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.

It gets so confusing, the more I read and the more detail I digest! But those seeds are definitely on the list of foods with an anti-inflammatory ratio so that’s good enough for me right now.

I’ve made the nicest dinner tonight- steak, griddled asparagus and fried gnocchi in butter (I found one that is just potato with a dusting of rice flour) with lemon juice and balsamic vinegar. So good.

I’ve had a ‘bad’ day today. Got home from a Governor meeting really late, DH was stuck on a work call and everyone hungry so I just chucked some new potatoes on and fish fingers for the kids, pie for DH and ended up having a GF chicken Kiev myself plus broccoli. I also had a slice of applewood cheddar and an apple, and one strawberry dipped in cream.

Everyone has doughnuts tonight so I had a creme egg just to partake really.

Back on it tomorrow.

Legs are killing me from too many squats yesterday, just walking has been tricky! Not sure if I’ll actually get time to work out tomorrow as I’m meeting a friend but Friday I will get the chance in between baking cupcakes for my mums birthday and a baby shower!

It is a bit confusing isn't it. I'm just classing it as avoiding processed foods, by which I mean more than 2 or 3 ingredients. And grains. Tbh if I fancied a handful of nuts or a sprinkling of seeds I would have them.

I've had rice tonight for the first time in weeks and even that has left me feeling a bit bloated and gassy. Dh is in for a treat in bed 😁. I am ok with potatoes but trying to cut down on them a little bit, mainly because I smother them with butter.

I've been trying to hypnotise myself into this by listening to the The Canteen Podcast where he talks to a variety of people following similar ways of eating. Some of them are quite extreme but they're mostly very interesting and entertaining.

I'm finding eating when you're hungry really confusing. Today I didn't feel hungry for breakfast until 11am when I had 2 scrambled eggs with lots of butter and half a tin of plum tomatoes.

Then I didn't feel hungry again but there's only so late we can have tea so I ate again at 7pm, I had smoked mackerel and Brussels sprouts sautéed with Parma ham and some more butter.

Since then I've had a few blueberries but that's it. It just seems so weird that I feel fine eating so little when I used to eat 3 meals and multiple snacks a day. I do have copious fat stores though, like a bear in winter, so maybe that's why.

I have a challenging week ahead, DDs birthday tomorrow so there'll be cake in the house plus a meal out on Sat and Wed. Wish me luck!

Butter is good on potatoes because it has the effect of reducing the GI level of the potato so less sugar is absorbed into the blood 😉

cornedbeef451 good luck

CornedBeef, I tried the No S Diet at one point and he made an exception for birthdays if the person actually lived with you. You got 2 special days a month plus weekends to eat what you liked (which is probably why it didn’t work for me!) but I like the principle of having the odd special day. Just maybe not ten a month! Also if I make a birthday cake from scratch I’m going to eat some.

Meals out are reasonably easy depending on the restaurant. So far I’ve had steak and mash in one pub, and a Wagamama curry - I picked a meal based on rice, not noodles, and I avoided anything deep fried.

Food today: bacon, eggs, black pudding, mushrooms and tomatoes for lunch. Bolognese with salad for dinner, then homemade chocolate mousse with strawberries and raspberries.

I wonder whether I could do cheesecake by toasting oats and mixing with butter for the base?

I've made an exception for birthdays, but instead of eating whatever I want, sticking to the plan but having one slice of cake. So for DHs birthday there was cake leftover (because we couldn't have anyone round to share it...!) - the next day DH and the kids had another slice but I didn't. So not a killjoy, still joining in, but not getting back on a sugar rollercoaster (my kids are young, there is a lot of sugar about for Easter, birthdays etc). If I hit a set point I'm not happy with I may revise the "rules".
I could have had cake twice a week at work, if I ever go back it will be a hard no.

Have just weighed myself, am down just over half a stone in 4 weeks which I am happy with. Especially as I have had a takeaway every weekend, a bank holiday weekend, a day in the pub and too much wine and beer over every weekend. I'm also less active physically at the minute than I normally am due to uni stuff and exams looming. Hopefully once they are done I will be more active again.

Lunch today will be omelette I think then for tea I am planning a jacket potato with leftover chilli. Lots of butter as Sam says it's OK so that's good! Off for a run this morning, then uni stuff. Then ds has a dental appointment this afternoon then a kayaking lesson later on.

That's great @HighlandCowbag, well done!!

Good work @HighlandCowbag.
I'm struggling with anxiety and panic disorder at the moment and normally I deal with that by eating. I'm not doing that this time. It makes little difference to how bad I feel but at least I won't be more overweight at the end of it.

