Hi there Claire, I too suffered from acid reflux and earlier had an hiatus hernia which seems to have cured itself??? I used to take over the counter remedies like gaviscon and Boots own brand containing ranitidine plus a stronger one. I now dont need any unless I slip up on the diet and go overboard of acid producing foods or alcohol.
Your blood sugar levels will not really mean much as you are not diabetic but if you are going to test do it at the same time every day i.e. best time is first thing in the morning before food or drink. There is a chart you can look up on the internet the ranges of blood sugar but these are usually for HbA1c which shows BG over a 3 month period and cannot be done at home, or there are charts where you can do glucose tolerance test by drinking very sweet drinks, measuring then measuring after 2 hours to see if it has gone down, but this is very complicated getting the right amount of fluid, right amount of sweetness etc etc. I am diabetic and prick my finger twice a day, I dont see why you should want to do that. But, by all means do it for, say 4 or 5 days in a row, make a note then, assuming it is okay, do it again in 8 weeks after doing this diet. You can come back on and ask people here what your readings mean but also be aware, home kits (including my own medical provided one) are usually about 10% inaccurate, so dont get too worried or obsessive about it.
Now the chocolate, in the first 8 weeks you are better to avoid any white carbs (flour, bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, cereals etc) and obviously no cake, pastries, processed foods or chocolate. If you find chocolate triggers a craving for more, just dont eat it. It is only 8 weeks. After that, well you could have some very very dark chocolate as a treat.
You can have tea with milk but not 5 or 6 a day, just one or two.
What else, oh you ask about substitues. The first thing is to be very organised. Sit down with the book and do a menu plan for you, try to include things your family will eat like spaghetti bolognaise, you have courgette spirals and give your family the pasta, aren’t you lucky, on this diet you can sprinkle on some cheese. Do a shopping list, shop and have everything you need for the menu. I know time is a problem but some of the things you eat are so quick and easy. Hummus, open a tin of chickpeas, drain, chuck in a whizzer or hand mixer with a clove of garlic, a squirt of lemon (buy a jiff lemon) and a teaspoon of tahini (available in all supermarkets), pour on some olive oil and whizz. There you are, you have hummus which will keep in the fridge for a week. Dont buy ready made crackers, in fact, why are you eating crackers, use veggie sticks to dip, carrots, red pepper, cucumber, courgette, celery.
Saggy skin, with only 2.5 stone to lose you are not likely to suffer from this, it usually happens to people with multiple stones to lose and I am assuming with little ones you are not that old. If you are worried, do some toning exercises for arms, legs or tums and moisturise regularly. I also notice on your profile you talk about aspartame but on this plan you are not allowed low fat, sugar free, sugar replaced with chemicals, fat replaced by grains or whatever trick they use to make you think it is healthy, it is not. Dont have it. I know that is a lot to take in but if you have read the book you will understand there is a science behind this diet and as a weight loss plan it is fast and efficient but it is also good for a lot of ailments so you should feel good after a week or two of doing this. Come back anytime to ask questions or use the search engine at the top of the page.
Good luck.
As a P.S. Claire, if you do buy anything to save time, read the label. If, say the hummus, contains the ingredient I mentioned and only that then buy it, but if it has a list of things you have never heard of or cant pronounce then dont.