Real Food Rocks

If you've read any of my blog before you will know that along with my passion for Disney and tattoos I am also passionate about the way we eat.

My own personal story can be found in these previous posts and pages;

Eating Well, Staying Healthy
90 Day Challenge
Four Years On

But suffice to say I am now a strong advocate of the Low Carb High Fat approach to eating. As a family we eliminated carbs and sugars from our diet just over 5 years ago. We no longer have bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, flours, processed foods, grains or sugars in anything that we eat. Our cupboards and fridge are stocked with yummy cheese, butter, cream, meats, fish, green veggies, berries, greek yogurt and some very high cocoa dark chocolate.

I have lost weight and dropped dress sizes and have been able to maintain it. My skin is better and hopefully I am doing everything in my power to avoid the modern day diseases of diabetes and heart disease; both of which have affected my family directly in the past.

Whilst we do have the odd occasional treat; these are what we describe as 'rare and appropriate', I do find that the longer that we follow this approach the less I look for those treats...which as someone with a self confessed sweet tooth I never thought I would say!

I think the 'kids' find this way of eating the most tricky out of all of us; not because they are fussy eaters but I think simply because they are faced with a society that seems to revolve around social eating and drinking and one that means making good choices are tricky to find.

This past weekend Simon and I had the pleasure of spending a day at Brathay Hall, near Ambleside in the Lake District with about 800 like-minded people at a festival called Real Food Rocks.  This was a festival organised through an organisation called the Public Health Collaboration whose mission is to improve the nations health by changing the way we eat through adopting a low carb approach.

The event was organised by Dr Jen Unwin and was supported by a number of doctors, health care and fitness professionals. There were also plenty of stalls showcasing businesses who promote the use of real food, with real ingredients while also supporting a low carb approach.

Throughout the day there was the opportunity to listen to a number of experts talk about all aspects of a healthy lifestyle. We started the day listening to Dr Michael Mosley and his wife Dr Clare Bailey who strongly advocate the use of fasting, and a Mediterranean style diet incorporating fermented foods. Next we listened to Ivor Cummins the biochemical engineer and author of the book 'Eat Rich Live Long' who spoke about the modern diseases of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease and the positive effects that diet can have on all of these conditions.

Dr Michael Mosley

Ivor Cummins

We than had a short break where we tasted some delicious low carb beef curry served with low carb naan bread from The Low Carb Food Co, followed by a coffee from The Little Blue Pig and a gorgeous chocolate and raspberry brownie from Deliciously Guilt Free.

Beef Curry & Naan bread by the Low Carb Food Co.

Dark Chocolate & Raspberry Brownie by Deliciously Guilt Free

Then it was back to listen to some more speakers. We heard Dr Peter Voshol from the Netherlands speak about his success with treating patients with Type 2 Diabetes through diet. We then heard from nutritionist Jenny Phillips as she spoke about the types of food we should be eating which resulted in me buying her latest cook book! After that we came upon Bridgette Hamilton who unknown to us is based not far from where we live; she specialises in helping people kick their sugar addiction and lose weight through her Breakthrough Weightloss program. We ended the day with Dr David Unwin who is a GP passionate about low carb and using lifestyle interventions to help patients fight obesity and diabetes and is one of the leading voices on this here in the UK.

It was so great to spend a day with people that all think the same way as we do. Time and time again it can feel almost alienating to follow this lifestyle. People who choose other lifestyles like being vegetarian or vegan can walk into shops, supermarkets and restaurants and are able to find all sorts of products on offer for them (although these are often highly processed and very far removed from being 'healthy' alternatives).Their friends accept their choice, they will make allowances for them when socialising and may even defend their choice...but choosing low carb does not always cause the same reactions.

Whilst shopping is straightforward as you simply only buy those products that you know are right i.e. real food! But dining out can sometimes be problematic and usually involves having to ask for 'insert name of bland beige carb' to be removed and replaced with veggies or salad but only to be met with a funny look and a question 'so...you don't want...?' Friends struggle to understand what being low carb means and the standard response is 'but I couldn't give up potatoes...bread...pasta...' Then throw into the conversation the 'wish I could lose weight like you', followed by me offering to explain but yet again to be faced with the 'but I couldn't' statement.

