A Momentous Day

by Prava Singh · October 25, 2013

Today marks a very very momentous day in my journey to my very own Utopia! Today is can finally say I am proud of my achievements in my path to a sustained healthy relationship with food! A day after turning 45, I turned a new leaf or rather a page in my book of weightloss try-outs. After months of research, following blogs and forums, and observing the happiness of a few friends in their journey to a healthy lifestyle and decided that this was it for me, D day had arrived it was either now or never!

So armed with the knowledge of my research, bearing in mind I had serious health issues, I embarked on yet another journey which I didn’t think would amount to much but was worth a try none the less…a diet based on the Caveman Diet or Eating like our Ancestors did many many moons ago, where only natural food is consumed. How difficult is that to do or so I thought? So July 18, 2013 being the day of a brand new journey that opened my eyes, mind, body, soul and mouth to a whole new eating experience. Paleo Reboot or Detox was the new plan. In a nutshell, the focus is on eating whole, unprocessed foods like grass-fed meat, free range poultry, wild fish, vegetables (including root vegetables,) fruit, berries, some nuts and seeds. Foods to avoid include grains, legumes, refined sugars and dairy; although dairy consumption really depends on your gut health and whether you have any auto-immunity issues. So, avoid all these foods to control insulin sensitivity, repair gut health, increase nutrient absorption and reduce negative inflammatory effects they cause.

Bearing in mind that I am an insulin dependent diabetic, what was I thinking heading for an eating plan / lifestyle change of this nature? I joined a marvellous Facebook forum to support my new initiative founded by a gent that had been through the process of weight loss and fitness training and based on his success with the lifestyle changed, created an amazing space for proponents of Paleo to share their sucessess, failures, joys and sorrows, elation, advice and a whole lot more – https://www.facebook.com/groups/sleekgeek/

ME 11 December 2012

ME 1 February 2013

With the above to pics in mind and motivated by the inspiration of others who have had amazing results and health benefits, I tackled day 1, 18 July, a day after turning 45 with trepidation but enthusiasm. All the planning and preparation was in place for a day without bread, my soul-food! Needless to say, I survived, with a massive headache but got through that first day. Surprisingly the next three days were easy to go through but with feelings of flu like symptoms and the headache, day 5 brought on renewed vigour and enthusiasm as did the days that followed. So strictly following the eating plan without any deviations or temptations, I successfully completed 30 days and lost a total of 8.3kgs. Remarkable but alot of that loss was water weight I imagine – that’s a crap load of water to be carrying around! Circa week three (day 21) my insulin fasting levels were around 5mmol which is pretty good for a fasting reading of a diabetic. My doctor advised that I should stop the insulin but maintain my pills morning and evening. I’ll always remember his words “Prava, you’re a type 2 diabetic, brought about by your poor dietary and exercise habits – only you can change your status and if this is working for you, carry on with it”! That was Chopin to my ears and motivation to maintain the path to my onward journey.

The day I completed my 30 days reboot, we were in Durban by the Sea for the boys winter holidays and I always said that the first thing I’d have the morning after the 30 days was a Mugg and Bean Cuppachino. The morning arrived, off we went to Mugg and Bean for the much anticipated cuppa and what did I order, a BLACK DECAF coffee!

There and then I realised that I was enjoying the new plan and decided a day later to embark on the next leg of my journey Reboot, version 2 August was a good month, by week 3, seven weeks after starting Paleo Reboot I ventured to join Virgin Active to start an exercise regime – ME, EXERCISING??? totally unheard off. This didn’t go according to plan as I was considered a high risk gym client. So back and forth to my doctor who eventually signed off on my application, indicating I was fit (enough) to train without medical supervision. By this stage my second reboot was completed having lost a further 8.4kg. Total loss at this stage was 16.7kg in 60 days.

I gym on average 4 times a week, and with a national membership to the gym can use any of their branches in South Africa. This works well for me as I work out of Province three days a week so 2 of my 4 training sessions per week are in another Province. I am now a competent user of the gyms cardio and circuit sections, much to my surprise – and loving it – especially the euphoric feeling I receive after a particularly tough training session!

The end of September saw the conclusion of Reboot version 3, at which stage the weight loss slowed down. Onwardly I continue and this brings me to today, Day 100 of Reboot and also 100 days without BREAD!!!! This is my Momentous day, the day that I receive with such proudness that a former Bread Queen of note has managed to accomplish such a mean feat…..as this day draws to a close, I am reminded that I have lost just over 21kgs in this remarkable journey, a journey that is slowly seeing the shackles that have bound me for so long, starting to slacken….