I've slacked off, I know, I'll be the first to admit it and I'm sorry and I'll never do it again (I'm lying, I might!)
First and foremost - holy shit it's hard to maintain positive habits round this time of year. I've heard people say stuff like this before but it only really hit home this year. Secondly, I have commitment issues and this all came to light when I tried to implement the use of the app 'MyNetDiary'.
I could lie and say that I managed to maintain use of the app for the week that I said I would but that would defeat the point. So here is the result of approximately 3-4 days of app use.
Please note speed bumps to fulfil app use included: Mumma's BIG 60th and an Engagement party both which included unrecognisable foods for the app.
So despite the inconsistency of my use of the app, I'm able to get some ideas about a number of habits that characterise the way I eat. I'd say usually I'm consuming more calories during the day. This is because I'm bored at work so I snack so I've tried to curb the snacking with setting myself water drinking goals as well as snacking on carrot sticks. I also consume a lot of calories through snacks. that's got a lot to do with my love of lollies (the newly developed heart palpitations while eating lollies are helping with putting a stop to regular lolly eating).
So my criticisms of the app would be that's it's difficult to identify exact calories of foods as the app may not have a matching food. A bit of googling can help resolve this. I also think it could be improved by having time slots as that would help identify a few other habits.
All in all, I think it's better than nothing. The discipline it takes to enter all the foods you eat and brutal honesty to admit to your self what you're actually putting in your mouth is a great motivator to eat well. I recommend everyone gives it a try just to see how they find it, and hey we all need a bit of additional motivation round this time of year!
I've been trying to write this post for a few weeks now. It always ends up being too preachy or sounding a little bit naff. I'll just tell it to you straight: fat jokes really hurt my feelings.
I can recall almost every time someone has made a comment about my weight. I can remember who they were, I remember where we were and I can recall who was standing by. I remember exactly who asked me if I actually did any exercise during morning assembly in year 3 at St Ives North. I remember who told me I could use the exercise after offering to drop pamphlets off for something school related in front of the whole of year 6 at St Ives Primary. I remember laughing along with everyone else to hide my hurt.
And I'm far from perfect! I know I've jumped on the bandwagon. I know I've giggled at jokes about someones Mama being so fat. And you know what else, I'm sure I've even hurt peoples feelings by commenting on their weight too. There we go, I said it, I'm just as judgemental and horrible as everyone else saying horrible things about people that don't deserve horrible things to be said about (huh?). And I'm so sorry if I ever have. There's no excuse and I was just saying mean things to try and deflect the attention away from myself. What a jerk!
But why has society constructed an environment where we can make such hurtful statements about people without considering that persons feelings?
I certainly didn't choose to be overweight. I know that if I had a say in it I would have asked to be naturally athletic, healthy and fit but sometimes life's circumstances as well as genetics play into how you develop and habits you learn.
I guess as you get older, you develop a better understanding of people, develop a bit more empathy and seek to understand people on a deeper level, or at least we can hope.
So I'm not going to preach and ask you not to laugh at 'yo Mama' jokes, I'm just asking you to consider how that persons Mama feels while you make fun of her weight...pretty upset that you'd make such harsh judgements about her without getting to know her I'd expect!
In my previous posts, I mentioned that I struggle with binge eating. Re-configuring my brain to enjoy food for what it is has been the biggest part of my challenge.
In the process of trying to understand how to eat well (does anyone ever understand how to eat well, will I be constantly thinking about food for the rest of my days...thoughts that often cross my mind!) my brother developed a way of eating that really worked for me, he dubbed it 'ducky diet'.
I think I've now adapted it to make it meet my needs but it still follows the general ideas that Paul suggested. I remember one night Paul came round and had been getting bibimbap and this started the early development of Ducky Diet.
Basically, Ducky Diet is an incredibly delicious salad with as few processed additives as possible. Nowadays a salad I make might include:
Heaps of lettuce-type variations: iceberg, spinach leaves, rocket (thing king of green things) and miscellaneous other green leafy bits.
A carrot - grated, chopped depending on my mood.
Half a tomate (I once had an incredible driving instructor who had a student who was a lovely older Italian lady that couldn't drive to save her life. At the end of the lesson she'd try to bribe him with tomates).
Some capsicum. Usually red coz its sweeter than green and sweet is always delicious!
Cucumber (the most diverse and delicious vegetable to grace our shores)
Brown rice. About 100grams - makes it more filling and nutty in flavour
Some balsamic vinegar
Avocado if I'm feeling a bit wild
Sliced pear or apple. I love sweet stuff in things that are supposed to be savoury!
Some kind of protein. I loved salmon but might also have chicken or beef depending on whats around. This may also be a way to justify a bit of a treat so I'll have my salad but might buy a piece of grilled fish or chicken to add to the salad.
That's it really. Paul has made a number of delicious variations which include cooked pumpkin and a little bit of curry paste which is a whole new flavour ball game.
I'm pretty lucky coz I'm happy to eat the same thing every day but I really recommend giving something like this a try to see how you feel after. Don't get me wrong, there are days when eating this way isn't effective. Sometimes I want something hot, sometimes I want carbs and sometimes I want junk but if I've taken this to work its a great disincentive to go out and buy something and with a little planning preparing salad like this everyday really isn't hard work!
So my eating is quite consistent and goes a little something like this:
Breakfast -
30 grams Digestive First cereal
125 grams frozen blueberries (which make my world go round - another hot tip from Paul)
Large skim flat white (no sugar/sweetener etc)
Snack -
Carrot
1/4 Cucumber
Apple
Lunch -
Ducky Diet
Snack -
3 fresh dates
Small skim flat white
Dinner -
Ducky Diet (made slightly more exciting with the addition of exciting protein like a steak or summink)
Dessert - (coz sweet stuff is my life source)
Frozen yoghurt - literally that. I froze Forme yoghurt in ice block containers and they're delicious
NOW! Of course there are saboteurs to such consistency such as my lolly addiction, going out for dinner and whatnot but I do try my best to adhere to this.
In an effort to ensure transparency, I'm going to enter everything I eat into the app MyNetDiary from Monday 10th December to Sunday 16th December and will upload the results at the end of the week. I'm also it'll help to act as a bit of motivation to stay focused. I'll upload the results on the 16th so we'll see.
I'd really encourage you to download the app and why not try recording a week of what you eat and drink. Once it's documented, it makes making changes that much easier coz the evidence is documented. Here's the link. So give it a go and let me know how you go!
http://www.mynetdiary.com/
Oh yes yes yes AND drink at least 2 litres of water a day. Try it once and you'll never go back. It does wonders!
Here's a picture of Ricky Gervais in gold underpants and wayfarers.
