How My Journey Started (with a six week memory span handicap)

It would have been better had I thought to start a blog at the time, to diarise my progress, successes, failures and lessons from day one.

I'll do the crash intro for you guys in a couple of blogs to bring you all up to date with where I am at.

First tip: READ THE BOOK What The Fat? Fat's in, sugar's out. The printed book I'm sure is easier to follow and refer back to but you can buy the e-book through Amazon.com, too, which is so much cheaper. Less than $10!

This blog is not intended to be advice on how you should approach LCHF lifestyle - that's what your GPs and the books written by those with authority on the topic, are for. I will reflect on my own journey, give myself feedback...out loud and in public and hope you recall these things when embarking on this new lifestyle yourself. Also, I want to devise and share recipe ideas for those interested in LCHF, but, like me, have looked at ingredients and shopping lists and was gob smacked by the potential cost.

The first advice you are given by many proponents of LCHF is, 'throw out all contraband!' Seriously, you need to remove the temptation but, if you have similar circumstances to me, or with an upbringing like mine, you DO NOT WASTE ANY FOOD! Isn't that just where part of my problem began? We ate everything on the plate, whether we felt like eating it or not. It's programmed into my brain that nothing goes in the bin.

Anyway, you know I didn't chuck anything away for a number of reasons.

Second tip: Someone has to benefit from that! Use that sugar, flour, those last few remaining bananas and odd pieces of high sugar content fruit and get to baking before you start. I have three kids: six, eight and nine years old and you can be sure it's a task getting them off carbs!! They are not as restricted as I am and with the 18:3 gauge, there is some leeway for them to not feel 'punished'.

• In every recipe you follow, reduce that sugar by at least half! I've never used what these recipes require:  1 & 1/2  cups worth in a standard 10-inch cake is just disgusting, even for this sugar freak. 
• Make mini muffins, cupcakes, scones, etc. Whoever receives these, whether on the LCHF waka or not, does not need to be encouraged with big carbohydrate-loaded portions. Enough to feel like a treat. I'm talking two tablespoons of mixture, even less for the kiddies.
• For the love of fat, do not use margarine, rice bran oil, etc etc. These are things you can most certainly get rid of, Nobody wants your marg.
  Save your oils to clean the BBQ, grease the lawnmower blade, wash your hands of paint, remove adhesive on your recycled jars. Keep it outside so it no longer feels fit for human consumption :-) 
• Be sensible & conservative! Freeze in appropriate sized portions. I have quantities of 3 x treats in a bread bag stored in my freezer. It means the 3 meals for which you can relax your carb counting still won't be ridiculously high.
• Be neighbourly! Share your goodies with friends and family. Goodness knows I have a million people to whom I owe a favour (or ten).
• JAFAs, there's a facebook page where members do soup nights, Homeless of Auckland City. Everyone else, if you look hard enough, there's probably one in every major city.
• An upcoming event, is a feast for homeless in Auckland as well as an opportunity to provide them with things such as personal hygiene necessities: Helping The Homeless. Join either of these and offer up your unopened dry goods.

Third tip: Get the family on-board. This is a huge struggle for me. My dad has always treated my kids ridiculously with rubbish, and we have always argued about it. His treat of choice is ice-cream - raspberry and white chocolate. Makes me so frustrated. The kids' dad is also not entirely convinced. He is pre-diabetic and this is the second time in about six years he's been told so by our family doctor. I've tried to get him on board, too so we are giving the kids the same messages. I've involved him in our eating plan and overall he enjoys the food very much, but does not have the discipline to stop at satiety and is not sold on the "HF". He sees sense in low carb, attempts it, does not eat enough fat, gets hungry sooner, gets frustrated at that, blames the "diet" (even though he is not even following it) and fills the gap with carbohydrates.

I will do another blog about my kids and my family. It's a wordy one!

If I could change anything about how I started my journey... it would be moving countries to somewhere far from them and not returning until kids and I are fully indoctrinated and there is visible proof for the naysayers.
Advice Tip No. 3.1: move to Starch-free island. Never leave.

While you're a newbie, it is ESSENTIAL that you are on your LCHF game when it comes to planning your meals. You DO NOT want to get caught out with school or work lunches, away from home or missing ingredients because the convenient food that you will turn to is carb-laden.

I know this all too well from my Paleo stint. If I was lucky enough to find something Paleo friendly, it was expensive as hell! If was in my price range, it was grainy or starchy as hell!

