35 Days to Better Health

My journey to Good Health is just beginning!  Since the birth of my last child in 2010, I have struggled with a variety of health issues. I have been unable to loose the excess pregnancy weight, felt tired and generally low.  I made the decision to take my charge of my health and on the 5th of January I  implemented my plan towards a healthier, fitter and less wobbly bits me.

All through my life from my teens years til now, I have had a love hate relationship with food and body image. I developed early and so had all those curvy bits before my peers. I felt uncomfortable and also self conscious and fat. Yup, fat. Even though I was sporty in my teens, I still felt I was not thin enough. Now I realise that was simply not true and that I wasted a good deal of time fretting over my body shape and the fact that I was not tall and slim…I started dieting when I was 15 and have been starting and stopping a myriad of different types since then.

I've tried them all. Meal replacement shakes, that left me hungry, irritable and resentful of everyone eating “normal ” food. Cabbage soup diet, which was boring and left my bloated and gassy, Low fat diets, low calorie diets, high protein diets, and fasting. I followed them without exercise, or with exercise and yes, you will loose weigh if you are eating less than 1000cal per day and exercising to the tune of around 5000 calories per day.

BUT it was hard work and miserable too.

So this year I decided that I would rid myself of all this negativity and make the changes I needed to make sure I am there for my kids as they grow up. I want to be a strong, healthy and vital person. I want my children to grow up with a mother who can run and jump and participate actively in their lives. I don't want to be the mom who is tired and irritable and always on diet.

So rather than go back to the old ways I had tried to loose weight and improve my fitness, I started on a whole new journey.

Many of my friends were trying out a new eating plan…not a diet, but a conscious decision to break old bad habits, to throw out common thought about diets and to defy the rules as we know it. All my life, low fat, low calorie diets have been the way to go. You just have to go to the local supermarket and you will see low fat everything. In fact it is hard to find full fat products these days.

Anyhow, this eating plan goes against this way of thinking. At first I was scepticle. It supported the eating of full fat products, eggs, cheese, meat, butter..how could this be good for me? How on earth would I loose weight and improve my health eating all those forbidden foods?

BUT those who had been living this way and seeing real results in weight loss, general health from skin ailments to diabetes improvement convinced me..and anyway, I had nothing to loose.

I am 33 days into this new lifestyle. I eat more delicious foods than I have ever allowed myself to eat GUILT FREE! For the first time in forever, I eat real butter, I put cream in my tea, I fry my eggs in coconut oil and grate cheese onto my food.

So what is the catch, I hear you say. Well, this plan is a high fat, low carb way of eating. You also avoid sugar in any form, be it from confectionery, or fruit. Yes, this one is a tricky one…not fruit? Fruit is a treat?

Typically I eat a large breakfast-2 eggs fried in coconut oil, with bacon or salami , onions, tomatoes..I eat until I feel full. Usually quite  a decent size plate of yumminess. During the day I drink water, or decaf coffee (can't drink the caffeinated stuff- but that's another story) or herbal teas, with cream instead of milk. Crazy right? I snack on seeds or nuts or dried meats like biltong. And for supper-if I feel hungry- you heard right..sometimes the meal I eat in the morning along with a few snacks is all I want and I skip dinner or sometimes I have another meal high in fat low in carbs…

I also bake gluten and sugar free breads and muffins for snacks or as part of my meal.

That being said, I have not had sugar or rice, potatoes, wheat, maize, pasta for 35 days now and am 5kilograms lighter. The proof is in the pudding (or lack thereof) so to speak.

I do have to say that it is by far the easiest eating plan I have ever followed. I'm losing weight without effort. Don't get me wrong, I am missing Potatoes! Munching on a bag of potato chips, roast potatoes and hot chips…but I am willing to sacrifice those for a healthier , slimmer me.

I also have suffered from scalp psoriasis for the last 3 years..and in the last 35 days it has totally cleared. Co-incidence? I think perhaps not.

I'll keep you updated in the months to come. But for now, It definitely seems that Low Carb, High Fat eating works for me! and my favourite bit? I don't need to buy pills, shakes, meal replacements..I just eat real food.

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