of 40 x AAA batteries and 40 x AA Batteries. Take that assorted toys and remotes!

Meanwhile back at the homestead, hubby has also been acquiring AAA batteries, so my scales are the proud owner of Energiser Plus batteries and the home-brand batteries are relegated to use in remotes etc.

Having worked out how to enter my height (160.2cm) and my age (37 years), gender and body type of a choice of athletic or normal ... I am ready to face my new 'starting weight'.

My starting weight is 90.1kg.

Kinda a shock since my crappy scales at least had the decency to weigh me light at about 86kg.

The scales send an electrical current through you and how much difficulty it takes travel through you provide other details.

Stats helpfully provided by my new scales? 42.2% Body fat (optimal for my age according to the accompanying booklet in several languages is 21-29%).

And apparently there is more water in lean tissue than fat, so the skinner you are, the more water there should be. For my optimal weight, this would be between 52% and 58%. Mine is currently about 40.9%.

So that's it. I am officially on the journey now.

Spicy Chicken Soup

I am finding soup better at night because it fills me up more and makes me feel full for longer. This soup has protein, tons of vegies and garlic, chilli, a tiny splash of fish sauce, lemon and vinegar. I love loads of coriander.

Ingredients

100g Chicken Mince or finely chopped Chicken Breast

1Tsp Vinegar

1Tsp Lemon Juice

1/2 tsp Fish Sauce

Chilli flakes to taste

Coriander

Any combination of vegies including:

Courgette

Mushroom

Celery

Onion

Cabbage

Mushroom

350ml water

Directions

Brown the mince with a spray of oil. Slice, dice or grate the vegies and add to the pot. Cook for a few minutes then add water and remainder of flavours including coriander. Allow to brew and cool a few minutes.

Enjoy with a couple of crackers.

Serves 1

I've also tried adding the mushrooms and courgette finely julienned and the coriander at the end and leaving them to heat through with the leftover heat works really well.

The next time I made two nights worth. I had some that night and more waiting for me the next night. I am finding chilli, garlic, lemon and coriander make the food tasty.

My Achilles Heel is Kids Party Food

Here in New Zealand, almost every kids party held in someone's home will include some or all of the following:

Cheerios

Fairy Bread

Savouries (or party pies over the ditch)

Kiwi Onion Soup and Reduced Cream Dip

Salsa

Potato Chips

Corn Chips

Lollies

Cupcakes, slices and biscuit

Popcorn

Fizzy

Juice

I love party food!

For all of my currently displayed motivation, I faced my biggest challenge so far today going to a kids party with my bevy of boys.

I start innocuously enough thinking that a couple of corn chips and salsa might be okay.

Really this opened the floodgates for the rest of the afternoon and by the end, I had enjoyed two savories, several cheerios dipped in salsa, a ham sandwich, a small slice of chocolate peppermint slice, a few swigs of grape fizzy and of course, the cornchips and salsa and chips and dip. Oh and chocolate Birthday Cake ...

Soooooo good at the time, but more sugar than I have had for weeks and so now I am suffering a combination of headache and thick throat. I can't tell if my throat is trying to swallow down the food or my disappointment at myself.

I am choosing to pick myself up and keep going. Tonight I will have an egg and some salad for tea.

Image: Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My $75 Fitness Coach

I went to Briscoes today and bought a new set of scales.

As much I don't want to make this journey about weightloss, the reality is that seeing the pounds peel off will form part of the motivation.

And long-term, I need to understand the relationship between food and weight, better.

The old set of scales that were at home have been around for years, probably bought at The Warehouse for $20 and really difficult to use.

The way I place my feet on the scales or the way I balance myself on the scales or the scales being moved an inch to the left or the scales being bumped all cause different readings.

I can effectively cause a change in the result up to about 3kg. Don't get me wrong, this has suited me fine when I really didn't want to know. But now I am getting real, real readings will be part of it.

I had no idea scales had gotten so flash since my last purchase with "Body Composition Plus" and "I Speak" screaming to me from the packages.

Kinda like deciding to buy a DVD player instead of a Video player, I decided that scales that also calculate composition of water or fat or muscle is the way to go.

The set I picked had an original price of $149 but only a fool pays full price at Briscoes and in this instance, my scales came home for half price and include a free pedometer, electronic skipping rope and a sports bag and include the words "Fitness Coach".

Of course it takes 4 AAA batteries, so I can't use it yet, and a quick squizz of the various remote controls in the house suggests a dozen or more AAA batteries are looking for a home with us at the moment.

I'll let you know how it goes when it's turned on.

Food as Medicine

Since I have Diabetes, I am going to try starting with a food plan that addresses the main concerns of my Diabetes: sugar and anything that my body converts to sugar.

As you probably have too, I have seen many diets. Enough that I could probably create one myself. But I will start with something simple based on minimal carbohydrates with protein for every meal.

My plan is to mix low GI foods with proteins. Since vegies are carbohyrates too, that means staying away from root vegies etc. If I can eat low GI vegies, then it should cause a more gradual rise in my blood glucose levels.

So a serve of lean protein (including low fat cheese or yoghurt) with each meal and a combination of at least five vegies a day, plus two serves of low GI fruit a day.

Additionally I intend to have a few low fat crackers during the day as well.

So that's going to be my meal plan.

Image: Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What's good for the soul ...

Very soon I'll tell you about what I am actually doing on a day-to-day basis.

The food will be so fantastic, you too will be inspired to join me on this journey!

I promise to provide photos and recipes and quantities!

I promise to share the highs and lows and whatever I can that might help.

