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.

Highland Your poor DH! I bet he won't have that again without some pain relief 😂 I won't see a thing will be under GA. I asked if they could take a sample and do an analysis of my intestinal microbiome at the same time but the answer was a firm no!

If anyone is interested in the scientific side of things, last weeks Huberman Lab podcast was about hormones and hunger:

It turns out there’s loads of hormones that affect appetite and eating behaviour, even the amount of sunlight you get is important.

On the previous podcast, he talked about how when you eat sugar theres a direct trigger from your gut to the brain to release dopamine, hence the drive to eat more.

Sam, luckily the stoma is now gone so hopefully never again. I hope today goes well for you.

Don'tAsk I will try and watch that, I like the sciency stuff. I must admit this woe has definitely affected my appetite. I accidentally seem to do 16:8 most days as I never have breakfast. I am usually ready for lunch about 1pm but occasionally when I've been busy it's gone to 2pm and I only eat because otherwise I will be hungry on the school run or whatever we are.doing after school.

Salad with tuna I think for lunch, not 100% sure on tea, need to sort something out for DH so will probably nip to the supermarket later.

That podcast sounds really interesting. Will have a listen at lunchtime, thanks.

I'm two weeks in today and braved the scales. Despite my paranoia that I would have gained weight due to my plentiful cheese consumption, I'm actually down three pounds. My scales also measure body fat and muscle (they are a bit old so not sure how reliable they are) and I've apparently stayed the same muscle mass but dropped 2% of my body fat. So I'm pretty pleased with that.

Hope everyone has a nice day.

Hello, please can I join? I’ve read the book. Brilliant.

But I’m eating a lot of cheese. In fact, cheese is basically all I eat until the evening. I can’t face eggs, don’t want excessive meat, or plain yoghurt, and I’ve read elsewhere that you should only eat oily fish three times a week.
I realise all this cheese od is probably unhealthy. Or is it actually ok? I don’t have those awful sugar swings that I used to have.
Is there anyone else doing this? (@TrevorTheMushroom’s comment noted!) Or does anyone have insight as to whether this is bad/ok?

Thinking of you today Sam.

I was so grumpy yesterday! And I know why - the sugar I had on Sunday. I had to really white knuckle the cravings, I wanted to just sit and shovel biscuits down my neck but I fought it HARD and today i am back to my usual self. So, note to self - sugar just isn’t worth it 😞

Welcome @Jumpalicious - are you just eating cheese?! Or other things too? You don’t have to have eggs / loads of meat. You could make a vegetable fried rice, or have a jacket potato? Personally I enjoy cheese but preferably melted on top of a carb

@Jumpalicious welcome! I am eating quite a bit of cheese too, but can see myself getting quick of it quite quickly. I’m trying to remember how much more variety you can eat on this than standard low carb/high fat and making sure I eat my five a day, plus lentils and pulses which you can’t have on standard low carb.

I’m an egg hating vegetarian. Trying not to each much tofu now because it is high in omega 6 so my protein sources are mostly cheese, beans and Greek yogurt. Still trying to get my head around the idea that it is ok to eat plenty of cheese and butter (from both a calorific and saturated fat perspective). I seem to have lost some weight so worrying less about the calorie side of things. Whether saturated fat causes high cholesterol and heart disease seems to be a bit controversial with different scientists saying different things. Have never had my cholesterol tested but as I don’t eat any red meat am hoping that I don’t need to be too concerned about my cheese intake.

Being able to eat cheese is definitely helping me not feel deprived and like I'm on a diet. I think it does also help me to feel full/satisfied.

@TrevorTheMushroom I thought that Ansel Keyes 7 countries study about high fat and high rates of heart disease had been totally disproved now? I wouldn't worry too much about your cholesterol - cheese has a lot of protein as well as fat and is a good food. I'ce always eaten a lot of foods rich in fat (almonds, cashews, cheese, olive oil) and have never had an issue with cholesterol.
Did you read the appendix of Dr Js book on cholesterol? It was very interesting - it isn't quite as simple as good and bad cholesterols!

@samthebordercollie It certainly sounds like that study has been discredited. But then there is other research like this review that suggests that reducing saturated fat will reduce the risk of cardiovascular events so I'm not sure it is settled yet.

www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD011737/full

I did have a look at the appendix yes. Very interesting. I'm not too worried about cholesterol. It is a bit of a change of mindset though. I'm a child of the 80s and definitely had the 'saturated fat = bad' drummed into me growing up.

Evening all, how is everyone? How did you get on today @samthebordercollie? I hope you're ok.

Welcome @Jumpalicious, nice to have you joining us.

I had leftovers (salmon and vegetables) for lunch today and was making a fry for the family tonight. I didn't take any of the bread items and just had eggs, bacon, baked beans and mushrooms.

I've been eating more cheese as well - I find it fills me up quite well and am enjoying having a range of feta, halloumi, cheddar etc with different meals.

Also eating lots of cheese. I've found a pack in M and S of little individual blocks of cheddar which are a fab grab and go kinda thing. Expensive way to buy cheese but it's saved my life a few times when been really hungry and don't have time to make something.

Forgot about lunch today til 1.30pm then had a lecture at 2pm so chucked a handful of salad leaves, a handful of cherry toms and a couple of slices of chopped ham in a bowl. Was going to resort to a squirt of mayo but then knocked together the quickest salad dressing every which is absolutely lush.

Been food shopping tonight, bought some salmon, prawn stir fry, cheese, salad stuff and spuds. Meals this week will be a combination of those plus eggs. Am still feeling quite liberated cooking separately for me and dh. He's a fussy bugger, not a fan of veg or salad or fish.

