Resolution Go Vegan or do the Ketone Diet? Eat Less Dairy, Less Meat, Less Grains. More Vegetables

2019 Resolution Go Vegan or do the Ketone Diet?

Eat Less Dairy, Less Meat, Less Grains. More Vegetables

How To Do IT (its not that hard).

Any of you who follow me will know i am nutrition nuts and I like to fix everything. Skin, Diet, Nails, Hair Problems etc.

For the past 5 years i have been trying to clean up my diet. I read something new on nutrition everyday. From all iv learned I pretty much stick to the Plate idea here.

• At least 2 Fruits with Porridge for Breakfast.
• Dinner plate Half Filled With Veg/Salad. 1/4 Protein Fish or Meat 1/4 Carbs Potatoes, Rice Dinner Ideas
  etc and Hummus (chickpea beans) on the side.
• At least 3 Fruits after Dinner.

I now have a great diet and I want to share with you what I did to get there. It really kick started about 6 months ago. I read an amazing book by a Dr Michael Greger-How Not to Die.

https://nutritionfacts.org/ Morbid title I know but it basically has food advice for anyone suffering from chronic illnesses- cancer, diabetes etc. Initially I wanted to read it because of my mum being diagnosed with Alzheimers disease aswell as having lost my Dad at 62 to a Spontaneous Brain Hemorrhage, my Mum in law to Cancer and now my Father in Law has very poor eye sight due to Age Related Macular Degeration.. so lots of dodgy genes in our house. From reading, what we feed our bodies has an influence on our genes and being a parent to 2 small children I want to be around for a very long time to see them grow up.

I was also curious and a little bit vain, i wanted to see if eating cleaner means I stay at My Goal Weight 59kgs without exercising much. Im 5 foot 6.5. The experts say Its 80% diet 20% exercise. I didnt actually think it was possible. But since iv cleaned up my diet “it is really happening”. I am staying at my goal weight with just a couple of walks a weeks and a few squats, planks, lunges thrown in.

What kick started my best results was learning to consume Dr Gregers DAILY DOZEN everyday.

This is a list of the 12 things we need to be consuming daily and their serving size. I put this list on the fridge. It reminds me and makes me think about what I need to be eating every day.

This to me meant initially meant Brocolli EVERY DAY. Really?

Beans 3 servings Daily. How the hell is that possible?

And so much extra veg. Isn’t 5 portions enough? I was doing fine (or so I thought) with my previous eating patterns. By consuming maybe half of the daily dozen (and i thought I had a good diet in that).

Tip 1 Realise It has to become a Habit

I am NOW doing the full daily dozen (5 days a week). What I found is it doesnt all happen at once. You have to do it little by little until each change becomes a habit. Each habit will only form if you repeat it for 14-21 days in a row. I have had to write notes for myself on the counter to remind me what to put in my porridge. Crazy but true. It is like applying my 4 skin serums and eyelash serum at night. I initially had to write a note for myself. And it requires discipline, will power and the desire to make real changes for yourself and your families health.

Tip 2 Become a little bit more Vegan

I would never become an actual Vegan. You need meat and dairy. They have important nutrients (and I love them far too much). Imagine life without CHEESE?..but vegetables offer our bodies so much more nutrition. Here are the Foods I have started eating more of which I think are making the difference. Some of which I have to get in a health food shop.

Eat More Raw Greens

Tip 3 Eat More Greens

I eat a plate of spinach leaves or salad with Dinner now with Gut Friendly Toppings see below.

Dressing made With dash of Olive Oil and Apple Cider Vinegar. Apple Cider Vinegar is proven to help weight loss as part of a controlled diet. It helps your gastrointestinal system work better. I suffer from LOW STOMACH ACID. if you think you have digestion issues you might be interested in this https://polishedireland.com/how-i-solved-my-digestion-issues/

Tip 4 Eat For Your Gut Microbiome (they are the good bacteria that do so much for your health)

• Eat Unripened Bananas
• Pears and Apples after dinner
• Pickled Cabbage
• Pickled Onions in Salad
• Kefir / Sauerkraut

Those toppings help your gut, improve digestion by being prebiotic foods which give your gut flora and microbes food to feed and thrive on.

The better shape your gut is in = the more stomach acid you will produce = the better your food breakdown = the more nutrients, vitamins and minerals you absorb. We are not what we eat. We are what we digest and absorb. I believe by absorbing more nutrients, the less you crave the crap, carb heavy foods.

