Last night I went to a play written by a friend of mine. It’s the sort of play that leaves you feeling drained and in need of something life-affirming afterwards. That was the day my husband ate a chocolate cake and my second favourite ice cream (mint choc chip) in front of me.
“Never mind”, he said, “it’s all good material for your blog. People like to hear about your suffering”.
Thanks, love.
Generally I don’t do too badly. Some days I don’t miss sugar at all. However, many ladies will know that there are certain types of the month when sugar is particularly attractive. I don’t mean a tiny little niggle at the back of your mind. I mean a great bulldozer of a craving that makes you want to physically wrestle anyone eating chocolate to the ground and force them to hand it over. You will be hauled off in a police van singing triumphantly, for the chocolate will be yours, and nothing else matters. Your primeval urges have been satisfied.
It’s probably just as well that I’ve never done this for real.
Some white rice can have a greater impact on blood sugar than pure glucose or white bread. Yikes!
As I come to the end of Week 3 it’s time to take a look at what I’m doing, and whether anything could improve. I need to do two things:
- Eat less rice. As I explained at the beginning of the challenge I have no objection to a moderate portion of brown rice 3 times a week. This last week, though, I’ve been away from home a lot, and rice seems to be the only non-wheat carbohydrate available, so I’ve had it almost every day, and it is white. That’s much more than I need, and it’s not helping. White rice has a GL of between 14 and 30. In some cases it has a GI of 103 – that’s more than white bread (1)! No wonder I haven’t quite beaten those cravings yet.
- Drink more fluid. I always find eating plans to be more successful if I drink sufficient fluid. I have yet to find an explanation for this in the literature. Some people like to suggest that drinking more ‘flushes out the toxins’ but really there is no evidence for this at all. My own theory, completely unproven, is that as all metabolic reactions take place in a liquid environment, providing adequate fluids enables the body to function efficiently.
This week I am travelling both within and out of London. That makes planning essential, because without it one is forced to rely on what is available, which is rarely helpful. Next week I will share my top tips for travelling, but for now your mission, should you choose to accept it, is as follows:
Homework
Evaluate what you have done so far, and be proud of your achievements. Congratulate yourself on coming this far. Now set yourself one or two goals, not more, for improvement over the next week. Keep a log to track your progress.
See you next time!