Why We Eat (Too Much) Thread 2

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

Shiny new thread to continue on with! I hope everyone keeps going.

For any newbies, this thread is based on a book by Dr Andrew Jenkinson. The main principles are to cut out sugar, wheat and ultra-processed foods, while eating fresh natural ingredients. It works!

Previous thread: thread 1

@TheLeadbetterLife That menu sounds sensational! Do you live in Portugal?

Well the book arrived and I have already read chapter one. Very interesting.

The theory so far makes sense and the way of eating does appeal to me as it chimes with how I like to eat anyway when I am most motivated.

It's also backed up by previous experience. I always feel better cooking from scratch and reducing refined carbs and sugar. First discovered this in the 90s when food combining ( remember that?) was a thing.

So today I had a cheese and herb duck egg omelette with tomato salad followed by a date and a single choc dipped strawberry for brunch, and just had two slices of roast ham as I was hungry again.

Dinner will be roast pork, roast pots, kale broccoli and cauliflower cheese from yesterday. If still hungry Straws sans choc and cream for pud.

I do live in Portugal!

The fresh food here is fabulous, so it does make this plan easy to implement. Extra virgin olive oil in particular is completely ubiquitous (I never see blended or heat-processed types, even in the budget supermarkets) and cheap as chips.

@TheLeadbetterLife I think I heard that Portugal consumes the least amount of UPF in Europe so you are in the right place! And the cheap as chips EVOO is a real bonus. I live in France and it's expensive here, but there is less temptation with takeaway food in rural France because with the exception of the weekly (disgusting) pizza truck it just doesn't exist
For kids its easy too, they either go home for lunch or have school dinners (no choice, starter, main course and cheese or dessert) no packed lunches allowed.

[quote samthebordercollie]@TheLeadbetterLife I think I heard that Portugal consumes the least amount of UPF in Europe so you are in the right place! And the cheap as chips EVOO is a real bonus. I live in France and it's expensive here, but there is less temptation with takeaway food in rural France because with the exception of the weekly (disgusting) pizza truck it just doesn't exist
For kids its easy too, they either go home for lunch or have school dinners (no choice, starter, main course and cheese or dessert) no packed lunches allowed.[/quote]
I do hope France stays like that, the restaurants are always good (except motorway services) they have very few fast food places, but even there the quality seems better, and I’ve stood in a Uk supermarket feeling very depressed at the quality of our veg after coming back from France many times.

I think I heard that Portugal consumes the least amount of UPF in Europe

Interesting. I could see how that would be, as fresh food is very cheap here compared to other European countries. Even the very high quality, free range meat is inexpensive.

It's not all doom & gloom on the UK either z though. I live in a village that doesn't have any shops, but we do have a wonderful village vending machine at one of the 2 farms in the village. It vends their own whole milk into reusable bottles, cheese made on their farm, and eggs from their own chickens. It officially has a few locally made cookies or cake too. The 2 nearest villages have a small co-op each and one has a farm shop selling its own meat, a butcher with its own abattoir and another farm selling its own veg. The nearest shop to me is a 20 minute walk. Our local town has a great farmer's market twice a week, it's been voted one of the best in the UK. It even has a regular stall selling Palestinian olives and olive oil! Even the pizza shop, hand make their own dough. So yes we do have a Tesco, Aldi and Waitrose, but we're blessed with lots of fresh, local (and international) food.

@TheLeadbetterLife
What are you doing to improve your gut microbiome? I eat a lot of yogurt, always plain, I don't really like flavoured yoghurt s. I eat a fair amount of fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi etc. What else could I do? It's not something I've researched.

I’m doing the same as you — yoghurt every day, as well as apple cider vinegar, dark chocolate, cheese and almonds, which are all supposed to be good. I also have started taking a probiotic capsule every day.

I have no idea what — if anything — it’s all doing, but it’s all nice, healthy food and I’ve lost weight, so I suppose it doesn’t matter.

Oh and I make sauerkraut too.

I do think all the health claims about apple cider vinegar are 90% bollocks, but I have a vat of it because I give it to my chickens (though the health claims for them are also likely bollocks). I thought I might as well have some too. I don’t know that I’ll bother replacing it once I’ve run out though.

Can I ask what you are all talking about when you mention water loss at the beginning of dieting? I haven’t dieted before, and I certainly haven’t lost any water weight in six days of those woe.

