To eat a packet of biscuits a day?

[Havett]

I’m not fat, probably slightly underweight. I eat lots of fruit and veg and a healthy ish diet. I just can’t cut out biscuits or chocolate! I often eat a packet a day and then a Mars bar or bit of chocolate too. How bad is this? I’m late 30s

I would try to change your eating habits and reduce your sugar intake now, to avoid problems down the line when you're older. Could you start by cutting down to every other day, or weekends only? It's also generally true that the less you have, the less you crave. I used to have a real sweet tooth but found I could no longer get away with it once I hit perimenopause. I cut back a lot and felt much better for it.

You can get scales that measure your internal/visceral fat these days. Mine is 2.1 and overall body fat is 18.4%. Just because you eat biscuits doesn't mean you have visceral fat but yes, being thin doesn't mean you don't.
The scales are only about £25 and have been an eye opener for muscle mass (mines very high which I didn't expect), bone mass and body water amongst a lot of others. Really easy to see if anything obvious is hugely wrong or low. Annoyingly all I can see if my weight and fat going down and water levels rising!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07WF6Q7FS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The problem is if it’s someone like me and presumably OP - they’d just work their way through the individual biscuit packing. So it’s better they just don’t buy biscuits at all or at least not as frequently.

My office used to have these and I’d sneak away to a meeting room to do work and munch through them 😆but I deliberately didn’t buy them for my home because then I couldn’t get away from them. Plus I’m less shy about bingeing at home lol

I could easily eat a packet of biscuits a day! Especially if tea dunking was involved.
If you're slim, then I don't really see the issue. Maybe you could try and have more high energy food that's a bit more nutritious. Nuts, granola, avocado toast, yoghurt, crudites w hummus etc?
But there's no point in feeling bad about it. I eat a lot of sugar and know I should cut down but it's very addictive. I drink coca cola which is the worst!
Just make sure you visit the dentist regularly.

Same here I don't buy them in.
If I recieve box of biscuits for Christmas I give them away to my neighbour who is quite grateful.

Why the whole packet in one go? It’s would make me sick. I love biscuits and cake but one piece at a time.
Have you tried just taking a few out and then putting the packet well out of reach till tomorrow.
You know it’s not healthy for your body.
you are addicted to sugar.

If you're slim, then I don't really see the issue.

Diabetes and heart disease affects skinny people too. Slim =/= healthy.

Isn't a packet a packet psychologically?

I don’t know why some people are saying you’re slim so it’s ok , it’s absolutely ridiculous.

even when I was size 6-8 and working my way through entire cakes and having daily pastries, sugary coffee and sweets that it wasn’t healthy. I offset a lot of it through walking loads but even then it wasn’t great.

We really need to improve the health education in this country, so people stop equating being slim with being healthy.

I’m definitely not the model for healthy eating but at least I can recognise when something is unhealthy.

OP do not listen to the trash advice that it’s ok to consume excessive amounts of sugar if you’re slim.

You may be feeling 'healthy' now, but this poor diet WILL catch up with you eventually. Better to knock this on the head now.

Have a look at Dr Mark Hyman's The Sugar Solution. It is very enlightening and explains the addictive nature of sugar and the health consequences of excessive sugar consumption really well.

More accessible and 'bite sized' are the short videos of Dr Becky Gillaspy on YouTube. For instance:

This.
Diabetes & high cholesterol, increased risk of CVD etc.

I see what you mean and can’t speak for the OP but unfortunately it doesn’t work that way with me. I’d subconsciously see it as I hadn’t eaten a proper packet of biscuits so I’d eat quite a few which is what I did in my office.

It might work for some people but most likely if you have a binge eating habit -which this is - it won’t work completely although possibly it may well reduce the amount of biscuits you consume, not sure 🤔 can’t remember exactly how many I used to eat.

That’s going to be quite a lot of calories with no real nutritional benefits.

To still be underweight, that likely means you’re not eating much other food either so it’s likely you’re lacking in things your body needs, or possibly there’s a health issue.

