There have been several hiccups in my healthy eating so far this year, but the following is a list of rules I’m trying to stick to. I’m not tempted to buy bad things, I’m only tempted to eat them if they’re in front of me…which is why the work meal out last week wasn’t conducive to my healthy eating!! But here are my guidelines…

1. No cereal other than muesli. Even supposedly healthy things like Special K and All Bran are packed full of sugar which will be converted into fat. Instead I have porridge (microwavable and filling), or fresh fruit with yoghurt. Yep, they have sugar, but not so much of the added kind.

2. Drinking lots of water. My body has become very in tune with feeling thirsty, which is something I’m not used to. Now I’ll get a dry throat and clearly think ‘I need some water’ rather than just ignoring it or thinking I’m hungry. I’m also drinking fruit juice, a mixture of my own blended fruits or shop-bought stuff not from concentrate. I’ll only have about one glass of juice a day though.

3. When I want chocolate or something warming, I have a hot chocolate or tomato soup. The soup is quite sweet, and I can barely ever finish a small mug of hot chocolate anyway so it’s not too bad.

4. Going by the sugar and salt content of food as well as fat, saturated fat and calories. Most of the packaged food I eat tends to be low-calorie anyway, but I’ve been watching out for the sugar and salt content of things more and it’s actually quite shocking.

5. Crisps (chips) are limited to about once a week instead of every day.

6. Lots more fresh veg, particularly salads and things like carrot sticks I can snack on at work.

7. Dividing plates up into ¼ protein, ¼ complex carbs and ½ veg/salad. I don’t tend to eat enough protein because I generally dislike it, so this helps ensure my meals are well-balanced overall.

8. Blended drinks – I love milkshakes, but instead I’m blending things like berries, banana and melon with some milk and a touch of milkshake powder. This also helps use up overripe fruit.

9. Being more veggie – this kind of links to my general dislike of protein, but I’ve been eating more veggie foods like meat-free sausages, Quorn balls etc., which are less fatty than meat and visually easier for me to cook.

10. Other food substitutes – roast potatoes instead of chips, bakes instead of cereal bars, homemade smoothies and milkshakes or fruit instead of dessert.

11. Waiting 20 minutes after eating – I’ve never really done this before but I’ve found it makes a big difference as to how much I actually eat, particularly as I eat bits and pieces when I’m feeling lazy.

12. The ‘No’s – I know a lot of people say not to cut things out completely because you’ll miss them, but these are the things I’ve avoiding: sweets, chocolate (except a kid’s sized bar every so often), red meat, fizzy drinks other than Apple Tiser, fried things, heavily processed non-veggie products, diet products with lots of bad ingredients and E numbers, foods with MSG, foods high in calories, fat, sugar and salt, white bread and pasta, coffee, tea, energy drinks.

13. Cooked veg is steamed in the microwave – quicker and healthier than boiling, roasting or frying.

14. Eating organic as much as possible – it just tastes nicer to me. And I’d prefer to give my body as little work as possible when it comes to toxins etc.

So what AM I eating? Well, here’s an example menu…

Breakfast: Fresh strawberries and melon

Mid-morning snack: Oatmeal and raisin bake

Lunch: Tuna sandwich with salad/peppers, fruit yoghurt, carrot sticks, small portion of soft cheese with crispy potato sticks

Mid-afternoon snack: Banana

Dinner: Fish with roast potatoes and at least three kinds of veg (usually a combination of the following: baby corn, peas, cabbage, green beans, sprouts, sugar snap peas, mange tout or broccoli).

I’m quite lucky in that I love almost every kind of veg. I’m not a massive fan of sweet potato, though I do like it cooked certain ways. The only vegetable I refuse to eat is ‘proper’ sweetcorn because I think it’s disgusting. My diet is still pretty heavy on the sugar, and I’m not sure what I else I can do about that really as I’ve always had a very sweet tooth. I have stopped eating desserts though and I have been generally careful whilst eating out as to what I’m choosing. I’ve also got fussier with picking what I eat rather than generally clearing my plate. For example, I ordered a chicken sandwich in a restaurant at the weekend and it came with orange plastic cheese and a burger bun, rather than the ciabatta I was expecting!! Needless to say I scraped the cheese and top part of the bun off and left them. I could see the grease on it, it was disgusting. Ick.