Hi all, have been following this WOE for about three weeks after I read his book and have been lurking a bit and thought I’d say hi :) I’m finding it so simple to follow, and have lost 8lbs of lockdown weight, while not feeling hungry, very happy with that! am a vegetarian so really happy I can still have chickpeas, beans etc which on LCHF are off the menu, and being able to eat potatoes and rice makes evening meals for the family much simpler. Am still eating nuts and some seeds as they’re such a good source of protein, and have experimented with buckwheat which made quite nice pancakes for a change. Need to move to step 2 - sleep, soon as I am terrible for being on my phone late at night, would love to know if anyone has had success working on that element?

Congrats to @HighlandCowbag! Bravo.

@Love51 - Well done on realising that’s what you do. It’s just a question of finding something to take the place of eating, and knowing when you’ve been triggered.

I eat when I’m stressed, so I’ve started doing crochet which I leave out. As soon as I feel the munchies approaching, I pick it up. It could be a jigsaw, a good book, a chat with a friend on the phone, or a walk.

And don’t beat yourself up about it either! If you usually eat junk food at this point... just substitute cheese instead. Or something less junk-foodie.

It’s a WOE, not a race!

@Hooplawho - I’ve recently discovered Magnesium which I take about an hour before bed. Works a treat, and makes my eyes so droopy I can no longer read! (Also get yourself a pair of blue light glasses)

Blue light doesn’t affect me but I get caught up in the scrolling. I (when feeling disciplined) have been leaving my phone in the utility room from a certain time, as early as possible tbh (but sometimes not until 9pm) to charge overnight.

This morning I refused to look at it until gone 8 which improved my morning mood.

I have a real love / hate relationship with my phone, mostly hate it. Bloody addictive!

With regards to sleep, I’m doing ok at the moment but I haven’t slept well since I had my eldest tbh. I had a health condition which causes insomnia and I feel like I’m in a bad habit. My husband and I sleep apart now which helps me not drag awake when I’ve woken up (which I do frequently) although I do still have nights of being awake for an hour or two for no reason.

Oh and well done on the weight loss! Amazing

Welcome @Hooplawho

@ByeByeMissAmericanPie I've been snacking on cheese and eating loads of eggs in various forms. Trying to basically change my brain structure through what I eat, oily fish, green things. It seems to be benefitting my skin, hopefully it has done some good on the inside too!

It’s all steps in the right direction @Love51

We need to be patient and kind to ourselves.

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar

Anyway, I wondered if there was anyone out there who had tried it, or who naturally ate like this.

Same! Read this book a couple of weeks ago and wrangling with what to eat instead of bread. Keto and paleo diets come up a lot when searching for recipes but as OH has IBS neither fit in my life very well. I guess being organised and making up batches of egg breakfast 'muffins' and courgette fritters is the way forward 😁 In the meantime i've switched to butter, brown pittas and wraps, and upped my salad intake. If he released a cookbook to accompany it that'd be a huuuuge help!!

Well done @Hooplawho and @HighlandCowbag for your losses, that’s brilliant.

I’ve just finished the final week of Couch 2 5k and I’m feeling really good. I never want to eat before or after running so on the day I run I’m not eating until lunchtime which actually feels nice.

@Hooplawho welcome and congratulations on losing 8lbs! For sleep, I'm a magnesium user too, I take that an melatonin to try and get a good night's sleep.I'm 55 and well into the menopause so sleep is even more difficult.

Morning all, some great messages here, lots of encouragement and advice!

Beautiful sunshine here at the minute, so going to get out into the garden for a while. Planning scrambled eggs with smoked salmon for lunch. Have a bad dinner planned as it's homemade pizza (which the kids LOVE, so I can't take it off our menu!) but I'm going to roll my base as thin as I possibly can and just have a small pizza. I've cut a lot of wheat out of my meals, so don't mind having a small amount now and again when it is something like this.

What's on the menu for everyone else today?

Thanks all for the lovely welcome, and the advice on magnesium - I’ll take a look, and it has also reminded me that I’ve got a bit rubbish with taking my usual A-Z multi-vit so must get back on that. I think the first step for better sleep is going to be as @Tinkling suggested - and putting it on charge in the evening in a different room!

I’ve been doing couch 25k too @BangingOn though am only on week 4, mega congrats on finishing it! 👏

Lunch today is halloumi with salad and some olive oil and balsamic as dressing, dinner will be a red lentil, aubergine and red pepper curry - will probably do rice for the family and have a spoonful of that too if I’m really hungry. Enjoy the pizza @Tiredandbored - sounds delicious, I think if this is to be long term then it needs to adapt a bit to our lives especially as it’s not an every day thing!

Thanks everyone. I've bought some double cream and berries to go with the birthday cake so I'll stick to those. I don't even particularly like sponge cake but I usually eat it just because it's there, and end up finishing it off so it's not wasted!