to wish nigela or someone on the BBC did a low carb show

[laurageordie]

Just watched tom whots his name make a tart that contained a breichoe (*) a whole pack of butter and a whole pack of sugar. He said it tasted amazing, but that it hardly surprising!

I'd be more impressed if someone made food not laced in fat and sugar taste amazing, that would take skill.

Nigela probably is a low carber too, despite all her talk of her eating whatever she likes.

Ah, but the most recent nutrition science has found that calories, counting them, is not a effective way to diet. The psychology of it is almost self defeating.

It seems there has to be something else - hence all the variations of 'no counting' diets.

I'd like to see a cookery programme based on 'normal' foods. Simple, balanced food, not specific meals, not low anything, just foods you can eat over a week and be healthy on. So sausage egg and chips would be included, home made pizza too.

Or, more basically, pass a law about the size of plates...

nomama there is a small plate movement in America. www.small plate movement.org
Personally I believe that is the most important change I made to my eating habits.
As regards cookery programmes, I think the best thing to do is to think of these recipes as treat food, for special occasions rather than every day food, which should be more 'fuel' for the body.

Will repost that link www.smallplatemovement.org

Is there? That website sounds more like geology, tectonics than a healthy eating site

We have 2 small plates, it has made a difference to our meals. Easy to do and you really don't notice the change in the amount of food.

OMG, that site is really good. Very visual and blunt.

When in Japan recently, I noticed very few overweight people, except westerners who often were. You can't move for restaurants and they're always busy so why so slim? The diet is heavy on the carbs, too.

What was evident was that meals did not usually have a pudding, all meals were sit down, no grazing, and chopsticks mean you slow down a bit. There's a lot of walking because of fewer cars in the big cities which probably helps.

On the other hand I've never seen so many cake shops.

I understand there's a lot of social pressure not be fat, though I obviously couldn't confirm it.

I don't like cake, so no temptation there, but ate well, had a drink and still lost weight while there.

echt - you're not wrong. Worldwide obesity statistics here suggest Japan is the least obese country in the world.

France is also very low down on the list, yet famous for a cuisine full of butter, sugar, red meat, cheese, cream etc. I live in France now, and have noticed one big thing is that snacking is very rare. The absolute norm is three sit-down meals a day, with nothing inbetween (except pre-dinner 'aperos' on special occasions for adults, and the 4 o clock 'gouté' for children). People spend a long time at the dinner table, but they tend to eat slowly rather than eat a lot.

riverboat I don't think Japan is the least obese country in the world. There's only a few countries on that list, and it doesn't seem to list any 3rd world countries. That's not to say they're not getting it right though, they're certainly a lot lower than us.

Yes, we all seem to forget the third world when we talk about least obese countries.

But Japan is quite inspiring if looking from a first world perspective (ie. they have all the money and resources to be obese if they chose to be).

Fluffy I cut down on fat. Weetabix and almond milk for breakfast, wholemeal pitta or rice or jacket potato for lunch, vegetarian cottage pie and the like for tea. I was barely overweight to begin with but wanted to lose some more. Low fat. That's alI I did. I'm now 9 stone. Just wanted to make the point that carbs are not the devil. Good carbs are important.

Enchancia Good fats and protein are important too...

Ahh. Thanks for coming back on to reply enchancia.

I lost a stone (back in my late teens) just by cutting out butter/marg from my diet. Literally just stopped buttering my bread. It took a while; 6 months or so if i remember rightly. It was the first 'diet' i went on, i knew nothing about carbs/fats/protein, and i simply thought to myself 'butter is fat - i want to loose fat - i'll stop eating fat'. I know know it's twisted logic ...

It's just less calories at the end of the day isn't it? sigh

I know capsium, I was having 'healthy fats' - but generally low fat. And lots of protein.

I think that's it fluffy, it is just less calories when it comes down to it but everyone prefers different ways of cutting the calories I guess! My daughter is diabetic and we've done a lot of 'carb classes' so I'm a bit of a bore on this topic!

My friend was doing 'low carb' and was horrified when I told her that there were more carbs in the banana she was eating than there would be in a slice of wholemeal bread.

Following on from the comments about Japan, France, etc - I think this guy talks a lot of sense, www.nosdiet.com/

I pretty much totally agree with him when he says:

"People talk about the "French Paradox," that the French can eat fatty, carby, delicious food and still stay skinny while health conscious, calorie counting Americans are the fattest people on earth. It seems not only improbable, but unjust. They love their food and stay skinny, we hate our food and get fat.

