Why We Eat (Too Much)

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

Has anyone come across this book? It's written by Dr Andrew Jenkinson, who is a bariatric surgeon in London. Basically, it's about how to lose weight by lowering your body's natural set weight point. This may take a long time but it's sustainable and doesn't fuck your metabolism.

The book goes into a lot of detail about the causes of obesity, because he says it's important to understand why people are getting fat in the Western world. It pretty much comes down to eating too much omega-6 fat and sugar. The overall volume of food people eat doesn't matter.

I'm trying to work out how you would cut that out practically and I wondered if anyone had tried it. It sounds like going lower carb but not low carb as in low carb diets. He suggests eating low-carb breakfasts and throwing out bread (and anything else baked). I eat toast for breakfast most days and sandwiches for lunch. I'm trying to work out practical alternatives that I actually like.

Porridge
Full fat unsweetened yoghurt
Bacon and eggs
Omelettes
Soup
Oatcakes and cheese
Salads

Other rules include no takeaways or fast food or crisps etc, and no snacks, mainly because most snack food is carb-based with vegetable oil in it.

Bangin how far in the process are you? If still stage 1 I wouldn't worry about omega 3/6 ratio just yet, I'm just avoiding vegetable or seed oil, nuts and seeds. Get used to that first then look at omega 3/6. If you are homecooking everything I can't see it making much difference at this stage.

Have just had bubble and squeak for lunch, oh my days it was lush and I was starving. Don't have breakfast and went for a run this morning so was super hungry come 1pm.

The c25k app is fabulous. I did it last year at the start of lockdown. Did a 50 miles over July challenge for charity and everything. Let the running slide over winter cos cold and frosty, cold and wet, Christmas etc but started again a few weeks ago. Did 25 mins today, twas hard but I always feel much better once I've been.

@Mayaingam I've only been quit sugar for 6 weeks, I'll decide for sure if it worked after 2 years. I've lost 1stone 4 without feeling deprived or hungry.
It isn't just food, it is also sleep and stress, which I'm finding hard. The beauty is that it is guidelines, not rules.
@BangingOn I will look at that resource. I don't really care what colour my lentils are or what beans I use, so if there is a type that is superior, from an omega perspective, I'll use that. Thank you.

Whoever asked about linulin (?), I don't know. I suspect we aren't collectively ignoring your response so much as don't have anything to contribute!

Oh yes! Never heard of Linulin.

Foods rich in insulin are onions, garlic, leeks, chicory tc. It is a prebiotic.
Can't think why there would be any problem with taking it and following a low Omega 6 diet

Highland I am only on my first day, so do probably need to calm down a bit! Your approach sounds much more sensible and your bubble and squeak sounds amazing.

Well done on getting back out and running again too, 25 mins is incredible. I’m not sure I could have managed one more step today but trying to trust the process.

@Tinkling steak for lunch sounds so good, I might do similar this week.

Inulin was me (I have all the technical questions today!). Extensive Googling seems to suggest it is fine and it definitely reduces my sugar cravings so I will continue.

I just finished the book over the weekend. Metabolic adaption was not new but the Omega 3/Omega 6 stuff was!

So far I've managed to cut down on sugar and I'm now avoiding processed foods, going to try to use flaxseed or canola oil for cooking instead of veg/sunflower oil.

Cravings are not so bad and seem to be 95% mental 5% physical for me so far! I'm a big chocoholic. We don't seem to be suffering too much with the sugar cravings in general I think...

I'm loving all the meal ideas on the thread. Anyone else finding breakfast a challenge? I got eggs or porridge. Not much else. But that'll definitely do for a while. I need a good sandwich substitute too!

@BangingOn bloody hell. I eat loads of green lentils and chick peas. You can't really substitute green for red lentils in a recipe. And green have lots more protein than red. (I'm a dairy free veggie so protein is important to me).

Wow loads of activity on here today! I was straight onto Amazon but the Chatterjee book is full price again now. Going to catch up on all the posts now...

Creamy chicken curry for dinner today - yesterday's leftover roast chicken and veg in its own stock with curry powder, turmeric and a dash of cream.

I need a good sandwich substitute too!

There are suggestions for cloud bread upthread although it's possibly not suitable for spreading onto due to light texture - however you could pile it with sandwich fillings that don't need spreading.

Rice cakes (allowed - yay!) can be spread with sandwich fillings, as long as you keep the filling separate until you want to eat so the rice cake doesn't go soggy.

My local library came up trumps for the Chatterjee book, after my dash to Amazon to get it for 99p!

@StillDumDeDumming I know! I was gutted. Lots of other pulses seem to be lower in omega 6 though. Although the more I read the more I’m convinced that cutting out processed foods and oils, along with lots of high Omega 3 food, could well be enough to redress the balance.

I think when you look through the book, the table on omega 3 and 6 needs to be put into context. When you think that a portion of beef has I think 600mcgs or whatever it is of omega 6 and 30 omega 3 it looks a poor food choice.

But when you consider 1 portion of french fries done in veg oil is 3600 mcgs your beef/lentils/split peas or whatever looks fine. Probably 90% of the omega 6 we get is from processed food, wheat or veg/seed oils. If we cut those out I reckon we will all be fine. Add a couple of portions of salmon or tuna and we be bob on.

And don't forget we do actually need omega 6, it's still a healthy fat that we can't produce.

