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.

Hi Jumpalicious! I eat either Greek yoghurt and fresh berries for breakfast, or porridge. Mind you, this week I’ve been waiting til 11/12 o’clock and eating an earlyish lunch - it just seems to suit me! I’ve always eaten like this - I used to wait until break to eat in secondary school, and at work I would take a porridge pot and eat it at around 10.30.

@felineflutter I have always been able to lose weight, but have never been able to maintain the loss (which is why I am so intrigued by this book and really believe I need to adjust my set point if I am to maintain a lower weight long-term). Over the years I have lost and regained the same weight having followed Weight Watchers, calorie counting and 5:2. They all worked for me while I stuck rigidly to them, but after some months I would lose heart and get fed up with the constant counting of points/calories and having to weigh and log everything I ate. Then I would go back to my old habits and stack the weight back on and then some.

During the last lockdown I gave up watching what I was eating until March when I (once again!) decided enough was enough and started again. I had planned to follow 5:2 and lowish carb and started with that, but then came across this book and moved into this way of eating around a month ago. So my weight loss is a combination of both really.

The key factor for me is I genuinely believe I can live with this way of eating long-term which is something I couldn't manage on any other diet.

At the minute I'm focusing on cutting out as much sugar as possible, reducing wheat and eating more protein in good hearty healthy meals. My target is to continue with this until my weight loss plateaus. At that point I will reassess and decide if I'm happy at that weight or whether I need to introduce more changes to drop further. I'm not the body-shape that I will ever be skinny, I know it's not realistic for me to target being 9 stone, but I want to get to a weight that I'm comfortable with that I can maintain without depriving myself.

@Jumpalicious I supplement fish oils but not daily. I take the well woman seven seas supplements which comes with a separate fish oil capsule. It’s more whenever I remember to take it tbh

Apparently it’s a blood thinner but not as potent as aspirin. But I’ll be taking I regularly when I have my covid jab just in case!

@Jumpalicious. I'm vegetarian so a bit harder to find an omega 3 supplement. I've been taking one that contains algae oil as this is the closest to fish oil. I've also got some flaxseed oil, which really doesn't taste very nice but I sometimes mix it into stuff (like yogurt or soup). I think that my skin might actually be looking slightly less dry since I started supplementing but still early days yet.

I recently read (or listened to) Michael Mosely's book on gut health and there was a lot about supplements, especially the fish oil ones. Basically a lot do nothing at all because it's difficult to keep the fish oil fresh when it is most effective. Otherwise it is like eating rotten fish and there is no benefit at all.

Thanks so much on eating tips. Re fish oil @samthebordercollie oh that’s interesting... so basically don’t bother?

@Tiredandbored ditto. I did IF during lock down. It worked. I think (or I realise in retrospect) basically because not spiking my insulin.

I then went back to my normal eating - I used to calorie count pretty obsessively so let’s say 1750-1850 cal a day but always bread for breakfast and lunch, then a morning choc bar or a fresh juice, veg oils in cooking, etc - and weight now basically as it was pre IF. This book has really opened my eyes to why. I also often felt a bit pre diabetic and sometimes used to get horrible sugar lows (even though I didn’t necessarily eat all that much sugar as such - but of course, did have GI high foods!). Anyway, for me it’s the way this eating method makes me feel: so much better, and not deprived as @tired said.

Made spaghetti bolognese this evening and served mine with konjac noodles. They were a reasonable substitute for spaghetti - slightly rubbery, though I'm not quite sure what the best way of cooking them is, so that may have been my fault. I feel pleasantly full at the minute and will see how my hunger goes later this evening.

Has anyone else tried these before? If so, how did you cook them and what did you think of them?

Sorry I've not had them Tired.

Intersting programme about sugar just now on ITV

Bugger missed most of it, will have to catch it on iplayer, it continues tomorrow as well.

Had a hectic day and didn't manage lunch (or breakfast), had 2 x 12.5g blocks of cheese at 2.15pm which managed to keep me going. Just had sea bass fillets, mixed veg and new potatoes with loads of butter and it was lush. And a satsuma for pudding.

Was torture walking round Tescos tonight absolutely starving. Wanted alldafood.

@HighlandCowbag

Sorry I've not had them Tired.

Intersting programme about sugar just now on ITV

Thanks @HighlandCowbag, I hadn't seen that programme advertised but will catch it on the +1 channel.

