Eatbetterers part 3 -gather around healthy people !

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Third thread of healthy eating, no calorie counting just good, healthy food for us and our families.

Thanks for the sympathy, folks. I veer from theory to theory. Will look into those diets, Sleep. I have mucked about with eliminating a few things but not for very long each time. One thing I am wondering about now is wheat. It occurred to me that doing low carb might have lowered my resistance to wheat. And my allergy was far far worse when I was in France, eating tons of baguettes, croissants etc. And it is, after all, a pretty common culprit in the allergy stakes.

You could try eliminating one or two things at a time Holmes, but it could take a very long time to whittle the candidates down properly. The diets I mention get the pain of elimination over in one go at least, and should give you some pretty clear evidence of what you are or aren't ok with. I'm not sure whether they consider the histamine thing however, which is why I didn't mention it before. I was also on holiday then - I have the books here at home and will have a look if there is any mention.

OK - the Whole30 makes reference to histamine response, I'd really recommend checking it out and seeing if you want to go for it. I would actually love to try it just to see what my body does (my body as my own experiment ) but that's not enough of an incentive to go through the tough process, you, with your hives, may feel differently .

Thanks Sleep - will check that out today!

Am starting the Whole 30 today. It's sort of funny that I'm embarking on a restrictive plan, considering that I came to this thread wanting to give up diets, but hopefully I can kick this allergy thing.

Plus, the allowed foods on the whole 30 are essentially meat, fish, eggs, fruit and veg, which are pretty much the main foods I was trying to eat anyway.

Thanks again for the pointers, Sleepwhenidie .

I see the irony completely Holmes, but of course it's not a diet for weight loss, but a means of figuring how best to nourish your body and weed out the foods that are causing it problems . Good luck (especially with the 1st week, it sounds like the toughest, although hopefully not too bad for you as you eat well already). Keep us posted about it!

Thanks. I am going to stick to the Whole30 as it stands to start with, regardless of the fact that some of the allowed foods are things which I have (probably entirely incorrectly ) suspected if being culprits for my allergy.

So... today

B: fruit
L: egg salad with new potatoes
D: roast chicken thighs with new potatoes and lots of veg

Just fruit for breakfast wasn't ideal - I was starving by 10:30! Must get back into my omelette habit!

The good thing is that if this exclusion diet's going to work, I guess I'll probably see a reduction in symptoms way before the 30 days are up.

Hello would love to join in with this thread as seems to fit with what I am trying to do. Not a diet as such but eat less processed food, less sugar, more exercise; you know what it works, I have lost 3 stone in last 10 months.

Have completed C25K and now run 3 times a week. I turned 40 this year and this was my present to myself I guess to sort myself out.

Just been cooking a lot from Anna Jones book A modern way to eat has anyone else seen this is very inspiring last night we had beetroot curry and Mushroom and Bay Biriyani, lovely both and made some of her nectarine chutney today.

Holmes my husband has food intolerances that caused skin rashes and flared his excema took him years to work out it was Caffeine, in all forms chocolate, tea, coffee, coke. He did also get a massive hives reaction cause unknown and only antihistamine taken once a day seemed to shift it but it took over a year!

Welcome Haywire and congrats on your weight loss and running!

Good luck Holmes, hope the Whole30 starts to answer some questions for you.

I've decided to do a No Sugar September (not including fruit seeing as I'm still on liquid and mush diet) to kick the recent crap habits creeping in. I did have a bit of a gorge the other evening but wasn't too awful considering my general food limitations due to braces and no sugar rule. Yesterday much better - I even managed to eat spaghetti chopped up small with loads of marinara sauce - and avoided cake at my volunteer training.

Hi. Just a quick dash in to say hi
To everyone and wish Holmes luck. Very busy week but I'll be back to post properly at the weekend.
Loving all the back to school enthusiasm.

That's interesting, Haywire. Of course it could turn out that mine remains 'cause unknown' too. When I had it 7 years ago, the doctor said it sometimes happens with no obvious cause - just a random freaking out of your immune system. I was sceptical, but I admit it did go away in the end without me changing diet etc.

Interestingly though, lots of the people whose stories are on the Whole30 website say that all their allergies disappeared or got much better on the diet (even things like asthma and hayfever, which wouldn't appear to be food-related). Amazing how much medical stuff is still a bit of a mystery!

ooh la la! Just googled Anna Jones recipes - must resist book purchase at least until the MOT is out of the way

I'm cooking from scratch and challenging myself to eat mindfully but my cooking can be pretty basic. tonight was red lentil bolognese and steamed baby veg. Kids loved it though and clean plates! I am struggling to curb my snacking at the moment - so that's my challenge for tomorrow.

Haywire -are you still running 5k? I've finished c25k too and looking for a podcast to take me to 10k but finding it hard to find something I can easily get onto my device. I have gateway to 8k but its a bit slow and I am not keen on the techno, techno, techno they use for that particular program.

