I’m Taking Baby Steps to Improve my Diet

My ‘war on ice cream’ continues. Despite not being an angel in the food department lately, I can report back on some very positive progress.

I’d like to announce that I haven’t eaten ice cream for seven whole days.  I admit, I’ve eaten a brownie today, I’m not perfect.  What I am pleased about is that I’ve broken the ritual of eating ice cream every evening.  Believe me after 18 months of mainlining the stuff, this is a breakthrough.

How have I done this?

I’ve stocked up on interesting alternative snacks:

• Medjool dates
• Nakd bites – made from dates and other dried fruit and nuts, you can nearly convince yourself they are chocolate revels
• Aldi veggie bursts – edamane beans, almonds and cashew nuts roasted in paprika and chilli – so good

  

  Healthy snacks

  We’ve also been making a number of exciting non refined sugar cakes and snacks:

• Hemsley and Hemsley lemon poppy seed muffins
• The Foodie Teen pineapple and carrot cake with coconut and passion fruit frosting
• The Foodie Teen crunchy banana loaf
• Hemsley and Hemsley apple and cheddar buckwheat muffins

The Foodie Teen carrot and pineapple cake with coconut and passion fruit frosting

The Foodie Teen crunchy banana loaf

Hemsley and Hemsley apple cheddar buckwheat muffins

I understand that maple syrup or whatever sugar alternative we have used in the snacks isn’t exactly healthy, and neither is an excess of the natural sugars found in medjool dates, however for me it’s an important move away from the processed refined sugar found in ice cream.

And what I’m noticing is my diet has become more interesting and varied.  My palate is growing more curious.  When I ate the pineapple and carrot cake there was an incredible depth of flavour and it was very satisfying.  With ice cream it’s wonderful, but it’s a much more one dimensional hit that leaves you craving more.

In the coming weeks Michelle my weight loss coach will carry on probing me to find out why I reach for ice cream.  My relationship with a sugar hit is still hard wired and won’t disappear over night. One of the things that Michelle observed is that I’m very controlling around food.  I count calories, I weigh out my ice cream, I exercise to burn off the exact calories I’ve ‘over’ eaten.  It’s all rather rigid and to be frank probably a bit f**ked up.  I’ve been overweight before, I don’t want to be again.  There’s still more more work for us to do to uncover a more postive and less obsessive way of me relating to food.

I will keep you posted!

Do any of you relate to my journey? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

I’ve Suffered an Ice-cream Relapse

With the help of weight loss coach Michelle Pratt I felt like I’d been making brilliant progress with dealing with the ‘issues’ behind my ice-cream addiction.

We’d identified that I was anxious about starting my own business and had addressed a few areas of my day to day life where my needs weren’t being met.

Whilst I hadn’t cut out ice-cream and sweet treats, the chats with Michelle were allowing me to get perspective on my habits, and I was starting to be more mindful about what I was shovelling in my face and why.  I was cooking healthy treats made with non refined sugar and more healthy ingredients.  I was eating bigger healthy meals that were filling me up and leaving me less likely to crave sugary snacks.  Even acknowledging how hard starting a business is somehow moved me out of my sugary rut.

But then bang, an adrenelin pumped and stressful week resulted in an almighty sugar binge.  The combination of dealing with a family illness, the rollercoaster of emotions of starting to promote my business and being mega busy left me exhausted.  So on Tuesday I went to Marks and Spencers because I felt I deserved a treat.  That was my undoing.  My favourite ice-creams (mud pie and key lime pie) were reduced to 75p and salted caramel whips were on special offer too.  I walked out of M&S with four tubs of ice-cream and six whips.

Ice-cream and walnut whips on special offer triggered my undoing

A delicious slice of raspberry and lime drizzle cake on sugar binge wednesday

Needless to say Tuesday and Wednesday were sugar fuelled and left me feeling sullied, guilty and sick.  I missed feeling wholesome and healthy.  However Michelle and I had a coaching session today and I’m feeling very positive.  We’ve looked closely at what triggered me and my thinking processes behind the purchases.  By digging into my reasoning, I feel like I’ve half solved the problem.  We also identified that I do have a habit of eating small meals in an attempt to keep my weight in check and that backfires because before long I’m reaching for sugar.  With a bit of rummaging I admitted to Michelle that having been overweight on many occasions in my life I’m scared of putting weight on as being overweight made me unhappy.  So the fear of putting on weight is perhaps encouraging some unhealthy counterproductive habits around food.

Post coaching with Michelle I baked some super healthy Hemsley and Hemsley lemon muffins which will help me to keep on track

Whilst I don’t have the answers yet, I feel that the work I’m doing with Michelle is really powerful and moving me forward.  I’m not expecting a fast turn around miracle, but hopefully with more support from Michelle I will crack this in the coming months.