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.

We have friends coming over for lunch (in the garden) tomorrow. Have just made a chocolate cheesecake to serve for dessert, but have sabotaged it against myself - I don't like nuts, so I've sprinkled mixed nuts through it so I'm not even tempted to take a bite. Am also serving mixed berries with Greek yoghurt, so I'll have that instead.

I cheated last night. Had beer and wine which I allow then thai for tea from takeaway. Then really wanted something sweet and remembered a mini egg eatster egg one of the dcs had forgotten so robbed the mini eggs out. To be fair it was a tiny bag, about 10 eggs in total. Bizarrely they were horrible! Far, far too sweet even when I was drunk! The shell just tasted like pure sugar which it probably is and the chocolate was sickly.

Back on it today tho. Going to have smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for brunch, then steak for tea.

You can't cheat on this. It isn't keto or anything with rules. All he does is lay out the pros and cons of various foods, what you do with that information is up to you!
I've had birthday cake and an Easter eg since I started. I don't consider I cheated!
My food intake is way healthier than it was before I started. And I'm off the sugar rollercoaster 🎢

I agree @Love51, it's a much more relaxed way of eating and the world is not going to end if we have a takeaway or a dessert once in a while. I'm sitting here having some dark chocolate with a coffee after my lunch right now.

I'm quite looking forward to seeing where my weight settles with this way of eating. I know I can sustain this long-term (unlike previous diets in the past) and am excited that if my weight settles at a point I'm happy with I'll not have to make any further changes. If it settles higher than I want then there are additional changes I can bring in, but at this stage I'm fine with what I'm doing.

As a small victory today I was able to put on a top that I don't normally wear as it is too clingy and shows off every single roll of my belly fat without looking like a plastic bag full of jelly.

Yes I suppose I didn't actually cheat really, a small bag of mini eggs isn't going to ruin anything (especially when I was pissed as a fart anyway). I'm having a generally relaxed weekend anyhow because it's a bank holiday.

I'd be happy dropping 2 stone and just maintaining eating this way. 3 would be ideal but am so over starving myself.

I struggled with calorie allowances too - I’d try to eat real food with full fat dairy etc, and then I didn’t have enough allowance for dinner/treats. Obviously I now know I don’t need sugary treats! I did Team RH which is the absolute pinnacle of counting - not only calories but macros of protein/fibre etc. They kept insisting that you should have enough calories in your allowance to eat 80% good, 20% shite, but all I can say is that if you tried to stick to the very high protein levels you were set, then you couldn’t manage much sugar unless you consumed those horrible protein powder things. I came to the conclusion that the only way to manage was to eat low-fat everything and horrible protein shakes, at which point I dropped it. Funnily enough counting obsessively wasn’t at all easy, and trying to stuff myself with Skyr or tuna to hit protein targets made me feel sick. I am a simple soul and it’s much easier to cut out sugar and wheat than it is to spend ages weighing food before I eat it and stressing because DH cooked something and I don’t know exactly what went in it!

Just keeping up after not reading for a week. Nice to see how this fits pretty painlessly into all our lives. I'm going to mooch around the funny little independent supermarket near me that has lots of local stuff I don't see in Sainsbos and see if anything inspires me.

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar

I struggled with calorie allowances too - I’d try to eat real food with full fat dairy etc, and then I didn’t have enough allowance for dinner/treats. Obviously I now know I don’t need sugary treats! I did Team RH which is the absolute pinnacle of counting - not only calories but macros of protein/fibre etc. They kept insisting that you should have enough calories in your allowance to eat 80% good, 20% shite, but all I can say is that if you tried to stick to the very high protein levels you were set, then you couldn’t manage much sugar unless you consumed those horrible protein powder things. I came to the conclusion that the only way to manage was to eat low-fat everything and horrible protein shakes, at which point I dropped it. Funnily enough counting obsessively wasn’t at all easy, and trying to stuff myself with Skyr or tuna to hit protein targets made me feel sick. I am a simple soul and it’s much easier to cut out sugar and wheat than it is to spend ages weighing food before I eat it and stressing because DH cooked something and I don’t know exactly what went in it!

