My diet

All you need to do is open a magazine this month and you'll find the latest diet. It jumps out screaming "try me" and shakes you by the collar. I'm not following any of them. My philosophy is simple. We know what things are healthier than others. Fruit and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. I'm not vegan so I'm also eating low fat milk products and sparing amounts of free range eggs. I'm getting my fats from hemp oil (tastes nasty on it's own but good in salad dressing), ground flax, and nuts. Of course I'm not just sitting at home nibbling on a handful of seeds and a couple of carrots. Life's too short for boring food. I'm eating things like homemade pumpkin-orange muffins with pecans, chickpea curry, vegetable lentil stew, and high fibre pasta topped with roasted vegetable sauce (and a couple of shavings of fresh Parmesan). Every day at work I get staff checking out what I'm eating because "it all looks so good".

I'm working on portion control as well. My dinner plates are huge so I've been using the so-called side plates instead. And I'm not eating after dinner. I'm making sure I get some exercise every day as well. The My Fitness Coach program (on the Wii) goes on every morning right after I get up. I find it makes a difference for work too. I'm more alert and flexible on the days I exercise. Of course I'm going to the Y to exercise as well.

I went to iThai with my parents today and thought hard about what I was going to eat. I love their golden curry; it's so good I joke they must put crack in it. But it's not really a healthy choice. I ordered appetizers for lunch instead, a mango salad followed by a bowl of hot and sour soup. Followed by an orange for dessert when I got home. It was just as tasty and I didn't leave feeling overly stuffed. Of course I'll have their golden curry again, but it will be a rare treat, not a monthly occurrence.

I only just started this diet last week so don't have any long term information but, so far I've dropped four pounds and am optimistic I'll break my year long plateau and finally get under the 170lb mark for longer than a single day while sick.