Book a Week 2015 - Overview

Last year, for the first time since I can remember, I made a New Year's Resolution that I actually kept.    In fact I even did better than I planned as I read 53 books in 52 weeks, a whole book more than my target.  Along the way I kept a record of the books, and some information about them, as I wanted to know whether this challenge would encourage me to read different books to the ones I would normally choose.  Also, I do love a spread sheet.

Books by genre

I've split the fiction books up into generic fiction, science fiction, fantasy and detective.  One of the greatest things about this challenge was rediscovering my love of science fiction books - as a teenager I read only science fiction for about 2 years, and I had forgotten how much I enjoy it. I have also split non-fiction into generic non-fiction and self help, using my own arbitrary category system.  I only included one children's book, although I read many, many more with the 6yo and 8yo over the course of the year. The one I included was Matt Haig's A Boy Called Christmas, partly because I read all of it (rather than it being a joint effort between the 8yo and me) and partly because I enjoyed it more than any of the other books I read with the kids last year.

Books by month

I was also interested to see if I read at the same rate through the year.  The chart below shows how many books I finished in each month. As you can see, there is a wide variation - from zero books finished in June to 12 books finished in April.  This mainly reflects the timing of my annual leave during the year, and that in January I deleted Facebook and Twitter from my phone temporarily. June was a very hectic month for various reasons and so reading went out of the window for a bit.

Books by Source

One of the things I really wanted to get out of last year's challenge was to read books that I otherwise would not have come across.  I also resolved that I would try as far as possible to read any book that I was recommended to me by a friend, even if it really didn't appeal to me. When I looked back at the source of the books I read, I was surprised to see that more than a third of them were either gifts, recommended by a friend, or inspired by people I follow on twitter or blogs I read during the year.

When I reflect on the books I enjoyed the most they were mainly from among those that had been recommended to me.

The best books

The best non-fiction book I read was The Unthinkable: Who survives when disaster strikes - and why by Amanda Ripley.  It was recommended to me by one of my friends and is an absolutely fascinating look at how people react to disasters and stressful situations.  In particular it gave me some very interesting insights into how the correct training in medicine can help doctors to overcome their natural response to stressful situations and apply basic principles to ensure they react to emergencies appropriately. 

Among the autobiographies I read, the stand-out one was Matt Haig's Reasons to Stay Alive.  I learned of its existence by following Matt Haig on twitter - so you could say it was recommended to me by the author itself.  It is a brilliant book about surviving, and living with, depression and is one of the books that I will be keeping because I know I will read it again and again.

The best fiction book (well, technically science fiction) was The Martian by Andy Weir.  I read it just after having seen the film and absolutely loved it.  It kept me up until 3am as I could not bear the idea of going to bed without having read the ending.  As is almost always the case, it was much better than the film - although I must say that I really loved the film as well. 

More than any of these books though, one of the books that I read last year changed my life.  That book was Why We Get Fat: And What to Do about It by Gary Taubes.  It was one of many books I read last year about diet, and the one that inspired me to start following a Low Carb High Fat diet. 

Next Year

For next year, I plan to try and read a book a week again, because I enjoyed it so much, but I won't put myself under pressure to do so.  I would also like to continue keeping the spread sheet, as it has been really interesting for me to go back over the year and see which books I read.

If you'd like to have a look at all the books I read in 2015, you can find the complete list on Goodreads

LCHF Take 2

Boxing Day is the new New Year for me.  I've fallen off the LCHF wagon in quite a spectacular way over the last couple of months, to the extent that my weight is back up to my starting level.  Interestingly my waist measurement is not quite back to where it was, so I'm hopeful that at least some of the excess weight is water.

There are several reasons why I started eating too many carbohydrates again, but it has taught me four very important things:

1) I am clearly very insulin resistant.  My body's response to eating carbohydrates again was almost frightening in the way I craved bread, pasta and potatoes almost instantly after eating that first bowl of pasta.

2) I am addicted to sugar, and in particular poor quality chocolate.  Once I start eating milk chocolate I find it genuinely difficult to stop.  Back when I was firmly following a LCHF diet earlier in the year, the occasional bit of 85% chocolate was fine, but it turns out that with milk chocolate I really can't stop at just one piece.

3) I am probably not someone who can have a 'cheat day'.  I comprehensively fell off the wagon after I allowed myself to eat some sweets at Halloween - not even 2 months later and I have regained all the weight I had lost.

4) While I don't have coeliac disease, my gut's reaction to going back to gluten and sugar was 'interesting'.  I'm really looking forward to not feeling bloated anymore in a few day's time...

So, back to LCHF it is.  Starting today, rather than 1st January, so that it is very firmly not a New Year's Resolution.  In addition to looking at all the websites I used before (such as Diet Doctor) I have also signed up to the Banting online course.  I already have the Real Meal Revolution cook book, but I feel that the course will give me the kick start I need.

