Learning to eat healthily.

[IfIDontKnowAndYouDontKnow]

I'm going to the classes and following the plan. It is working & I do enjoy the food on it and all that.

Just I wonder whether I'm on a plan that is achievable for life, as they say. If so, then great. If not then I'm wasting my money.

I feel fresher, cleaner & I am slimmer. Just I dislike all the low fat/ fake sprays etc. I wont use sweetener anyway.

Do I need to learn how to eat healthily instead of following a plan? Is there an alternative out there somewhere.

I don't like following a 'diet' as such anyway. I feel its not good for the DC to see me tracking 'syns' & what not.

Sorry. I meant to say I'm following Slimming World.

You are right, it's not good to model eating like that for your kids. Eat mindfully, ie only when you are hungry, stop when you are full and really enjoy your food. Give up the fake food, aim for 80-90% of your diet to be real, fresh, and unprocessed (and full fat, never 'low fat' versions. Avoid sugar, minimise alcohol to well within recommended limits and all should be good. It may only result in a slow and gradual weight loss but that's fine, it's a way of eating for life and health.

Yes. I want to teach DC to cook too. I need to teach myself, in order to teach them.

I had to teach myself to cook when I left home. I couldnt even manage frozen pizza or tinned soup without reading the instructions to start with.
I taught myself from a book called 'How to Boil an Egg'

Then moved onto J.O Jamies Dinners cook book. So I can cook. Just all the wrong things.

So full fat yogurts, cheeses, everything? I prefar semi skimmed for etc.. Is that okay? And wholemeal or white etc?

Like I say. I know how to cook. Just so confused by all the different advice out there. For example NHS website. Change for Life etc. Are they right?

I left home about 12years ago so really should know better by now.

I do need to lose weight too. I just want to do it the proper way.

I think (and anecdotally many doctors agree) that the NHS 'food pyramid' places too much emphasis on carbs and demonises fat when in fact sugar (and artificial sweeteners) is the real problem in our diets. An article in the Sunday Times news review today talked about just this - fat is not what makes you fat, sugar is. And your body responds to white carbs the same way as it does to sugar. Much better to have carbs from veg, pulses, beans etc than pasta, rice, potatoes and white flour products. Ditch breakfast cereals, fruit juice and fizzy drinks to cut loads of sugar from your diet.

If you prefer semi-skimmed milk that's fine, but avoid anything labelled 'low fat' as you can guarantee it will have a load of stuff you don't want in it - usually artificial sweeteners - to make it taste nice in the absence of fat. The best fats are found in nuts, olive oil, avocado, oily fish - Essential Fatty Acids. They keep your skin and hair looking lovely and help build and repair cells in your body. But there's no need to avoid meat and dairy either.

So cut out 'typical' carbs then? And for the DC too? Fizzy drinks are a huge addiction of mine

So what about 'low salt & sugar' products? I buy Asda high juice as it seems to be the only one I can find without 'no added sugar' and I dont want the DC drinking that.

I agree with everything Sleep said. This is sound advice.

Low salt and sugar is usually good because it means less of that stuff has been added, it's not replacing something (fat) that has been taken out of the natural product if that makes sense?

Re DC's I have just stopped buying juice and cordial and they manage on water or milk - the protests didn't last long . I don't want to ban stuff completely and make it catnip for kids once they are free to choose though, so they are allowed it at friends houses or when we eat out, so a few times a week. My youngest is actually happiest with water with meals. I haven't managed to convince them that sweet potato, lentils and cannellini beans are nicer than pasta and chips yet but I am working on it and their plate is usually 1/3 each or protein, veg and carbs. Fwiw I think that kids usually naturally eat instinctively, as in they eat when they are hungry and stop when full, something that most of us need to relearn through practice. So I worry less about them with carbs.

I think I need to learn a lot really. I want to come off the whole diet system.

Is their any good websites for this? To reteach myself with?

Take a look at this website for more info. I would describe my diet/WOE as semi-paleo because while I don't miss pasta, potatoes, cereal, rice etc, I haven't managed to give up bread, so I minimise it, just one or two slices of granary bread a day. So I have this with just one meal, never with dinner. I also include dairy in my diet, which strict paleo excludes.

I also have a meal of whatever I fancy once or twice a week - takeaway or chips with a meal out. Dd and I have a weekly girls date after school and I have a cake with here then...if you feel like you've banned something completely it just creates a feeling of deprivation and a battle of willpower that at some point you will lose!

So I'm still struggling with the healthy eating.

I really do need to lose weight tbh. Its making me quite miserable & I'm not really sure why Im finding it so hard.

Could you go back to basics following some very simple rules? These work for me:

• Eat only at mealtimes, ie no snacking
• If you do feel the urge to snack then make it fruit, veg or unsalted nuts
• You don't have to eat at the first hint of hunger, just wait it out ( drink fluids first)
• Don't exclude any food groups, just ensure each main meal consists of a good balance of veggies, proteins, good fats (eg olive oil, butter) and unprocessed carbs
• Choose wholegrain carbs rather than white as much as possible
• Choose dark chocolate over milk chocolate
• Choose full over low fat products

Of course I still indulge in pizza, ice cream etc but generally these days on the weekends only. I'd say my diet is 70% compliant with the above.

