About, Turn...!

So, here's the thing: there's been a pretty dramatic change in our household recently. This year, for the first time in as long as I can remember, I didn't make a New Year's resolution to lose weight - there didn't seem much point. I wasn't massively overweight anyway, in fact I was still the right weight for my height (just) on the BMI chart. And none of my previous new year's resolutions to lose weight had really worked. I still put on a few pounds every year. It was time, at last, to relax about it.

But really, I knew I was kidding myself. I had to squeeze into my clothes and even then I couldn't wear some of them because they just didn't look right. I didn't want to buy new clothes in a larger size so I was getting quite uncomfortable. Then, one day around the middle of January, I bought a new set of scales (the last pair had given up the ghost before Christmas and I didn't miss them). I weighed myself and realised I needed to take action. Full disclosure - I was eleven stone and five pounds. It's a lot, for me. I used to be around nine stone when I was younger, and I was slim then but not ultra skinny. My weight has just crept up and up over the years and I thought that was normal but suddenly I realised it really wasn't, and neither was it acceptable. I wasn't looking after myself properly and I needed to sort this out.

On the same day that I bought the scales I read an article in The Times by Professor Roy Taylor about how Type 2 diabetics can be cured through diet. All they have to do is eat only 800 calories a day for 8 weeks and their diabetes will be put into remission. It works on most people, providing they haven't been diabetic for too many years.

This discovery is a truly amazing achievement - in my opinion Professor Taylor should be knighted for his research (he also found out how to prevent blindness in diabetics, by early retina scanning...he was incredibly dedicated in pursuing his theory about this, in the face of rejections by those 'in the know'). 

Anyway, I wasn't diabetic as far as I knew, but I'd had gestational diabetes which put me at risk, my dad had middle aged onset diabetes...and Professor Taylor stated in his article that any woman who had a BMI of 22 or under as a young adult and who now has a BMI of 25 is four times more likely to get diabetes than the average person. Which, I calculated, made me about 200 per cent likely to get it...

I wasn't feeling well and hadn't been for some time. I had constant aches and pains. My IBS was out of control and I'd started to get acid reflux too. I was constantly hungry (this has been the case throughout my life; even when I was young and slim I was always starving). Anyway, I'd reached the point where I seemed to be constantly either eating, thinking about eating, or suffering food guilt (yes, this is a thing. I got it whenever I ate junk food, which was a lot of the time). And then I got a new symptom - acid reflux and accompanying nausea. There was no doubt that my body was trying to tell me something. 

To cut a long story short, three weeks ago I started the Blood Sugar Diet, which is an adaptation by Dr Michael Mosley of Prof Roy Taylor's work, plus his own earlier work on the 5:2 diet (the idea there was to restrict calories on two days a week, while eating a low carb Mediterranean style diet on the other five days). (Dr Mosley should be knighted too. He's a star). I am basically eating low carb, low calorie and the weight is literally dropping off. By the end of the eight weeks I should be a healthy weight and can then keep eating low carb, fresh food, without counting calories.

And life has changed so much - not just for me, but for everyone in the household, as I said at the start of this blog. I thought at the outset that I would continue cooking in the same way as I'd always done for the family and make special meals for myself. But as it has turned out, instead I am cooking proper food for everyone, from scratch, every day. I have to make sure that everyone gets enough calories - so tonight, for example, I made spaghetti bolognese but bulked out with lentils and including loads of veg - garlic, onions, celery, mushrooms, tomatoes...etc. I had my portion without the pasta. Another meal I've made is vegetarian casserole - with courgettes and aubergines, vegetables that I don't think I have ever cooked with before, or not for ages - and I had mine on its own while everyone else had six seeded bread with theirs.

I have cooked a different meal almost every day for the last three weeks - there are so many recipes online that this isn't hard at all. It has taken some time but it is so worthwhile and I know that the more I do it, the easier and quicker it will become. I even get up in the morning when everyone else does and cook them breakfast. Maybe I should have always done this but they get up so early to go to work or school - six thirty, and although the noise of four or five people getting ready always woke me it was just easier for me to stay in bed until all the fuss had died down and they left the house, at around 7.15. I mean, this hasn't always been the case. Until a few months ago, I did the morning school runs. But I was enjoying not having to get up at the crack of dawn, and there wasn't any need. Everyone just got their own breakfast - as they always have done - and I cleared up all the mess when I got out of bed.

