#oneaday Day 591: Joyless healthiness

One of the reasons a lot of people — including myself — find it difficult to stick to a diet is because so much "healthy eating" advice out there is seemingly designed to suck all of the joy out of anything to do with food.

I read a particularly good (bad?) example of this on BBC Food earlier, after it was linked to from the front page of BBC News. "Are we getting breakfast all wrong?" the headline asked. "How much does it matter what we eat in the morning and when we eat it?"

Having read the article a few times, I'm not entirely sure what its actual point is, because there seem to be multiple threads running at once. Firstly is the fact that here in the UK, we tend to be quite set in our ways when it comes to breakfast, while in other cultures they tend to eat "leftovers or [food] similar to [that which] you would have for lunch and dinner", according to NHS GP and chef Rupy Aujla. Then there's the question of when you should eat breakfast, for which the advice seems to be "whenever the fuck you want, or miss it completely and have a decent lunch if you feel like it".

Then there's the usual health scares — people who eat breakfast are "also found to be likely to smoke more, drink more alcohol and exercise less", while there is apparently "convincing evidence that consuming breakfast, compared to skipping breakfast, has positive impacts on short-term cognition and memory". So if you have breakfast, you'll spark up a fag and get pissed while lounging on the sofa, but at least you'll remember all of it the next day.

At one point the piece attempts to convince us that "a breakfast of tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans and a glass of juice" is a "fry-up" and repeats the bizarre advice that "no matter how much [juice] you drink it will still only count as one portion", then goes on to shame the juice-drinkers because "fruit juice is basically as sugary as a typical candy bar". The piece then advises that we should "use an (environmentally friendly) straw to bypass your teeth" if you are drinking juice, but, of course, says that we should all just drink water because it's "a healthy and cheap choice" that "has no calories and contains no sugars that can damage teeth".

I get why all these things are said. We do all eat too much and do terrible things to our health, but the solution to having issues with food is not to make eating a joyless chore, because in my experience all that does to you is increase cravings for things you "shouldn't" have. And in the worst cases, that can lead to bingeing way more than you would have under normal circumstances.

As with anything, the real answer seems to be moderation. It is difficult to keep cravings under control, particularly if your brain chemistry is particularly prone to taking things to excess, but so far as I'm concerned, far better to have a good, solid breakfast that fills you up and makes you feel good first thing in the morning than a handful of nuts, berries and wood chippings that will have you reaching for the crisps and Penguin bars by 10am.

As for me, today I've eaten pretty much what I want and I still have a bunch of calories left over if I fancy something a little later in the evening. And that has happened because I have taken care with moderation in what I've eaten so far today. I don't feel deprived of anything and I don't feel like I "need" to demolish a packet of biscuits, say — but at the same time, I also know that if I do fancy a biscuit or a cake or something, I have enough calories left in the budget that I can have one if I want.

So you know what? I might just do that. I might just do that.

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1862: Eat Well

So, how is this whole Slimming World thing going?

Pretty well, actually. I've lost over a stone since I started, and while I do occasionally feel like I'm "missing out" on some things that I previously would have grabbed and enjoyed without question — I'm talking about obviously awful-for-you-but-delicious things like cakes, anything involving pastry, McDonald's breakfasts and all manner of other dreadfulness — on the whole I don't feel like I'm starving myself, because there's usually something around that I can eat and enjoy without feeling hungry.

And I think that's the key part of this. Often I'd eat something just because I was feeling hungry, and there was also a certain degree of using it as a "coping" strategy, too; I'd reward myself with something tasty if I felt I "deserved" it, and it was never particularly difficult to think of a reason that I "deserved" it, whether it had been a good day or a bad one.

The nice thing about the Slimming World programme is that I can actually still do this if I want to — I just have to reward myself with something that isn't a cake or a sausage roll or something. Fortunately, there are plenty of things that I do like that are "free" on the programme, so that's not too much of an issue.

