My Diet Changes in the past 4 months.

Yes!! I’ve done it! Now I’m 90kgs and it’s been more than 15 years that I was 100kgs. I remember this as 15 years ago, I was diagnosed with diabetes and my endocrinologist was forever harping me to lose weight, at least let my weight be in double digits. I waited for this weight to remain at 90 whenever I stepped on the scale, to make sure it’s not water weight. Actually I’m 1kg less than my target for this month, I wasn’t feeling very good about it for the past few weeks. I’ve targeted myself to lose 3 kgs every month. Something I feel is more achievable. Slowly but surely. So I’ve put the below list to look at whenever I need a boost. It’s a list of changes I’ve made within this 4 months, I would say they’re very drastic changes in my diet. They seem nothing to others but to me, it’s about breaking the cycle and for someone like me, it’s super hard.

1. Stopped drinking diet coke and pepsi max – I’ve this intense love for carbonated (gassy) drinks. It give me a real KICK when I’m in tired or stressed. Since I’m diabetic, diet coke and pepsi max `seems’ to be the only ones I can drink with having a sugar spike, sugar headache or going into diabetic coma!! I can drink one or two cans a day and eventhough it says it’s almost zero calories, there was a nagging feeling inside me that says this is not good for my body. Artificial sugars as just as bad as raw sugar, no matter how you try to exchange it. For diabetics, it’s always best to go cold turkey.

Drink more Green Tea

2. Stopped drinking coffee and tea – same like drinking carbonated drinks, it gave me another extra boost when I need a pick-me-up or complete a meal I’m eating. Drink piping hot black coffee with a large packet of nasi lemak (a local dish) is a must every morning for many years. My favorite would be `Aik Cheong’ brand, so fragrant and strong. I’ve tried quitting coffee before but I got bad withdrawal symptoms like headaches within just a day. Later when I read about these withdrawal symptoms in the internet, I’m surprised to learn that some painkillers (taken for the headaches) have some caffeine in them. These small dosage of caffeine in the painkillers helps in the withdrawal headaches. I was `A-HA! I didn’t know that’. So my next trick was to drink very light tea whenever those headaches comes and sure enough, the headaches instantly goes away. Within a week, I noticed the headaches are no more and I’m very pleased to discover coffee doesn’t appeal to me anymore. I’m coffee free after so many years!!!  Why? I’ve been told that for every one cup of coffee I drink, I must drink 4 cups of plain water to replenish the calcium lost. I was told this by a masseur when I was suffering from a DOUBLE slipped disc for more than 4 months. Anyone who has slipped disc before would understand the pain, yeah, so bad that you’d enough to want to make changes in your lives. 

3. I’ve started to take oats for breakfast – well, more like a beverage as it’s mixed with Horlicks. I can’t stomach the full taste of gooey, stickiness of card box and it so reminds of all my hospital stays. I’ve asked a friend before what she ate for breakfast to lose weight and she told me to try oatmeal. Truthfully, the thought of having oatmeal for breakfast is as near as sentencing me to life in jail. I cannot imagine not beginning my day with my black coffee and nasi lemak, but hey, as I’ve said before, I HAVE to make changes. Of course it was hard but come to think of it, breakfast was actually something to be taken before 8am. Snacks or anything light is at 10am and then it’s lunch about 12.30 to 1pm. You need 2 hours to digest food and let poor stomach rest before loading it with food again. My dietician (when I was pregnant) frankly told me I’m eating heavy meals every 2 hours and I didn’t realize that until she told me. Anyways, with my hectic mornings in getting my kids ready for school, I usually find time for my usual breakfast only at 9.15am, I mean, common, who gets hungry so early in the morning? Now, I’ve to make my meals count, no matter how busy (or lazy) I am. So it’s insulin injection about 7.30am and my horlicks oats drink after that. If I’m hungry in an hour, I’ll allow myself some oat biscuit to chew at. Usually by 11am, I’d feel the hunger pangs coming on but I’ve learnt to ignore them and scold them into keeping quiet. `It’s only an hour to lunch time, can you wait?’. But I do have some `chee cheong fun’ with some side fish ball once every week or some tim sum. But I don’t crave for nasi lemak anymore. Although my husband do eat them, the whole house would smell of it and I’d give him the evil eye. But I’ve learnt that walking away from it, switch on my PC to play games helps to keep my mind off it.

Grapefruit - one of my many new companions

4. Grapefruit – I’ve always read that this fruit is good for losing weight but hate the sour taste it gives. I cannot eat or drink oranges and somehow, grapefruit is like a substitute for me. I heard it also helps lower insulin levels and blood pressure too. True? I don’t know but it’s a healthy fruit to have. I eat them whenever I have cravings, the sourness of it makes me forget them!

5. I only eat white rice once a week – I live in a country where white rice is the staple diet. It’s eaten on all 3 main meals and it’s something I am determined to change for my children. I’ve tested myself after eating rice and my sugar is always over 10, and it’s only one small Chinese bowl of rice. Forget about brown rice or multi-grain rice, they don’t taste as good!! Like I said, I’d rather go cold turkey. I do allow myself a treat once in a while, usually it’s when I’m eating at my favorite Japanese restaurant where they serve yummy fried garlic rice. I would slow eat the small bowl of it, feel a little guilty but I’ll tell myself that I need this to keep sane, I’m not dieting, I’m learning how to eat.

The above are the most obvious changes in my diet that has helped me lose weight. I think about them when I need motivation to keep on in my marathon of life. Other than that, I exercise on my recumbent bike for 45 mins (I started at 15mins, which felt like forever) about 4-5times a week. This part of exercise I shall blog at another time, it’s a whole different story!!