100% this!!

@samthebordercollie apologies, you’re absolutely right. I was speed reading and having looked again they are better than some nuts, but still high. Chia and flaxseeds do have an anti inflammatory ratio though. It’s hard to keep track!

DS has asked for Chinese tonight so trying to work out what to have. I’m considering the quarter duck with spring onion and cucumber but no pancakes or sauce. I think that should be ok?

Yes @BangingOn, that is a good order to stay on track.

I've had that from the chinese to stay on track, it's nice but can be a bit dry. I'd have it with a salad as well.

Just nipped on quickly to say I weighed myself at my mums, I’m 9st 13.7 which I haven’t been since September. Last time I weighed myself I was 10st 3.9 so I’ve lost 4lbs in a month (I think it’s more than that because after I last weighed I did 2 weeks of non stop eating and bingeing, so I’d say I was more like 10.6 - 10.7.

Very happy with that

I should add that it was 2 weeks of eating after I last weighed so assuming I was more like 10.6, it’s 6lbs in 2 weeks.

Good point re it being dry, I do have some beansprouts and pak choi in the fridge so might cook those to go with it.

Well done on the loss Tinkling, that’s brilliant.

Any thoughts about least-bad takeaway in general? Not pizza, not deep-fried chipper. I like the idea of crispy duck. Indian probably wouldn’t be too bad, right?

Thanks, very happy as definitely haven’t been deprived, tasty meals, no calorie counting, no being hungry (and snuck in some chocolate when required and yoghurt with sugar in / smoothie).

I think the best take away would be something like Nando’s. Flame grilled chicken, rice (it does contain rapeseed oil though) or you could have sweet potato wedges? And vegetable side options. It’s what I’d choose as a healthy take away anyway.

Oh yes and Indian. Something like a tandoori mixed grill with boiled rice.

Ok, I've got my Jamie Oliver Veg book here if anyone is looking for meal ideas. These ones are compatible or only need minor adaptations:
Veggie chilli
Cauliflower tikka masala
Stuffed curried aubergines
Tomato curry
Mushroom stroganoff.
Veg tagine
allotment cottage pie
Moussaka
Spiced parsnip soup
Black bean soup
Mediterranean veg rice
Potato and mushroom Al forno
Veg traybake
Pea and ricotta stuffed courgettes
Hassleback Al forno
Masala stuffed peppers
Roasted tomato risotto
Pumpkin rice
Summer bubble and squeak
Greek inspired cauliflower stew
Tomato and spring veg frittata
Shakshuka
Avocado and jalapeno hash brown

Tbh there are loads more that are easily adapted by missing out eg. a bun or pitta bread. Or you might not mind a tiny bit of flour.

Happy to photograph a page if you want more info.

@Rollergirl1980

Happy to photograph a page if you want more info.

Would you mind sharing the pea and ricotta courgettes please?

Recipe:

Picture:

Don't know where you would get courgettes with flowers from though 🤷‍♀️ but I'm sure it can be adapted.

Thanks! I'm definitely going to try that one, without the flowers though, thank you!

Afternoon everyone! Any menu plans today? I had my usual porridge this morning. Have guests for lunch today and have made BBQ chicken that I'm serving in bread rolls, but have lots of salads which I'll have instead of the bread. Fruit and Greek yoghurt for dessert for me, sabotaged nutty cheesecake for everyone else

Probably scrambled eggs and leftover salad for later.

I've decided I'm not going to count any calories or weigh myself for the next 2 weeks. This will be quite a change for me as I usually weigh myself every morning, but I want to eat more intuitively and be more aware of my body's hunger cues. I've lost over a stone already, but want to focus less on weight loss and more on eating along these guidelines.