The amazing benefits of my diet: incredible but true.

What are the amazing benefits of my diet?

• I don’t put on weight;
• I don’t have (much) cellulite;
• My skin looks radiant;
• I don't get blackheads and spots;
• My nails don’t split;
• I have less grey hair than I used to 3 years ago before the diet (lentils help keep your hair colour);
• I don’t have any trouble sleeping at night;
• My teeth stay whiter for longer (sugar yellows them);
• I never go hungry (low GI foods are slow for the body to process and keep me fuller for longer).
• I don’t feel bloated after eating; 
• I don’t suffer from IBS, diarrhea or constipation;
• I don’t feel guilty for over indulging;
• I don’t have energy slumps in the middle of the afternoon; 
• It is a long-term sustainable way of eating - I have been following this diet for 3 years now. Before that I only ever managed 3 days on any eating plan!

Here are the simple principles of my diet

• Each plate of food should feature 50% veg, 25% complex carbs and 25% protein.
• Only eat complex carbohydrate and definitely no sugar. This keeps the glycemic index low.
• Eat fresh.  Fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, fresh meat, fresh fish. Ideally organic produce to avoid nasty toxins. 
• Avoid processed food. 
• Minimise alcohol - choose drink red wine and vodka as they are lower in sugar.

What is a complex carb?  
A complex carb is one that your body breaks down slowly. it's slow to digest, so your blood sugar doesn't shoot up and you don't get overloaded so that your body converts half of it to fat because it doesn't have time to process it properly. By eating complex carbs, our bodies can burn it slowly as fuel and stay energised instead.
Say NO to white flour, no white pasta, no white rice, no cous cous, no arborio rice, no egg noodles, no potatoes except boiled new potatoes.
Say YES to wholemeal flour, spelt flour, wholemeal pasta, brown rice, quinoa, pearlised spelt, buckwheat noodles

What are the rules for protein?
Protein should comprise only 25% of your meal. Protein sources should be eaten in the following priority order:
1. beans
2. fish (ideally small fish as they have less toxins because they are further up the food chain)
3. white meat
4. red meat
Red meat should be eaten only once per month.

If you wanted to be REALLY good what else could you do?

• Eat raw - try to avoid cooking as it changes the chemical make up of food and reduces the nutrients. 
• Drink green juice - for over a year I drank green juices made of any ABOVE ground green veg. I can divulge that cabbage and broccoli juice are the least offensive. But no pure green vegetable juice is actually enjoyable. 
• Drink smoothies - avoid fruit juice because without the fibre it's actually full of sugar and high GI. But if you make a smoothie full of fruit, some freshly squeezed apple juice or water, oats, linseeds, wheatgrass and sometimes a sneaky glob of coconut oil, you'll be super healthy.  The downside is that can be pretty foul, unless you get the right balance.

A note about cheating

I am not a Saint. Sometimes I want a roast potato. Sometimes my son offers me a biscuit and he enjoys his more if I eat one, too. Last night I went for dinner and ate hot chocolate pudding. It was very nice, thanks Raymond Blanc :)

The trick is to set rules for cheating e.g. once a week. otherwise the cheat becomes the norm and you're back where you started. 

The tricky bit?

There are 2 hard things

1. Finding tasty recipes that stay true to the principles of my diet. Hence this blog - a collection of Low GI, Anti-cancer, sugar-free recipes and tips for a diet with a heavy bias towards vegetables and pulses.
2. Eating out and making the right choices in restaurants and cafes.