Sometimes red wine or olive oil or some other miracle ingredient is held to account for this. But the thing is, this phenomenon is not so particularly French. Look to any country where meals and meal times are still largely governed by tradition and you'll find the same thing: people make their food choices based on taste instead of health and somehow stay thin. Japan is often held up as another example. They also have miracle foods. But their miracle foods are completely different from the French miracle foods. And keep in mind that obesity rates in most places are closer to those of France and Japan than to ours. What do all these countries have in common? Not miracle foods. We're the schmucks that believe in miracle foods. What they have in common is traditional structures around when and what and how you eat. The details may differ a little from country to country, but there is a surprising degree of overlap. Eating is social, not solitary. It occurs at set times, not all day long. There is a difference between ordinary, everyday foods and special festive treats."

I am not keen on low carbs myself. I am busy with work and dcs and find I need the energy. I think carbs are a necessary part of life - by which I mean starchy slow release carbs, not sugar. If anything we eat too much protein in the west.

However, I sometimes wonder if there is something in the blood type diet as I am an A and need carbs but not much protein, whereas DH is an O, and every O I have met seems fine with low carbs (in fact they seem fine with low food full stop, not much sleep etc). This is purely anecdotal though.

Personally I know I need plenty of food to keep going (including carbs) and plenty of sleep (unlikely to happen). I have a very fast metabolism and suffer from indigestion if I go too long between food, so it may all just be me.

I am not keen on low carbs myself. I am busy with work and dcs and find I need the energy. I think carbs are a necessary part of life - by which I mean starchy slow release carbs, not sugar. If anything we eat too much protein in the west.

Grains are a relatively new introduction to our diet. When people say carbs they are usually referring to grains and these are defo not needed. Carbs are responsible for a lot of tooth decay also.

laura I definitely noticed a positive difference by upping my protein levels. I was fuller for longer and became leaner and stronger.

In the 80s, when I first started considering nutrition, the importance of protein was not really emphasised. So I ate very little protein as a result. I was getting fatter and had no energy and was hungry all the time.

However, I agree you can eat too much protein, which causes it's very own problems and the amount we individually need will vary depending on build and activity.

capsium - "White bread etc contains simple carbohydrate. You need whole meal, seeded, wild rice etc (for complex carbohydrates)"

Not true, sorry. Starch is a complex carbohydrate. Yes, wholewheat is better for you because it has more nutrients (Vit Bs etc) but white bread and white rice are also complex carbohydrates that need to be broken down into simple carbohydrates in the body during digestion.

What you might be trying to say here is that white bread, white rice etc are higher GI foods than their wholewheat counterparts. That is true, but they are still complex carbohydrates, not simple carbohydrates.

"wonder if there is something in the blood type diet as I am an A and need carbs but not much protein"

I'm also blood type A and love my animal protein. I have no interest in bread, never have, and can do without other carbs, too.

That blood type diet has been thoroughly discredited a long time ago.

Cote Ah, it's a while since I did Biology and I guess it may be showing. In my brain I was separating out sugars, simple carbohydrates (I took to mean starches) and complex carbohydrates (I remembered as meaning they have longer chemical chains and more fibre content). I did wonder after I posted. More fibre content is slower GI - I do know that, having read about Glycemic indexes more recently...

I love watching food programs if I catch them, usually for a little bit of inspiration but I do agree with op that a high proportion of recipes used in these programs have a horrendous amount of calories. I'd love to see some chefs attempt to give us some inspiration for 'healthy' meals, I'd love to mix it up a bit when my jeans are getting a little tight and I realise I need to start doing something about it.... I blame the bake off!

Why do you need a TV show? Just cut them out if you want to

Not sure about a ‘diet’ TV show. TV cookery shows are basically for food porn purposes!

Loads of good blogs and websites if you are interested in learning how to cook some inventive low-carb things.

Dale Pinnock does some really great looking food. Lots of veggies and healthy stuff but it tastes amazing. I have 2 of his books. I would love it if he did a TV show.

I think the Japanese might simply eat less (meaning smaller portions), and as someone mentioned chop sticks slow you done more, meaning the 'full' signal registered when less food has been eaten

Also dairy isn't a large part of their diet (especially cheese)

As for the French I can't really comment - especially as the of only French people I've ever properly know (two men and three women) one man was over weight, one man wasn't and commented and put down his wife (one of the French women I knew) regarding her weight telling her to go on a diet (and she wasn't overweight) and she would obey and generally deprived herself of food, and the other woman simple was careful about that she ate, in a very ie her portions where large, she only ate when hungry and she only ate indulgent food occasionally, she did eat all food types.