I was having a coffee the other day when I overheard a woman
telling her friend about her experience on the fasting diet. That evening my
husband, Dave, came back from work raving about how the fasting diet had
transformed one of his colleagues and yesterday while doing a search on Amazon
for a novel what came up was… you guessed it, the fasting diet “bible”! I’m
starting to wonder, am I the only one who hasn’t tried it?? At college we were
encouraged to try all sorts of diets from plain gluten-free to more hardcore
ones like raw food only for 4 days. That was so we could understand how
good/bad they were and so that we could give practical tips to people on such
“diets”. So, my first thought was of course to try that fasting diet malarkey.
My second thought was: the end of the day, two kids under 4, Dave in London and
me having only eating 500kcal. That’s just a recipe for disaster and would
probably end up in me eating one of my children out of despair (I’m kidding, of
course. They smell too much). So, a bit disappointed with myself and my lack of
determination, I thought I’d give something else a go: the paleo diet. You’ve
probably heard of that to death too, although it seems to have hit the US
harder than here, probably due to their great love for all things meaty and the
Brits adoration for all things baps, rolls, buns, barms, cobs and sarnies.
For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, the paleo
diet is more of a way of life rather than a diet in the strict sense of the
term. It’s also referred to as the caveman or Stoneage diet and the long and
short of it is that it advocates eating only things that can be hunted or
gathered such as meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit and nuts. Grains, dairy,
refined sugar and oils are all out.
Like most diets, it has created a great deal of polemics and
has divided nations and families. Advocates claim you can lose weight, reduce your
risks of cardiovascular disease, feel better, have great skin etc. Opponents
on the other end argue that’s all gobbledygook and that paleo dieters will die
buried under seas of saturated fat.
On paper it sort of makes sense: we all know that processed
food and refined sugars aren’t really what’s good for us (right?). Ditching
grains will almost automatically take all junk food out of the equation so it’s
bound to be healthier unless of course you spend your days munching on crispy
bacon. Is it practical though and most important of all, is it tasty? There’s
only one way to find out…
Who said: “fight”? Honestly, this is a serious blog!
