Mrs Neglectful & her French attitude

Tis true. I've been rubbish at blogging of late. I'm suffering from a classic case of not enough hours in the day, no staff and too much to do. Given the options, you know where you attempt to find the solution by writing lists, ticking off to do lists and then think about your time management, I thought I was looking in the wrong place.

I have posts galore I need to finish and publish, one of which is an examination of fashion blogging, the other is a bit of a fashiongate examination of the industry. In a time when politicians, the police and the media are under the moral spotlight, I've been busying myself with a core group not dissimilar to the Murdoch clan.

However all is not lost to an intellectual minefield, I do have some fashion forecast or how to spend it for the forthcoming season in a true make do style. And I'm still on my slow burn when it comes to the Make Do Diet. I attempted to take a few photos of the progress but I was not feeling my best. An off day. Lo! Here are the stomach shots. The 100 sit ups a day are the business.
I've lost some inches, a bit of weight but it a slow process but after trying to do a quick fix, all Rachel's advice is working out.

Then it came to me, I needed to lose the to do list, the trying to do everything. I decided instead of looking to the French for their style (actually I don't really I'm more of an Italian when it comes to fashion) I needed to adopt their attitude. When petit garcon's school breaks up I making straight like a French maman and going on vacation for the whole time. It is the perfect option n'est-ce pas?

See you in the Autumn!

Hitting the G-spot with the Make Do Style Diet

The wonderful Rachel - for it is her that is the words of wisdom, forsooth on the Make Do Style Diet, is imparting even more gems if you are on for an update of useful information that doesn't have you on some pitiful restrictive diet!

Mrs MDS has a confession to make. Don't tell Rachel okay as she will laugh and then reproach me. In the spirit of old school journalism and research I tried the Dukon Diet. OMG I lasted a week, that is all I could take. I only had 3 days on the protein only attack thing and then went into cruise mode. It was awful. Now I know why I never diet. All this restrictive or x food only diet stuff is ..well quite frankly shite. Yes you can tell me I'm such and such blood group, yes we were once cavemen that only ate berries and hunted meat but guess what we've moved on!

In fact science has moved on and despite the many weirdy quasi sports/nutrition geeks out there who will tell us what we used to eat in a cultural context, it is usually based on commercial sales to fill a void. Basically there are lots of new thoughts on genetic development, mutations, physical anthropology and evolution and any diet can cherry pick which bit of science or research. Nothing is set in stone and btw caveman died at an average age of 30.

Over to the wise words of Rachel...

TOWIE recently touted the “no carbs before Marbs” rule as a quick way to lose weight and get that bikini body. There has been much discussion about the merits (or not) of reducing carbs and eating a diet high in protein in order to lose weight quickly – notably Atkins and Dukan – and, it has to be said, in the short term this does work up to a point, but really, do you want to live without what we consider to be “normal” food such as fruit, bread or potatoes? The Make Do Diet will help you understand why carbs get such bad press, and what it is about the high-protein diet that helps your body.

1. It’s all about QUALITY and not QUANTITY – much like Animal Farm, not all carbs are equal, and unfortunately, in a society where cheap food full of Trans fats, processed sugars and little nutrition is everywhere you need to be savvy in your choice of what carbs you eat.

2. The Gspot – it’s all about getting that high you know!! Or in the case of this, getting the low...in the best possible way. So, some carbs release into your body at an alarming rate (think of water going through a colander) – this affects the level of sugar in your blood stream, and you body, ever conscious to keep harmony, will immediately pour on insulin to calm down the sugar rush.

3. Insulin is a great little hormone that helps control glucose levels and synthesising fat...but it also wields its power with a sweeping hand and often over reduces sugar in the bloodstream too much which then makes the body crave more sugar...and guess what, when the body wants sugar it will make you seek it out, find it, devour it like a lion searches for its prey.

4. Pressing that insulin button with high sugar fixes and little exercise will encourage your body to rely (or even become “addicted” to sugar) and will not help you shift that weight. Worse, a side effect of insulin happens as it is working...cos when it is working, it stops your body burring fat...yep, when you eat lots of high sugar foods, you CAN’T burn fat at the same time....so keep sugar levels low.

5. So, get ready to understand that we need to seek out carbs that have slow release (much like trying to drain custard through a t-shirt..) which will help stop us spiking our sugar levels – this is called the “Glycaemic Index” or GI as it most commonly know – or G spot as we will call it!

