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.

I’ve just finished reading this book so interested to hear how others are getting on.
A lot of it makes common sense.

Breakfasts are going to be tricker as we are very much a cereal family.

Just marking my place as I’m currently reading the book and finding it very interesting!

wandamakestoast I’m only part way through but am thinking that porridge with fruit might be a good breakfast option?

Actually I started eating like this subconsciously once when I decided to give up meat. I just noticed how heavy bread made me feel after I cut out the meat. (Kept fish and dairy). Anyway I lost loads of weight and keeping this diet for the next few years kept me the fittest, slimmest and most energised I had ever been. I've gone off track since I became a single mum and haven't had time to cook all three meals a day- put on loads of weight and feel crap all the time. Unfortunately the quick and easy food out there is all starchy and fatty. I'm trying to go back to it though as I literally felt amazing doing it.

I never knew the was a book about it I just did it intuitively. I learned to say no at parties or at people's houses to a lot of ingredients and would wait until I could get home and cook.
For breakfast I would have eggs with smoked salmon and spinach avocado and spring onions. Then lunch was a salad usually. Dinner would be either potatoes ghocci tortellini quinoa or cous cous with vegetables and a creamy sauce. Or fish with potatoes and vegetables some nights. I didn't really need to snack much and if I wanted things like nuts I'd put them into a meal. I was never hungry and craved anything I just used to look forward to each meal. Occasionally I would have some chips on the way home if I worked late.

I also cut out all sauces like ketchup and mayo and used fresh cream, coconut milk and herbs to make flavour. There was barely any unnaturally found sugar in my diet at all and my costs were super low.

Hoping to go back to it now DD is older.

So for breakfast today I had a cheese and tomato omelette. No fruit juice, just a cup of tea. I was still hungry mid morning though! (had a banana).

Yes porridge for breakfast is OK, so guess that will have to be my alternative, as I won’t have time to make eggs when I back at work.

Poached eggs are really quick to make. About the same time as porridge if not less.

Oooh am placemarking to come back to this. I think lower carb is what I need to try, but wasn't sure how to go about it.

Actually I was thinking of doing the overnight oats as then no cooking required - mornings are so busy anyway I just need something easy!

I do like the fact it’s not about calorie restriction. In fact he says low calorie diets can mess up your metabolism and you shouldn’t do them.

@HighlandCowbag

Oooh am placemarking to come back to this. I think lower carb is what I need to try, but wasn't sure how to go about it.

This way of eating is excellent for people who want to reduce but not eliminate carbs. Carbs are naturally low because you have no added sugar, nothing made with flour, no 'modified maize starch' type ingredients that pop up in processed food.

But, you can still enjoy as many carbs as you like in unprocessed/unrefined form, so you can have apples, for example, which you are normally advised to cut out on strict low carb diets.

And there is no need, of course, to look up carb content, calorie content etc. as long as you stick to the right types of food.

Thanks @Arbadacarba, I've just ordered it with a view to starting next week. We don't eat much processed stuff anyway, and I already know from experience that if I cut out bread I lose weight much more quickly regardless of calories in/out.

I need to do something, lockdown has not been kind to my body and at 43 it's too much of a struggle to just cut down, it has very little impact on the scales. I need a proper new way of eating that isn't too restrictive (normal busy family life) but does have an impact pretty quickly or I lose momentum.

Same here - in my forties and finding just cutting back is not having much of an impact.

I enjoyed the book a lot, but would have liked more suggestions about what to eat, instead of what not to eat! We already do a lot of home cooking and I eat a lot of veg. I am cutting back on alcohol.

However I am finding it hard to give up snacking - I often get hungry mid-morning and mid-afternoon (even after a protein rich breakfast and lunch).

@Wandamakestoast Try looking online for 'paleo diet' suggestions if you want inspiration. Jenkins' guidance is less restrictive than the paleo diet so you have more options but you can assume if it's allowed on paleo it's safe on this way of eating.