What are the healthy aspects of your diet? Do you find it hard to eat healthily or do you naturally like things that are good for you?

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The weekend started off quite well – went to a friend’s gig from work and she was amazing Plus it was a cheap night out as I got a lift there and back. I didn’t go to sleep until about 4am though, and then I felt quite rubbish on the Saturday. It was too late to go shopping and I went downstairs to find loads of ants in the kitchen, which put me completely off cooking or eating anything in the house! Plus 2 of my housemates moved out, so there’s only me and another guy now and he’s not been in for the past week. So I didn’t really achieve anything on Saturday except for cleaning.

Oh, and I got a new addiction – that ‘Be a tycoon’ application on facebook. I’m alternating between it and the online version of ‘Settlers of Catan’. And I also found an amazing website for downloading exercise and workout videos – exercisetv.tv. Unfortunately it didn’t occur to me until I got a warning message that downloading them would use up so much of my mobile internet bandwidth for the month, but I still have about a gig left to play with which should be enough for random browsing.

Sunday was a much better day – I put down salt to get rid of the ants which has mainly worked. And I went shopping in town and treated myself to a new long sleeve top from Animal and got a couple of cheap workout DVDs from a charity shop. The Pilates one I did the other day – it’s very soothing because it’s set on the beach with the tide coming in and out. The other is MTV Power Yoga, which is pretty hardcore and doesn’t have a warm up. I think once I learn the positions better and do a proper warm up beforehand it’ll be more enjoyable! For now I’m sticking to the ExerciseTV workouts, which are great for mixing and matching. And I can really feel the burn from the past few days!! I’m following one of their 2 week workout plans, which is helpful because then I can do the right amount and type of exercise, and be motivated to do it. I’ve downloaded a good mix of pilates, yoga, cardio, stretching, dance and other workouts so I don’t get bored.

I also bought a top which I’d been looking at a few months ago, but decided it wasn’t worth it at £32. But on Sunday I saw it reduced to £7!! And I got it home, tried it on and realised it would go perfectly with a navy blue shrug type top I got from Poland a couple of years back and have never really worn because it clashes with almost everything. So happy about that! I do need to buy some new pairs of jeans because all the ones I have are too big or have holes in. I’m waiting until I got back to Notts for that though so I can get Joe or someone to use their student discount When I got out of the outlet centre, I noticed a proper farmers’ market (small but perfectly formed). As well as fruit and veg, they had homemade doughnuts and ice cream and stuff as well. I didn’t buy anything, but I’ll definitely be back. It’s so nice having a couple of markets close by, and I’m going to make more of an effort to buy from them (especially food). Not only is it a lot cheaper, but it also hasn’t travelled thousands of miles and helps out local farmers. It’s just more convenient to buy from the supermarkets as they are open for much longer, but hopefully I’ll get out of that habit.

Now that I’m alone in the house, I’ve monopolised the kitchen space more. I bought a cheap blender, and lots of frozen and fresh fruit, and made smoothies yesterday. Lovely and chilled and fresh I’ve decided that I’m going to get back into my old good habits of cooking properly instead of just eating cereal for dinner! I also need more energy for the workouts. So I’ll probably be posting lots of my recipes – generally quite healthy, very simple, and very quick. I don’t cook meals which take more than about 20 mins total unless I’m cooking for a load of people.

I’ve also been looking into web design courses, and I have quite a few choices and things that I’m qualified for but I’m not sure what to do at the moment. There are a couple of great courses, but at 3 years long I’m not sure I want to invest the time! There’s also a master’s course I’m qualified for at a really good university, and it’s all online, but it costs £16,000 (average master’s is about £3,500 to £6,000, so it’s a lot more expensive). Then I have the option of doing a short course, but there aren’t any good ones near me, and I don’t think I can get to them whilst living/working where I am. Sigh. I think I just have to keep looking.

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