I think it’s time for me to move away from the theory of weight loss and into the practice. Over the course of my next few posts, I’ll write about what things I ate, what I avoided, what worked and what didn’t work for me and for G.  First a brief recap on the key principles that underpin my approach to eating:

• Excessive consumption of simple, processed carbohydrates (namely grain and sugar based products, plus potatoes) contributes significantly to excessive weight gain
• These types of carbohydrates have addictive-like qualities which mean reducing / stopping them will lead to withdrawal symptoms thereby making it hard to come off them
• Our bodies are genetically not designed to consume these carbs in the volume that we do; rather we are more like cavemen in the way we process food
• Hormones (in particular Insulin) play a significant role in body fat regulation and we can make changes to what we eat to moderate the impact these hormones have
• Extreme carbohydrate restriction like Atkins is too hard to achieve in practice (for me anyway)

I’d to add a few more things to this list which are also important for me:

•  As John Briffa points out in his books, you can’t keep weight off if you’re hungry all the time; you need to eat food that keeps you full for longer.
• It’s really important to stay very well hydrated and drink lots of water; I drink a big glass of water as soon as I wake up and before every meal, and a glass between each meal. Apart from anything else, drinking water before a meal helps fill you up so you eat less.
• Try and eat slowly and chew your food thoroughly; yes, this sounds like the sort of thing you tell young children, but in the hectic world we live in, it’s easy to forget. Chewing your food thoroughly actually makes you feel fuller.
• You know that phrase, “your eyes are bigger than your stomach”. There’s some truth in that – it takes 15-20 minutes for your brain to pick up from your stomach that it’s full. That delay is really crucial because if you’re not aware of it, you’ll carry on eating even if you’re actually full. So if you’ve eaten a fair bit, and still think you’re hungry, wait 15 minutes before deciding if you want more food.
• Don’t have a meal on an empty stomach – sounds counter intuitive but it’s linked to the above two points. If you’re starving when you eat, you’ll most probably eat more than you need, and you’ll most probably eat quickly. I do not subscribe to the view that you shouldn’t snack between meals; I absolutely snack between meals, it’s what you snack on and how much you snack that’s key. I snack on a few nuts, seeds (yes, I know bird food) or dark chocolate every mid-afternoon so that I’m not famished come dinner time.
• It’s ok not to finish everything on your plate if you’re not hungry. Really. Most of us have been brought up to eat everything that’s put in front of us, and that we shouldn’t waste food. Well, eating more than you need to, eating for the sake of eating, eating when you’re no longer hungry are sure fire ways to pile on the pounds.  Obviously the best answer is to make just enough food that you need, but when you do make too much and you’re no longer hungry, put it away for later or just throw it away.

I start writing each post with the intention of getting into specifics of what I actually eat (and don’t) and it just gets away from me every time! I get lost in these ramblings. Right, I will definitely on my next post write about what I actually eat and drink!