Quick Lentils

I have noticed the days I eat salad they are the days I go longer without being hungry and also I dont want to eat

sweet things.

I believe nutrient dense foods lessens your appetite for crap. Lidl and ALDI do so many frozen veg and grains that are so healthy and quick.

TIP 5 Drink a mug of Green Tea Daily. My friend always says tea bags from supermarkets is only the dust of the floor! so now I buy the good stuff

A Sencha Japanese Green Tea €11 for a bag of what looks like proper leaves rolled up from a Health Food Shop.

I add a spoon of coconut oil (helps stimulate ketosis) and some grated ginger (also helps digestion) and agave syrup (lower GI than honey or sugar). This is a warm soothing drink.

If I havent had salad with Apple Cider Vinegar I also add a tablespoon of this to the drink.

TIP 6 Drink a glass 200mls of KOMBUCHA a day mixed with water. Raw and Organic from Health Food Shop only.

Homemade Bread

TIP 7 Eat bread ONLY 2 mornings a week. I make my own where possible and stuff it with seeds and goji berries.

TIP 8 Make Breakfast a Super Nutritious PORRIDGE. It takes a few mins to prep

Greek Yogurt

• 3 Tablespoons of 50% Oats 50% Quinoa Flakes. I mix in a large container beforehand.
• A teaSpoon Coconut Oil Stirred through Hot Porridge
• 70gs Canellini Beans -Mashed into cooked Porridge

Canellini or Butter Beans

• A Tablespoon Flaxseed – Mixed into Hot Porridge
• A Dollop of LIVE Greek/Natural Blackberries from our garden
  Yogurt Unflavoured Unsweetened (Lidl one is yum but it’s a foreign yogurt, Supervalue iv found make the nicest local one). Glenisk also make good BIO Yogurt with Lots of Healthy Bacteria for your gut microbiome.

• Shake of Cinnamon
• Blackberries or Raspberries And Stewed Apple
• Coconut Milk

TIP 9 Cut down on Dairy- Substitute Cows Milk for Coconut Milk in Porridge. Does anyone else find dairy addictive? I am also eating less cheese these days. Is this because I am eating less dairy and therefore craving less?

KOKO Milk brand in tesco has the highest percentage Coconut (their purple super nutrients one is delicious).

The Alpro Soya one you have to shake otherwise the coconut bits dont dissolve (and it has more additives).

(I soak 3 Tablespoons of 50% Oats 50% Quinoa Flakes in coconut milk the night before. The creaminess of coconut milk disguises any difference in taste due to the quinoa flakes or beans)

Ketone Diet Recipes here

TIP 10 Eat MORE GOOD FATS

Since reading up that good fats:

• make you feel fuller for longer
• reduce your appetite
• balance your hormones
• aswell as reading the Benefits of A Ketone Diet for weight loss  see https://www.patrickholford.com/hybriddiet and https://blog.bulletproof.com/keto-clarity-with-jimmy-moore-podcast-142/
• Fats are really good for your brain- (from my mother being advised to go on the Ketone Diet to help her fight Alzheimer’s Disease by a functional medicine Dr Magovern http://www.drummartinclinic.ie.
• I am eating more good fats now and I am thinner than I ever was when I was doing the 5:2 diet or exercising daily. What kinds additional fats am I adding?
• Coconut oil in Porridge and Green Tea Daily
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil poured over dinner
• More Nuts with Dinner or Salad aswell as in Porridge
• Snacking on Apples with Peanut Butter

TIP 11 Reduce White Pasta and Rice and Bread and instead Eat more Authethic Grains (that are Protein)

Realise that Beans/Grains are a good a source of Protein. Our body is not evolved to eat pasta or bread. We are evolved to eat ancient grains. From https://www.patrickholford.com/hybriddiet We use Buckwheat and Quinoa now instead of Rice with currries and chili and casserole dishes and my 4 year old cant tell the difference between rice and buckwheat (win win).

Healthy Quick Eats- Quinoa-Peppers-Tuna & Salad

Protein as a food group burns much more calories than Fat or Carbs so for your waistline add more Protein to your diet. These grains are a Protein source not a carb. Less carbs More Protein = Being Slimmer.

