Onward and Upward

Well I'm entering into Day 12 this morning and these are the changes I've experienced so far:

• no more headaches
• no more insomnia
• no more bloating or feeling over full
• no more temptation to over eat!!!! (biggie)

I'm feeling thirsty a lot and I feel satisfied quicker than I used to - my portion sizes are smaller.

It's somewhat disappointing to not have experienced much difference in the brain fog and lack of focus that were really some of the main reasons for my beginning this journey.  In fact, in the past few days, there have been occasions where I've struggled to articulate and access basic vocab resources.  It almost seemed I had gone a bit backward.  Like my mind had shut down a little.  Also, I am still having bouts of tiredness (another big reason I quit sugar) but these seem to be less debilitating and also seem to pass more quickly.  I've had some episodes of the low blood sugar feeling, almost like being light headed.  I'm having it right now - causes me to want to lie down and snooze.

All in all it's not as tough as I thought it would be.  My cravings settled in the second week and I could just focus on finding basic recipes to add to my "new norm" repertoire.    I'm in better shape than I was 2 weeks ago so this is motivating.  I look forward to many changes in the weeks to come.

I am finding the challenge of reinventing my daily meals (and those of my family) very real.  The commitment to not make bread our go to, particularly for lunches, takes some doing.  It's not impossible however, the internet is marvellous for assistance here and also these 2 books have become like sacred texts in our home.  They both have some fabulous and easy to prepare meal options so I'm trawling their pages constantly. 

I wouldn't necessary call myself a Banter but there is a lot about this way of eating that appeals to me.  With so many food dos and don'ts these days, it becomes a full-time job to learn what you should and shouldn't.  I'm not a "foodie".  I don't have the time or the inclination to make my life about food, but I do want to eat well.  I want to put into my body what it needs to thrive.  The Banting way, in principle, works for me, although I'm  not as strict on fruit and root vegetables.  

The point of this exercise for me is to implement long term, sustainable changes that are easy to manage and become my new norm, without too much fuss.  One of the recipes I tried this week is a nut granola.  The recipe is in the Sugar Free book but I also Googled a couple of others and combined all 3 to make mine.  It's quite delicious and so a real winner.

I combined a variety of nuts and seeds, like almonds, almond flakes, macadamia, walnuts, coconut shavings, xylitol (only 1 teaspoon) and mixed seeds (sunflower, linseed, sesame and pumpkin).  

I fried up cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in coconut oil and then added the nut mix.  I fried it all together few minutes before putting it into the oven to roast for about 15 minutes, using an egg lifter to turn it over every 5 minutes or so.  

The result was delicious and I enjoyed it on a serving of Greek yoghurt with a few cranberries added.  Just a few though because they were super sweet - next time I'll have it with half an apple instead.  I've put it into a airtight container and it will definitely be one of my favourite recipes.

Try it and let me know what you think x