I know this way of eating is healthy, enjoyable, satisfying, yummy and easy to do and I just want to be able to help people to follow along and see the same weight and health gains that I have. But when everything that we have been brought up to understand about what is and is not healthy to eat is the complete opposite of eating low carb it is all too easy to understand why people have a problem grasping how this could be healthy.

I am angry that I spent the majority of my life following the 'official guidelines', doing what people in white coats told me or what was published through various media to then find I, along with everyone else, had been misled. It is so frustrating that the 'powers that be' are unwilling to change the dietary advise, that influence from the sugar, cereal and processed food industry is too entrenched with our governing bodies. That pharmaceutical companies need us all to be reliant on medications to keep their profits expanding and they have no interest in getting us healthy 'naturally'!

So I am determined to keep on doing what I am doing; sharing my knowledge, offering help where I can, continuously reading and researching more, learning more and then hopefully lead by example. I will continue to write blog posts about all that I am passionate about and hope that somewhere along the way I can inform and potentially change things for the better.

Four Years On...

So this time four years ago we had a bit of a party weekend as Simon and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. And as is customary with any party there was plenty of food and drink.

But on the Monday morning I started something that would change everything I thought I knew about food and diet.

Through a chance conversation with my daughter's karate instructors I took up a challenge they had developed called '90 Day Get Real Fat Loss'. The idea being that try something for 90 days, make a difference to how you look and what you weigh and then keep that change going for life.

Well four years on I am living proof that you can make a change to decades of being told to eat a certain way, that the weight and inches can be lost, that the loss can be maintained and that this new way of eating is easily sustainable.

For years, like I think most people, I'd not been happy with those numbers on the scale or what I saw looking back at me in the mirror. Now I know I wasn't obese, and I probably wasn't even classified as being overweight. Friends would tell me I looked fine, that I had nothing to worry about. But for me it obviously was something I worried about.

My mum was diabetic and so I kind of knew that she had to avoid sweet stuff but that didn't stop us having sweet stuff in the house. Before Simon and I got married and had a place of our own we would pretty much eat whatever we wanted. I knew that too many cakes, biscuits and chocolate bars weren't good for you but I was active...we would be out three nights a week at clubs dancing for hours and then we started going to the gym three, maybe even, four times a week so we were burning off that bad stuff - right?

About a year before we got married Simon's mum was diagnosed with high cholesterol and so Simon got tested in case it was hereditary and lo and behold he too had high levels. In the late 1980's this was all new to us; what did it all mean? The advice given by the doctor was to cut back on our fat and dairy intake as otherwise we were heading for heart problems and an increased risk of dying from a heart attack! With warnings like that we did as we were told. Out went the butter, the full fat milk, no more eggs and forget about cheese and fatty meats literally overnight!

So for the next 25 years or so we followed, what we were all being told to follow, a low fat diet; after all this would work for those pesky high cholesterol levels as well as my mum's diabetes. We ate pasta, rice, stuck to chicken and fish, had cereals and toast for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. We had low fat or fat free salad dressings and yogurts...in fact anything that had low fat, or fat free, on the label we probably had it in the cupboard and fridge. After all picking up a chocolate bar or dessert or biscuit with low fat blazoned across the packaging meant we could indulge with a clear conscience.

Oh how wrong we were!

So four years ago I decided to try something different. One thing I'd never done was to follow any mass marketed slimming regime...the skeptic in me always thought these were a bit of a scam and besides I really didn't fancy parting with hard earned cash to stand on a scale in a room full of people and be told whether I'd put on or lost a pound! But this 'Get Real Fat Loss' was different; it was developed by a karate instructor (Jason) who had an understanding of nutrition and was fed up of hearing the mums of the kids he was teaching moaning about weight loss and hearing the horror stories of their weight loss regimes. I saw photos of women I knew and the difference that this programme had made to their bodies. These weren't touched up, magazine, promotional photos these were genuine photos viewed on someone's phone. I think it was seeing these real life results that made me think 'what have I got to lose?'.

