The Diet starts here!

The chosen diet plan is Slimming World.
http://www.slimmingworld.com/

The basic premise is low fat, lots of fruit and veg, not too much sugar.. blah blah blah.

Like most "commercial" diets, it structures its plan in such a way that if you follow it correctly you'll eat really healthy food. However, as with most such plans, there is opportunity to:
a) trade "points" (in this case "syns") for treats
b) be encouraged to eat fake foods (artificial sweeteners, fake meat etc)

I also find it uses a lot of packaged foods as "quick and easy meal ideas/recipes". For example, those dried pasta meals that you poor water into and rehydrate. One recipe recommends making this up, blending it until smooth and then mixing in real pasta. It makes me full ill just at the suggestion.

So, am I sounding negative enough yet about my new diet? Maybe that's because I just ate lunch, which included Quorn Sausages. I have never in my life eaten Quorn, and lets just say that I don't think I'm going to be it's biggest fan.

Today's menu (we're on a Red Day):

Breakfast:
1oz porridge oats, made with water, splash of milk and a teaspoon of maple syrup.
(Note to self: buy smaller bowls so that paltry cereal portion looks more substantial).
1 banana
Coffee

Lunch:
2 rashers of lean bacon
2 Quorn sausages
Tinned tomatoes
Scrambled eggs (done in microwave so as to avoid using fat)
2 small pieces of wholemeal toast
Mushrooms
The mushrooms were poached in stock and then drained and "dry fried" to take the slimy texture off and colour them. I could hear them squealing in protest as they went into the dry frying pan. They were saying "nooooo don't - we're not supposed to be boiled and then heated up - we deserve to be sauteed in olive oil, or even butter. Or roasted with a drizzle of oil. Please don't torture us like this again". Honestly - they were. I heard them!

1 tangerine
Cup of tea

Dinner:
Smoked haddock (poached in milk)
Spinach
Poached egg

Fresh apricots with very low fat vanilla flavoured fromage frais/yogurt.

I did buy "Muller Light" yogurts, but I can't get past the ingredient label - my main worry being aspartame, a natural source of phenyalanine. One website tells me that this is a neurotoxin and will cause cancer and all sorts of horrors. Another tells me that it is an essential amino acid that my body can only get through food and that the reason the "warning" is on the label is because some people are born with rare genetic disorder which means that they are unable to properly metabolise phenylalanine. They have to limit intakes of all foods that contain this amino acid, including meat, fish, dairy, eggs and products containing artificial sweeteners.

I just opened the pot of vanilla flavoured yogurt/fromage frais to test it. It claims to contain nothing artificial but clearly has some kind of colouring in it as it's a lurid yellow colour. It tastes like sour grainy cold custard. Not TOO bad, but not great.

Choices, choices. I think that next week I'll buy plain fromage frais and put some vanilla essence and honey into it. Surely a teaspoon of honey is better than some cooked up artificial sweetener? Or maybe I could do without.

So folks, if you're thinking I won't last long on Slimming World, you could be right. But I'm committed to a one week trial. This week I'm not travelling so much (well no overnight stays anywhere) so it's a good week to give it a whirl.

Plus I've just spent ages chopping veg and making lentil and veg soup and tomato sauce for pasta.

Oh - and in case you're wondering: No, I haven't been weighed. Can't face it. Yeah, I know - how will I know I'm succeeding if I don't have measures? I'll know - trust me.

For one - the horrendous heartburn that has plagued me for the last few months will cease. And I can stop taking Zantac by the bucket load.
Two - my suit jackets will close and fasten without me breathing in hard.
Three - said suits will start to hang off me and I'll be able to dig out the other ones which no longer fit.