Experience

For the past week and a bit, my wife and I have been following an online GI diet. I have also reduced my tea and coffee intake to just one or two cups per day compared to the eight or ten cups I was drinking. In place of tea and coffee I'm drinking water, semi-skimmed milk or orange juice. What effects is this having? I'm losing weight gradually, it's coming off me - my waist belt feels a little slacker. I'm a bit more relaxed in general, not as much as I'd like though. I know now that I can live without drinking copious amounts of tea and coffee. In terms of my sugar and salt intake, it's definitely gone down - I haven't drunk any fizzy drinks, or eaten any ready-prepared meals and because I'm drinking fewer beverages I'm not consuming the sugar that would have been in those. So, in general I feel a little healthier. The diet has also got me and my wife cooking again, our cupboard has now got some spice jars in it. I'm preparing meals I've never tried before - favourite meal last week was fried green lentils and onion topped with toasted ciabatta slices with goats cheese topping, I added a few salad leaves on the side just to fill the meal out a little (we had a guest staying with us). This week a block of plain (dark) chocolate is on the menu, so I've had a chunk of that each day while preparing the kids dinner. Doing the online diet gives us some variety each day and my wife sets the menu at the weekend for the week ahead. We are spending more on food but there is definitely an improvement in our diet - we're eating a healthy amount of fresh fruit and vegetables. This time of year, there are so many delicious fruits out there too. I bought limes for the first time yesterday for our dinner tonight, chicken and bean salad with avocado. I haven't really missed anything yet to be honest, I think I'll be able to keep this up. I just need to start doing some exercise next...