Mini-battles

I went back up to Malvern last night to go visit my dad, and to pick up my new phone handset which had been delivered there over the weekend.

One if the problems I always encounter at Dad's is the sheer amount of crappy food he keeps round the place. It's a sore subject for me, because he always moans about his weight but eats atrociously.

He confuses restricting his food for eating healthily, but what he eats is pure rubbish. Take yesterday for example, he told me he'd eaten tea before I got there, and when I guessed he'd just eaten toast (I could smell it in the kitchen) he admitted it was actually just a buttered teacake!!! In response to my sighed "oh Dad!", he said that it was fine because he'd had a bit of haggis and some tomatoes for lunch which was a "proper meal". He has no idea. At all.

No vegetables, no lean proteins. Too little fruit. Too much processed food. And far too much refined sugar. He thinks that if just eats less he'll lose weight, but instead of cutting out the junk, he cuts out the meals!! And then wonders why he gets hungry and snacks on biscuits and chocolate. The cupboards of full of them, but with very little real food to be seen. I utterly despair, because no matter what I say, he ignores me.

Of course, this means another challenge for me, because when I visit, I have to navigate the cupboards too. It's a smorgasbord of rubbish. If I make a decent dinner, it's still all sat in the cupboard singing its siren call all evening.

Last night, I wasn't too bad - not perfect but not terrible. I managed to get back to the flat to pack after work, and just grab a banana to tide me over til I got Dad's. Once there, I rustled up dome pasta with chicken and low fat creme fraiche. No veg other than onion, but a small portion was just enough. I did attack a couple of biscuits and a Tunnock's teacake, but it was all tracked. I just had to keep reminding myself why I need to be good: de-larding for the half-marathon while I have the time before training starts.

I managed to locate porridge with some frozen blueberries for breakfast this morning, and escaped the lure of the biscuit tin to make the drive back to Bristol. A mini-battle negotiated and won.

- Posted from my iPhone