As the website does everything in kilos, my new starting weight is 89.2kg.  This is a lot more than I should weigh, given that I am only 160cm tall.  I do feel more confident than I ever did when re-starting WeightWatchers though, as I know already that I won't become irrationally hungry, and that I will enjoy all the food I eat.  It does mean I have to be very organised with pack lunches for work, but I'm up for the challenge.

Starting on Boxing Day is a surprisingly good idea as it turns out - the fridge is full of leftover turkey, bacon, sausages and cheese, so the first few days should be easy.

Wheezing and Junior Doctors

I've never used this blog to talk about the NHS before, but today I feel I need to:

Yesterday our 8yo was very, very wheezy. After following our inhaler escalation plan he was still wheezy. On a Sunday evening at 6pm. We rang the out-of-hours GP service and a doctor rang us back within 15 minutes. She felt he needed to go to A&E and that ideally it would be in an ambulance. We explained we were 4 minutes from our local hospital by car, so she advised we drive him straight there rather than waiting for an ambulance, so he could be treated quicker.

A&E was incredibly busy, but we were triaged by a nurse within 3 minutes of arriving and saw a doctor (a "junior" doctor) within 10 minutes. After more treatment the 8yo was still wheezy, so he was given some steroids and more of his inhalers, with a plan for him to be reviewed and re-examined by a doctor within an hour.

Despite the fact that the department was so busy we had to sit in the waiting room rather than a hospital bed we were reviewed on time by both a lovely nurse and a very kind and polite "junior" doctor.

After 4 hours in A&E his wheezing had improved enough that we were able to go home. We were given a comprehensive treatment plan and very concrete advice as to what to do if he did not continue to improve.

Everyone we saw was kind and considerate, and no one complained about how busy it was. They apologised for the lack of a bed for the 8yo to rest on while waiting to be reviewed, but his treatment was not in any way compromised.

This, by the way was in an A&E department that our health secretary tried to shut down, but which remained open after a vociferous local campaign.

By the time we got home it was midnight. The department was still busy when we left, and the staff were working together to look after all the sick children still waiting to be seen.

So when you see a "junior" doctor on a picket line tomorrow remember these things:
- We already have a 24-hour health service.
- It is one of the best in the world.
- It is already operating at more than capacity.

What we need is more doctors, more nurses, more radiographers, more pharmacist, more physiotherapists, more midwives and more support staff.

We do not need more cuts, or less pay for more hours worked, or a further demoralised workforce.

We should all be working together to fight for our NHS. Please join me in supporting our junior doctors when they take action tomorrow.

Ankles and recipes

One of the first things that happened when I started cutting carbs from my diet was that my ankles reappeared. I have had slightly swollen ankles for as long as I can remember - worse on hot days, and terrible after long-haul flights. When I was pregnant my legs swelled so much that I was asked to monitor my urine every day for protein as my obstetrician was worried I was going to develop pre-eclampsia.  I never did get pre-eclampsia, but I did have a very impressive weight loss after both babies were born, due mainly to losing water.

I remember that my mother used to get swollen ankles too, so I assumed that it was just genetic, and that there was nothing I could do about it.  Even when I lost quite a lot of weight after my second child was born I still had very swollen ankles, especially on hot days.  And then I started the low-carb high fat diet.  My ankle reappeared within a week - I couldn't believe it.

Here's a picture of my legs from about 2 weeks before I cut out the carbs.  I barely have an ankle at all, and some horrid creases from how swollen they are.

And here are my legs today - you'll note I am also sporting a lovely pedicure. As you can see, I now have bona fide ankles again, despite today being a very hot day here in the UK.

My weight has been stable for 4 weeks now, which is frustrating, but also understandable.  I've been on holiday for the last 2 weeks and have drunk quite a lot more wine than normal.  I have also eaten the odd poppadom.  Those things combined have clearly pushed my carbohydrate levels over my personal limit.  I'm back at work next week, so I'm confident that I can get back to eating a much lower level of carbohydrates, along with drinking less alcohol. 

It will also be easier to stick to a strict low-carb high-fat diet seeing as my new cookbook arrived this week - The Real Meal Revolution by Tim Noakes, Jonno Proudfoot and Sally-Ann Creed.  It contains an essay from Tim Noakes explaining the science behind the eating plan, and some absolutely fabulous looking recipes.  So far we have already tried the cottage pie and the mackerel and avocado breakfast.  Both were excellent, and I have plans to try several more recipes over the next few weeks. 

Obese to Overweight

After 12 weeks of following a low carb high fat diet I have now lost 10% of my bodyweight.  I have also reduced my BMI from 32.4 to 29.2 - this means I have moved down from the Obese category to the Overweight category.

The numbers don't really matter though.  What matters is that this week I bought a new pair of jeans and two new tops, and I chose the ones that looked good in the mirror, not the only ones in the shop that fitted.  And I feel great in them. I have also received several comments from people this week who have noticed that I have lost weight.  Although I am very definitely doing this for myself, it was still rather lovely to realise that other people have noticed and it is always good to get a compliment or two.

