My CSR Project 2: Saved by Eating

If you did not eat carbohydrates all last week, and briskly walked 45 minutes at day after breakfast, your BS will be fine by now. But you did, did you not! If you are foolish enough to eat a bread sandwich, even a brown one, you know your BS is going to be high. It is too late, it is done. For me, my eyes will go out-of-focus, my ankles will ache, and my feet will hurt. I will become aggressive and tired. If I had really been as stupid as that, I would run 10km, about an hour, starting within half-an-hour. In preference. I just would not have had the bread, chips, pasta, rice, and you will not be doing it again, I hope.

Is there something wrong with real tomatoes? And I do not mean processed cheese when I say a slice of cheese! Asserting processed food has some type of sugar, added or concentrated, is a fairly safe assumption.

Here is my stand-by diet for getting back into control.

Breakfast: two eggs, fried in olive oil or butter if you like, and with ham or bacon if you like. If you wax lyrical about saturated fats in butter being bad for you, or the nitrates in ham and bacon, remember that nobody cares if you die with or without your feet.

Lunch: beef, chicken, pork, cheese, eggs with a salad made from lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, radishes, peppers, with olive oil and vinegar - I do not need oil and vinegar now-a-days because my taste buds have recovered. I did not say vinaigrettes from the supermarket, I said oil and vinegar; any kind of oil is fine, including palm oil and avocado oil.

Dinner: vegetable soup, but not made with nshima, potatoes, rice, pasta, couscous or any other carbohydrate. Watch out for Indian ‘vegetable’ curries because they often include potatoes, peas, lentils and beans that are high in carbohydrates; they will come later. They are good but not while you are trying to get your BS under control. My alternative is an omelette without milk, with butter, cheese, ham, bacon, tomatoes, and any other vegetable you like. Please do not rant about Glycemic Index (GI) to me, I am diabetic, but we will get to it.

If you need to snack, which I do, a slice of cheddar cheese is good, or ham; otherwise, seeds or nuts, not cake or biscuits, not even oat biscuits, and not fruit. Homemade guacamole or baba ghanoush I like with celery or carrots, but not hummus because it is made from chickpeas, so not for now.

Tea or real ground coffee, not with milk but butter or double cream is fine, and no sugar. I did not say yogurt and cut the wine and beer for now. Yes, I do know about resveratrol. Never anything like Coke or Fanta. Go for a walk, now, or, better still, after every meal. One of them should be 45 minutes, the others can be 20 minutes. Get a dog!

If you succeed with this diet without cheating, you do not eat any carbohydrates. If you walk everyday, a week from now you will not be getting up at night and sleeping better, your feet will not hurt so much, you will lose three kilograms or so, your eyes will be in focus and your BS will under 6 mmol/L. If you cheated, your BS could be anywhere, and you are not serious. I know because I am a diabetic and you do not fool me.

Best regards,

Peter Langmead