I promise to record as much information as I can.

But there is a little more to cover off first.

Like the fact that I never recovered from the gestational diabetes. So this is about long-term quality of life, not losing a few kilos or fitting back into a pair of jeans.

And the fact that I was never going to do this until I got my head in the right place. This has to be for me. I have to choose to do it. I have to understand where the responsibilities lay.

I really needed to begin to see food as good or bad/helpful or unhelpful, not yummy or boring.

And with that nagging voice in my head constantly growling at me, it had to happen eventually.

I work with some really lovely lasses, and two have recently started a healthy-eating campaign at work. I am jumping on that bandwagon!

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Phantom Pregnancy

I remember standing at a good friend's desk at work complaining that my boobs ached. Like really sore. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was pregnant.

I had been having naps after getting home from work, nausea and sore boobs for weeks. But I couldn't be pregnant. I can't get pregnant.

Remember? There's a 1 in 10 chance and we were really just waiting for assistance when we do want to conceive.

Because of my Polycystic Ovaries, I was used to an irregular cycle. Anyway, it had already been more three months since my last one.

But eventually I did buy a test. On the morning of a matinee showing of "Mum's the Word!" about the perils of parenthood! I even told the Pharmacy Assistant a completely logical reason for needing the test that was nothing to do with confirming pregnancy.

And I really was shocked (and thrilled!) when the test came back with two lines! Those lines didn't take 3 mins to appear or appear as pale blue. As the liquid moved across the window, it was like a marker line appearing.

To this day I consider it a miracle that the only time I had ovulated that year we managed to conceive my gorgeous boy.

And how long did it take me to do a test? Nine weeks.

Image: Louisa Stokes / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What motivates you?

So I have learned that what motivates makes an enormous difference.

When I was pregnant with my first son, I became obsessed with managing my condition like a medical emergency. In fact, I lost 7kg with that pregnancy before I began gaining weight as my belly swelled.

I think one of the reasons I loved pregnancy is that it seemed that 'having a ruined figure' was kinda an accepted part of pregnancy. The fact my overeating had ruined it in the first place would become irrelevant in the histories.

Apart from my pregnancies, I can't really recall any other effective motivation. And by the third pregnancy, I admit that I was less motivated than my first (hey! I already had my heir and spare ...) to manage my complication.

As a result my last wee monkey has a birth defect, probably caused during some of the first cell splits. He has one fully-functioning healthy kidney, but not the second for redundancy.

I've come to terms with this: missing kidneys may occur in up to 1:7 people and most older-types have only found out when going for unrelated tests later in life and I expect my monkey to live a long life too.

Had I really understood the risks though, like really understood, surely my motivation would have been greater.

So what will motivate me on this journey?

Dumb and Dumber

You may wonder how much I know about the practical stuff. Like what happens when you eat what.

I actually know far too much. Maybe even an overdose of knowledge. This journey has never been about ignorance. It's been something quite different.

In my life, everything fascinates me. I have YouTube'd videos of key-cutting machines and how to prepare a fresh squid. I get excited by seeing behind the scenes of anything ... a supermarket, a McDonalds, an Emergency Service Communications centre ...

Anything involving my health is the same. I can tell you all about Myopia and Astigmatism.

I can tell you all about eating as well.

But there has been a disconnect between my knowledge and my actions. I eat too much and I eat the wrong stuff.

I have never questioned whether you can have your cake and eat it too ...

I have been doing this for a really long time too. Twice I have undertaken 'dieting', once with Jenny Craig - great food but really expensive, and once with Weight Watchers. Both times I lost maybe 10kg and eventually put even more back on.

And three times I have undertaken healthy eating for the sake of another to varying degrees of success.

Unless I can get to the point where I am choosing to eat for health and choosing to do it forever (not just losing the same 10kg over and over ...) - I will be destined to the same fate.

Image: Dino De Luca / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Diabetes

So sometime when I was about 28, my very thorough doctor sent me for a Glucose Tolerance Test since I have Polycystic Ovaries. Impaired Glucose Tolerance (or Insulin Resistance) and Polycystic Ovaries are often linked as something called Metabolic Syndrome.

I remember lying in bed once and understanding the links between the chemical imbalances caused by my ovaries and pancreas and the resulting excess weight, but it glimmered and disappeared.

Suffice it to say that there is a sliding scale between "Normal" (under 7) and "Diabetic" (over 14) and at 28, I was impaired (it may have been about 9 at the time or as high as 11, I just don't remember ...)

My doctor told me that this would mean that I may have problems conceiving and if I did, I would need to be monitored for Gestational Diabetes and ultimately, I was a candidate for Type II.

Hard to say what went through my head, but I do remember crying about my failure to be risk free and not really doing anything else about it. Except stopping birth control. And starting Metformin with a warning not to get pregnant on it. Not a great start.

I knew the odds of 1 in 10 the old-fashioned way, so I "couldn't really get pregnant" and actually stopped birth control so that when I did want to start a family at the planned age of 30, and we needed assistance, we could say we had already been trying for two years.

It really was a fine plan.

The Beginning

Much as I would love to start in the middle, its not very useful if I am going to share this journey with you.

In the beginning, I was a gorgeous healthy happy wee girl. Somewhere between birth and age 37, I made up a story for really good reasons that if I was fatter, I would stay happy or get happy again or something like that.

I am not going to change that story. I am going to create a new story.

And this is your invitation to take part. You may simply want to follow progress from a distance. And thats OK

But I really want to invite you to listen. To share. To talk.

And inspire me too.