Things I have learnt about diets.

I am determined to finish this back story today. So I shall keep going until it is done.

Last post, I had just set off to the UK after the Christmas 2010 quakes.

My dad was recovering from surgery after his diagnosis of esophageal cancer. He had suffered from heartburn (acid reflux) for years.

I also suffered from heartburn and I did not want to get esophageal cancer.

We had a lovely holiday, and I managed to find a gap in the snow to fly in and out of the UK. I didn't diet while I was there, I was on holiday after all! Dad was getting steadily better, and it was great to escape from the aftershocks for a while. People asked me about the quakes, and I answered cheerfully. Yes, it had been quite an experience, but no-one had been killed and Christchurch had come through rather well all told. Yes, we had lost a few old buildings, but most of our heritage buildings had been strengthened and were fine.

I flew back home, and the next day hubby and son went off camping for the weekend, leaving me home alone to get over the jet-lag. I spent hours on the computer researching (yet again) diets. This was hardly the first time. I am a reader and had read just about every diet book in the library! I had tried most of them, from 'Stop the Insanity', a very low fat diet, through to Atkins original, a very high fat diet! I had counted calories, carbs, points and 'sins'. I had eaten only beans, grapefruit, salads and nothing at all (intermittent fasting!) Most had worked, at least in the short term. I learned a lot about myself though.

I learnt (in no particular order):

I get very miserable if I have to count things.
If you make a special portion of something for yourself, your family is sure to want some.
Low fat diets make me very very very grumpy.
Very low fat diets make me put on weight.
Atkins makes me feel great.
Sugar makes my legs itch and my feet hurt.
Bread is yummy, I love diets that let you eat bread.
Bread leads to eating more bread which leads to eating more bread.....
Bean diets make you f***
ALL DIETS MAKE YOU FAT

This last was the most important. I had gone from 11 stone to 16 and a half stone since I had been dieting. Yet not dieting was also not an option. I couldn't carry on like this, it wasn't safe to be this fat. Not health wise, not earthquake wise.

So what to do?

I decided to concentrate on the reflux. After all I seriously did not want esophageal cancer, and acid reflux is a causal factor (only one of many but still....). So I did a search for diets that prevented reflux.

Consistently Atkins and low carbing and in particular, the Paleo Diet, came up, with people enthusing about how their low carb diet had cured their heartburn and reflux. So I read all I could about low carb diets. I ordered various books from the library and discovered there are 2 basic versions of low carb. Paleo which seems to be based on real foods (although there are a number of sub sects arguing WHICH real foods) and the others which count carbs but allow artificial sweeteners/low carb bars/protein powders/etc.

I decided to try paleo because it seemed more 'natural' and (and this is the real reason) a lot cheaper!

Meat is comparatively cheap in NZ, and the vast majority of it is grass fed. You can get 'grain fed' beef, but it is on the top shelf and more expensive. And Christchurch is surrounded by market gardens.

Meat and veg. Easy!