Dieting: Keeping a Diary

Here is my two cents on keeping a diary for your diet.

What is the point of keeping a diary? Doesn't it just entail an extra chore to the already arduous task of dieting, and doesn't it act as a reminder of the constant calorie counting, exercise regimes, weight controlling, etc.?

In the past I never ever kept a diary for gym, dieting, or anything like this. Now I keep one and I've lost more weight than I've ever lost before on any regime.

This isn't to say that I never lost any weight before keeping one, or that a mere collection of papers is the key separating success or failure.

What a diary DOES however do is provide you a little reference point to life, and creating a friendly habitual activity for the day. Looking back through your diary shows your story, a record of what has happened to you since you started it - in my case what I have eaten and how much I weigh every Monday, along with a couple of one-line anecdotes here and there on the topic (and occasionally off-topic, as tends to be my habit).

For every day practicality, a diary can serve as your little policeman. Each time you eat something, you MUST write it down (or take a photo if you're using the picture method), and when it's documented it's harder to deny it (the law student in me coming out a little there).

Low calorie ink

Looking at what I ate, and knowing I'll have to write down anything else I eat provides a check that makes me feel less inclined to shovel more food in the general direction of my face. It also allows me to try and maintain a balanced diet, filling in what things I should eat when I am lacking in them, or cutting down on what I have already had nearly enough of.

A factor I find that is really helpful with this diary is if I look back I can see the ups and downs of my diet, and from that obtain the resolve to persevere and improve. It's also fun to read my little notes and remember when and why I wrote them! When I see how long I've stuck to something, and I see what I have achieved in that time, I feel proud of myself and know I am on the right track, and I hope the same applies to anyone else who attempts this!!

Image sources: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/diary/images/11202659/title/tom-riddles-diary-photo; http://www.clipartof.com/portfolio/prawny-vintage/illustration/vintage-black-and-white-girl-tearing-up-a-book-1115190.html

Dieting: Days 1-40 (An Unintentional Quasi-Paleo)

I can with confidence say that I can imagine what Jesus Christ may have felt not having bread for 40 days.

This of course fully compliments the long-haired 'n' beardy look I am currently rockin' (all these hip apostrophes ' ' '!)

A right looker this one!

Dogma \m/

Perhaps I am exaggerating slightly, however the temptation of it being easily within reach does indeed press on one's mind!

"Man shall not live on bread alone," (Matthew 4:3) - or at all in my case!

I started off my diet 40 days ago, weighing in at 109.6kg (241.6lb). I was sick of all the diets I had (admittedly less than whole-heartedly) tried out, and I thought I'd try my own, eating healthily and in moderation, on a principle of balancing carbohydrates, proteins, and other basic needs in each meal. In addition I have each day drank 3 cups of green tea with lemon (which, like all other tea, I HATE, even after 120 cups - making me the worst half-Brit ever) and a cup of warm honey with lemon before bed.
I have now just passed my FIRST goal, weighing just under 100kg (220.5lb), following a diet of my own invention... or so I thought.

Having discovered the website I shall most likely rave endlessly upon in this blog, www.nerdfitness.com, I located a diet I had heard the name of before, and decided to look at to sate my curiosity. I looked here, http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/10/04/the-beginners-guide-to-the-paleo-diet/, which talks about the Paleo Diet.

Once again I was caught in intrigue reading. The diet had been working very well so far. I felt more energetic and motivated, and a confirmation of my idea was just what I needed as I hit the slowing point in my weight loss.

The idea goes like this - our species emerged approximately 200,000 years ago. The agricultural revolution occurred some 10,000 years ago. Most of our time, that is about 190,000 years, have been spent developing as hunter-gatherers, and thus while our society has changed to what we have today, our dietary expectations have not shifted with the necessary rapidity. Therefore we our bodies are not yet fully used to grain, sugar-based, and, debatably, dairy products.Thus, some believe we should revert, at least in part, to a more primitive diet to suit our more primitive bodies, consuming the products or those similar to those which our ancestors would have had.

This diet has a particular focus towards lowering the amount of carbohydrates consumed daily. I have included for those interested more about this theory with more in depth and scientific explanations.
http://thepaleodiet.com/the-paleo-diet-premise/; http://thepaleodiet.com/research/

This diet, like all, has not gone without criticism. From its inception in the 1970s several points have been made (in articles such as http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-paleo-diet-half-baked-how-hunter-gatherer-really-eat/):

• We have indeed evolved in the last 10,000 years (lactose tolerance, blue eyes, malaria resistance)
• We do not know completely know what the diet of man back then was (though researchers have made many advances on this front)
• The food available now is not the same as it was then (mutations, agricultural breeding)

Reviewing these points, they do indeed have merit to them, but they seem to be rather extreme, or refer to extreme cases. As an amateur I think it is fair to say that the idea of the Paleo Diet is over all a good one, though like our bodies it perhaps needs modification - but then again, does not every diet need to modified according to the person following it? 

Recipes

What can I eat??

Tenderise well with your club

I have been following something similar to the Paleo Diet - a low carbohydrate intake with small portions which I eat fairly frequently. The meals include plenty of green veg, a protein source, and a fruit in or accompanying it. However, I am not so stringent and have included on occasion certain things which do not follow it such as rice, crackers, pasta (perhaps once till now), beans, legumes, and a few other things here and there which vary from the prescribed diet. One of these others is a once-a-week 'naughty', when I get to have something bad at a meal per week (eg: a small dessert/Sunday lunch with my family (Mum's wonderful roasts o.o)/going out for a drink)

I would advise following the base diet, and then supplementing or altering it in moderation with sensible things (i.e. not putting a big mac in between two sticks of celery).

http://thepaleodiet.com/recipes/ - One of the more reliable sources
http://paleogrubs.com/paleo-diet-recipes - Very easy to navigate
http://www.pinterest.com/catiehays/paleo-diet-recipes/ - Always budding with new ideas
http://allrecipes.com/recipes/healthy-recipes/special-diets/paleo-diet/ - Reliable and you can branch from this
http://www.paleoplan.com/recipes/ - Easy to navigate once again; well organised

I will update in future posts with some recipes of my own!

I do not believe in extremes in general. Follow your diet, whichever one works for you, and don't be afraid to alter it as is necessary for you. Remember to keep yourself informed and educated, and look at both sides of an argument before starting a new health option!

In the end your steadfast dedication is the only thing which you CANNOT afford to change in your diet!

*Insert bedrock joke*

If you feel I have made any mistakes in my facts please feel free to let me know!

Image sources: http://www.project-reason.org/forum/viewthread/25570/; http://thatwemaygrowingrace.blogspot.com/; http://www.crossfitliberation.com/nutrition/; http://www.janetwise.net/zeitgeist-commentary/part-iv-punishing-eve-the-great-hoax-twisting-the-symbology-and-legends/; http://cardiologydoc.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/paleolithic-cave-man-diets/; http://paleoapproach.org/whatispaleo