To avoid the risk of information overload, the first phase of my nutritional journey is a gentle mix of change in diet and routine, to better my energy levels and increase hydration of the skin. Mainly, I have to focus on my blood sugar levels.

An average day of eating, in my life, is usually something like this:

• Morning – nothing to eat
• Lunch – sandwich (sugar) or soup anywhere between 1-4pm
• Dinner – big serving of pasta (sugar) / potato (sugar) / rice (Sugar) or other carb based meal (sugar) with 2-3 vegetables and some form of meat, at around 8pm onwards.
• Drinks – coffee through the day and wine and water in the evening.

This isn’t exactly routine worthy… certainly not the making of the next ‘fad’ diet.

My task, as set by Erin, is to eat breakfast (yuck), snack mid-morning and afternoon (yuck, some more) and eat low Glycemic Load foods (i.e. foods that don’t create a blood sugar spike) for both lunch and dinner.

Here’s a pie chart to show the ratio / balance of food intake I should currently strive for, when exercising little and looking to gain more energy:

 

As you can imagine – for the sake of my skin – I must drink at least 1.5 ltrs of water a day and cut out the caffeine and keep the alcohol to a minimum (boo).

The upside to this, I suppose, is that I get to eat more. The downside, and it really is for me at the moment, is programming the routine.

The first two days, I was fast and furious – keen to jump into the plan and get on with feeling more energised…

Then came day 3: The day I ran out of nuts and seeds to snack on. When time skipped from 11am to 3pm with no lunch break having been taken. Where only carbs were left for dinner…

Do I ignore them and buy more food?

No, that’s a waste.

 

Cook a separate meal to what my boyfriend will have?

It’s late and I don’t want the hassle.

 

What’s the harm in one meal of tasty fresh pasta?..

Everything – if you let it.

 

The key thing here: DO NOT FRET!

The task I have been set out to do is not life or death by any standard, the food I eat is important but not something to get emotionally attached to.

It’s now day 7 since I received the plan, and it has been hard at times – a few corners and snack times have been cut, here and there – but I can honestly say I feel a change in two key areas:

1, mornings are becoming my friend again: I can wake up and stay up.

2, my mood is becoming consistent: I’m not crashing before lunch or dinner, and I’m starting to feel as though a fog is lifting slightly.

This phase will go on until I meet Erin again on Wednesday 3 December.

My next step is to truly learn the art of understanding the Glycemic Load (GL) chart. Whilst I am not doing much exercise, I am encouraged to eat low GL foods.

At the weekend, I will be doing a grocery run that I will upload in the next blog, to give you an example of good foods with low GL.