A few pounds gone already!

I promised to keep you updated about what's happening with the new eating plan, so here goes.

Last Monday, I made a start cutting down on bread, potatoes, cereal and dairy.  I phased a bit more out each day and gradually upped my intake of fruit and vegetables.  I have the Paleo eating plan at the back of my mind all the time, but I'm not being too strict with myself just yet.  I have stuff in my kitchen that will get wasted if I convert right now.

I don't THINK it's my imagination, but a few pounds seem to have gone already!  However, My bathroom scales are rubbish and never give the same reading twice.  (Note to self to invest in new scales). Anyway, here's an outline of what I did.

The Easy Ones
Some things were easy to substitute such as cow's milk.  It often made me feel a little nauseous in coffee later into the day so the switch to Almond or Hazelnut milk was really easy.

Potatoes are easy for me to leave out.  They are something I can take or leave, so in their place I'm using Sweet Potato to keep up the fibre intake.  Sweet Potato is counted as one of the world's healthiest foods, packed with vitamins and other health boosting properties.  Good for diabetics too. You can read about it here.  Oh, and they don't half make good chips (fries)!!

Normally I'm a person who likes to sweeten my hot drinks, but I phased out sugar in my coffee a while ago.  Again, something to link to the nausea.  Tea is more of a problem, particularly the 'builder's bum' tea, like Tetley.  If I have it at all now, I just dip a damp teaspoon into the sugar and pop it straight into the tea.  A bit pointless you might think but it does actually take away the tannin taste.   After all that, I can go for days without a cuppa so no great loss there.  I've rather taken to Green Tea but I haven't QUITE acquired the unsweetened taste for it yet. So I invested in a jar of Manuka Active 10+ honey (£13.99 in Morrisons) and am using that now for my little sweetness fixes.  I think any kind of honey will do but I have another use for the Manuka hence the investment.  It works well on an itchy patch that I have on my arm.  A little massage with the honey soothes it very quickly.

The Harder Ones
Dressings on salads wasn't quite so easy.  I have a penchant for mayonnaise so giving that up had me scratching my head for a substitute.  As I write, I still can't think of one so for the time being I'm putting extra tomatoes in my lunchbox together with the salad.

I haven't found a tolerable substitute for cheese either.  Suggestions welcome on that one!

The most difficult of all was my breakfast.  I'm a porridge lover, which naughtily I had every day, but with a different topping, such as raspberries or bananas.  So the porridge has had to go for the time being.  The fruit is staying though.  I'm combining that in a fruit salad with a couple of strawberries, a little bit of mango, and blueberries.  I drizzled a teaspoon of the Manuka over it, and added a tiny bit of cinnamon.  I have to say, it was blooming lovely!  My last note on the fruit only breakfast is that it cures constipation.  My system has adjusted to it very quickly and I'm not making any mad dashes now!

So, folks, that's the effect it's having on me.  Husband (Grumpy trousers) on the other hand, who annoyingly doesn't need to lose weight, is also adapting quite well to the regime.  It's more a need for general health benefits for him.  He's going his own way at breakfast, religiously having his two Weetabix absolutely covered in bloody sugar but I can't wean him off it so it's his choice.  Before long, any change in MY eating regime which he tries out will see his 32" waist jeans dropping off his already slim hips and he'll be fetching his braces out to hold them up.  Then he'll be on the scales every day smugly declaring he's below 11 stone.

Don't men get on your t*ts at times????

Poked, prodded and pinned

The fine chap I visit for my acupuncture sessions has been treating me for the pain in my hip.  He's succeeded in taking the edge off the pain and I can certainly walk better without careering into shop displays and members of unsuspecting public.

No kidding, when I am in pain I walk like I'm drunk!  It's not so bad if I can stride out a bit, but if I'm walking slowly such as in the supermarket, or a really busy street the pressure builds in that hip and the pain feels like a severe stinging sensation.

Andrew at Spirit Acupuncture near Chesterfield moves heaven and earth to render me pain free and have me leave his clinic walking a straight line.  However, this is likely to be a lengthy process which is mainly due to the complexities of my issues.  After a few weeks I decided to ask him to take a different path with my sessions; one with which I could incorporate further benefits.  You see, I struggle with my weight, and I can easily change from size 14/16 to 18/20 in a short space of time.  Naturally this isn't helping the cause for my foot and hip.  I'm given to understand from other acupuncture converts that a weight loss solution combined with healthier eating is highly achievable.  So buoyed up with anticipation I consulted Andrew during which I told him about my lifelong negative relationship with food; the comfort eating, the digestive problems and my general lack of well-being.  I like my consultations with Andrew; he takes his work very seriously and is certainly a person who goes the extra mile.  And he's up for a laugh.

During the weight issue chat this week, we suddenly found ourselves chuckling at the thought of Peter Kay in his Slimming Consultant guise.  I told him about my time with Slimming World, about how much I'd lost before the despondency set in.  It's not the same for everyone.  Some people do incredibly well and manage to maintain their success.  While I had my own successes there, there were things about the group sessions that held no inspiration for me, and as a result I lapsed.

In the following clip from You Tube, Peter Kay will have you in stitches, and how he presents is of course, an exaggerated version.  But true.  Don't let that put you off if you're thinking of going though!




So after we'd stopped snorting about the loss of a pound here and there (yes it's to be celebrated!) we got on with the poking, prodding and pinning session.

While Andrew has been treating my hip, he's been concentrating on pinning my left upper arm.  He first feels for the pathway and applies a little pressure (poke!).  In most spots I don't feel anything but the pressure.  When he hits a blockage in the pathway it feels sore and that's the area he will pin.  Some places are so sore that any pressure (poke and prod!) he applies will elicit a loud expletive from me.  I apologised at first, but he assures me he's heard worse, so I just carry on swearing life a fishwife!  The feeling of soreness under pressure lasts less than a second and I never feel the pins going in.

For the weight loss, he pinned inside my outer ears, areas in my foot and I lost track of where else.  After the session I felt absolutely fine and will be going again tomorrow for 'round 2'.  We discussed a different eating regime.  No diet as such, but given some of my symptoms we both agree that cutting out dairy, bread, cereal and potatoes might be worth a try.  To take things a step further I am considering trying the Paleo eating plan.  I've already cut out the bread, cereal and spuds, and have been careful about everything else.  I've substituted cow's milk for Almond milk, but I confess to having a preference for Hazelnut milk as it's nicer in coffee.

 I thought I'd succeeded in keeping it fairly gluten free. That is until I read a small amount of dark chocolate such as 70% cocoa solids is OK to have.  At work we have a Costa coffee outlet and there I found a bar of Divine dark chocolate  labelled at 70%.

Feeling a choc feast coming on I took it to my office and checked the label.  Along with the good stuff, it contained (note past tense!) milk and gluten.  Not good news but I got stuck in anyway.  I have to say, it's no substitute for Cadbury's chocolate but a couple of squares of Divine satisfied the choc craving.  Truly, I really didn't want any more.

So watch this space and I'll be letting you know my ups and downs in all this.  If there are any gory details I'll spare you those!