Maria’s fasting days

On fast days, I have tea (with milk) in the morning, black coffee and the odd Miso soup during the day, then something healthy when I get back like a veggie curry, stir fry or jacket potato, cottage cheese and salad.  I know jacket potato is not brilliant for its GI but it’s swings and roundabouts on this way of eating I think. I find that meal very satisfying after a day of real fasting so it works for me.

If I’m doing a fast day when I’m at home then it’s more difficult not to ‘graze’ so I try to at least make the grazing heathy. I tend to make a large pot of veggie stew, have some for lunch, maybe a cup full late afternoon and then pep it up with spices / curry for an evening meal. Anything left gets frozen in portions for a quick meal for when I get home late from work (I keep portions of cooked brown rice in the freezer to have with it)  The key thing is flexibility for me – if a planned fast day becomes a non-fast day then no problem, I just fast the next time it’s convenient and no guilt :-).

Today I was “in the zone” so ate nothing until 5 ish, then had some reasonably healthy leftovers and a piece of fruit. I’ll have a glass of wine (or two) to see in the new year but won’t get back on track with the serious calorie restriction until I get back to work later in the week.  One thing I have decided to do is not to have breakfast most days – even on non-fast days – as I think this will work well for me as a long term weight control strategy.  Of course I might also get the health benefits of the 12 – 16 hr ‘fast’ when the body goes into repair mode rather than build.