Also made yoghurt yesterday and altho it looks different it's very nice. Left the greek yoghurt straining overnight and it's very dry, almost like cheese but tastes lovely and smooth and creamy.

I’m buying lots of different types of cheese, so it feels like variety.

The Ancel Keys study was discredited because he cherry-picked the data to suit his hypothesis. He had data from 22 countries, but published only 7.

The book says, at one point, that the cholesterol data was skewed because 1 in 500 people have some kind of hereditary issue with cholesterol, where having high levels is indicative of a potential problem, but I can’t remember exactly. I’ll have another look. It might be worth making sure, if you have a family history of heart disease.

My spiraliser has arrived, so for lunch tomorrow I'm planning to have spiralised carrot, spiralised courgette, spiralised sweet potato and spiralised butternut squash. Breakfast is good to be spiralised porridge and dinner will be spiralised chicken breast served with spiralised corn on the cob

Actually had some food this evening, first since Sunday night. It didn't follow the plan but it was homemade, smoked salmon and leek quiche with a green salad. Colonoscopy was all clear but has left me with lots of gas and cramps (they pump you up like a balloon to make room for the camera) and a horrible headache, probably the anaesthetic. Should be back to normal tomorrow!

Glad you are through it @samthebordercollie, hopefully you'll be feeling more like yourself by tomorrow

@Tiredandbored.

I think I'll dust mine off tomorrow!

@samthebordercollie hope you’re feeling better today, great your colonoscopy was clear! And a good choice of food, nice and refreshing after everything your poor insides have been through the last few days.

I was lucky enough to have a breast lump biopsy last night, so we are all having lots of medical fun aren’t we! A little sore today so no Pilates for me for a couple of days, but I have a walk with a friend later along with the school runs.

Food wise I am planning on poached eggs and bacon with a smoothie (need my morning sugar still and can’t be bothered to make potato skillet again today).

I have leftover chicken for lunch, not sure what I’m going to do with it yet. Maybe just have it with a jacket potato and veg.

Dinner is a vegetable Thai green curry.

Have a wonderful day ladies, it’s cloudy so once I’ve tidied up from not being here last night I think i’m going to treat myself to a sofa day

Lots of yucky medical things going on, urgh.

Nothing exciting planned food wise today. Have a salmon fillet cooked in the fridge to have with either salad or through an omelette later, then prawn stirfry for tea. Won't have the noodless though and don't think I will bother making rice either, will just have loads of veg. Unless I did the spiraliser out and make courgette noodles. That might happen.

Am not sure what dressing to do on my stirfry, have got some teriyaki, soy sauce and a few other bits so going to have a google for something. Really busy with uni stuff atm, but finish in a few weeks so hopefully will be able to be a bit more adventurous when I have a bit more time to shop and prepare.

Morning all. Hope everyone is recovering from all the medical things.

I weighed myself this morning and I've lost 2lb in a week and half! I know it might just be water weight from my liver but whenever I've been on a diet I haven't even lost that!

My body must be so messed up from years of dieting and binging, it seems quite happy with what I'm doing now, eating actual food rather than rubbish, it's quite miraculous.

I am listening to loads of podcasts about low carbing to try and embed the message in my brain so I don't relapse.

I am either having porridge or eggs for breakfast and then meat or fish with veg for lunch. DH does a lot of the cooking but is supportive so I just take my portion of the main thing and do some veg to go with it.

He's made some lovely curries and dhal this week and meatballs last night, sadly no leftovers for today though.

Have a good day everyone.

Morning all! @Tinkling, if you need that chicken breast spiralised for your lunch just give me the nod!

I'm planning on a spiralised salad of every vegetable in my fridge with some sort of dressing and smoked salmon for my lunch. Evening meal will be interesting - I'm doing spaghetti bolognese for the family, so I'm going to try the naked noodles I bought last week and see how well they substitute for spaghetti. May also try a little courgetti in the mix as well and compare them both. Am really hoping that one of them is a good enough replacement for spaghetti 🤞🤞🤞

@Tiredandbored I laughed out loud! Brilliant!

I like squashetti because it has more flavour than courgette personally so think it’s a good substitute. Not that I have a spiraliser and can’t seem to find it in the hops any more. Post a pic of all your spiralised veg though please! I bet it’s really pretty

@Tinkling I'm so sorry about your breast biopsy - was it really painful? When will you get the results?
It's a lovely day here, and I'm feeling human again and the headache has gone. This morning's run was lovely after a very sedentary day yesterday. Might try a cycle ride later too. No breakfast (as usual) lunch will be a Greek salad and not sure about tonight yet, will go shopping later.
@Tiredandbored I've never spiralised anything and didn't know you could with squash - I'm growing a lot of butternut in my field garden this year. Is there anything that can't be spiralised?

I'll let you know @samthebordercollie - I am assuming it is mainly firm vegetables that will spiralise best, but with the novelty factor in play I'm not sure anything in my house including the dog if she stands still long enough will escape my clutches!

@samthebordercollie this is actually my third biopsy (5th breast lump), they use local anaesthetic so it’s not too bad but it’s just the shock of knowing you need to have one. I always get shaky after because it’s the whole ‘not this again’. It was a cyst which had solid matter in it and they can’t tell on ultrasound if the solid
Matter is just sludge or a solid lump which is why they biopsied it. The cyst collapsed after biopsy which means it’s benign but they won’t say that 100% until they get the path results, which will be about a week. Luckily I have an incredible consultant who understands my stress levels (having to go through this so often - this is my third lump in 6 months) so will call me earlier if the results come back sooner. Despite being told it’s benign I never really breathe fully until it’s been confirmed on histology.

I’m pleased you’re feeling better today, as grim as it was, hopefully the clear out and fasting has helped you shed a pound or 5?! X