Week 2 - Jan '25 Low Carb (Dry) Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Morning

I know that for some/many of us, this is actually only week 1, but as there were some valiant people who started last week, it is now week 2!

As ever, here's the spreadsheet

Just a reminder that if you're using your phone/the mobile app, you'll need to download the Google Sheets app to access the spreadsheet. And when entering your data, only add your weight and - for fear that @FinallyHere will have a coronary, don't touch anything else!

Good luck everyone.

Have you tried a pinch of salt in coffee? Supposed to reduce the bitterness reducing the need for sweeteners.

I can only stomach vanilla, half-caff, toffee, maple, chocolate Frappuccino types of coffees so I wouldn't know. LOL.

@MrsTerryPratchett

Ooo thanks I'm going to try that and let you know. I don't mind the bitterness though or so I thought ...

Good morning, I have another book that may be of interest - “Ultra processed people” by Chris van Tulleken.

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/451300/ultra-processed-people-by-tulleken-chris-van/9781529160222

It isn’t about low carbing but it is basically talking about how the convenience foods we eat now - mainly carby - (e.g. pre-packaged bread etc.) are laced with processed nonsense. I recall one line from the book stating that one of the theories about why low carb ‘works’ is that it largely avoids ultra processed foods. I find it very interesting that we now have low carb pre-packaged options available to us that are unfortunately ultra processed. I would love to see a research trial comparing a LC non-processed diet with an LC ultra-processed diet. If I ever win a vast sum of money I’ll commission one.

The book had a big impact on me (the bit about slime in ice-cream… ugh!).

A good day yesterday. Remembered how much I like smoked mackerel pâté!

However, I was confronted with my own personal kryptonite: kids' dinner time. Mine are little and are going through a very "beige" phase. Lots of carbs - tortellini, fish fingers, toast. It's just too easy to pop leftovers into your mouth. I'm sure the mindless grazing of the high carb food the kids leave behind is a major explanation for all the weight I have gained.

Unfortunately their dinner time is before mine and is usually when I'm starting to get peckish myself. Last night I got myself some olives and cheese to snack on while waiting at table to avoid the temptation of hoovering up everything left on the plates. I hope now I'm more mindful of the danger I can manage to give it a swerve! However, I do love fish fingers so the danger is real!

Plan for today is:
B: leftover mackerel pate with celery
L: leftover aubergine parmigiana and broccoli
D: shakshuka with kale

I know exactly how you feel about the kid's dinners. I have a real hatred of food waste so I'd rationalised it that it was better for me to eat the leftovers than it to go to waste.

Obviously that makes no real sense at all. I don't need the extra calories/carbs and now I'm where I am with my weight!

Continually reminding myself that "I'm not a bin" as a pp said has been really helpful. Nothing awful is going to happen if a few beans and a chicken nugget go in the bin.

Weighed myself this morning and I am 5lb down on last Thurs. Delighted! Can't think when my scales last went in a downwards direction, but it must be at least 8 years ago. Will try not to get caught up in it as obviously 5lb is not going to happen again, but still happy for now.

@CleanQueen123 in addition to the waste, which also kills me, the kids' food is just so easy to eat. This is - clearly - why it is possible to get it down reluctant children. However, it could also be linked to the earlier discussion of UPF. As a v keen cook I had every intention or raising lentil-loving children who would eat the same as the adults. However, no one told my kids. Instead they are the only regular consumers of UPF - although I do buy the naice Waitrose variety. It's this stuff which I find myself eating compulsively. Can't believe it's only just occurred to me! So, dinner tonight shall be steamed salmon and rice - and I shall have much less difficulty avoiding it myself!

@Amomentonthelips I read the Ultra Processed Foods book with interest. I have been getting into low carb cooking as one of my kids has hypo mineralised teeth, and we could all do with eating less sugar.

I was surprised to see that you can buy xanthem gum (aka bacterial slime) from supermarkets eg Sainsburys, Waitrose and Amazon. It can be used as a thickening agent, which I guess would be useful if you are avoiding gluten, for example. I haven't bought any yet, as I was put off by the van Tulleken description.

But there are lots of things in my kitchen that I happily use, that are made by a complicated process, and that I couldn't make at home. Fish sauce, Lee & Perrins, cornflour, noodles, gravy browning etc. I'm not planning to stop using any of those things.