This way is so much better. Nobody is stuffing down huge bowls of cereal or four pieces of toast at a go any more - you know who you are, if you're reading this, family members! I usually make porridge with frozen fruit, or eggs/avodado on toast, or pancakes. There's also the option of Greek yoghurt with berries. And we all put flaxseed and chia seeds on our food! I'm not sure I even knew what those things were a few weeks ago.

We have all stopped snacking between meals too. I have to be a little careful. The kids are a healthy weight already, the boys are still growing and I don't want to damage their health - so if they really need something to tide them over after school and before dinner (if, for example, dinner is going to be later than usual) they have unsalted nuts. I'm amazed when I think back to how I used to constantly feed the children, worried that they would be hungry. They survive perfectly happily now almost all of the time between meals. Professor Taylor pointed out in that Times article that the human body is designed to last for long periods of time without food, and he said  that anyone can manage a few hours between meals. And who would have known it - he's right!

The key, for me and many others, is to cut out or cut down on carbs and sugar. It was the carbs that were making me hungry - blood sugar spikes when you eat carbs and sugar and then falls dramatically, and now I know it was this that made me think I couldn't manage to go more than a couple of hours without eating.

I feel so free now - I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and that's all. I don't constantly think about where my next meal is coming from. I'm not hungry any more. It's a revelation.

I had no idea how bad our previous diet was, how much sugar and carbs there was in all the food I served and ate. I thought I was feeding my family reasonably healthily - we always had several full fruit bowls and I tried to serve vegetables with every meal. We virtually never ate takeaways. But I would give them meals like breaded fish and oven chips with peas and sweetcorn - or pre-bought chicken pies. Baked potatoes featured heavily and if I made spaghetti bolognese it was usually with a shop bought sauce. None of it was anywhere near as nutritious as I thought, even if I did serve broccoli and carrots regularly at mealtimes.

It's been a complete about turn and now I'm even making the kids' lunches. I used to be quite proud of the fact that they sorted out their own lunchboxes - I thought it demonstrated independence. However, I felt uneasy about the amount of junk that went in the lunchboxes - my younger son was the worst offender here. He used to toast bread and then just put butter on it and wrap it in clingfilm. No attempt at a sandwich, even though the fridge was always full of possible fillings. Then there would be a piece of fruit - usually a banana - and a sweet treat and a savoury treat - some chocolate biscuits perhaps, or a cereal bar, and a bag of crisps. If I didn't watch, there would be extra treats shoved in. And yet he was constantly starving, so I told myself he must need it all.

I'm still not fully there with the lunches, partly because I still have a lot of sweet stuff to use up - I've put it all on top of the cupboard and nobody is allowed to just help themselves, so it has lasted ages. I use just one biscuit a day for the lunches, then I might put a couple of oatcakes or other savoury biscuits in, perhaps some homemade popcorn, three pieces of fruit (I know there's sugar in there but they do need energy) and I make a sandwich with wholemeal bread and salad. I'm going to start making pasta soon, and things like flapjacks and scones for them to take to school... I'm actually really looking forward to it!

It's all quite time-consuming, as I mentioned. But it will get easier and anyway I do have time now - the kids are out all day and I can fit quite a lot in. I'm currently editing and proofreading someone's book (paid work, yay!), I've recently been running writing workshops at the library, and I'm also writing my own stuff, walking the dogs, looking after my mum... I make a point never to rush around and I don't need to. Life is good - although I could do with a little more of the paid work, to be honest. We're taking students in the meantime - which means more shopping and cooking, but also a chance for the kids to socialise and learn about different cultures and languages. It's all good.

We're even going to the gym as a family - Paul paid for a family membership at the start of the year and we have been attending regularly. We do a family session at the weekends with the children, then Paul uses the gym - more than me, but I also swim and do classes. We've even started ice skating at the weekends! It's early days for all of this, but I feel so enthused about it. I can only see things going upwards from here.

So that's the doing more for other people resolution box ticked. I didn't think I meant my own family, but where better to start than at home? And as for the listening to more music - box ticked too - I listen to Spotify while I cook and when I'm on the treadmill and the music enhances both these experiences more than I ever thought it could.

Hurrah!