There's also the fact that there's quite a few pleasant surprises in terms of recipes and things that count as "free". You can have as much meat as you like, for example, so long as it's lean, and stuff like pasta and rice is also free. (Microwave rice is not completely free, mind you, as there's a bit of oil in there; it's still only 1 "syn", though, so it's not super-terrible, as you're supposed to have between 5 and 15 "syns" per day.) I like meat, so it's good to be able to just snack on some nice chicken pieces or something; better for me than crisps, for sure, and maybe possibly nicer? I'm not sure.

Andie also looked up a recipe for a Slimming World-friendly dessert the other night. The website has an impressive collection of these (along with various main courses), so we chose the Apple Betty. It came out really nicely, and tastes great. It's not syn-free, but it's fairly low on the guilt scale, with just 2 syns per slice. Best of all, it "feels" like a "proper" dessert. I love desserts; they're probably my biggest weakness. So to be able to still enjoy them and stick to the programme is great.

I've also been really impressed with the Slimming World ready meals that recently launched, exclusive to Iceland. They're good quality food and substantial portions; I've certainly never finished one and felt like I could eat another one, which is a criticism which can be levelled at other "healthy" ready meals, particularly the rather stingy portions from Weight Watchers. I've also been impressed to discover that it is indeed possible to produce a "syn-free" sausage, and they taste pretty good, too. I have no idea what they've done to them to make them syn-free, but they make for a great and guilt-free sausage sandwich, which is something to be celebrated.

Anyway. I'm glad I've been able to stick with it even with all the unpleasantness that's occurred recently. It would have been so easy to just give up and slip back into my old ways, but knowing that weekly weigh-in is coming every Wednesday helps jar me back to "reality" and make me think that I don't really need to eat something awful for me just because I feel a bit crap; I can eat, by all means, I just need to be more mindful of what it is that I am actually eating.

Success so far, then, but I still have a long way to go before I get to where I want to be. Hopefully this journey will continue in the right direction.

1843: Laugh, and Grow Less Fat

Third week of Slimming World this week, and my second weigh-in since I started the programme. Not quite as drastic a loss this week, but still a loss of 3.5lbs; if I can keep it up at this pace, I'll be quite satisfied since, as I've said before, the nice thing about the Slimming World "food optimising" programme is that it's sustainable rather than a crash diet: it's a means of getting yourself to think a little more carefully about what you're eating.

This evening was an interesting meeting. I'm still at that phase in a new group activity where I don't really know anyone and don't want to talk to anyone — social anxiety sucks like that, but at least the group is a supportive environment; if you can't feel supported and at least vaguely safe at a weight loss therapy group, there are perhaps bigger issues at play — but this evening had a nice activity to get us up and doing something. Doing something that fat people do best: eating.

The twist, of course, was that the impressive spread everyone contributed to on the group's central table was made up of "free" foods; recipes concocted using those foods that, under Slimming World's programme, you can eat as much of as you like. (There were a couple of dishes that had a few "Syns" in them, also, but in all these cases, the Syn value was incredibly low compared to a "proper" version of the food in question; a chocolate brownie made using butternut squash — yes, really — had only 2.5 Syns, for example, whereas a "real" brownie would likely be double figures.) There were some really delicious dishes on the table, many of which are things I'd like to have again at some point, which was sort of the key to the whole exercise, really: any time you diet, even on a programme as flexible as Slimming World, you'll sometimes find yourself stuck in a rut, eating the same things all the time, so it's good to see what other people have and enjoy and perhaps pick up some ideas from it.

And there were plenty of ideas. I came away from the session feeling something that I was surprised to realise that I haven't really felt for a while: I felt excited about food. Not guilty, not resigned, not despairing, but excited. The tasty, flavourful dishes I enjoyed tonight are all things that can be made at home relatively easily, and I look forward to trying them out a bit more often. Slimming World's website, likewise, has plenty of great recipes that all look eminently manageable and don't require outlandish crazy diet ingredients; they're solid, satisfying food intended to plug the hole in your hunger and keep you feeling full, while at the same time having a good balance of the things you need from a healthy diet.