The great thing was that under the guidance of Jason I had to figure out what would work best for me. After recording my food for a week Jason was able to analyse what I was eating and then come up with the best ratio of fat, protein and carbohydrate that I should be consuming. Now I have spoke about this before on previous posts but suffice to say the big change I had to make was to reduce my carb intake and up my fat! I estimate that my daily carb intake back then was around the 230g mark and this had to reduce down to about 70g per day; that was a big change!

But I was all set to give this a go; I looked at what I had been eating to see where the changes had to be made - bread, pasta, rice, potatoes....OK so my first reaction was what can I have instead of these? Initially I would have a very small new potato with my salad and meat of choice or perhaps I would have literally 3 or 4 chips (fries) with my meal. When it came to rice I discovered very early on that cauliflower rice was a good substitute. But you know what? After a short while I realised that I didn't actually miss these foods and the more I thought about it the more I came to the conclusion that these were actually quite bland and were just 'fillers' on my plate.

About 60 days in I reached my 'goal' weight and by the end of the 90 days I'd lost another 7 pounds. It was the first time in my life that attempting any kind of 'diet' had produced the dramatic results that you dream of. But more importantly I was enjoying my food, enjoying the results I'd achieved and knew that I couldn't go back to my old ways.

But what about exercise I hear you say - well yes when I first started the challenge I would complete a series of body weight exercises at home, twice a day. So simple stuff like squats, lunges, press-ups and a few planks. But these did not get rid of the pounds these simply helped shape and tone what I'd got! For about the past year and a bit I've swapped daily exercise at home for visiting the gym a few times a week. This has proved to be great fun as we get to go as a family and lift heavy weights! I know that since going to the gym I have put on a few pounds but I also know that my muscle mass has increased while my measurements have remained pretty constant.

It was only after I'd reached the end of the 90 day challenge that I came across a book by Gary Taubes called 'Why we get fat and what to do about it'. I remember reading it and everything just fell into place; this book echoed everything that I had done. It gave me the science behind what I had done...I was living proof of what adopting a low carb, high fat lifestyle was all about.

So here we are four years on and we are still a low carb family (Oh yes all for one and one for all in this house!). I wouldn't change the way I eat now for anything. We eat well, we eat till we are full and we enjoy what we eat. I have a fridge full of butter, cream cheese, eggs (lots of eggs), double cream, full fat milk, greek yogurt and cheese. We eat red meat as well as chicken and fish. We have bacon for breakfast every morning! I have red wine most evenings and always a little dark chocolate - 85% is my favourite at the moment. What's not to love about all of that?!

So for some facts and figures;

At the start of my 90 day challenge I weighed 147lbs and by the end I weighed 126lbs, a loss of 21 pounds. I did lose more weight after the 90 days dropping a total of 28 pounds. Since then I think my body has found a more natural weight around 128 - 130lbs which I am quite happy with and have maintained this now for almost 2 years.

I have lost, and maintained, 2.5 inches from my waist, 3 inches from my hips and 2.75 inches from my bust.

Here come the photos - eek! These were all taken on a mobile phone and have not been altered in anyway!

June 2014

September 2014

June 2018

June 2014

September 2014

June 2018

June 2014

September 2014

June 2018

So that's me...now and then...as I've said before if I can do it, anyone can. Low carb all the way!

New Year, New Me!!

Isn't that how all blog posts etc are supposed to start this time of year - New Year, New Me!!

Lots of articles about diets, getting fit, moving more, eating better, being healthy etc, etc and how NOW is the time to do it! After all what better time to do something about your weight, or shape or fitness than the start of a new year!!  OK I hope you can detect my sarcasm as I write this because really?!!

Just because we start a new year shouldn't be the reason to create a new you! If you want to do something about your weight or how you look you should do it because the want is there not because of what time of year it is.

Now I will be the first to admit that over the festive period I have like most people indulged in foods I wouldn't normally have done, probably had a few drinks more than usual and not moved as much as I do usually. So yes the New Year, or rather the end of the holidays, is the kick start back into my usual routine.

