I don’t mean to sound disloyal to Banting – I eat that way for two thirds of the day anyway – and then I have a reward meal (Carbohydrate Addicts style) that needs to be eaten within one hour so that the insulin response is less vicious than if I were to eat for two hours. At least that is how I understand it. It truly does help me not to overeat if I have drinks, a main meal and perhaps a dessert within one hour. Up to now I have not had time for a dessert. It just takes planning.

No snacking in between meals is also a good rule for me to follow because I can overeat quite absentmindedly, especially on pistachio nuts! That is a nudge to remind me to eat mindfully. In fact, learning how to do everything mindfully is a goal to which I aspire. It is amazing how disconnected one can be if we don’t watch it! I find meditation helps me to focus on living mindfully. The trick is to not forget to meditate. A big lesson for me is to work on doing things consistently and to follow through on projects I set myself.

Something that bothers me a little is the acidity level of the kinds of low carb food I am eating on this diet. I need to eat more green vegetables and perhaps add more alkaline vegetables and fruit to the reward meal instead of dessert! But I will work to add that one little Crème Brûlée in a month! Strangely enough, I found myself eating plain wasabi rice crackers in my reward meal today. It was what I wanted at that moment and that was it. Satisfied me enough not to want to go back for more. Normally I would eat the whole box in a day. Today it was just 6 little crackers. The entire day’s carbs added up to 32 grams, reward meal and all. I am watching to see if cravings come back; so far so good. Drinking water is a great help.

This is all about finding out what works best for me. No one diet fits all and I do like the way one can plan for personal tastes in the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet. I shall continue with this for a month and then check the stats.

Moving on…