Hi Sarah,
I've been reflecting on your tale of woe and your difficulties facing a big shift in your diet.
My mother used to love the idea of "you are what you eat". This is true in the literal chemical sense, but also in the way that our diets are part of what define us as people.
4 months I had a big kick up the backside when my doctor rang me up to summon me following a blood test. I had been comfortably overweight for a fair old while, attempts to cut the fat to lose weight came to pretty much zilch. My Achilles heel was crisps and other savoury snacks. I realised that I needed what philosophers of science call a paradigm shift. I had to review my attitude to food and change some things fast. I could control the BG with diet and exercise - if I chose to.
Partly in discussion with my nurse, and partly as a result of reading, including this website my new diet evolved.
I set some non-negotiable markers.
No more crisps
No more cakes, biscuits, sweets etc. (this was less sad than the no more crisps).
I set some desirables
Heavily limit bread.
Carbs with cooked meals to be reduced.
I had some strategies.
smaller plate,
leave some food in the saucepan,
mix rice with other stuff
let Mrs P buy the boring bread she prefers (I then eat much less of it and feel less pain when the last bit has to be chucked).
less beer
I rediscovered salads - particularly red cabbage based slaw.
I rediscovered eggs
I rediscovered tinned fish.
my dislike of added sugar to things like pasta sauce was reinforced.
I got a glucose meter, and used it systematically for a while to review the effects of portion sizes and meals on the blood sugar.
I set the non-negotiables to draw a line in my brain (and the brains of those around me). The apparently nice ladies on the Desmond course tried ever so hard to convince me that there are no bad carbs. (Odd that they didn't reflect that cake is also quite high in dairy fat, which according to them is the work of the devil). I sort of accept this but take the view that the amount of cake I can tolerate is small, and that there are more interesting ways of getting carbs.
That's what I did - you have different views on food and possibly have more sensitive taste buds than me, leading to a dislike of veg and a greater love of chocolate.
I would respectfully suggest that you consider:
low carb breakfast- if you cannot move away from the boxes labelled Kellogg, look for the lower levels of carb, avoiding rice which is metabolised fast.
Have a good lunch, meat or fish to form a significant chunk of it, carb garnish, whatever vegetables you do like.
Find something less sugary for the evening when you get in after a hard days work.
Maybe chocolate needs to be saved for a Friday night indulgence, or in smaller bars, or substituted by cheese.
best wishes
Adam