I am always lighter on the scales when I am substituting pasta or rice for these grains. (I also mix my porridge container with 50% oats and 50% quinoa flakes (health food shop).

BUT THE TIP to enjoying grains in dinner is to make them with a “chicken stock ”. I use a chicken stock cube but its even better to make your own from boiling chicken.

TIP 12 EAT MORE BEANS THAN the BAKED ONES!

Eat 3 Servings of Beans a Day. We forget beans are protein too.  We all think of eggs and meat as the primary sources but tinned beans are too and much cheaper! Beans for me has been a big effort (not to eat as such ) but to actually make up the recommended

Quick Frozen Bean Dinners

quantity I need a day for optimum health.

Baked beans are good for the kids but if you can eat the other tinned varietys such as

• Haricot beans
• Mixed beans
• Kidney beans
• Chickpeas
• Frozen ones too

in dinners you will go a long way to achieving the goal of 170gs of beans a day which is 3 Servings. (4/5 Days a week)

First when I read about Dr Greger eating 3 servings a day I bauked.. I mean how is that actually possible?? But it is.. Heres how I do it.

I mash a ¼ of a tin of cooked white cannellini beans into porridge. LIDL and Aldi do not sell these but

Cannellin or Butter Beans

other supermarkets like dunnes and supervalue and tesco do (like butter beans).

• It sounds gross but when you add Cinnamon, Creamy Greek Yogurt, Berrries and Nuts you cant taste them.
• I have porridge realistically 5 out of 7 days a week.
• I might have beans on toast or eggs or french toast and bacon at weekends.
• I dont do it amazing every day its 80/20 girls…

That is MY FIRST Serving of the day …

The second serving is the big round Hummus pot you can get at supermarket deli counters -it weighs in at 200gs.

Two thirds of that is the amount of beans you need to be consuming a day!! So how I measure is if for example I am eating lasagna and salad for dinner then I use half of the hummus container as a dressing with my lasagna to make up my other 2 servings (instead of mayonnaise or pesto I used to use).

Then on the days we batch cook we throw 2 tins of mixed beans and chickpeas into a chilli

Homemade Veg Soup

con carne or chicken casserole,  or soup. (Those days i dont eat hummus as I am getting the servings with my dinner.)

Now just to ad I hate cooking and food shopping.

• My husband does most of it but I influence what we are eating.
• We cheat too. We dont make any sauces from scratch. We buy the best quality jars and tins but we check the ingredients on the back to make sure they contain only real foods.
• I never cook, soak beans the night before.
• I use stock cubes and never make stock from scratch. Time is too precious to be spending hours slaving in the kitchen.

TIP 13 MY TREAT Swapping Milk Chocolate Bars for Dark Chocolate Bars. The Highest % Cocoa I can find 70% +.

Dunnes stores do a yummy healthy Brand, Green & Blacks. Check ingredients that other brands dont contain Glucose Fructose Syrup etc. At the start I thought it wasnt as nice but now im used to eating it I love it and dont miss milk choc. In fact now I find milk choc too sweet! Another benefit dark choc is very good for you its high in antioxidants and another perk.. After eating it on the couch on a friday night I am not much heavier on the scales the next day as I would be with milk chocolate. Interesting! Now I am only eating 6 squares. This maybe not a full bar but interesting how my taste buds have adjusted eating the healthier option.

And this is my concluding comment.

• Now im eating very healthy I am not missing my older less healthy choices.
• My taste buds want the healthy stuff.
• I am lighter on the scales.
• Most weeks the most exercise I get is a doddle with my toddlers or a brisk walk or 2 with a friend and a few stretches, planks, squants, lunges.
• It is working. I am staying at my goal weight and my hair, skin and nails are better than ever.

Hope you get something out of this.

Thanks for Reading,

Fee

Fiona Brady, BSc, CIDESCO, ITEC, DIP NUIT – Owner & Founder of Polished – www.polished.ie – 0868439979

PS: If you are a new mum, or are preparing for a big event like a wedding, hen party, new job or a communion and want to improve your skin, hair and nails see my other blogs for beauty tips under Beauty Blog.  Or if your nearby make an appointment to come see me for a head to toe consultation in my salon in Sligo. If your’e looking for a mobile hair & beauty service for your party or group event check out the hair, makeup and nail services we provide nationally at Polished at www.polished.ie