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.

It was SO tasty! I honestly would never normally consider posting an image of my meals, but I really enjoyed it and thought it might give people ideas of quick and easy meals.

That looks so lush Tired, I might steal that for next week.

Ooo lovely tired! All that colour!

Last night I rewatched ‘That Sugar Film’ and would highly recommend to anyone who needs a motivational boost to stay off the sugar (available on You Tube). I’m going to make DH/DS watch it at the weekend too as they’re not on board yet. It says that coming off sugar can take around 2-4 weeks before the cravings stop. I’m just over 2 weeks and whilst they’ve massively reduced from the first few days, if I get too hungry I start to fantasise about chocolate!

That’s looks lovely Tired, so much nicer than a dull sandwich

I'm still waiting to read the book but I can see how far away from decent eating I've come. I have always cooked from scratch but when my partner suddenly became disabled and my teenagers hit a bad patch, I started chucking in the odd pizza and it seems to have snowballed from there! It is going to take a week or two to sort this I think!

Life circumstances can really make it difficult to find the time and energy to cook healthy meals and look after ourselves @StillDumDeDumming - it sounds like you've had a lot to deal with. Just focus on taking one small step at a time - don't try to change everything at once or you'll not be able to sustain it.

@StillDumDeDumming that’s what happened here. Well not the same, I mean circumstances. Mostly lockdown. I went from having a load of bread and some peas in the freezer to have it absolutely bursting with crap all of the time. It was too easy to throw something in the oven from there and I just ended up in a rut. And cooking is time consuming and exhausting, especially after a long day of home schooling / looking after others / working. We are constantly told convenience is the way forward and see it on adverts all the time, our friends and family are all doing it too.

One meal at a time - and I’m sure you still have food that needs using up as well.

We have found that making really nice food has helped because we’d rather eat that than say, oven fish and chips. Enjoyed salmon, new potatoes in butter and veg way more, so much more flavour and didn’t feel rubbish after.

Dinner here was brinner which makes a nice change from all the fish. And I have 2 sausages left over for my breakfast tomorrow.

Is brinner bacon and eggs etc Love? We call it breakfast for tea, but love brinner!

I had bacon, new potatoes and cherry toms all fried off in butter then scrambled some eggs around them. Had rainbow trout, salad and airfryer chips cooked in lard. The chips were gorgeous 😍, was a bit urgh at lard but it makes proper banging chips even in the airfryer! Then had yog, strawberries and raspberries. Also had a banana after lunch and a couple of pieces of cheese earlier as an afternoon snack.

Have been absolutely starving all day. God knows why, I've eaten really well. I did run this morning though. I might have to start having breakfast on running days but not sure what to have really. If I have eggs I won't want eggs at lunchtime which is ehat I usually have in some form. Or maybe have more for brunch. Might just be a one off, my body panicking at new diet. I could have porridge I suppose but I don't know what the difference is between porridge oats and having oats in flour or granola or something so was trying to avoid as it could be a slippery slope for me. I find it easier to just say I can't have it.

Cheese and fruit like an apple or something could be an option I suppose, I know he says avoid fruit for breakfast but it wouldn't be until 10.30ish then I have lunch about 12.30 so can catch that sugar spike with lunch.

I have a piece of trout left, am going to cook some red pepper and cherry toms off, then add omelette mix, then flake the trout over and some grated cheese, cook the bottom then finish under the grill. That's lunch tomorrow. Not sure what tea will be, possibly jacket potato, salad and sword fish steak.

Loving all this fish, dh is not a fan if it doesn't come battered from the chippy. I'm cooking 3 meals in an evening, da has his about 5pm, then me and dh at 7ish once he's in bed. Dh not interested in dieting which is probably why I have always got fed up, because I'd cook and try and please both of us which was difficult. This time I'm cooking what I want for me and just adapting mine for him. So tonight he's had chips and a ploughmans lunch type thing.

Much preferred the look of mine.

I've been listening to some of The Canteen podcast with Ally Houston. He had various guests, mostly doctors or researchers, who talk about various low carb or paleo diets, some of it is quite interesting.

One thing that was mentioned by Dr Elena Gross was about how most extra virgin olive oil is actually heat processed so it's useless for this kind of eating. Link to her blog about it below, but now I'm not sure what to buy instead. Does anyone buy really good oil?

www.keto.swiss/post/the-virginity-lie-how-to-find-real-extra-virgin-olive-oil

Today I made a quick pea and spinach soup for tea and used the whey from the yoghurt I made instead of stock because it's supposedly full of protein.