I paid up for six weeks of the programme in advance tonight. There may well be slow, demoralising weeks ahead, but a strong first couple of weeks has given me, for the first time, a little bit of faith that perhaps I can do this, and perhaps I'm not doomed to be a disgusting fat failure for my whole life.

#oneaday Day 609: Five a Day

"Healthy eating" is often misinterpreted by many (including myself) to mean "eating things that taste like pieces of wood that you found on the forest floor". And yet it doesn't have to be that way, it seems. Sweet treats are all very well and good, but firstly, they get pretty dull after a while (once you've had one chocolate bar, there are very few variations on the theme besides what the crunchy bits are made out of/taste of) and secondly, of course, they'll turn you into the sort of person who requires a crane to get them out of your house.

This is an exaggeration, of course. Unless you eat, like, nothing but chocolate bars all the time, in which case heart disease will probably take you long before any cranes have to be involved.

But anyway. Since starting my EA Sports Active 2 workouts (which I'm still keeping up with, FYI) I've been looking a little more carefully at the things I eat each day — largely because of the nagging woman who gently reminds you that you should be eating [x] number of fruit and veg portions per day, and [y] number of glasses of water. As a result of a little investigation and exploration, I'm doing quite well on [x] though [y] often still eludes me, because water is pretty boring.

It seems there's quite a wide variety of things that actually taste reasonably nice while actually being healthy, too, particularly on the fruity side of things. There's a snacky thing called "Fruit Flakes", for example, which is basically a little bag of fruity sweets, only they're actually made of fruit instead of E-numbers and enough sugar to send a hyperactive five year old to the moon without the aid of a rocket. Today, too, I tried some things called "YoYos" from a company called "Bear" — they're basically fruit rollups, but all-natural and, bizarrely, made using sweet potato as well as the fruits in question. They don't look quite as appealing as more sugary variations on the fruit rollup theme — they have the look and texture of fruit jerky — but they taste all right, and apparently each one is one of your Five a Day. I've had two today. Check me out.

Crisps are a thing that the reformed glutton often misses, as crisps are tasty. While they're not quite the same thing, I've found Snack-a-Jacks to be a perfectly acceptable substitute. Some people aren't a fan of rice cakes, believing them to actually be pieces of packing polystyrene rebranded as a lightweight snack, but the addition of a little flavour to the mix with Snack-a-Jacks makes them more than acceptable — and without having to cover them in cheese, jam and any combination thereof, either.

One thing that does irritate me a little about healthy eating, however, is advertising. I'm thinking particularly of the Special K adverts here. Now, as a breakfast cereal, I quite like Special K. It's moderately tasty, supposedly good for you and doesn't taste like lumps of chipboard. There's also about a bajillion different varieties of it nowadays — some with fruit, some with other variations. It should be a cereal for which everyone can find an acceptable variation.

So why, then, is it marketed exclusively towards women? That's not an exaggeration, either — there hasn't been a man in a Special K advert for as long as I can remember, and it's almost constantly marketed as the cereal that will make you look good in a one-piece swimsuit/figure-hugging red dress. I don't particularly want to wear either of those things, and I have far too much penis to ever be called a woman, but I like Special K. Now, to be perfectly honest, I have absolutely no shame whatsoever in walking into a shop and purchasing a box of Special K, much as I would have absolutely no shame whatsoever in walking into a shop and purchasing sanitary towels for a female friend who needed them. But the fact I even have to make that comparison is at least a little objectionable — is the assumption that men are only interested in eating some sort of protein-packed Meat Flakes for breakfast and sprinkling them with bacon, while the women virtuously crunch on their Special K?

Who knows? Regardless, the main thrust of this self-indulgent ramble is that EA Sports Active 2 has, among other things, succeeded in getting me to be a bit more conscious of what I put in my mouth. This is, I believe, a good thing — and another check mark in favour of a fitness and health programme that I'm having increasing amounts of respect towards. We'll see how I feel in 9 weeks time when the programme I'm following is supposedly set to finish!