WEIGHT LOSS
Alice in weight-loss wonderland
Type 1 diabetic Alice Dogruyol has been on a weight-loss mission for much of her life and writes each month about a different aspect of weight management. This issue, she trials healthy food delivery services to see whether they make it easier to eat well.
When it comes to losing weight, I know what to eat and what not to eat. We are lucky these days that excellent nutritional advice is just a Google search away. But a big piece of the weight-loss puzzle is finding the time and willpower to stick to what you know you should be doing. I find meal planning and prepping a pain in the neck, but I know it’s the key to weight management and good blood glucose control. In an ideal world, everyone with any kind of diabetes would measure their carbs and protein and monitor everything they consumed carefully. I find I can do this for a while, but over time I get exasperated and exhausted by all the measuring and batch cooking, and I end up grabbing whatever food is convenient, which usually involves carbs and sends me into a carb spiral of wanting more.
Something I have found extremely helpful in the past is using homedelivery food companies. If I know I’m about to go into a busy work period, I will sign up to a service that delivers healthy, ready-to-eat meals to my door. This saves hours of shopping, prepping and cooking, helps keep me on track, and allows me to get on with my day without falling too far off the food wagon.
I have been following low-carb eating strategies for a while now, but my longer-term plan is to properly commit to a ketogenic lifestyle. It isn’t a path for everyone, but I know that it works for me in terms of weight loss and blood glucose management as a type 1 diabetic. I feel so much better when I am sticking to it, but I find it so hard to do. I have followed a keto diet in the past to great success but avoiding carbs and managing portion sizes is always a challenge. The benefits of following a ketogenic lifestyle are evident and I know that it is a path I want to follow – but wanting it and achieving it are two different things! With that in mind, I’ve tested four different meal delivery brands, each with a unique approach.
WHAT IS A KETO DIET?
The process of ketosis is the body using fat rather than carbs and sugar for energy. To put the body into ketosis you need to restrict your carbs and sugar quite significantly (about 50g max per day). This causes your body to burn fat for energy instead of glucose, which means you can lose weight fast but you can also manage many health conditions too.
The keto diet isn’t all about weight loss though – it’s sometimes recommended for people with type 1 or 2 diabetes, as the low levels of carbohydrates ensure the body does n