Do what you want, but I wouldn’t continue if I was you. Weight is only one part of health.

It’s bad for you even if you’re not gaining weight. The recommended intake of added sugar is around 30g per day. That’s because the human body isn’t good at processing much beyond that. The excess gets turned into fat in the liver and messes with your metabolism. In the long run, excess sugar consumption is related to diabetes, heart disease, dementia, cancer, kidney damage, high blood pressure, accelerated skin aging and the list goes on.

I love sugar too, so I understand wanting to eat a lot of it. People like Robert Lustig convinced me to limit my sugar consumption significantly. It’s so bad for you, even if you can’t see the effects immediately. Eating like that for a day isn’t the end of the world, but constant overconsumption is unhealthy. I still eat biscuits and chocolate though, just smaller portions!

I think biscuits should be relatively easy to cut out - just don't buy them.

Chocolate (my downfall) is harder as it's so easy to pick up when refuelling the car or buying a paper.

Like others, as someone who absolutely loves chocolate (even when it's crappy chocolate that doesn't taste good any more), even though I'm slim & very fit, I recognise it's not good for me. In my 40s, I see the effect on my mood & metabolism. I have recently cut out all milk chocolate & had only 78% or 85% dark chocolate & this worked much better, and I ate more healthily (I'd often go to the gym, eat no breakfast, then have chocolate instead).

Then I had a stressful & emotionally challenging week. Didn't eat properly & was straight back to eating excessive amounts of chocolate. I feel rubbish now so back I go again to the attempt to stop.

In my case it's linked with stress & emotional issues - simply, chocolate makes me feel good. If you can identify why you crave it so much, it's easier to find ways to limit or reduce it.

Are you buying seven packets of biscuits and seven Mars bars or other chocolate with the weekly food shop? Or going out daily to get it?

OP, I could have written this. BMI is about 18.7, so just a smidge above underweight, and I am a total chocolate fiend and biscuit goblin. I am trying to cut it down a little just because I've been getting an upset stomach of late, but I am an addict. Bad day? Comfort myself with a biscuit. Great day? Celebrate with some chocolate.

I have recently cut out all milk chocolate & had only 78% or 85% dark chocolate & this worked much better, and I ate more healthily (I'd often go to the gym, eat no breakfast, then have chocolate instead).

85% doesn't stop me eating it, or even 100% if I see it on offer. I can have biscuits or milk chocolate or sub 80% dark chocolate in the house and won't touch it as I'm not interested. I can eat six squares, 75g of 85% on a stressful day though!

Aldi individually wrapped bars compared with Lidl in one big bar does stop me psychologically from eating more than two 25g bars though. That's why I mentioned the little packets of biscuits.

Me too, if I'm being honest.

But, it stops the way I'd eat the other types of chocolate, kind of in passing, on the way past the fridge or when I'm tired / hungry but can't face making proper food

I do enjoy a square of dark chocolate with my tea (I drink herbal tea) & on a good day, that's a really nice treat.

If I'm wolfing down multiple squares, I'll feel a bit ill.

I don't drink (virtually), don't like savoury treats, don't like takeaways, chocolate feels like my one indulgence! So I'm resentful I can't just eat it normally.

I'm going to persist with my current scheme & hope I can stick with it. In the few weeks I was not eating 'normal' chocolate, I actually went off the taste of it so it was annoying to me that I so easily went back to snaffling bars that weren't actually nice!

Yes, me too!

Same. I do eat chocolate daily but just one of those bars

Someone on Mumsnet used to talk about the No S Diet: no snacks, sweets or seconds except on Saturdays, Sundays, special days and sick days.

I quite like that as a description of a fairly sane lifestyle: treats are allowed but they should be treats not every day. I am currently trying to bring my alcohol consumption to that level too.

That’s a lot of sugar and no nutrients. Think of your teeth if not your weight

It's a lot, though biscuits come in different sized packages of course. I struggle to only take a few so just don't buy them very often and don't have chocolate in the house. Thankfully I'm not keen on massed products chocolate bars so resist (now dark chocolate that's different)