Dear friends and other interesting creatures,
* I started #banting (LCHF) five months ago.
* My kids bought me the Eeyore PJ pants some years ago for mothers day. It was a little tight, but I loved it because they chose it for me. Now it falls off my hips and is too long on the floor.
* Under no illusion that I am ever going to be a super model, but is kinda cool to hear ‘Mom you losing your ass!’ My least favourite so far is loosing DD cup size, single D now. Yes I went in search of Wonderbar.
* I do not see #banting as a diet. It is a way of eating I have done for five months and something I will do forever. It works for me on many levels.
* I am not dead. On occasion, I do eat and drink some things that are not Low Carb High Fat, but I only do so outside of home should I feel the need. A bit like keeping kosher at home. Haha!!
* I have discovered I am able to bake bread! I don’t do it often and not because I crave bread. I did it more to see what it tasted like. You can find recipes I have made at http://www.facebook.com/wenchybanting – I have played around plenty!
* I have had to buy new underwear and jeans. Shirts I have not bothered too much with, although occasionally I don’t mind a better, fitted shirt. Hence the very oversized T-shirt in the pic. Many clothes I wore before was tracksuit type stuff with no belt and now sit on my hip instead of my middle. Meaning I trip when I walk cause the legs are too long and I am already short.
* I do get fed up of drinking water. Yes I do the mint/lemon thing but even that gets boring! I am trying to drink less coffee/tea but not winning. What to drink is a hurdle. Oh I can have vodka….. but I haven’t.
* I use Xylitol in drinks and baking. Have no sugar, rice, pasta, potato etc at home at all. Have no craving for it either.
* When I have eaten something high in carbs, I will literally feel ill… Great way to keep yourself from not eating it. I have been craving Alfredo pasta for ages but the stomach pain alone puts me off.
* I have been stuck on the same weight for the past month, but thankfully it shifted down by a kg this morning. Yay!
* I have a very unhealthy relationship with the scale. I first weighed myself all the time. Then avoided it all together and now I am back to punishing myself again.
* I regret that I did not measure myself when I started. 😦 Some time before, I tried, and my hips were too wide to be measured by the usual means.
* Even if the scale don’t move, cm clearly do, as I am fitting into clothing I have from before Kev was born 21 years ago.
* While I remain highly iron deficient I have come off an entire pharmacy of meds. My blood pressure, sugar, cholesterol, thyroid, liver function for the first time in years, are all normal and I no longer require daily medication.
* Unfortunately I still have Fibromyalgia, Ankolysing Spondylitis and extreme anxiety which seems to far outweigh my Bipolar Disorder. I remain on meds for pain and anxiety, as and when needed. Some days I need lots and some days little.
* I take Moringa daily which is a vitamin supplement. I do get iron drips which my body does not handle well. I can’t say it helps and my iron count doesn’t even go up. Hence, I decided to go to supplement route. I don’t want schedule meds. That said my iron is 9… instead of 150.
* My grocery list looks 100% different to six months ago.
* I buy very little full cream milk, plenty spinach, onions, mushrooms, little cauliflower, cucumber, some butternut and few gem squash, cheddar, pouring cream for coffee, whipping cream for strawberries, full cream cottage cheese, cream cheese, mint, lime, lemons, seeds, chicken, red meat with fat, pork, small quantities of fish, eggs in bulk, and sadly no fruit juice.
* I use butter, bacon, nuts, full cream yoghurt, honey, that funky pink salt, tomato, salads, nut flours, husks, olive oil, balsamic vinegar but above all this, I have started baking, making and experimenting more in the kitchen. Silicone baking trays are fabulous! I make breads, quiche, chocolate cake and chocolate mousse.
* I am by no means an expert but it is nice to enjoy the kitchen more like I did 20 years ago. I even enjoyed my pants literally falling to my knees in a rather large shopping centre in Sandton!
* Perhaps the greatest reward is that I don’t have a constant pain on my stomach anymore, no heartburn, my skin is looking better and I feel kinda empowered? Not sure how to explain that one yet.
Any questions? Leave me a comment.
I wish you enough,
Wenchy
Nocturnal Wenchy 
Comment, Like and Share – please. :)