Don't sweat the small stuff, concentrate on the big things and probably never need to worry about the small things like can I have humus or green lentils. The health benefits of those foods cancels out any minimal disadvantage to a slightly out omega ratio on 1 meal.

@HighlandCowbag you are the voice of reason- thank you. I am so used to very prescriptive diets that are unforgiving of the slightest deviation. I need to get my head around how much better this way of eating is, in every sense.

@Arbadacarba Yes, must try cloud bread. And that yummy mouse recipe. I'm going to get my baking hat on!

I'm going to do the mousse on sunday, i never normally fancy sweet stuff but was tempted last night post sunday roast. Tho a left over roast potato did help.

I'm also debating making rice pudding. Reckon if I had a good scrape of nutmeg, a swirl of honey and a swirl of fresh cream it will be sweet enough without sugar. And I have loads of rhubarb to pick from the allotment. Not sure how tart it will be stewed without sugar, but am going to give it a go. Think maybe something sweet with it like a pink lady apple might just lift it enough to be a treat. If not good old honey will definitely do the trick.

@HighlandCowbag

I think when you look through the book, the table on omega 3 and 6 needs to be put into context. When you think that a portion of beef has I think 600mcgs or whatever it is of omega 6 and 30 omega 3 it looks a poor food choice.

But when you consider 1 portion of french fries done in veg oil is 3600 mcgs your beef/lentils/split peas or whatever looks fine. Probably 90% of the omega 6 we get is from processed food, wheat or veg/seed oils. If we cut those out I reckon we will all be fine. Add a couple of portions of salmon or tuna and we be bob on.

And don't forget we do actually need omega 6, it's still a healthy fat that we can't produce.

Don't sweat the small stuff, concentrate on the big things and probably never need to worry about the small things like can I have humus or green lentils. The health benefits of those foods cancels out any minimal disadvantage to a slightly out omega ratio on 1 meal.

It's a shame we don't have a way to pin this post because it's spot on.

Not sure how tart it will be stewed without sugar

A swirl of cream would tone it down a bit if it's too acidic.

Rice pudding is a brilliant idea. I made a lovely stove top version using arborio rice during lockdown. It had loads of brown sugar in, but I think fresh cream and a touch of honey would work just as well. Maybe cinnamon too?

I have serious sugar cravings tonight after less than 24 hours, but that just shows how addicted I am to the stuff.

For breakfast at the moment I am doing overnight oats - I am not a big breakfast person so can’t face eggs that early in the morning (weekend brunch is fine!).

Lunch today was sweet potato and chickpea curry with rice and sour cream (leftovers).

For snacks I have been eating rice cakes and I found the mini guacamole pots are handy to take to work and don’t contain anything undesirable.

Dinner is jacket potato, mackerel fillet and broccoli.

I have been fine with giving up most things but chocolate is such a struggle! I am going to get some dark chocolate and have a couple of squares occasionally after a meal.

Thank you for the meal ideas everyone!

@HighlandCowbag

I'm going to do the mousse on sunday, i never normally fancy sweet stuff but was tempted last night post sunday roast. Tho a left over roast potato did help.

I'm also debating making rice pudding. Reckon if I had a good scrape of nutmeg, a swirl of honey and a swirl of fresh cream it will be sweet enough without sugar. And I have loads of rhubarb to pick from the allotment. Not sure how tart it will be stewed without sugar, but am going to give it a go. Think maybe something sweet with it like a pink lady apple might just lift it enough to be a treat. If not good old honey will definitely do the trick.

Try strawberries through your rhubarb to sweeten it!

Evening all, lots of messages today, great to get support and ideas from everyone!!

Meals today for me have been porridge for breakfast (still with a sprinkling of sultanas, but can't eat plain porridge as find it too bland and have reduced the amount of sultanas down to about 15g), lunch was a salad with lettuce, mangetout, beetroot, red pepper, feta cheese and the rest of the smoked salmon left over from yesterday, dinner was a chicken and veg stir fry which I had with rice (kids had noodles).

Am still tracking my meals on MFP just to keep an eye on my calories (out of interest) and protein intake, have only had 1200 calories so am going to have something for supper as I think that's too low and my body will think I'm dieting again.

I've had beef fried rice tonight, it was lovely. Cracked an egg in it, splash of soy sauce and a chopped red onion. Think it would have benefitted from the green pepper I had in the fridge needing to be used but dh had given it to the Guinea pigs so did without. I did use sesame oil, but I do think that is one of the oils I won't be changing as it does add a specific flavour to vwrtain dishes.

Strawberries would work as well, problem is in about 6 weeks I will be inundated with them so I begrudge paying for them out of season though UK Strawberries are starting to make an appearance.

I also have loads of rasperrie canes on the allotment, and some blackberries so hate paying top price for soft fruit.

I've got some leeks just about ready so going to pull a couple for a leek and potato soup. Hopefully I can stick with this diet and make the most of the fruit and veg this year. Have a feeling the spiraliser may just earn its place in the 'appliances I very rarely use' shelf. The hens have definitely been a bonus. If in doubt make an omelette is my new motto.

Wow @HighlandCowbag, it sounds like you have a fabulous range of home-grown fruit!!

In my dreams I would have an allotment with all sorts of fruit and veg that I could go and pick and then cook that evening for dinner. However, in reality I can't even keep the plants my kids being home from school alive for more than a couple of days. Plants that come under my care are doomed.