Real food, real life, and a refusal to feel guilty about bacon butties
Let’s be honest. It is a lot easier to follow something like the Mediterranean diet when you are sat in the sun, local veg in front of you, a bit of grilled fish, maybe a glass of something cold, and nothing urgent on your list.
That is not my life.
My life is toast for tea sometimes.
My life is rain in July and dodgy tomatoes from the supermarket or spring onions that got forgotten in the back of the fridge.
My life is busy and messy and includes people (i.e. the other half until recently) who think a “no meat day” is a personal attack.
But here’s what I have come to realise, you do not have to go all in to feel the benefits. I call it Med-ish. OK, I’m probably not the first but I like it!
I still like a steak and a burger. I cannot stand lettuce, and rice and pasta are not my favorite. I mainly understand what the Mediterranean way of eating is, and I try to take what works. Not because I am chasing thinness (although, yes please I’ll take it as an outcome), but because it feels good.
And yes, it does help with weight loss, slow though it may be. Especially when you combine it with fasting. But for me, it’s about how I feel, less bloated, more nourished, fuller for longer. And, crucially, less likely to go rooting through the cupboards half an hour after I have eaten.
If you want to make it stick, start small. That’s my biggest piece of advice. Do not overhaul everything all at once. That’s how guilt creeps in. You reach for a snack or a pizza and suddenly feel like you have “failed.” And from there, it is easy to throw the whole thing away. I have done that. More than once.
So now I go the other way. I make tweaks. Take a curry. I still eat it fairly regularly but I add spinach (yes, I add it to everything), peppers, onions, and a tin of beans – butter, cannellini, haricot whatever I have and whatever I fancy. Suddenly it is richer, more filling, more veg-heavy, and still delicious.
And if I want a bacon butty on a Saturday, I have one.
Because honestly, what is the point of being healthy if you are not happy?
There is a lot of new science coming through about plant diversity and the microbiome. ZOE have been at the heart of it and I have followed a lot of Tim Spector’s work. Gut health really does seem to be a major player in how we feel, how we digest, and how we live.
Forget “five a day” , I am trying to get more variety in. More colour, more types of veg, more fermented things when I remember or have the inclination to make something. But again, I do not go all in. I tried the ZOE programme for a bit (twice) and honestly, I found the scoring disheartening. Unless I went basically vegetarian, I could not crack 80+ on a regular basis. Vegetarianism does not suit me or my family. So I’ve gone back to -ish.
I follow it-ish.
I fast-ish.
I move-ish (though more exercise is still on the to-do list).
And all of that is still better than doing nothing.
We have a meat-free Monday. I add more veg. I reach for pulses and nuts. I try to swap refined carbs even if I love bread. If I find myself with a G&T and a cheese toastie on a Thursday night after a long week, I am not going to feel bad about it. I am going to bloody enjoy it.
The Med-ish way works for me. It means I feel better most of the time, but I do not live in fear of meals. I am not obsessed. I am not exhausted by it. And it means we can still cook one meal for the household without a side of moral panic.
I am probably perimenopausal. My weight loss is slower than it has ever been but I am still getting there.
I might never be thin. I will be well-fed, satisfied, and happy. And if I fail, I will fail with a glass of wine in one hand and something delicious in the other.
Because life’s too short not to eat good food.
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