Due to the fact that sugar is more addictive than cocaine it comes as no surprise that the Banting (New food revolution diet) has not been a great success for me so far as I'm unable to stick to it! The irony is that, with every other diet we've tried I've found it relatively easy, with varying degrees of success, whilst my husband really struggled. He has taken to Banting like the proverbial duck to water and has found it quite easy and left me gobsmacked at his sudden drastic change in eating habits, going from constant carb snacks which, although allowed on Slimming World, slowed down his weight loss as the science behind the Banting diet will attest to. He was constantly hungry and thus I was constantly cooking and to say I hate cooking is an understatement! He has now cut down to just one big meal a day at lunch time where we have meat and either salad or veg and cheese and a snack in the evening.
I can be strong for a while but life tends to derail me a lot with birthdays and other special occasions and basically any excuse to give in to the chocolate craving. The reason Slimming World worked so well for me was that I could still have my chocolate every day and lose weight.
So hubby is happy on Banting but I'm gaining weight left right and centre as Banting and carbs and sugars are not good friends. So I figured, what if I take the best of both of them and try and combine them. Another consideration I have at this point is my ph level, which is way to acidic, it was measuring 5.5 a few weeks ago, way off the 7 it should be so lots of high ph foods also need to be incorporated. With my ph level being so acidic it puts me at higher risk of cancer which, I'm sure we'll all agree is a prevention is better than cure scenario.
Day 1
Generous slice Watermelon. I have this first thing in the morning as watermelon is a very high ph food, if it's not in season I'll have to switch to other melon. Melons should always be eaten on their own, not with other food as they require a unique digestive juice and an hour to digest, otherwise they or the other food it is eaten with just ferments and you don't get the benefit from it. It's a lovely refreshing way to start the day.
Ramekin plain yoghurt with teaspoon honey. I was a bit hungry mid morning so I thought this would make a nice snack. I used to have it with fruit but I think I've had too much of it so wanted a break and also to keep the fruit till later, if you have it with a spoon of honey it's lovely. I decided to have it in a ramekin for portion control. With Banting the full fat plain yoghurt is basically free although honey is restricted as it's sugar. The full fat yoghurt would be a no no on slimming world as they advocate fat free of everything. This is where the two diets clash. I agree with the principals of Banting in that the carbs and sugars are the enemy and as soon as you have low fat you are pumping in the carbs and sugars so I figure the full fat is better for me in terms of what my body can burn. Honey has more health benefits than sweeteners but you could have sweeteners instead of honey. Be careful about which sweetener you use, long story short aspartame is the enemy.
glass of water with tablespoon acv 15 minutes before the main meal. Acv has a long list of health benefits but this is primarily for my ph balance, I have to keep reminding myself as I gag it down what I'm doing it for! Although I'm gradually getting used to the taste lol.
2 pieces salmon baked with mixed leaf salad, tomatoe, red pepper, cucumber
Delicious salad, both for Banting and Slimming world. The salmon is quite juicy so I didn't feel the need to add any dressing. Duane added cheeses to make it more fatty for the Banting, which fends off his hunger pangs longer than mine will be but I'm opting for the less dairy fat version as I think this might be where I'm going wrong.
ramekin half mango and 3 strawberries
On slimming world fruit is free, on Banting fruit needs to be restricted due to the high sugar content. By having only a small amount of mango and strawberries I was able to get a little sweet kick whilst still staying in my Banting parameters. Strawberry and Mango are also quite high on the alkaline scale so double bonus.
coffee 3 sweeteners and full cream milk
My little indulgence. I usually have red bush tea as this is better for the ph. I've stuck with the full cream milk, again to avoid the carbs and sugars.
Water with lime squeezed in
I drink this in between when I'm feeling thirsty and am learning to quite enjoy it, much better than the fizzy drinks, 99% of which have aspartame and the same goes for the juice mixes. I look for a water that has a high ph no just to add to the ph boost and the lime is also quite a high score, if you can stomach lemon it's even better but that's just one step too far for me lol.
mushroom stir fry veg, asparagus, kale, splash sweet chilli sauce
This is acceptable on both meal plans. The splash of sweet chilli sauce adds a lovely flavour and doesn't do much damage in terms of carbs and sugars. The green veg is very good for my ph, especially the asparagus and kale. This was a nice light dinner snack to see me through.
iced coffee
My favourite Banting treat. 200ml full cream, 600ml full cream milk, 2 teaspoons coffee, 4 teaspoons granulated sweetener and a handful of crushed ice, blended together. It's lovely and creamy and the fat makes it quite filling and I can probably just about get away with it under my syns for the day with slimming world.
1 lindor ball
Because my life is just not worth living without chocolate ;-p
So, that's day 1 of my personalised version of these diets, let's see how it goes on day two.
