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.

How much fun is a spiraliser??!!?? I don't know if I have lost all sense of reality during lockdown, but watching the little curls of carrot spiral out onto my plate gave me the most satisfaction I've had in a long time!!! It's brilliant!! 😂😂

at Tired. I want one!

Hope everyone who had medical stuff in the last few days is feeling better now - you poor things!

Well done on your weight loss, CornedBeef! I've similarly lost 2lb in just over a week, which I'm very happy with.

@Tiredandbored I love your new obsession with spiral using!

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar well done on your weight loss too!

I had a weird conversation with a friend at the weekend and ended up telling about all this. She was really sad at the thought of me not eating biscuits and was quite insistent my life wouldn't be worth living without sugar.

The thing is, she's tiny! Never been overweight, never been on a diet, eats what she wants and drinks as much wine as she wants and never puts on weight! I am probably 5 stone heavier than her and only an inch taller. I think I can live without biscuits if it means I can lose weight and be healthier.

@CornedBeef451, the part of the book that talked about how some people have a genetic predisposition to gain weight whereas others don't helped me understand people like your friend. They might be able to eat rubbish and stay slim, but that doesn't mean I can.

Here's some spiral-mania for you all to enjoy!

@Tiredandbored yes it was helpful. I always used to feel it was entirely my fault I couldn't lose weight but the last few years I've read quite a few things that made me feel better about it all.

Hopefully I can stick to this this time, I'm feeling hopeful at the moment.

Loving the spiralled veg!

I read this book recently and thought the science behind the set point made perfect sense. I know mine has definitely increased through repeated dieting.

I’m starting this week by tackling the no wheat/sugar side of things. I already don’t use seed or vegetable oils so hope I’ve done myself a bit of a favour there. I do make a loaf from spelt flour once a week so will cut that out for now. I do wonder if it’s possible to reintroduce it though.

@Tinkling oh goodness, I can understand why you feel stressed. Having to wait up to a week for the results must be really difficult. Fingers crossed everything is OK for you.
@Tiredandbored love the spiralling! Makes a very pretty dish.
@SulisMinerva welcome to the thread! I think if any bread is OK it is that made with spelt or buckwheat or other 'ancient' grains. Grains are generally very good for your gut, but they must be unrefined. The old original grains which haven't been modified are far less dangerous for health.I still eat galettes once a week which made with buckwheat (I live in France) as that flour has a lot of fibre and protein rather than sugar.

Thank you Samthebordercollie. I do find that spelt doesn’t give me gut issues like wheat does. I’ll eat ‘clean’ for a month and then reintroduce it and see how it goes. Galettes are delicious! I would eat those too if I lived in France.

Just a quick question. Should we be eating low fat dairy where possible? Obviously grass fed butter but is skimmed milk better than full fat?

I don't believe so feline as the fat in dairy gives more satiety and prevents hunger spiking as quickly. It is also a healthier fat than the trans-fats found in cakes and biscuits.

Very often low-fat products (such as yoghurt) has increased sugar to replace the fat, so it is healthier to eat the full fat version.

I reverted back to full-fat milk some months ago after reading research about this and the importance of these fats for us.

I use semi in my drinks because I prefer the taste but use full fat for anything else. I think taking fat away messes with the sugar levels but might have misremembered that fact.

Had a good day yesterday. Lush salad with salmon and calamari for lunch and then prawn and veg stirfry for dinner, followed by yog, fruit and a splash of honey for pudding.

Today will be a bit awkward, have got hairdressers at 10am and probably not home while 2pm then got to pick ds up and go to the stables so be rush, rush, rush.

Will possibly end up eating cheese for lunch which will be late, or I might grab a boxed salad from a cafe in town or something.

Not sure what dinner will be, possibly new pots, fish and salad or something.

No feline. Full fat everything. Which is much tastier! I am enjoying cream, full fat milk and real butter. I am buying pastured organic versions of all of those things.

@felineflutter

Just a quick question. Should we be eating low fat dairy where possible? Obviously grass fed butter but is skimmed milk better than full fat?

There's no reason to unless you prefer the taste. But beware of added ingredients in anything branded as 'low fat'. Something like skimmed milk will be fine as it's simply had the fat removed, but a low-fat yoghurt might contain all sorts of rubbish to replace the bulk that the fat would have given it. Always read the label.

