21st April - Stop poisoning your body

First thing's first... I'm certainly no Joe Wicks. My own lifelong battles with weight/fitness even declared a good friend to jokingly quip that my yo-yo patterns of dieting are similar to that of legendary British boxer, Ricky 'Fatton' Hatton, who would balloon between fights. My own tendency over the past 3/4 years has been to dip towards the heavier (in fact, heaviest) end of my own scale (no pun intended), all whilst safe in the knowledge that - as my own history would dictate - I'm able to turn it round as and when I need to.

One of the interesting concepts I've noticed in my own life is that I've always somewhat felt like 'a skinny person trapped in a fat body'. What I mean by such a bold statement is that whilst most tubsters in my shoes are sweating and suffering, I've always somehow managed to possess a really decent level of fitness (for my weight), and those final three words are key. Because would I declare myself 'fit'? Absolutely not. Do I pale in comparison alongside slimmer friends etc? Of course. But am I able to display stamina above the level of other fellas around me in similar weight categories? Yes. 

I play Football every Monday, I'll happily clock up 25,000 steps in a day of exploring round Cities, or raving across dance floors until Sunset... I've even completed a Tough Mudder. (Though doing so declared me to half-jokingly announce my retirement from any running-related activities for life, such was the gruelling nature of the endurance event). Likewise, my own relationship with food is a complex one. I'm not fussy in any way at all, and will happily chow down on just about vegetable on this planet. My biggest problem, much like drinking as I touched on in a previous blog, is that I'm a real binger. One night of Chinese doesn't lead back to Weetabix the next day. It leads to a Dominos for lunch. Followed by a kebab for dinner, and a large bag of Malteasers and super-sized Coke whilst watching a movie. An Indian takeaway on a Friday night is followed by a Drive-Thru triple cheeseburger en route to a Saturday morning destination, and suddenly 3 or 4 days have passed of this nonsense and I feel sluggish, bloated, thirsty, and tired.

As I said in my opening paragraph, I'm not here to give dietary advice, nor brag about what's 'right' or 'wrong' when it comes to what you put in your body. But much like how I questioned the relevancy of alcohol in our lives when assessing how it can only bring negatives, serving as a type of socially acceptable 'poison' to our insides. the same is true of 'unnatural' foods. That term is a complex one, but what I'm essentially referring to is the extremely high-level of processed food we eat in this country. That might not even be 'unhealthy' per-se. But I'm talking of bleached white bread, 'plastic' cheese slices, microwaved meals etc. All foods lacking in fibre, which is the nutrient at the very heart of a successful digestive system. After experiencing a vast array of gravy-esque bowel habits at the tail-end of last week, I decided to switch to a supremely high-fibre food diary this week. I certainly don't care if you/I want to eat things like burgers or curries, just make them by your own hand, so you know each ingredient going into your dish. Simply from switching to this semi-vegan, high level of fibre... Things like green beans, spinach, wholemeal breads and pasta, peanuts, pears, chickpeas... I've lost 11 pounds over the past 7 days. I appreciate that's a bit like throwing a deckchair off the Titanic, but it just goes to show what can happen when you stop poisoning your body...

... Either that, or you just start shitting all the weight out. 😂