I am using some sugar substitutes in cooking, such as xylitol and erythritol, as it seems mean never to buy or make any cakes, especially at birthdays or Christmas, and sugar is highly processed any way; I can't imagine that these things are actually worse for you than sugar.

Also, Chris van Tulleken did the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures this year, various links on here https://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/2024-christmas-lectures. They are meant to be about some of these aspects of food (I haven't got very far with them so far, I am trying to get the kids to watch them with me!).

Adapted the BBC Good Food recipe (ie took out the peppers ...)

That was the recipe I used, @prettybird and I left out the peppers simply because I didn't have any in the house (used mushrooms instead). Then I made it a second time with the peppers and it wasn't anything like as nice. Too much bulk and texture. I liked the smoothness and relative wetness of my mushroom variant.

BTW, this thread makes me realise that we need a 'congratulations' emoji to react to all the wonderful weight losses. The clapping hands would be great for that except that they are bizarrely allocated the meaning "thanks".

EDITED to add that the recipe I'm talking about is shakshuka

Re DC meals when they were younger I'd always put out small bowls in the middle of the table of cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices and carrot sticks for them to help themselves to. You can add hummus too if you like but I tended to leave hummus for any mid meal hunger pangs

These are also easy to put back in the fridge to add to the next meal

So these are perfect to pick on as a DM and of course they see us helping ourselves to them so it's just normal healthy eating.

DD now has a green salad alongside most meals which is what I've always done.

• between meals not mid meal

@AlbertCamusflage : peppers and mushrooms are the two things that I hate with a passion

I can cope with mushrooms that have been blitzed into something like the mince base for cheeseburger pie but as far as peppers are concerned, while I can and will pick out raw ones from a salad, I will refuse to eat anything that has been cooked with them as they infuse the whole dish <= not envy

@KittenPause I do this too, and it makes me feel a little less like a bad mother to watch them dig in to veggies! My youngest has a preference for eating whole red peppers like apples 😂. However, I'm now motivated to start pushing them a little bit so we rely less on freezer food and more on freshly cooked things. For the sake of their diet and mine!

One success we had this week was with a chicken thigh tray bake. For 4-

oven@ 200C

take a large roasting tray

put in
aubergine -chopped
radishes
cauliflower florets
shallots -sliced
peppers -sliced
any other veg you want to roast

optional baby potatoes halved in one corner (so you can easily avoid them on your diet)

then
250 g chorizo ring, deskinned and chopped
herbs oregano/ rosemary/ pepper

then
1kg chicken thighs

the chicken sits on top of everything else
then put 2 tablespoons of oil over the chicken skin and a large pinch of salt so the skin goes crispy

after 30 min
add cherry tomatoes
make sure any veg esp cauliflower is underneath the chicken skin
and that everything else is covered by chicken or potatoes

it will be ready in another 30 min (1 hour cooking total)

We cooked green veg to go with it.

It was great for a cold evening

I used to do the same for DS as well. He was a nightmare to feed as a child so everything was put in serving bowls on the table so he could help himself. Apparently my cooking wasn’t as nice as the nursery cook! Now he’ll eat anything and everything.

There have been some great losses this week and I agree we need a congratulations emoji. Perhaps we can use the Mumsnet massive salad 🥗

I’m 2.5lbs down which I’m really pleased with.

@BusyFrizzyLizzie

So, dinner tonight shall be steamed salmon and rice

I assume that you won't be eating the rice?!

I really get what you mean about the children. It was a real revelation that I had when mine were little - why am I feeding them/believing that there's 'children's food' as opposed to 'adult's food'? Notwithstanding fussiness, that was when we stopped buying stuff like chicken nuggets and chips, and cooking things for them that we would be eating - even if we would be eating later. I was lucky, though, that my DC were good eaters and not fussy.

@Amomentonthelips thanks for the link. That's a book I keep meaning to read!

I recall one line from the book stating that one of the theories about why low carb ‘works’ is that it largely avoids ultra processed foods.

Well, not sure about the science behind that statement - but it's certainly true, I think, that once people commit to low carbing they're eating better quality and more nutritional food. Over the years it's been clear that for many people who have signed up to Bootcamp, one of the biggest challenges for them has been cooking from scratch, in order to avoid the carbs.

