My Alternative Diet Plan
Have you ever been taken in by any of those 'diet plans' that are advertised with ever more frequency on the commercial TV channels?
The ones I am specifically talking about show a lady attempting to flog her own 'plan' by knocking off a hundred quid and she has women giving their testimonials into the camera while they look radiantly slim. Or, the bloke who claims to be a chef and shows a woman with a perfectly-shaped body talking to the camera (as in, talking to you), about how much weight she's lost since going on the 'plan'.
Neither ads show a 'before' condition, only an 'after' state and they expect we the viewing public to believe it unconditionally, without them providing conclusive proof that they've lost weight by following those diets. For all we know, those ladies could have been and probably were slim to start with. Telling is not the same as showing.
The trouble is, those adverts and others like them are only being aimed at women but, us blokes also get fat too. And, can you really believe the claims of such 'diet plan' ads, given that most sane people give up on a 'diet plan' after only a few days of self-inflicted torture?
Let me tell you a true story. Back in December 2023, I got a call to go to my GP surgery to have an 'annual' review (the first 'annual' check-up I have had since well before Covid enveloped the planet) with the practice nurse following a blood test I was sent to have done. I saw a new bloke nurse who I'd never seen before; usually I see a female nurse who knows my medical history. Anyway, he advised me that my latest blood test revealed that I was dancing on the outskirts of Type 2 Diabetes and that my 'bad' cholesterol was sky high. That's never happened in the 15 years since I had a serious angina attack in the GP's office and I was rushed to hospital in an ambulance.
Admittedly, I had put a few pounds on but, nothing that I would ordinarily worry about. So, after a few of my own questions, I listened to what this nurse had to say. He gave me a print out of a 'diet plan' that he wanted me to follow, which I never kept to. Why? Because I knew that a lot of the foodstuff included in the list was not effective for losing weight or slimming down and the remainder were ingredients I would never eat anyway (mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower — ugh! to the lot of them). The nurse also doubled my statins prescription to 'get the bad cholesterol down'. Coupled with that was the fact that grapefruit was on the 'menu'; anyone who takes statins will quickly tell you that you can't mix them and grapefruit.
I came home again and studied the 'diet plan' in greater detail. I didn't agree with any of it. I knew how to lose weight through my own efforts and I put them to work. Firstly, I cooked smaller portions of the food I already ate; it was grub that had always been healthy enough for me in the past. It's amazing how much fat that will burn off, though, just by reducing food intake. Next, I bought myself a Magic Bullet milkshake maker thing. Then I bought some protein mix and added one scoopful to skimmed milk and blitzed it in my Magic Bullet. That served as a replacement meal, in my case it was supper. Every night. In addition, I purchased a pot of multivitamins from one of the major supermarkets and took one of those a day. The only snacks I ate were brazil nuts (which help to burn the belly fat) and walnuts (which help with the cholesterol). I changed our bread from 50/50 to protein with seeds. I meant business!
I started on my journey on 1 January 2024, so that I enjoyed the Christmas and new year meals I had planned and already bought the ingredients for. And, of course, the mince pies. By the middle of March, I was directed to have another blood test, followed by a week later with a telephone consultation with one of the doctors at the surgery. My bad cholesterol level was normal and I was nowhere near the Type 2 Diabetes threshold that the nurse had claimed I was bordering on; it had been achieved by my own efforts and will power in a short period of time. My jeans now no longer fit as they are too loose and the jumpers that were tight on me before are now quite loose too and more comfortable. I know my own 'diet plan' has worked and so does my doctor. Weight was slow to come down, as the protein and the odd half-hour on a rowing machine helped to turn fat into muscle, but the slimmer me was markedly noticeable. The doctor also advised me to reduce my statins again to the regular level I had been taking since 2008.
The only downside to my 'diet plan' was feeling hungry for the first few days, but I soon got over that problem. I can now eat what I like within reason without it affecting the hard work I put in to reach the slimmer and healthier me. Would I go through my 'diet plan' again if I needed to? Absolutely! And I wouldn't need to pay a King's ransom to those snake oil pedlars on the telly, either.
Please be advised that I make no claim that my experience (above) is a cure for anyone with diabetes.