6. Exercise is also going to play a part, as you have found out already, 30 mins a day makes a difference, and what happens is that as we start to exercise, insulin stimulates the release of glucose (sugar) into our bloodstream, but once we have been exercising for a while, the sugar levels drop and the body then reduces insulin which then makes us burn fat – yes, FAT. The side effects from burning fat (apart from getting rid of the stuff) is both heat and water...so you will need to now up your level of exercise until you start to get pink in the face and sweat – and it has to be over 20 mins.

7. Swap Shop – so, in order to get to the G spot, here are examples of how to reduce the sugar highs (or even buy a book to help you out) and keep your body ticking over nicely burning fat as you go about your daily life. xx

Items that have high sugar levels - eat sparingly, with other low foods and make sure you exercise on the days that you eat these!
Moderate levels of sugar, but still go easy. Think about having your meal with these items...and keep your sugar levels down.Sawp Boiled Potatoes/baked potatoes for Rice/long grain rice/pasta or even better have salad – inc lots of dark green veg such as spinach and green peppers. Plus add a sprinkling of seedsswap.
Bagels for Wholemeal muffins – get from health food shop or make your own even better.
Yogurt and fruit such as grapes, peach, and apple.

This is delicious - and it is made by the wonderful Rachel's Dairy (also based in Aberystwyth!)

Swap Baguettes for French baguette or evn betterWholemeal organic bread – esp. spelt or rye
Cheerio’s/Cornflakes/sugar puffs for Bran flakes or Make your own muesli with a mixture of grains, nuts, seeds and oats
Swap Chocolate for M&Ms (!) or even better Darker chocolate with high concentration – eat in small amounts – or have a square with your espresso...

PS I loved the M&M's info, it is the peanut ones of course. I had to tweet Rachel for clarification...had to put the tub of choc ones back!

Oh yes you can have these!! (Well if needs must.. ssshh)

PPS... if Rachel picks on me ref the M&M's it is because Daniel Craig married the wrong Rachel.

The Make Do Diet - 3 Wise Points

Smallest point - 100 situps a day = 1inch waist loss in 10 days. Fact.

Medium point - did you know, that if you eat protein or carbs, your body has to work quite hard to digest it and store it in your body. But fat goes in complete, and gets stored immediately as FAT...so the saying a minute on your lips and a lifetime on your hips has some merit....

Big point - this is very important to learn, why you must stop and think.

The release of a “new diet” where some celebrity shows impressive weight loss in a matter of weeks is somewhat seductive. Yes, weight creeps on slowly – or even a magnificent 3-4lbs after a weekend of overindulgence – and you know, there are ways to quickly lose “weight” on the scales, but no crash diet can sustain its initial weight loss – mainly because the weight is water and a little bit of carbs and not a lot of fat.

This week, we are going to play “Stop and Think” – much like an amber light on the traffic lights.

1. Fat – breaking down protein and carbs takes energy and increases your metabolic rate. Eat fat and it goes straight to fat on your body.....so, please don’t cut it out altogether as it is a vital component for transportation of hormones, makes your hair shiny and your skin soft – but reduce your saturate fat (ones that are solid at room temp) to 10% of your diet. Butter only one side of your sandwich, spray your oil onto you pan, eat less cheese, cut the fat off your meat etc

2. Carbs – buy the best you can. Organic if possible (grow your own?) – bright colours, red, yellow and dark green. Add as much as you can to your meals – frozen chopped spinach and peas can be added to many dishes, as well as grated carrots or courgette. Stay away from processed foods, eat brown bread, or spelt if you get IBS (the fast fermentation of cheap white bread can often cause bloating). Rice and potatoes in hand size portions only.

3. Protein - increases metabolic rate and reduces hunger pangs, so try to include a little at each meal – yoghurt, beans and nuts are all good sources. If you want meat, then about the size of your palm is a good guide for mealtimes.

4. Pause – it has been noted that there is a natural “pause” during our eating phase. We eat continuously when we are hungry, but once we have reached a point of being “satisfied” then we tend to “Pause” – put our knife and fork down, have a drink etc. IF you want to lose weight, LOOK for this sign and STOP eating at that point – put your knife and fork together and push your plate away – portion control is often where even the healthiest of eaters gets let down.

image: Sweaty Betty

Summary
1. Remeasure – you will be delighted if you have managed to do the sit-ups as I bet you have lost inches even if the scales have stayed the same.
2. Keep up the sit-ups – and try to do a few more if you can – they will help you get your waist back.
3. PAUSE – stop and think at every meal.
4. Keep the 30 mins exercise and add a 10 second BLAST every couple of minutes to get out of breath – run faster, jump, anything to make you breathless - it will help you burn more calories.
5. Eat the best possible food – make your plate look as colourful as possible.