“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little, not too much, we would have found the safest way to health” Hippocrates in 498 BC
I wrote in an earlier post that I danced a bit around the Banting diet but mostly stuck to my ‘no carb’ rule – although crisps have always been my serious weakness and once I start, I just cannot stop!’
Unfortunately my ‘dancing’ and ‘binging’ resulted in my feeling very uncomfortable, very flat (as in completely lacking energy) and 3kg’s up on what I usually weigh. Now, I am by no means someone who regularly stands on the scale, but when your clothes are feeling a tad too tight and you are constantly trying to suck in your tummy, you just know that things have gone a little to far. I usually do put on a little during the winter months when it is a bit harder to get out and run and a lot easier to comfort eat. But this year, I thought that I was doing well by sort of doing the Banting diet (my rebellious nature would not allow me to be entirely disciplined – I did not want to become food obsessed) but instead of it helping me maintain, it actually helped me gain! My fault entirely because I just cannot give up on the sugar.
So now I am on a strict challenge, to loose 3 kilo’s in 3 weeks. And how I intend to do this is pretty much by strictly following a healthy, sustainable eating plan for the 3 weeks and then loosening it up a bit to suit my lifestyle once the kilo’s have fallen off. The idea will be to eat lots if high-water content foods (fruits and vegetables) and drink lots of water. This helps to flush and cleanse the body. An ideal goal will be 2-3 servings of fruit and 3-5 servings of vegetables every day. The main rule will be to not combine protein and starch, which means that I will be generally cutting something out of each meal. I will also not be having any dairy, simply because this was a family decision made just over a month ago and it has done well for us.
So here is a quick overview of how I will be eating over the next 3 weeks:
Breakfast: Fruit and seeds
Snack: Nuts and raisins or dried berries
Lunch:
- Carb and Veg (white bean hummus with veg crudites, bread with avo, rice or pasta salad with avo and corn and tomato)
- Protein and Veg (salmon cakes and rocket, boiled egg salad, fritata)
Snack: Fruit / Dried fruit (fig is a great option with loads of calcium)
Dinner: Protein and Low Carb Vegetables or very occasionally Carb with veg
(Check out the food page for recipes)
I will include an ‘Eating Plan’ for each week so that if you are interested, you can get better idea of the kinds of meals that I will be eating each day.
And then of course, don’t forget that we all still need to exercise to stay healthy. Just 30 – 40 of cardio 3 – 4 times a week is perfectly sufficient. That could be fast walking, swimming, cycling, dancing (wherever and whenever) or running. Just do what is most fun for you.
Let me know if you are choosing to take on the challenge with me. We can keep each other inspired.
3 John 1:2 says “Dear friend, I hope that all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit.”
God is concerned both our body and our soul. We should neither neglect nor indulge ourselves but rather be sure to take care of ourselves physically. We need to discipline our bodies so that we can be our best for God and the life that He has purposed for us to live.