Here are a few from me, an LL veteran of exactly two weeks!
1.
Your first week - clear your diary, take a duvet day or two if you can and load up on magazines, DVDs, smelly candles and whatnot. Your body will be changing fuel supply and while some people feel fine, I had headaches, nausea, wooziness and was incredibly tired. Drink the water and hang in there.
Do not meet friends in restaurants or cafes! Until you get into ketosis (after which you will probably feel loads better - I did) you may be physically hungry. Being around lots of food may make you feel miserable, so be kind to yourself and meet friends at their homes or yours. That's not to say become a hermit for all of Foundation! Just in the first week.
2.
If you have IBS or a sensitive stomach:
- Stick to the Fruits of the Forest water flavour. All the rest contain Inulin which is harmless but can irritate your stomach and cause, um, painful and embarrassing problems that can *really* mess with your day!
- However, if you suffer with constipation, the inulin, to all accounts, helps things along if you get me.
- The bars can also give you a windy belly the next day. I found the first bar I had caused the worst problems; after that they weren't so bad. But I only have a bar if I know I'm not going anywhere or doing anything important the next day
- Examine all the tablet medication you normally take before starting the diet. Some tablets contain sucrose, which can knock you out of ketosis. There should be sucrose-free alternatives available if you ask your chemist.
3.
If you don't want your entire office to know you're dieting, just take your porridge, soups and bars to work. You can make the soup in a mug and just tell people it's (drumroll) a Cup-A-Soup.
4.
Once you're in ketosis for a while, don't stay away from food completely. Go grocery shopping, prepare food in your household. I haven't found it too hard, it makes me feel less of a freakazoid whose only contact with food is opening a sachet(!) and it helps me think about the food choices I've made. If you see something particularly yummy, and all you can do is think about eating it, consider how you used to eat it (in my case: as quickly as possible) and imagine how you might eat it now (slowly, savouring every bite). I don't know if this is LL-allowed and it might be "dangerous food talk" so do take this with a pinch of salt (pun unintended!). I find it helps me look at my attitude to food though.
