Keeping doing the good things you are doing was the advice I was given earlier this week.

With my levels coming in at 51, up from last summer’s 44, something isn’t quite right with the good stuff I am doing. I need to have a look back over the good stuff I am doing and see if I can do it better.

Over the last two years I’ve already been pretty strict with sweets and treats. Over the last year my alcohol intake has been well down. I can’t really exercise much more than I am doing, maybe do some higher intensity running once on a while, but small fry. So I had a look at what I was still eating and drinking.

After doing some reminding and research the day before on a train journey I spent some time writing out all the stuff I have tended to eat over the last three or four months. The thing here was to be honest with myself. It’s just between me and the iPad I was writing it out on.

I had read about the glycemic index (GI) and dug into the GI value of everything on the list and started to do some dismissing, trying to stick to foods that were 50ish and under. Honesty with myself raised stuff like I eat a Toffee Crisp once in a while. Can I? Should I? Probably not. Gone.

Breakfast got some scrutiny. I eat porridge just about every day. I need to go a little more careful with the overall portion. And dates? Man, they’re so tasty, but eating five or six of them on top of an already fruity porridge is going too far. I sometimes have a small glass of fruit juice to go with breakfast, but that’s struck off now too.

And so it went on.

I then reviewed the list. I’ve been trying to live off a lower carb intake so checked there was nothing on there that was too carborific. I also slid in some potential replacements if I knew of any. Potatoes have been a longer time avoidance, but sweet potatoes are alright. Pasta is a common carbs source: I’d been trying to eat less and when I do it is wholegrain pasta. Is it OK for me? Yes, but try to cook and eat it al dente. A sweep of the list done, all done.

As an exercise it didn’t take me too long, good to take stock, and while the stuff I crossed off the list wasn’t massive, maybe those little changes will have a bigger effect, doing the good things better.

Original source – Simon Wilson

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