Food

Lunch today: Tinned mackerel in a spicy tomato sauce with

 baby broad beans and a mug of instant chicken soup

The last month has been quite weird for me in terms of the food I have consumed. In the previous seventy two years. I ate and drank what the hell I wanted and there were no significant constraints placed upon me either by my inner voice or any health professionals I encountered. Nobody ever said to me, "You need to lose some weight!"

And so I carried on with breakfast cereals, rounds of toast, bacon sandwiches, potato crisps, curries with rice, generous Sunday dinners, fish and chips, stir fries with noodles, stews, pies, plenty of vegetables,  salads, puddings, fruit and biscuits. My appetite was often ravenous. Onlookers might have whispered, "My - he likes his food!"

And through the decades there were pints of beer and bottles and cans of beer at home.  Pubs and clubs and holidays. Guzzling beer like a champion. Of course, beer is also a foodstuff.

High blood pressure and the daily consumption of anti-hypertension pills led me to the obvious conclusion that I needed to lose weight. If successful, this would surely make the pills less necessary and help me to stave off the possibility of slipping into Type 2 diabetes. Less weight could therefore mean a longer life.

For the last month I have been on the weight loss reduction medication "Mounjaro" which I have to self-inject once a week. Since the start I have had no bread whatsoever apart from two mini-nan breads with chicken curries I made.

Breakfast has mostly been a mug of unsweetened tea, a banana  and a handful of dried fruit or grapes. Occasionally, I have had two boiled eggs without toast.

My lunch menu has been more varied. Sometimes soup without bread or toast, sometimes tinned mackerel or sardines with vegetable  accompaniment. There have been no snacks between meals and at night no supper apart from an occasional rice cake. However my evening meals have been as per normal with reduced carbohydrate content.

"Mounjaro" has certainly affected my appetite. The old cravings for food have been driven back into their kennel. The medication is helping me to look at food differently and to be much more wary about what I eat and my portion sizes too.

This past week I have deliberately not drunk any beer since Sunday night at the pub quiz though I have drunk five glasses of red wine and some Baileys cream liqueur.

Summing up - I am happy with way it has gone so far. Change is happening. It is as if I have grabbed myself by the scruff of the neck and said, "Wake up Mr Pudding! Your old relationship with food cannot carry on as before!" But these are early days with "Mounjaro". We will see where we are beyond Christmas.