Fourth tip:  Rearrange your routine so that you have, about an hour a week to plan fourteen meals, and also some time for grocery shopping time each week to ensure you get everything you need. Health of your family comes first. Everything else follows. Sunday mornings is mine, when I get to the Farmers' Market, butcher, wholefoods store all in one go. With my boys in tow, wearing full football garb, boots and all. And a huge mesh bag of balls and other soccer gear (I am the 'momager'). Aaand the boot to my car doesn't open. We look like a three stooges scene, I bet.




Fifth tip: I cannot stress how much EASIER transitioning into LCHF was simply because I increased the recipes and shopping list, and made two meals every dinner so we could have the same for lunch the next day. I considered 'portability' for the kids, made sure containers were appropriate... you know kids chuck their bags around, or get their bags chucked around! There is sometimes a little extra effort required due to the nature of acceptable foods. It meant I cooked only once a day.

Day one: In my first week, I started Sunday evening which worked with my shopping day choice. I remember we had low carb burgers, with lettuce leaves instead of buns, with dill pickles, homemade mayo, mustard and salsa. I let the kids eat a couple of beetroot slices. It was delicious, satisfying, filling and everyone loved it.

Ko Wai Ahau? Who Am I?

Kia ora, Kia orana, Fakalofa lahi atu!

 Ko Wai Ahau? Who Am I?

Mama, Sister, Daughter, Godmama, Aunty, Girl Friday, Dogsbody, Student, Active Community Member. Descended from Rarotonga and Te Tai Tokerau (NZ) with Niuean babies.

I am in week # 7 of LCHF and really loving it so far. I have struggled with weight all of my adult life.

I chose Paleo for myself and my family a couple of years ago and while I enjoyed eating that way and lost a lot of weight (18 kgs in 5 months), I wasn't always prepared, I found it costly and I didn't know how to deal with sugar cravings, hunger beyond what I'd been informed was 'enough' and therefore, Paleo became unsustainable for us. I am still largely convinced this is the way I should be eating, though. I retained , at least, the knowledge I gained and continued many habits but never returned to that lifestyle after blowing it all when we went on holiday.

Last year I began reading about 'Low Carb, High Fat' (LCHF), watched an informative NZ documentary in which I first heard about Prof. Grant Schofield, watched a friend change their eating habits to LCHF.  Thanks to Paleo I was at the very least aware of sugar, grains, a high carb diet and what is wasn't doing to me. I thought I had drastically reduced the amount of carbs I took in by eating less bread, and switching my sweetener from sugar to honey, coconut sugar or coconut nectar.

Here were my main problems:

• My relationship with and regard for food. I have an unhealthy LOVE for carb-y things: kumara, bananas, taro, pumpkin, maniota (cassava), kuru (breadfruit) and FRUIT;

• I'd try eating as per the plan(s) I was given, but often not achieving satiety. This meant every diet failed because I felt so unsatisfied, weak and then giving up in disappointment at being a big, fat failure;
  

• My body often craving a sweet treat and either churning through precious time I don't have and money to make a 'cane sugar' free treat that was still what I now know as 'only marginally better for me', or thinking, "f*** it, I don't care," and indulging (and then throwing in the towel as per above);

• Having poor advice shoved down my throat... by people whose opinions I valued and / or people of 'authority': health professionals, media, etc << This is a BIG one!
  

I love good food. I was buying and providing for my family a lot of whole foods already. Food with little human intervention. I don't buy sub-standard crap - I like good quality, love fine dining, have always eaten lots of vegetables all my life. I was a lacto- ovo- vegetarian from age 11 until 27, after all. My mother says I have champagne taste and beer pockets. Boo! Carbohydrate intake aside, we ate at home fairly well for my kids' sake. When I am alone, however, is where I throw it out the window. So on the way to work, I get my coffee most mornings but never without a blueberry bran muffin (but it's bran!) or the amazing croissant from the Swiss Konditorei down the road.

Many months later of reading information online, seeing people's results, reading testimonies and the What The Fat book co-authored by Dr. Caryn Zinn, Prof. Grant Schofield and Craig Rodger, here I am.

This blog space is my new platform for sharing my progress and recipes I find within the LCHF online community but am adapting for a frugal budget and local produce. I support my family with my own income (and it ain't great), and I feel very responsible for our environment and loyal to our own producers so buying locally as much as I can, is a must. 

Hopefully this isn't the first and last post I write. Thanks for reading.