Gillian Mckeith diet woes

mikeywills

Having watched 'You Are What You Eat' the week before last, when a large waisted man lost 31/2 stone in 8 weeks following Gillians food diet, I thought this sounds like a good idea to me. I have spent many a January in search of that quick fix holy grail.

So my OH now used to my fads, went out and picked up a book of her recipes and I have followed her guidelines on creating a more balanced diet. Specifically looking into the areas I am lacking in my current diet(Not difficult there). I don't overeat as such, I just eat the wrong things at the wrong times. I have a savoury tooth, not sweet, and adore bread in all forms.

Well, heaven help me, I am now 10 days into my new regime, and feeling generally more energetic, sleeping better, and my face has a healthier glow. The downsides though are twofold.

Firstly there is my pocket, the guidelines called for a complete overhawl of my kitchen cupboards. You see clearly before I was living a restricted diet as I had no sea vegetables, aduki beans, miso, tempeh, along with many others that I had previously been oblivious to. I accept that eating healthy is generally more expensive except where you can grow your own, but my wallet wasn't quite ready for how much extra. Our average our weekly shopping bill is £60, the last two have been £200, and £95 the first obviously including stocking up.

Wowzers, its a lot I know, and I hope its not going to continue in this vain as I am not sure I will be able to afford it, but it is having a positive effect on my waistline which is already eased, one notch up on the belt(and not a single colonic in sight!!!)

Secondly, and this is probably the more worrying the programme bears no reference to the side effects of a heavy increase in beans, peas, pulses, and lentils to your digestive system, my poor work colleagues are suffering in silence (for the moment) I hope they can hold out until christmas, for my first weigh in, when hopefully this will have been all worth it.

furndire

Have you looked in any of the local Indian, Chinese shops etc for some of your things - our local chinese shop has many of them. Usually they are far cheaper than health food shops and supermarkets.

mikeywills

I wish we had them furndire, unfortunately in wild wales, we are lucky to have the takeaway option let alone their stores.

Sarahsaver

Your body will get used to the pulses eventually, try adding parsley which should help also.

Sarahsaver

http://www.natco-online.com/index.html

try this indian groceries on-line;)

Bargain_Rzl

This is an interesting thread. I enjoy You Are What You Eat a lot, and although I think Gillian McKeith is a complete "food Nazi" and that her methods are quite extreme and therefore really only practically appropriate for people whose diets are putting their health at immediate risk, I think some of the dishes served up on the show sound delicious. Speaking as somebody with a relatively balanced diet (with some excess of sugar and alcohol!) but who could certainly do better, I'd love to try some of this stuff but the cost really puts me off.

I'd really be interested to know about good-value sources of stuff like this.

furndire

That's a shame you can't go local, but the on line might be worth a try. A lot of it is Japanese as well, so might be worth googling.

thriftlady_2

Three things occur to me:)

1) You really don't have to eat expensive sea vegetables and obscure Japanese pastes or blue-green algae to have a healthy diet. You can eat carrots, cabbages, oats, apples, and mackerel to name a few- all cheap and home produced. Gillian McKeith promotes her own range of seeds and what have you in order to make money. The key to a healthy diet as any dietician will tell you is to eat lots of fruit and veg and cut right down on junk food, food high in fat and food high in sugar.

2) If you are not used to eating a lot of pulses you need to introduce them gradually.

3) Gillian McKeith is not a medical doctor, nor is she a state registered dietician. Her qualification was obtained via an online American college.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8126-1234291,00.html
This might also interest you http://www.badscience.net/?cat=12

Congratulations on the change to a healthy diet, glad you're having sucess:j

Sarahsaver

I am lucky I have plenty of Indian, Turkish and caribbean grocers near where I live I am making my own baked beans today:)
I have seen large packs of dried pulses in Sainsburys and somerfield. Dont use tinned as they have salt and sugar added. Best of luck!
She is a bit extreme but maybe 'go for it' full on to start with to cleanse your body, then the good habits will stick with you.

Bargain_Rzl

I was going to say also, on the subject of cost - I used to wonder how some of the people on the show who were obviously on lower incomes managed to fund the McKeith menus (even if they got some funding from the show to begin with) but then it occurred to me - low income or not, most of these people must have been spending £50-ish per week beforehand, because of the amount of beer and takeaways! So they probably wouldn't even see it as expensive :rolleyes:

mikeywills

Thanks Thriftylady, just checked out the bad science site, well you learn something new everyday. I wouldn't say I was gullible but when a TV channel backs someone for not one but several series you do expect their credentials to stand up to test.
I don't follow the 8 week sheets that they do on the telly, green algae does not sound that appealing to me either. However, the dried fruit especially apricots, and nuts especially cashews and pistachios which are my personal favs and a big bonus plus to my new diet.
Thanks also to sarahsaver and furndire for the indian and chinese tips, I will search a little further to see what I can find.