There will be lots of 'diets' out there that will promise amazing results in amazing amounts of time or fantastic results by buying their products or sticking to a 'points' system or some other type of gimmick normally involving a 'discounted price' to entice you in. The problem with most of these 'quick fixes' are that they are just that, a quick fix, that doesn't last and the only thing that you can guarantee being any lighter is your purse! Now don't get me wrong some people will use these diets and for them it will work and it may even work long term for them but for most of us we buy in, stick to it for a while until we hit a bump in the road and we go back to square one.

Now for anyone who has read my blog over the last few years will be aware of my own success at losing weight and feeling better about myself and body shape. Have a look at my page called - 'Getting Real' where I go into detail about how I lost weight and started a new way of eating...a lifestyle change.

And I think this is key to anyone who really wants to lose the weight; it is not dieting that will help you to lose weight it is making a change to your lifestyle.

Having changed my lifestyle two and a half years ago I have not only embraced it but I continue to learn more about what I am now doing and how that affects me and my body and how the way most of us eat is doing us more harm than good. And it is a lifestyle that I found relatively easy to adopt and one that the whole family now follows. So what did I do?

Have a look at the page on this blog called 'Getting Real' as well as my post from June 2015 called 'One Year On' as both of these document my journey and how I got to where I am today.

Basically I have adopted what is often referred to as either 'low carb' or 'low carb, high fat' (LCHF) way of eating. This means cutting down on the sugars and starches - so no potatoes, breads, pasta or rice - while eating plenty of fish, meat, eggs, natural fats and veggies (those that grow above ground!).

I don't count calories - lots of studies now show that not all calories are the same; the way your body processes calories depends on where they come from! Take in sugars or carbs and your body doesn't really know what to do with them and so stores them as fat which leaves you feeling hungry...so you eat more (usually more carbs) and so the vicious circle begins. Take in fats and proteins and your body uses these for energy and actually starts burning your fat stores, you also feel satisfied when you've eaten fats and protein and so avoid the cycle of eating more when it's not needed.

The key to all this is to eat real foods and ditch the highly processed sugary rubbish that is way too easily available. Many years ago the official dietary advice to lose weight and keep your heart healthy was to eat low fat foods...the food industry obliged and provided us with a ton of low fat or fat free alternatives. The problem with removing the fat was that the food tasted pretty nasty so the food industry replaced the missing fat with sugar or sweeteners. But this meant our carb intake increased; we didn't feel 'full' so we ate more. The food industry recognised they were onto a good thing by supporting the official dietary advice and so kept on producing more and more processed low fat foods. We now find ourselves with a food industry still supporting the 'low fat advice' and not wanting to make a change because of the detrimental affect it could have to their profit margins.

The latest evidence now tells us that fat has never been our enemy, it's been sugar all along. The advice that governments followed about having a low fat diet was wrong...they simply listened to those that shouted the loudest, those scientists who, at the time, had the connections and believed their ideas to be right...unfortunately for us they were not. I urge you to read a book called 'Why We Get Fat and What to Do About it' by Gary Taubes - a fascinating and easy read which explains why we find ourselves today with the highest obesity and diabetes rates ever, despite following all the government advice to eat low fat.

So the answer is simple ditch the carbs, enjoy fats and protein and eat real food. No fads, no gimmicks, no magic powders simply good, tasty, satisfying real food. And yes you can throw some exercise into the mix as well but the exercise won't make you lose weight; it will keep you fit and will tone what you've got but it's what you put into your body that will make the biggest changes.

I have been eating this way for two and a half years. I complete a set of body weight exercises most days. I dropped from a size 12 (UK) to a size 8 (UK) and have stayed that way. Yes my weight will fluctuate every now and then but it stays pretty consistent. While changing the way you have eaten all your life can be daunting and a challenge I have found it really straight forward to stick to; there's no portion control or calorie counting it's simply finding the right food, eating it and enjoying it.

If you want to make a change, feel good about how you look and at the same time improve your health and well being then give this lifestyle a try. I did, it worked and I'm staying this way!

Please feel free to comment below, or contact me via Twitter @JaynePhipps should you want to know more.

A really good website to give you more information is www.dietdoctor.com