So… What is our journey? Well, presently, for our health, my partner and I are on a VLCD. This is a Very Low Calorie Diet, consisting of 800kcals per day, and is also known as a liquid diet, or shakes and soups diet. The reasons for this I am going to leave private, but it involves reducing and altering medication amounts for long term disabilities and comorbidities. One of us has been placed on the diet because we cannot take two medications at once, the diet hopes to solve this problem, and the other of us is doing it partly because it may be beneficial for a certain disability, and partly for moral support. It is easier to get through if you have someone with you in misery!
My personal findings about these diets is firstly that there are a lot of misunderstandings. The diet is initially for 12 weeks, but the whole thing is a year long endeavour. At the end of the 12 weeks, you wean back onto food one meal at a time. Rather than just returning to food though, you are moving on to a Mediterranean style of eating. We’ll be moving gradually onto this from July 2025.
The best Mediterranean diet and recipe ideas for beginners
So, what is a Mediterranean diet? The word diet is misleading here, because it isn’t one. It has lots of fats, and you eat everything available. It focuses meal choices though on those from the Blue Zones of the Mediterranean. These areas are well known for dietary choices that result in longer life, good heart health, and other beneficial results.
The Mediterranean diet - What are Blue Zones? - Greener Kirkcaldy
The word Mediterranean is also a bit misleading, as a large blue zone is Okinawa, Japan. What we’re looking for are areas where people are clever about what they eat, and use their food to feel good, not just as a quick fix.
Straight away, this is a problem for people with disabilities, because the first thing we are is too tired to make food. So what we need to do is take a few short cuts to achieve a Mediterranean lifestyle result. One example is the big snack, hummus and crudites. You don’t have to make hummus fresh, even though a lot of recipes suggest that you do. Buy a decent brand, check the ingredients for any unexpected nasties, and use it with fresh veggies; this is definitely good enough for the situation we’re in, or at least it’s better than where I was - not eating at all or picking up crisps and chocolate.