It's also one of the reasons behind Rule No. 2:

Focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals - meat/fish/eggs. Things like sausages, ham, bacon, pre-prepared burgers etc should be avoided as much as possible. You can have them, but just not at every meal, every day

The only exception I really make here is on the low carb bread, as it is so much more convenient for people, and does make it easier to low carb. (The price of it would put most of us off from having it daily!)

👑😇💝🌟🎀

Possible contenders for 'congratulations'?

Re UPFs and weight loss, from here https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/article/ultra-processed-foods-avoid-nutritionist-advice-8vm7xh98l?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Briefing%20-%20Thursday%209th%20January%202025&utm_term=audience_BEST_OF_TIMES

There are several ways in which UPFs are thought to be bad for us. First, they cause us to consume more calories than whole foods. This was shown by US researchers in 2019, when a group of people were asked to spend two weeks consuming only UPFs, then two weeks consuming only whole foods. The meals were matched for calories, energy density, nutrients, sugar, sodium and fibre, but when eating a UPF diet, participants ate about 500 calories more each day and put on about 1kg without realising it, while on the unprocessed diet they lost an average of about 1kg and ate fewer calories while still feeling full. Following the UPF diet, health markers were up for inflammation and cholesterol after just two weeks.

A similar study in Japan found that participants ate more than 800 additional calories on a UPF diet and gained 1.1kg in just one week. This may be because the food matrix of UPFs is different from that of unprocessed foods, making them soft, easier to chew and therefore faster to eat.

@BIWI oh yes, no rice for me! The kids are in bed by 7 so we don't tend to eat together often, which I think contributes to the kid/adult food divide. When we eat together at the weekends we all eat the same - and it's not nuggets although they are delicious. Much food for thought as ever. Thank you all 🙏

The talk of chicken nuggets has put me in mind of making my home-made ones. It'll have to wait until after the first 2 weeks though as they use ground almonds and a ground nut/flaxseed mix, in addition to the Parmesan.

Is that recipe on one of the recipe threads, @prettybird?

I had forgotten how much I enjoy reading everyone's posts and the inspiration I get from hearing about what you're cooking. There was kale in the veg box so it will be shakshuka for dinner tonight, and I'll follow @AlbertCamusflage lead and include mushrooms. There's also an enormous turnip (swede) so tomorrow I'll make some kind of turnip dauphinoise.

@KittenPause Having been on several bootcamps and cut out all sugar I now have a real distaste for it, and especially artifical sweetners. You know what it's like if something is too salty and it is a horrid experience to have it in your mouth? That's what I'm like with sugar or overly sweetened foods. My face screws up and I want to spit it out! People say 'oh you're so good not to eat a cake' but there's nothing of good behaviour in it, I just find I don't like it any more. And I detest the sugar free foods that are stuffed with artificial sweetener they seem even sweeter than 'normal' varieties and I feel like the chemicals linger in my mouth.

Hi all, I love catching up and reading all these wonderful low carb recipes! When I get into my laptop I plan to copy them all and try them!

I am an everyday weigher (I have those scales that send the result to your phone and you get graphs) and although I have been very good with the carbs, I have lost and put on 0.2 or 0.4 lb per day. Hovering around 170lbs. I believe as someone above said, it might be portion size. I, too, eat bigger portions to try to prevent hunger and snacks. I think I really need to reduce portion size as it's probably not going to be 'hunger' now since I haven't been eating carbs!

I have restarted my 45 minute treadmill walks after dinner this week so I am pleased about that.

Well done and thanks all

Breakfast: greek yoghurt
Lunch: leftover stir fry veg and a chicken breast which I air fryed yesterday (have another for tomorrow's lunch)
Dinner: going to try sausagemeat in savoy cabbage wraps, cooked in tinned tomatoes and with some cheese on top

I have also been following Chris van Tulleken and I think he makes a lot of sense. I watched his RI talk over Christmas on YouTube (couldn't find his lecture for kids). This one talks about the science and the politics of UPFs.

In fact, I was going to try a non-ultra processed diet and someone on another thread led me to bootcamp. I do think this way of eating fits really well with reducing UPFs - the only really processed thing I have eaten in a week is a couple of sausages. And that is hugely different to a normal week for me, which would definitely contain supermarket bread (loads of it!), crisps, diet coke, supermarket pizza... and the rest.

@Calyx72 I fancy your sausage meat and savoy cabbage wraps! Let us know how they taste.