@Arbadacarba mil does that at Xmas. I stopped eating spuds when I cut out sugar and wheat but when I do a roast I do potatoes for everyone else and add in carrots to the same tray which the kids don't like but DH and I do.

I use lard, butter and beef dripping to cook with, olive oil for salads.

The excessive use of processed seed oils is a scandal brewing, growing with every study that is published.

I just noticed that there is a podcast on The Doctors’s Kitchen with Dr Andrew Jenkinson:

thedoctorskitchen.com/podcasts

I haven’t listened to it yet, but I listened to the Dr Nick Fuller one which seemed to be saying a lot of the same things - that low calorie diets don’t work.

He was promoting something called ‘interval weight loss’.

Thanks, will have a look.

I'm reading the book. I think I may have missed something. He mentions that wheat fields aren't what they used to be. But why is bread bad? Thanks to closer readers than me!

Thanks wanda I had a listen whilst in the car earlier - a good but fairly brief summary of the book. I’m still not through the book yet but have drastically cut out sugar and way back on wheat over the past 3 days. Feeling really tired and headachey today and particularly hunger but I’m guessing that’s the effect of no sugar?

I think wheat has been tampered around with, making it more harmful but the main issue I think is that any food containing wheat is very heavily processed and contains all sorts of other unnatural things. But like I say, I’m still only part way through the book so I might be completely wrong!

I actually think the findings in the book are pretty groundbreaking!

Feeling really tired and headachey today and particularly hunger but I’m guessing that’s the effect of no sugar?

Yes - it's known as 'carb flu' by low-carbers. It's just your body getting used to a lower blood-sugar level and should pass off in a few days. Once you adjust, you will find you don't get painful hunger pangs or that sick, light-headed feeling when you haven't eaten - you will feel hungry, but not ill.

I've just finished reading it, it's very interesting and informative. Am going to start monday. Am very excited, it does tie in with what I've always thought. I don't personally think we should cut any food group out altogether but the seed oil stuff was fascinating. I can cook anyway, we've just fallen into bad habits like most people. Going to meal plan and shop over the weekend and take it from there. Dh won't do it, dd is veggie and cooks her own stuff mostly and ds is Mr Fussy so suspect I will be on my own doing it. Luckily I can ignore the biscuit and bread bin easily. Going to do a big batch of soup for lunches. We have our own chickens so plenty of eggs and I love salad and veg. It's going to be about planning rather than deprivation.

I cut out sugar and wheat a month or so ago, and once I got past carb flu, I've felt fine. I'm hungry before meals, but I had been using sugar to manage my stress and was constantly wanting snacks, biscuits, whatever was in. The hunger I get before meals is more gradual and gentle than the " I want it now" of sugar cravings. I haven't had to "manage" my sugar cravings, they have just gone.

I haven’t cut any food group out completely but have cut down a lot on wheat and sugary foods. I think I had got a bit lazy with basing meals around bread / pasta etc. It’s been easier this week as I am off work so have been able to cook from scratch but it’s going to be harder once I am back working Mon-Fri and have less energy for cooking.

We all eat together as a family of 5 so that’s an additional challenge - making food that everyone will eat but that fits in with my healthier way of eating. However with a bit of planning it can be done.

Also DH and DCs eat biscuits, cakes etc - am trying to think how to change that without a mutiny! Although they aren’t the ones who need to lose any weight ....

I won't be able not have biscuits and bread in either, will just have to be strong and ignore them!

There are some things I do regularly that will fit with this way if eating, or that I can adapt for me. Main thing for me will be bread because a sarnie is so easy at lunchtime.

I know how you feel - I can't avoid biscuits, bread, chocolate, crisps etc. being in the house - I have a very skinny DH who eats them every day . I just try to forget they're there. Biscuits and chocolate I'm not very bothered about but bread is a challenge!