It turned out a bit sweet but was really filling so maybe it worked! Leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Ooh. I make my own yogurt and sieve it and usually just chuck the whey away as I don't know what to do with it. Never thought to make it into soup. It is supposed to be nice in homemade bread but that's not much use to us at the moment! Tomato plants quite like it so I've poured it onto them in the past when we've had them.

@CornedBeef451 I haven't been able to fork out ~£10 for fancy oil yet but I've been using butter in place of sunflower oil wherever possible.

For those pushed for time, a 30 minute podcast with AJ.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dr-andrew-jenkinson-why-we-eat-too-much/id1468957765?i=1000477291777

Yes brinner is breakfast for dinner. Bacon, eggs, sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes and beans. Kids didn't eat all components but had beans, and they and DH ate up some hashed browns from the freezer.

How are people finding getting kids (and partners) on board?

I added in beans for the kids. I didn't just feed them beans.
Tired. Not on top of that element at all!

I haven't tried to include my family as yet - I cook from scratch for us all anyhow, so am just trying to tweak my plate rather than change the whole meal. For example, I did chicken stir fry earlier this week and the kids love having noodles with it, but I served mine with rice.

I'm trying new meals for my lunch and will work out which ones I can use as family meals and will incorporate some of them over the next few weeks.

Loves, I thought I would try to cut down on the number of sugary or junky snacks the kids have. It’s not going down well! They’re gradually finishing everything in the house, and DS has asked for something to eat at least 8 times and is getting stroppy at being directed to the fruit bowl. Any ideas for child-friendly healthy snacks? DH is doing the diet with me and managed to lose 5lbs in one night. Bloody men!

Today I’ve had Greek yoghurt and berries for breakfast, prawn cocktail salad for lunch, and salmon tray bake with baby potatoes, green beans, cherry tomatoes and olives for dinner. I’ve had some cheese and a cup of hot milk for snacks, and about 4 cups of tea. I love not having to count milk eating like this!

Yes the unlimited dairy is definitely a plus.

Am now debating a yoghurt maker. Dd has always preferred plain yoghurt. Ds has suddenly decides he prefers it as well and obviously I'm eating quite a bit too. There's a lakeland one that makes soft cheese as well which we also use a lot of.

But then I think of the other gadgets and gizmos that lurk in the cupboard of doom 😁

I also remembered today that I make a really nice sort of cabbage slaw, Im going to make it next week I think.

Finely shred a white cabbage with food processor. Cover liberally with lemon juice (you need loads), olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix really well, cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave it to stand at room temp for a few hours. The lemon 'cooks' the cabbage and it goes all soft and floppy but still crunchy. It's fab with stuff like chicken or lamb kebabs, as a coleslaw or where you would use pickles like cold cuts etc.

Am also missing normal coleslaw so going to make an asian slaw as well, with an oil based dressing instead of mayo.

Lol @HighlandCowbag and the cupboard of doom! 😂 That is the exact reason I haven't splurged on a spiraliser yet! Though am still very tempted...

Who will crack first? Highland and the yoghurt maker or me and the spiraliser, place your bets now!!

Lol I have a spiralliser already, I may even dig it out when I make slaw for some ribbony bits. It's good for posh salad but not much of anything else. I might try that sweet potato basket thing tho.

I'm thinking I could use it to make courgetti for me for when I'm giving the kids spaghetti bolognese. Can't decide if it is worth it and it'd sit gathering dust once the novelty has worn off.

I had a spiraliser after a brush with slimming world but chucked it after the sad realisation that courgetti still tastes like courgette.

I make yoghurt in a big jar wrapped in old fleece pyjama bottoms. It's not pretty but it works, if somewhat erratically, although I think it's my technique rather than the pyjama bottoms that's the problem.

You just need a thermometer which is much easier to chuck in a drawer rather than the cupboard of doom.

@CornedBeef451could you share your yogurt making method? I don't have any fleecy PJ bottoms but could probably find a substitute. There is no room in my kitchen for a yogurt maker!
I make salad dressings with chopped up garlic, mustard, olive oil (not sure how virgin but it goes solid if refrigerated so I think it's mostly OK )apple cider vinegar and balsamic vinegar. It goes well with all sorts of salad and cold veg.
Yesterday ate tuna and tomato salad, then baked salmon fillet and green salad, plus some cheese, kiwi fruit and dark chocolate. And the last of my almonds and cashews.