Back On The Banting Bandwagon

8-38am

The Christmas season is certainly a food bonanza, and unless you are very vigilant, falling off the Bant Wagon is going to happen automatically. After all, the habit of years and years of  eating Christmas fruit cake and mince pies is very difficult to break.

For me it was messy! But, as with every year, January 1st arrives and sense and normalcy prevails. The first day of the new year is always the perfect opportunity to put the past behind and start dealing diligently with the future. In the dying days of 2014, I knew that things would have to change and I went a bit overboard. I bought a horrible, cheap, nasty colour-filled, hugely seasoned cheese loaf (at least it was small) ….

While my taste buds did backflips, a trigger went off in my brain for MORE and I ate the whole thing. I felt so sick afterwards! I had it in mind to call 2015 bread-free and this pretty much confirmed the idea.

I didn’t write about committing myself to a bread-free year, because I’m a great one for making and breaking new year resolutions. I just kept it to myself and hoped for the best. But here we are on Monday 5th January 2015 and I have been firmly aboard the Banting Bandwagon. In just 5 days, I have lost the extra 2 kilos I gained over Christmas.  Best of all, I feel fabulous. I feel as if I’ve detoxed and with the lack of carbs and sugar, I feel far more in control. There’s a physical positive feeling of wellbeing that comes with having no sugar pulsing through my body.

I’ve also gone back onto My Fitness Pal (MFP) to monitor my calories and fat/protein/carb/sugar intake. On MFP, you can manipulate your numbers to suit your requirements…so this is what yesterday looked like…

So my aim is to have not more than 34g of carbs/sugar. I eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m full. I actually need to change this, because I don’t think I need more than 1200 calories a day. You get more allocated when you exercise. MFP is a great way to monitor what you are eating and just how much carb and sugar each foodstuff contains.

I think one of the other dangers that has arisen since this lifestyle has swept across our nation, is the plethora of ‘Banting cakes’ that have been concocted, using a variety of wheat flour and sugar substitutes. While they are fabulous and I devoured them at any given opportunity, I am now cautious of them. The main reason is that most sugar substitutes such as stevia and xylitol are not great for you. Xylitol is 99% carb anyway. Generally, you use less of it than sugar and spread throughout a whole recipe, it reduces the amount you consume. Also it’s said to not affect your blood sugar level. That may all be so, but it is still sweet and somehow, I’ve noticed that when I start on it, it triggers something in my brain that wants MORE!  The other thing about these Banting cakes is that they often are made with almond flour, which is great, but can clock up calories and carbs if overeaten.

Cheating on Banting is bad news. According to the Real Meal Revolution website, if you are trying to get into ketosis, cheating will set you back a week. As it takes about 2 weeks to get there in the first place, don’t sabotage your efforts by falling at the first hurdle. Also cheating can be defined differently by different people. For me, cheating is eating bread or a croissant. For those who are diabetic, this is an absolute NO-NO! I’m only realising now that the setback associated with ‘occasional’ wheat products will ensure that you NEVER are really going to get your body, particularly your gut into a state of health while once a week you cheat. Every time you have a bread product, it puts you back a week. This is a big lightbulb moment for me, because that’s the exact kind of thing I would do. I’ve been ‘good’ for 6 days, so on the 7th, I’m going to ‘splurge’ and have a cheat day. You literally are taken back to square one. My first test came on 2nd January when I went to Kalk Bay for ‘fish and chips’. I carefully removed the batter from the fish and substituted the ships for salad. The next test is when family arrive on Wednesday for 6 nights. I am quite determined and now that I know that a single croissant puts me back a week, I am sure I won’t be tempted in their direction.

So it’s back to basics, following a Low Carb Eating Plan and making sure it becomes a lifestyle. For future health, you’ve got to ditch the breads and sugar. Sugar is devastating for health. It’s got to go. Even if you don’t embrace a low carb lifestyle, ditch sugar from your diet.

I’ve used this before, but it’s such a great message from my heart to yours… the same John who wrote the Gospel of John, wrote three brief letters , which appear further on in the New Testament. They simply are 1,2 and 3 John. In his third letter, he writes:

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.

Keep the smile going!

God Bless you!

In His Grip,

Helga xx 🙂