I do 5:2 fasting too but combined with above I've lost 5.5 stones (see my profile photos).

BsshBossh First of all, I have looked at your profile pics & you look amazing!

I think your rules are spot on. I know this is what I need. I'm trying to get out more with the kids too.

It seems like every one is in agreement with the full fat over low fat, including dairy etc. I did get sucked into low fat etc. Does this mean things like coconut milk etc too?

Think I need to completely re educate myself regarding this.

Overhaul of food I buy, any snacks etc.

I love coconut milk. Just focus on eating as cleanly as possible (as unprocessed as possible) and sticking to simple rules that suit your lifestyle. You can stick with SW but don't get hung up on eating all your syns ;)

BTW, I've since lost a further 13 lbs since that "after" photo was taken in July :)

If it helps any, my menu yesterday was:
B: a bowl of Dorset muesli with ss milk and white coffee
L: homemade tuna and brown rice salad with olives, cherry toms, orange peppers, spring onions, parsley, peas in a dressing made with olive oil, fullfat mayo and lemon juice
Followed my satsuma and grapes.
D: Poached chicken breast with brussel sprouts fried with pancetta
Followed by 6 squares of 80% chocolate and a handful of almonds and Brazil nuts.

Today my B and L is the same but I'll be having a prawn and mixed veg stirfry for dinner followed by a frozen yoghurt (Yoo Moo) and fruit.

Homemade curries and stews are also a dinner favourite, and soups a favourite on my two fasting days.

I save my ice creams (the nice, rich and creamy stuff eg Haagen Daz), cakes etc for the weekend (which for me tend to start on Fridays!) so that my week is a nice balance between healthy and indulgent. This way I don't feel deprived at all. But, even my indulgent eating tends to be as natural as possible (eg cakes homemade or bought from a bakery I trust, pizzas "homemade" at a quality pizzeria).

Hope this helps.

I think you really can't go wrong if you cut out snacks. Adults don't need to snack if they're having 3 meals a day.
Sugar in liquid form is quite bad so don't have fizzy drinks and juices or limit them.

What do you cook?
Unless you're cooking pie and chips every day, your meals are probably fine. Check your portions and add extra veg.

If you look at recipes on bbcgoodfood, they always have the calorie and fat content for the recipes so you can quickly gauge what's a relatively healthy meal. I'd go for something around 500cals for an evening meal.

I've recently cut out snacking and now it just doesn't feel normal to snack. It feels really greedy actually.
My meals are healthy but it was snacking that made me gain weight. Now I've got that controlled, I'm trying to sort out portion sizes and get some exercise in.

Bsshbossh wow! I am v inspired.

Thanks Beechview. The no snacking thing was a revelation to me. I once worked out, using MyFitnessPal, that my daily snacking alone amounted to 600 cals or so . That's an entire meal! I now eat slightly larger portions at mealtimes to make up for no longer snacking, but the increased portions certainly don't amount to anywhere near those 600+ cals.

This is great, thank you.

I will have a look at bbcgoodfood. I normally cook things like lasagne, pastas, stir frys, curry's, roast etc.

I agree that my problems are the snacking, & falling for the low fat hype.

BsshBossh You have inspired me too.

Hi IfIDontKnowAndYouDontKnow !

Paul McKenna's I Can Make You Thin and Hypnotic Gastric Band have transformed my way of eating, my attitude towards food and my health. There are absolutely no restrictions on what you eat. This is not a diet. There is no calorie counting involved. There are, basically, only four rules you have to follow. And, I believe, it is all completely sustainable forever!

Here's a mumsnet thread from earlier this year that might help to explain his way a little more:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/big_slim_whatever_weight_loss_club/a1648177-Happy-New-Year-Happy-New-Paul-McKenna-Thread-Number-11-Healthy-Weight-Loss-Without-Restricting-Your-Enjoyment-Of-Food-Come-Join-The-Paulettes-For-Support-And-Chat

And here's my blog about following his rules if you are interested:

cheeriofatty.wordpress.com/

chinhealer Thank you for the links.

I have read some of your blog, & its great. Will be following you on it.

Am going to read the Paul Mckenna thread when I have time.

Has it worked for you?

Hi again IfIDontSnowAndYouDontSnow!

(You nearly caught me out with your name-change!)

Thank you for your kind words and thanks for reading my blog.

I lost one stone in Feb 2013 (in about a month) following Paul McKenna's rules every day. For a whole bunch of reasons (some of them, temporarily justified, others not!) I stopped following his rules from around the end of March till a week ago! I managed to regain the weight I had lost in that time (plus a little extra, just for fun!)

But even in the past week of following his rules (which, by the way, is absolutely effortless and actually really enjoyable to do) my body has already started to change shape, my clothes are already starting to fit better/feel looser and I am feeling fantastic all the time! (As well as almost completely cutting out all of the junk that had crept back into my diet through the Spring and Summer.)

BTW, here is the still-active Paul McKenna thread that I've just found rather than the zombie thread that I pointed you to earlier:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_chat/a1849810-The-Paul-McKenna-Thread-Number-13-the-Good-Luck-Number-A-Simple-Title-for-Simple-Weight-Loss-and-All-amongst-Friends