Holmes I guess our bodies are pretty complicated machines, it is mad how little is understood.

Stilllearnin the Anna jones book is worth a splurge I am a cookbook addict but this is one of the best. The Dahl is out of this world good and the greens with tahini and maple dressing and sticky nut things. Think she had article in observer monthly so might be recipes online.

ReC25k I am still sooooo slow over 5k (have to do hills where I live mind) so am working on that the moment Once I break 35min I am going to try a Park run then look into increasing distance a bit more. Just listen to music at the moment.

Welcome Haywire! I have checked out that book and it does look great, thank you!

still it sounds like you are doing a great job, especially with the DC's.

Just marking place as you fell off my Threads I'm On!

I actually put on a bit of weight over the summer (suspect all in wine calories!) so am hoping that getting back on the healthy eating bandwagon will see it drop off without effort. This is actually pretty good for me as in the spring I was desperately trying to put ON weight! Only problem now is that my trousers don't fit...

I am just reporting in that I ate my lunch mindfully- big mouthfuls (I am like some kind of beast!) but much slower. Not much but you know, one meal at a time

I snacked on a mini soreen loaf that I bought as a back to school lunch treat (to stave off dc sweet shopping after school). I managed most of it mindfully but here is my conundrum. I found it pretty rank and I don't think I'd bother with one again but I cannot guarantee that. I would also find something like a mass produced veggie pasty fairly grim but I would avoid eating that mindfully because I really don't want that level of awareness- in fact I find it a bit scary (tho I realise it is only a pasty!!). What do we think is going on there, wise ones?! (appreciate it may not make sense!!)

Well done still .

On the pasty thing - if you know you don't want to eat something mindfully then I'd suggest you shouldn't eat it all . If you are eating something and you know you don't like it AND it is junk - then what else is going on? It sounds almost like some people's binge-eating process - there may be a trigger, or a deep unhappiness, but the act can be more like self punishment or even self-harm....I know several BED sufferers who eat masses of chocolate when they binge and say to me 'and I don't even LIKE chocolate!' - so (in the true absence of any other food and being ravenous) why eat it? Only you know the answer, it's there somewhere.....

Oh it is like I would rather believe a squishy but grim pasty will bring me comfort than find out that it actually doesn't - that's what I mean!!

Oh right ....nope, not sure I know either !

ah lost epic post!!

We actually cross posted earlier sleep and you have given me something to go on. The answer is with me somewhere and so I am going to sit with it for a while. It's a tough nut to crack alright.

On a practical level if I could take on board that if I do not want to eat something mindfully then I shouldn't bother. I wonder if that is feasible - but even if it was only effective some of the time that would be nearly revolutionary - you should bottle that!

Awful itchy hives and swollen face last night and this morning. I admit I'd had a bit of a last hurrah before starting the Whole 30 today and had cake and biscuits . Which does make me wonder if it's a wheat/grain issue. Had omelette for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch and salmon with veg stir fry for dinner and am currently hive-free.

still - if you can identify when you are reaching for something you know isn't going to nourish you (and any food can nourish you in some way - if not nutritionally then perhaps by giving you a sense of comfort/happiness, maybe taking you back to childhood or a lovely memory of someone or something, or something eaten in celebration with wonderful company), then maybe try and identify what emotions you are feeling, what brought them up, and note them down. Don't necessarily fight the urge to eat whatever it is you are headed for, you can learn about what is going on from the process. Once you start to understand it then you can begin to address the real issue - just sitting with it is a good start

Evening all

I'm struggling a bit still, really feel like I need bread atm, so am going with it but only eating nice wholemeal stuff, so at least it's not crap plastic white stuff. Ds after years of eating white now really likes wholemeal and said it fills him up more-yipeeee!

I've started walking again after getting a bit lax over the summer and feel better for it.

Actually, even when I think I've had a really 'bad' day it's nothing compared to how chaotically I used to eat, it's maybe more bread than I should have or some dark chocolate or a second helping of dinner.

I don't think I'm putting on weight, but I need to up my veg intake for sure.

I've been making lots of tomato sauce with tomatoes from the garden and I have a pumpkin from my neighbour's garden so I'll make soup tomorrow.

Hope everyone is well as I need to read back

Dame! hello there I know what you mean. We're nearly three quarters of the way through the year and eventhough I could do better, I've made loads of great changes. The other thing is that it is now a lot of easier to make improvements as there is no 'all or nothing' mentality.

We had soft boiled eggs while camping - a great quick breakfast/ lunch with limited washing up! didn't always get the timing right and my ds reminded me that you need the right song to time your eggs (eg Kate Bush's wuthering heights gives you a soft boiled egg from simmer). This is from a great read- the breakfast bible by seb emina. There are recipes but its all about breakfast, (and has an alcohol chapter!).