So it’s January and gym’s everywhere are bursting at the seems with all the January gymmers. I bet the diet “food”industry are rubbing their hands in glee at this time of year too with everyone committing to lose weight in 2015. And of course, there are literally thousands of new banters joining the revolution (viva la revolution) around the country too.

I have been banting officially for one year and one day today! So I guess I’m a fairly experienced banter. Well that and I lost nearly 33kg’s last year following this way of life. The toughest challenge when embarking on the banting journey is changing your mindset and believe we, we’ve been so indoctrinated into what constitutes “healthy” eating, that changing your mindset, letting go of old idea’s and moving forward with banting is NOT an easy thing to do. You need to chuck out every notion you’ve ever had about low fat, low GI blah blah bullshit and start eating in exactly the way we’ve been taught could kill us!

Well, newsflash, here I am a year later, thinner and healthier than I’ve been in decades.

But that change is hard. I also see a lot of new banters trying to make banting fit into their old lifestyles, this is, in my humble opinion, a mistake. Especially if your initial motivation to bant is for weight loss. Yes, there are amazing banting cakes, baked goods and treats out there, but, again, just my opinion, they should be eaten in moderation and not on a daily basis. You really do want to curb your sweet cravings, especially in the beginning and the only way to do this is by cutting out all sugar and sweet foods. It’s tough, but it’s worth it.

New banters also seem to struggle with meal plans and meal idea’s, despite the wealth of literature available, both in the form of The Real Meal Revolution and online. It’s probably the number one question I get asked, to share my meal plan. I don’t have one to share. I’ve also chosen a very pragmatic approach to banting, I keep my meals simple. Of course, if we’re entertaining or feel like a treat, I will cook something special using a recipe from The Real Meal Revolution, but our every day meals are simple. Lots of fresh veg and salad, small portion of meat.

I’ve also noticed that new banters battle with other aspects of banting, for example, what to drink. I know it seems horrifying when you first hear you cannot have any soda’s, be they diet or otherwise, no cordials, in fact nothing except water, tea and coffee, but I promise, you get used to it and it’s not nearly as bad as you think it’s going to be.

If I had a $ for every time a new banter posted a pic to one of the plethora of banting support groups popping up on Face Book, of a food label asking if it’s ok, when the ingredients clearly state it is loaded with sugar and/or has a high carb content I’d be a wealthy woman. Successful banting also involves learning and making a habit of reading and understanding food labels.

There are also a number of people offering eating plans and advice, including concepts like egg/fat fasts etc, this, in my opinion again, is not banting. For me, banting is eating a wide variety of fresh, whole, real foods and I just don’t see how egg/fat fasts can possible fit into the ethos that is banting.

I believe that for successful banting, you want to stick as authentically as possible to the banting philosophy and here in South Africa, the best source would be  from The Real Meal Revolution and guess what? They’ve launched their online banting courses and January would be the perfect time for all new banters to sign up, learn about banting from the best possible source and get the information and support in the best possible way.

Why The Course

 

 

So if you’re keen to start banting but are not sure where to start, aside from getting your hands on a copy of The Real Meal Revolution, I’d suggest signing up for a course now.

beginner_banting_online_course

 

Oh and on a final note….. you really want to start banting so that you can lose weight and your pants will be loose! 🙂