I would never say I had tried "everything" - but I have been through many of the major diet fads of our times. If in the last few years I have tended to be more conservative - erring towards the Atkins end of the spectrum - this has been chiefly out of consideration for my pancreas...a description of "insulin resistance" began to ring bells for me, and I fear my fate has come upon me - however, my GP has given me 3 months to attempt to get the blood sugar down, or else he will make the diagnosis.
Obviously there are all sorts of psychological reasons for dieting - I discovered years ago that I would diet if I thought I was in with a chance of going to bed with someone new.... but this is an incentive I lack at present. I also know I eat when I am angry, stressed or sad. This covers a large percentage of my time it sometimes seems - which also makes things tricky. I find it hard to develop "mindful" eating - considering every mouthful seems utterly tedious. What I have discovered is that because I have so much weight to lose, being "good" for more than a few weeks, becomes unbearable - I get so bored, I hate restrictions [the subject no doubt for another excoriating entry some other time] and being told I can't brings out the worst (or best?) in me.
So, having arrived at a critical point in health terms (it was always in the dim and distant future before) I have embarked on a new thing.... the dreaded 5:2 diet seems, at this early stage, to be a possibility. It harnesses my determination for very short periods (24 hours) and I am less worried about the restrictions since I know that if I wish, I may pig out the following day... also, since the objective is lower blood sugar, not weight loss, I am less fixated on fluctuating weight - but I think over all I have lost 5-6lbs in the last 10 days - which isn't bad.
The low calorie day is a test of ingenuiity - a search for very low calorie foods presents me with pollack, tofu and quorn sausages - or a very small bit of chicken breast.... but quorn sausages aren't as bad as all that (although rather bad in carb terms). Today I managed to include figs and dark chocolate - so it isn't all bad. I've often found it easy not to eat breakfast - and skipping lunch isn't impossible - if you don't mind being wobbly while you try and cook supper without consuming the fridge...
The following day one's stomach capacity has decreased - and one eats less. I could eat carbs, but I'm trying to cut that down too. We shall see - in February - whether I have succeeded, and whether I can keep it up over Christmas and New Year.
In other diet news:
Obviously there are all sorts of psychological reasons for dieting - I discovered years ago that I would diet if I thought I was in with a chance of going to bed with someone new.... but this is an incentive I lack at present. I also know I eat when I am angry, stressed or sad. This covers a large percentage of my time it sometimes seems - which also makes things tricky. I find it hard to develop "mindful" eating - considering every mouthful seems utterly tedious. What I have discovered is that because I have so much weight to lose, being "good" for more than a few weeks, becomes unbearable - I get so bored, I hate restrictions [the subject no doubt for another excoriating entry some other time] and being told I can't brings out the worst (or best?) in me.
So, having arrived at a critical point in health terms (it was always in the dim and distant future before) I have embarked on a new thing.... the dreaded 5:2 diet seems, at this early stage, to be a possibility. It harnesses my determination for very short periods (24 hours) and I am less worried about the restrictions since I know that if I wish, I may pig out the following day... also, since the objective is lower blood sugar, not weight loss, I am less fixated on fluctuating weight - but I think over all I have lost 5-6lbs in the last 10 days - which isn't bad.
The low calorie day is a test of ingenuiity - a search for very low calorie foods presents me with pollack, tofu and quorn sausages - or a very small bit of chicken breast.... but quorn sausages aren't as bad as all that (although rather bad in carb terms). Today I managed to include figs and dark chocolate - so it isn't all bad. I've often found it easy not to eat breakfast - and skipping lunch isn't impossible - if you don't mind being wobbly while you try and cook supper without consuming the fridge...
The following day one's stomach capacity has decreased - and one eats less. I could eat carbs, but I'm trying to cut that down too. We shall see - in February - whether I have succeeded, and whether I can keep it up over Christmas and New Year.
In other diet news:
I may be becoming allergic to wine. I've noticed since summer that wine consumption has frequently prompted a runny nose, or a blocked nose the following morning. A pharmacist who was staying with us said "a runny nose is usually a sign of allergy" - so, that's my alcoholism knocked on the head. Of course I can probably stick to gin - but I suspect the new low drinking regime could be attractive too - on Saturday - for the first time in some years, I went to a party without drinking (well, I had 1.5 glasses of wine - because I was eating cheese) and drove home. I cannot help wondering if I was less fun than I might have been. But I guess I had better get used to it. One can't demand spirits at other people's parties - have to start taking a bottle of voddie with me everywhere - like a teenager!
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