Two of my work colleagues have been so impressed with my weight loss so fart that they have also adopted a low carb high fat diet.  They asked me for a book recommendation, so I've advised them to buy Gary Taube's book, Why We Get Fat, as that is the one I found the most useful.  So far my colleagues have lost more than 6 pounds each, in just 2 weeks, which is brilliant.  My next plan is to move the office over to full fat milk for our tea and coffee.

Hunger

On all the many diets I have tried in my life there was always one constant theme - hunger. No matter how many vegetables I ate, and how much I tried to bulk up meals with "zero-point" food, a couple of hours after eating I would be hungry again.

I was also always hungry when I woke up in the morning. This often meant that I was unable to even have a lie-in at the weekend, as I would be woken before 8am by my protesting stomach, insisting that I go downstairs and put some breakfast in it immediately.

Now that I have been eating low carb high fat for nearly 7 weeks I am delighted to say that my hunger has almost totally disappeared and it is a revelation.  A couple of weeks ago I had to go to the dentist so didn't have breakfast.  I then had a filling and was advised not to eat until the numbness had worn off.  As a result I ate nothing at all until 2pm - and nothing bad happened.  I was a little bit hungry by about midday, but not grumpy and was still able to concentrate at work perfectly well.

I was away at a conference this week and there was no suitable food at lunch time.  Instead of panicking and eating unsuitable food in case I got hungry later, I just didn't eat lunch.  I didn't manage to get to any food I could eat until 6pm, and incredibly, I genuinely wasn't hungry during that time.  I was aware by about 3pm that I would probably appreciate some food, but it didn't feel like hunger and it certainly wasn't uncomfortable.  I also didn't overeat at dinner.

With previous eating plans I just would not have been able to go from breakfast until 6pm without being uncomfortably hungry, and when food did come along I would have eaten much more than I needed.

Also, I have now lost 10 pounds and 12cm from around my waist - without any calorie counting at all.

Long may this continue!

The sun is up

Most mornings now I am woken up by a little person standing by the side of my bed saying "the sun is up mummy".

They are not referring to the actual sun (thankfully, as at this time of year in the UK that would make it 5.15am), but to their Gro-Clock. We bought it 5 years ago when our youngest arrived and her older brother was going through a phase of waking very, very early in the morning.  That, combined with a tiny baby waking often in the night to breastfeed made for an extremely tired household for a while.

In the midst of it all we bought the Gro-Clock to try and persuade our oldest to sleep through the night.   If you've never seen one, it is a back-lit clock with a night setting and a day setting.  You set the time you want the day setting to come on, which is when the 'Sun' comes up, and during the night there is a big star with little stars around the edge.  The stars count down until morning, so that when there is only 1 star left the kids now that it is nearly time to get up.  It's very clever, particularly in a country like the UK where the sun rises at 4.45am in June and 7.50am in December, so that you really do need to know what time it is to know when to get up in the morning.

I'll be honest, it didn't work straightaway, and we ended up paying a sleep consultant to help us (separately, best money I have ever spent) encourage him to sleep through the night.  We persevered with it though, as we liked the simplicity of it, and both kids really liked seeing the Sun come up, even though in the beginning they viewed it more as decoration than instruction.  It also comes with a cute bedtime story book which explains to the kids how it works.

In the last couple of years though, it has really come into its own.  Our oldest is now 7 and wakes up between 6 and 6.30am most days.  However he rarely comes to wake us up before 7am, and sometimes it is as late as 7.30.  He wakes up, sees how many stars are left on the 'Sun Clock' and then either tries to go back to sleep or quietly goes downstairs, feeds the cat and then plays with his toys or reads a book.  He then comes upstairs every so often to check the Clock, and once the Sun is up he comes in to wake us up.

Our youngest does the same - although clearly on the days they both wake up before the Sun is up they don't always manage to stay quiet enough for us to sleep in for a bit.  There was a particularly good weekend a while ago though when the 7yo came into our room at 7.50am and said: "The sun is up, I've fed the cat and given [the 5yo] her breakfast.  Could you come and do my breakfast now?"  The only reason he felt it necessary to wake us was because he didn't want cereal like his sister and thankfully didn't think he should open the baked bean tin himself.

Both kids can now tell the time, but that's hard to do in the dark, so for now we're sticking with the Gro-Clock.  It also got us through jet lag after a recent trip to Australia.  I didn't realise it until a couple of days later when the 7yo said: "I woke up loads of times last night Mummy, once there were still 6 stars left on the clock and once there were 3, but I went back to sleep until there was only 1 star and then I went downstairs'.  How impressive is that?




Note: I have not been sponsored to write this post, but if you click on one of the links and buy a Gro-clock (or something else) from Amazon then I will receive a tiny commission.