Back on the diet

I reckon I’m pretty much attuned to the basics of the Pagano diet now. I found it very time consuming following many of the recipes in the accompanying recipe book and with time even more of a luxury this year, I’m keeping things simple. Back on the strict diet for 10 days, I’m settling into a pattern.

Breakfast – 40g porridge, 325ml soya milk (sweetened with apple juice), teaspoon of honey and a handful of raisins. Yummy. That’s about half the amount I was eating before the New Year.

Lunch – Either 3 ladles of soup, a small salad and perhaps some spelt bread.
Or a large salad consisting of romaine lettuce, rocket, and a variety from spring onions, red onion, carrot, sweetcorn, etc.

Dinner – 3 days a week fish and lots of green veg and maybe some salad.
2 days a week ½ chicken breast and lots of green veg and maybe some salad. Sometimes I might have some boiled sweet potatoes.
2 days a week a vegetarian dish of my choice from the Pagano recipe book.

I dress salads with a mix of 1 tbl apple cider vinegar with 3 tbl olive oil. As I have psoriatic arthritis, I need to be careful with citrus so I avoid lemon in my dressings.

Snacks – fruit (fresh and driet). I need to be careful with the dried fruit. I love raisins, dates and prunes and can easily let the nibbling spiral out of control. I’ll have a handful of almonds but generally knocking nuts on the head for the first 3-6 months.

I’m drinking about 3 litres of tap water each day and that is all. No tea, coffee, juices, alcohol at least for the first 3 months.

No smoking. I stopped smoking 10 years ago but have allowed myself the occasional smoke. That’s finished too.

Last year after 3months of strict diet, I allowed myself 1 day a month where I ate what I wanted within reason. I’ll probably do that again but only after I see the improvements I saw last year.

This way I keep it straightforward. It was too easy last year to let other ingredients slip into the mix. For instance, I would end up throwing copious amounts of Tamari Soy sauce into my recipes. I’m not sure whether this was a problem, but generally I think you need to be moderate with all of your ingredients. That’s something I struggle with so it makes sense to keep things simple. I also let things like vegetable spread slip into my diet in increasing amounts along with wholewheat bread. This time I’m strict for 3-6 months at least.