Alice

"Before I attended CAN, I didn’t know about the right foods. I didn’t understand the GI index about things being high or low, so they taught me about using your blood sugar and how to control it. I didn’t actually have that knowledge, but now I know to eat the right food in relation to this, so it means for example I cut out things that are sugary or bad for my health. I also know about portion sizes, eating fruit and vegetables and changing my bread from having brown to seeded. So, in terms of diet, it has been very helpful for me to just improve and make small changes here and there.

I was also given a little red book which had various recipes and explained what’s wrong and what’s right to eat. I had a workbook as well which recorded my goals, before and what I was doing afterwards and how I was shopping. I had to think about all the various things I had to do to achieve my goals. I had to make sure I was walking more, doing more exercise, I got a pedometer to record my 10,000 steps.

Having smaller meals that has been good, so has having the pedometer on me and I’m thinking of doing a little swimming and I am keen to join the walking group. I want to use the cookbook still as there are still some recipes I haven’t tried. I want to eat more green vegetables, also have lamb, use lentils and try chicken with the skin off. Remembering the amount of oil to use and using rapeseed oil is also important. In the long term I might do some things of my own too.

Overall, I enjoyed my time at CAN. Meeting new mothers is really good, the team was friendly, easy to talk to and I didn’t feel judged, which is important because women who are a bit big do feel judged."