My biggest let-down in terms of what I eat is being unorganised. I get to work and think “What am I having for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea?” and before you know it I have eaten a huge chocolate muffin from the school canteen. And last week, I actually read the Nutrition Information on the back of the packet. Now I knew they wouldn’t be healthy, but cop a load of this!

Serving size – 180 grams.

  • Energy – 3180 kjs (757 calories!)
  • Protein – 8.7 grams
  • Fat total – 39.7 grams
  • Fat saturated – 9.2 grams
  • Carbohydrates – 91.9 grams!
  • Sodium – 903 mg

*blink*

Is it any wonder that after I eat one of these puppies (washed down by a 600ml bottle of diet coke) that I don’t feel like eating till the afternoon? I cannot eat one of these again!!! There is not one good thing in there for me – the first ingredient listed is SUGAR!

Jules over at Naturally Painful 😛 got her arse in a twist this week in the hope she would rock the boat somehow…but what she didn’t bet on was me agreeing with her. She needs a copy of the Gabriel Method, doesn’t she!!! The comment is in the last post, but to summarise, she was saying that based on reading weight loss blogs and her own experience, counting calories is all well and good but it’s keeping it off where most people fuck up. Agreed. Guilty! 🙂

She talks of the success enjoyed by DG and Mary from Random Bites being down to how they “changed their diets permanently and changed their exercise levels permanently. They had a change of thought process in that they started to embrace healthy food, with the odd indulgence (just like any of the “normal” people you know that don’t have food issues) and they started to live life to the full. I think that is the key.”

I 100% agree with this. Wanting to live my life to the full is why I forced myself to ski on the school trip and have started cooking from the Low GI and Vegan cookbooks I have. That (and reading in the GM about how it’s important to accept and love yourself as you currently are) is why I now own nice clothes in my current size and do my best to look presentable.

Jules continues “Do you want to be counting calories for life or do you want to retrain yourself to eat healthier, be active and then it will become second nature to you and you won’t fight the fight any more. That is the road I am just starting to head on. I am not counting calories, that is my choice though as I have found it to be a complete headfuck for me, I am eating real food that wasnt’ made in a factory but that grew in the ground or is lovingly made by myself. I am drinking appropriate amounts of water and I am walking…I don’t feel like I’m deprived and I don’t feel like I’m on a diet, I don’t feel like I’m being good or bad. I just feel great.”

I am on the same journey, Jules…but for me, I have to count calories for the time being to hold myself accountable. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and I am an expert at that, trust me! 🙂 I have found that especially in regards to fat (yes, even healthy fat like in avocados, flaxseed, LSA etc) I can really go overboard. Whilst I really value the Gabriel Method and am following it 90% of the time the common sense of my dietician and the things I (like soulmumma) have learnt over the years have to play a part in it. I am eating really well this week after some planning…this is what I have made!

Low fat ricotta and blueberry cheesecakes (1680 kilojoules/402 calories)

  • 500gram low fat ricotta
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 punnets of blueberries
  • 2 teaspoons orange zest
  • 120grams crushed walnuts  

Mix low fat ricotta with honey and orange zest. Fold in blueberries and divide into 4 equal glasses.  Press 1/4 of the walnuts into the top of each and refrigerate for an hour before eating.

This recipe is from a low GI cookbook I have and I have worked out the calories on good old Calorie King!

So this is the sort of eating I am concentrating on now…low fat dairy, fresh fruit and some nuts for good oil! 

I have also made roasted portobello mushrooms and a sanitarium mince pasta sauce for lunch this week.

Now go over and say hello to Jules who is a convert to the Gabriel Method and doesn’t even realise it yet!