My main dietary problems are binging on crappy food, and guilt. When I’m guilty I will switch to super healthy stuff, or eat less than enough to satisfy, leading to another binge. It’s a vicious cycle.

So, after a bit of reading around on the French Paradox, I thought I would try it out. I went to France for three months when I was 15, and despite eating far richer and ‘naughtier’ foods than I ever ate in Australia (e.g. brie, croissants, non-lean meat), I only gained a little bit of weight. I think the people I stayed with generally ate a bit worse than the average French family, but if I ate a similar diet but, for example, fruit salad instead of a second croissant with Nutella for afternoon tea, it would be ideal. I’m now vegetarian, so that provides further opportunity for improvement on their diet.

Today I went shopping and bought some small croissants, camembert, eggs, haloumi, Lindt dark orange chocolate, creamy berry yogurt (I always bought high-sugar ‘diet’ yogurt before), and good quality wholemeal bread. I also made a batch of fresh fruit salad for snacking. I already have pasta and tomato sauce, plus tofu for Asian cooking. I want to focus on making smaller meals that I enjoy, rather than chosing certain foods out of a sense of obligation.