Two books have arrived. Second hand from Amazon, but they look unread.
But before I go onto them, I should say something about The Harcombe Diet book, since it has helped me lose 4lbs in 5 days of eating bigger meals than I usually do! It is subtitled Stop Counting the Calories and Start Losing Weight. (Subtitles are popular have you noticed? I think I might subtitle my blog 'Staying Sane in a Mad World'.)
Zoe Harcombe's advice is to eat real food, good quality food, and plenty of it. She asserts that the mantra 'eat less, do more' is the cause of our problems with weight. Her answer is 'eat better, do whatever you like'. Eating less she says, doesn't make you lose weight, it makes you lose energy. If you eat real, healthy foods and your body sees that it is going to get regular, nutritious meals 3 times a day it won't have to store fat.......seems to work for me. The one biggest rule is don't eat processed food.
I find her arguments convincing - so I am on to phase 2 - less strict than phase 1, but still for weight loss, until your body reaches its natural weight. The three rules of phase 2 are: don't eat processed food, don't eat fats and carbohydrates at the same meal, and don't eat the foods you have cravings for (sugar for me).
There are recipes in the book, and we liked them so much we also bought the separate recipe book. Among our favourites is Moroccan mince, Carribean chicken and seafood curry.
It all feels right to me. I know it makes sense, and I feel less driven by cravings and more like I am just enjoying food in a sane way. Simplicity in other words.
The two new books are - In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan (no not Palin, Pollan) and Enough by John Naish. I'll probably have read them by tonight so will report back tomorrow....