I was looking at how high full fat dairy was in Omega 6. Does the Omega 3 cancel it out then?

So it is useful as it helps with our appetite and may stop us eating foods with higher omega 6s. Thanks

That's a useful graph Feline, thanks for posting. It's the ratio of Omega 6 to 3 you need to look at. For example margarine and vegetable oils are off the scale compared to the dairy products. I always eat full fat yoghurt like Greek yogurt or fromage blanc.
Dinner last night was grilled magret de canard, green salad and sautée potatoes followed by chocolate mousse. Very nice.

Yes I see, thanks samthebordercollie.

Where do I find eggs purely fed on fish oil? Maybe buy a couple?!

I feed my hens a mix of grains and corn - I don't think they'd appreciate just fish oil!

Morning all!! Weighed myself today and am another 1lb down which means I have lost 1 stone and 3lbs in total, which is around halfway to where I'd like to be.

Planning to have lots of spiral things today for lunch Going to have a range of veg (whatever is in the fridge) with a dollop of creme fraiche mixed through and serve with grilled halloumi. Even sent the kids to school with spiralised carrots in their lunchbox

@felineflutter, when he started talking in the book about eating grass-fed beef, line-caught fish, chicken that isn't fed on grains etc I realised that this is slightly trickier than just cutting out wheat in my meals. However I'm going down the route of making better choices when I can, but not sweating over the small stuff - for example, when I'm shopping for fish I now check the packaging more carefully and where possible I buy line-caught, but if it's not available (or is an exorbitant price) I accept that whilst farmed fish are not as good they are still better than me sitting down to pizza and chips in terms of health benefits to me.

I don't know about eggs from chickens fed only on fish oil, I suspect it would only be a higher-end grocery store or perhaps a farmer's market might have them, but I'm trying to buy free-range eggs now which I think must be better than the factory-farmed ones.

I looked at the egg thing as also have my own chooks. If I feed them flax seeds I think it improves the ratio but not by much. Its about ratios overall not just the odd thing you eat. Fries done in veg oil take 4 portions of line caught salmon to equal out. So don't eat the fries! But it's the other benefits of natural products that outweigh the omega 6 ratio if necessary.

And remember it's a 5 step plan, do it step by step. I will probably get to being aware of GI for instance and sticking to recommendations most days but not obsessed over it, it's not a diet it's a way of eating.

And a couple of eggs (free range) aren't going to bugger everything up. Ditto dairy.

I think I should read the whole book first instead of just dipping in every evening!

I get that making the best choice possible is the best way forward and then tweaking things when we have become balanced with our approach to food.

It is amazing that I am having porridge with full fat milk, cream and a pinch of salt and I am not missing the honey now.

Tiredandbored that weightloss is incredible! Is that purely from eating non processed food?

I buy pastured free range eggs from Ocado. They’re £5 for a dozen!

Because we aren’t eating out / getting take aways any more, I am now one of those irritating people who are spending money on pastured, organic meat, dairy and eggs and line caught wild fish.

It is very expensive but the chicken and the eggs are completely different. They’re huge for one, and the chicken is a much denser meat if that makes sense. I was vegan a while ago and always feel guilty now eating meat, so I feel a bit better as well that at least they had a good life before they got slaughtered. Same with the chickens.

The weight loss is so encouraging, well done to those of you weighing! I am still in a scale free house and know weighing will de rail me if I find them from somewhere so I’m not going to.

However, I did a junk food free one month challenge a few years ago and lost a stone in a month. So I expect that I will get some weight loss from this, but to be honest I feel so much healthier which is a good driver.

www.daylesford.com/our-story/what-we-do/animals/

This is the brand I buy from.

Hello all. This thread is brilliant. Is anyone supplementing with omega 3?? If so, any tips on best products out there? I know Jenkins doesn’t talk about supplementation...

I made a cod and chorizo stew last night. That worked quite well. It’s from the bbc good food site. Otherwise, I’m still on my daytime cheese habit. Interesting photo above reminding of the ratios. Think cheese is still “ok” but I see Brie is probably one of the better choices.
But clearly, I’m going to have to branch out a bit. It’s just breakfast, I am such a creature of habit. It used to be toast. Now it’s cheese. Really can’t think of anything else I’d want first thing... anyone doing anything habitually ;-) that they recommend? Thanks so much.