Hi Suzie64, I am doing that as I haven’t received the book yet and was impatient to start. I have changed my diet gradually over the past 3 decades gradually cutting out grains, starting with bread what seems now like a very long time ago. We were almost grain free when we started the diet (my husband is doing it with me) a couple of weeks ago. So far I’ve lost about 6 kilograms and he’s lost a couple. All we’ve done is cut out snack and junk foods as well as dessert which we usually had every day.
We eat a lot of vegetables, which I’m noticing can quickly add up the carbs. I finished the potatoes we had in the cupboard – won’t be buying them again for a while! We’re probably eating more veggies than we were before we started the diet. I think we’ll settle into a pattern of eating two main meals a day instead of the traditional breakfast, lunch and dinner. At the moment we’re having a whey powder fortified smoothie as one meal but I’m thinking of incorporating the yoghurt into one of the main meals.
I’ve noticed that by measuring the cheese we’ve cut back considerably on our use of it – we were huge cheese eaters. Now instead of snacking on cheese it adds flavour to the meals. We are basically eating what we ate before with a few minor adjustments. I don’t think we could have done this if we hadn’t made those earlier changes to our diet: we were brought up on traditional English diets of meat with 3 veg (one of them potato!) and dessert for reward for eating dinner every day. With sandwiches for lunch, followed by cake. I think it would be more challenging to follow the blood sugar diet if were starting from there.
I am keeping a food diary http://bsdfast800.blogspot.com.au/ as I find it helps me stay on track. I have a shocking memory and I know that without writing down everything I’m eating and keeping myself accountable that way I’d soon become despondent. Plus, it helps me track what is and what isn’t working.
I’m looking forward to receiving my copy of the book because I think I need some discipline around food preparation and making it a priority in my life (rather than something I ‘have’ to do at the last minute) and I have a sneaking feeling that exploring different recipes will really help me stay on track with a Mediterranean style diet long term. I’m convinced it will build the health me and my husband need.
Good luck – definitely work out your own menu plans – do whatever works for you. π