So Monday morning I started the second part of my health-kick healthy lifestyle change – eating more healthily.

In the past I have tried Weight Watchers at least 5 times, and in 2014 I managed to drop 26lbs (nearly 2 stone) on Atkins. I found that the no carbs thing worked better for me than trying to limit calories; I’m just not good at moderation and it was great to be on a diet where I could eat “as much as I want” and still have yummy fatty foods (Burgers? Yep. Foods cooked with oils/butter? Yep. Salad dressings? Yep). Why is everything nice either full of sugar or fat?. Once I taste something yummy I don’t want to limit myself to a tiny portion; it’s much easier for me to just set certain things as off limits and let them nowhere near my taste buds.

Earlier this year a group of friends and I decided we were going to go a bit more extreme and try a popular Very Low Calorie Diet, of which the first stage consisted of only their shakes/soups 3 times per day. I was dubious as to whether I’d be able to stick with a no food diet, so I was please when the consultant told me that, due to existing health conditions, I wouldn’t be able to do the very low calorie version of the diet, and would have to eat 1 small meal at dinner. Upon further consultation with the company’s medical department that actually got upped to 1500 calories per day from 3 small meals, but if I got GP approval I could go down to 1200 calories per day. My GP said no.

One of the health conditions I deal with is a form of bipolar disorder (“Bipolar II”) that is characterised by episodes of depression , and hypomania (not the full on no-inhibition of full blown mania, but an increase in energy and “goal directed activity” – someone who didn’t know the sufferer well wouldn’t realise anything was “wrong”). My GP didn’t approve of being on a “fad” diet as dieting can affect mood – lifestyle management is a big part of treating Bipolar and staying well, not getting enough food and a strict dieting regime might be result in unstable blood sugar levels and that could have negative consequences. So she said if I want to lose weight she would support me to learn to eat more healthily and use a balance diet to start losing weight.

So that’s the path I’m now on. I have read many times that “wholegrain” versions of popular carbohydrate sources are much better for managing blood sugar and making a more balanced diet. So I decided I’d start there – this week I made the switch to brown.

I’m usually a microwave meals kind of girl. I blame “busyness”, being too tired to cook after work, and the “difficulty” of shopping and cooking for one (why does everything come to serve 2 or serve 4, and need to be used within 2 days once opened?). However, all of that will have to change once Baby comes so I’d better start now! So I’ve bought food that actually needs cooking, some cuts of meat and:

• Brown rice
• Brown pasta
• Brown bread (well, bagels -yes, toasting counts as cooking 😉 )

Eating breakfast is another thing I need to get used to (default excuse: I get up too early on work days to eat before leaving the house at 6:45, and I wake up too late on weekends so I miss breakfast) so I started out with the bagels. I was a bit apprehensive as to whether wholemeal was going to taste funny but, while there was a distinct difference in taste and texture, it was fine. I just hope it goes as well with the rice and pasta.

**BTW – not leaving you hanging, I’ll write more about the Bipolar another time as obviously it’s a big deal when deciding to be a SMBC**