We have Netflix on - what’s the show called?

Errm I dunno, something Sugar? It was on itv at 7.30pm, should be available on iplayer I think, it's on again tomorrow presumably at the same time.

Saw some little rice cracker things in tesco as well, were 95% rice so toyed with the idea of buying them but decided against it or I will start skipping lunch and grabbing a handful of those instead.

Then thought about rice noodles. Just looked at the M and S ones and they are 100% rice so presumably a safe option? Might be a good alternative to spaghetti for spagbol.

Will be picking some up next week I think and may attempt a pad thai.

Found it, thanks!

I looked for rice noodles, but couldn't find them the last time I was shopping, will look again as they might be a good replacement for spaghetti.

I'm looking at my menu plan for next week, most of it should be easy to tweak, but two meals are quite carby. One is lasagne, but I think I might try aubergine slices to replace the pasta sheets perhaps?

The other one is chicken fajitas - any suggestions as to a good replacement for the wraps?

I’ve seen people make wraps with lettuce leaves, but I’m not sure how well that would work with hot fajita mix making the lettuce soggy. Could you just have all the lovely fajita bits with salad rather than in a wrap?

We went for a spontaneous meal out! Restaurants in Scotland only opened on Mon, and we were heading out for a walk and passed this one, and I checked the online booking and it had a free table! It was so nice to be fed by someone else and not have to worry about washing up. I tried to stick to the principles - had steak and mash, but it came with a few onion rings which I couldn’t resist. Then I had asked DH to order me a white wine spritzer and I went off to take the kids to the loo, and I forgot that we aren’t allowed alcohol indoors here yet, so when I got back he’d ordered an elderberry soda water - it tasted so sweet! I didn’t drink it all but I did drink some. However, as the first attempt at eating out it could have been a lot worse, and we both nobly resisted starters and puddings.

Not sure a lettuce leaf will suffice for my monster wrap

This is one of my favourite meals and I may compromise by just allowing myself one wrap rather than my usual two and eating the filling only for the second one. That's an improvement over my usual and I've no other carb-heavy meals all week if I replace the lasagne as planned.

I think Old El Paso do corn tortilla wraps, but Jenkinson advised avoiding corn as well as wheat, so I'm not sure they'd be any better.

Your meal out sounds lovely @TooExtraImmatureCheddar! I'm really looking forward to the first proper restaurant meal we will be able to have - what a treat after all this time!!

www.ditchthecarbs.com/coconut-flour-tortilla-wraps-recipe/ Here’s a recipe for coconut flour tortillas (if you can be arsed!) that might work. Google also has low carb ones that you can buy online but I was put off by the suggestion that they would keep for 6 months in a sealed bag - no idea what was in those but I think heavily processed might be an understatement.

I’m about to start reading this book, so thought I’d pop on here and say hello...and I’ll be back soon!

I’ve read most of this thread, and it seems like a very adaptable and long term WOE. You all seem to be doing amazingly well.

@ByeByeMissAmericanPie it is sustainable. First few weeks you get great losses! It calms the sugar rollercoaster.

I quite enjoyed a fajita salad but I did generally have one wrap - what I did was pop it underneath and open, then pile it with salad and filling, cheese, avocado etc. Fajitas aren’t the same without a wrap.

One wrap won’t kill you. I had spaghetti with my bolognese last week. It’s been cut out for the most part - you’ve still got to have a life.

I’m almost off the direct consumption of sugar... it’s the hidden stuff in pickles etc that gets me! I’m definitely pre diabetic so it’s time to really knuckle down.
I do have a bottle of organic hemp oil in the fridge, and aim for a tablespoon a day... if I remember! (About twice a week 🤣)

What about baking a couple of potatoes, scooping out the middle for a meal next day (bubble and squeak or mashed potato) and using crispy skins as a boat for your fajita topping? I love the skin so would absolutely adore that, better than a wrap.

Busy day today, got a big project to submit, plumber coming out for a leak, house is trashed blah blah blah. Have wine in the fridge already and will either be cheats indian or thai for tea cos friday. Lunch will be some kind of salad, have some new potatoes left from last night so possibly some kind of tuna salad with the potatoes.

Am looking forward to a long weekend tbh, feel frazzled this week. Had smear Monday, long hairdressers appointment yesterday, uni stuff and lectures in-between, a leak threw my ceiling, usual school run and animals to do plus life in general.

Watching with interest