I discovered "paleo" eating last year and for about six months it worked really well for me and I followed it strictly. Then a number of things happened in my personal life and combined with some mental health issues this resulted in some serious lapses and consumption of a lot of high sugar and high gluten foods.

I'm on a mission to get my mood back under control, and the biggest step in this is to control my blood sugar. As an incentive to stay on track I have decided to start a journal here so that I can better see where I am going wrong and also so that I am publicly accountable for the crap I put in my body.

For me the health benefits of "paleo" come from focusing on lots of plant foods and sufficient quantities of animal foods to meet protein and other nutrient requirements. Getting adequate protein and fat has been important for me. I believe fat is healthy but I don't think that adding loads of refined fats (e.g. oils) to the diet is helpful, any more than adding refined carbohydrates is. I also don't believe carbs are inherently unhealthy - merely that they need to be used in suitable quantities depending on activity levels. I don't do well with gluten but personally I think that non gluten containing grains, legumes and dairy are all ok to use in the diet if they work well for you.

For the first week of this journal I am going to attempt a low carbohydrate diet to mitigate some of the damage I have done in the past week due to a high consumption of sugar. I'm also going to be going fairly low calorie. I'm an active person so this is going to be tough. I wouldn't recommend this method to anyone else. The only reason I am choosing to do it is because there evidence that low calorie and low carbohydrate diets can be used to reverse insulin resistance at the early stages. I'll be going a little bit easier on myself with exercise this week if I feel I need to.

I seriously expect this week to be absolute hell. I'm going to use this journal to vent and to remind myself to stay on track. Wish me luck!

Hi warren, yes I'm quite familiar with low carb believe me

By a curious twist of events I’m going to be eating rather different kinds of meat than I normally do this week. I have literally eaten chicken maybe 3 times in the past year, but for bizarre reasons I’ve ended up with a  pack in my fridge this week (organic, free range) and despite not really liking it I have to use it up! Usually for lunch I have lamb heart or sprats or some kind of cheap steak in salad, usually with a couple of avocadoes a week. But this week is going to be boring and repetitive until all this damn chicken is gone. So today’s lunch was grilled (broiled for Americans I think!) chicken in a salad made of shredded carrot and courgette with olive oil, ginger and lemon dressing. Plain but did the job. I’m expecting an afternoon slump because based on my last meals my body will have been waiting for a large influx of sugar with my meal. But I’m ready for it. I’ve been guzzling green and herbal tea all morning and I’ll keep at it this afternoon to keep myself feeling fresh.