@TheLeadbetterLife

I forgot to add your tapas menu sounds utterly wonderful!

I tried to make tapas the other day and spent about 3 days making 4 dishes (I do have small children so not all of three days but still) and it was only so so in the end.

Keeping it simple (back to being realistic about my own culinary ability), lunch today was omelette with mature cheddar and caramelised onion and a leaf salad with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yum!

@Throughtheday

Read the fact box in this picture if it came out ok

Interesting, thanks.

@TheLeadbetterLife
What are you doing to improve your gut microbiome? I eat a lot of yogurt, always plain, I don't really like flavoured yoghurt s. I eat a fair amount of fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi etc. What else could I do? It's not something I've researched.

Posted twice for some reason. Please ignore.

The gut microbiome loves fibre. The only thing I don't like about this WOE is the ban on whole grains and nuts, both of which are excellent nutrition for your gut bacteria.
As @Tiredandbored said eating 30 different fruit, veg, grains every week is the best way to nourish your gut microbiome. That and avoiding beige UPF

@Billybagpuss obesity in children is on the decrease here in France. With adults it isn't the case. I've lived here for 20 years and the size of waistlines has increased in the same way as the size of the crisp shelves in supermarkets has...

Interesting chat today everyone! I agree about the difficulty in running trials....these trials need to be large to achieve power and they are expensive. Recently the direct study showed how you can reverse diabetes through diet. The NHS is currently evaluating their Healthier You programme but these studies are rare (incidentally one of the providers is Second Nature that advises a similar WOE to ours and is anti calorie counting. Other academics are leading the change... Tim Spector, Michael Mosley now Dr Jenkinson. But there is so much we don’t know and we need more research.

According to Michael Mosley the nutritionists are resisting the science - they don’t like it. Also these studies are not in the interests of big pharma (who make a lot of $ from statins and metformin/ insulin) and the food industry (UPF are v profitable).

@samthebordercollie
Nuts are banned from this house. Not because we don't like them, but because I have no 'off switch.
I should be fine with the rest. I do get quite a bit of fibre, I also add Psyllium to my yoghurt every day for an extra 'boost. We don't really do too much UPF. Maybe cola, ice cream once a week. Crisps when I fall off the LC wagon. Is vodka considered UPF, I may be in trouble 🥃
Off to count my fruit and veg

Visited IKEA today. They had limited food options due to Covid so I chose the healthjest looking dish- salmon fillet, potato rosti & green beans.

It tasted nice, but (TMI!) 40 minutes later I ran to the toilet. I have had stomach cramps since. I haven’t had diarrhoea/ stomach cramps or wind since this woe, but they used to be relatively common. I‘m now confident it’s something in processed foods, ie vegetable oil?

Anyway it’s made me even more determined. I’m shocked at how it affected my body and such a sharp contrast to how I’ve felt since starting this woe. Why would I choose to eat food that make me ill

I’m now thinking back to my experiences of eating out over the years. It’s really common for me to need to go to the toilet before leaving the restaurant. The only time I’ve not had this is on a cruise, where the food is cooked fresh - they tend to make everything from scratch on board and I opt for fresh food options. When I eat out in Italy, again now problems . But in the U.K., it’s very time I eat out and it is quite bad iyswim. It’s a bit depressing isn’t it?!

Aghh! I mean, in Italy I have no problems with upset stomach, eating in local trattorias etc. It’s just such a contrast to eating out in the U.K.

I’ve always toyed with the idea of doing the York test, but I suspect it’s an intolerance and wouldn’t be picked up on a test.

My stomach is still cramping now and I ate the dish 7 hours ago!!

It's brutal, isn't it @BrightShark, I have experienced the same after a meal out in a cafe or restaurant in the past. I'm a little worried as we have a work dinner next week, but we're getting caterers in so I'm hoping it will be freshly prepared.

I've just checked my tally for this week for fruit and veg and it's 26. Not bad, but I'd like to be above 30 most weeks if possible. Is anyone else counting their total?

Interesting, Tiredandbored, I never thought to count them up before. I just tried to remember everything from the past week and I think my total is about 37. Some of those were very small amounts though (e.g. herbs, ginger) -- does that count? I guess if it's about gut biome perhaps even small amounts have an effect.

It was a particularly varied week for us, I don't think we'd get to that many normally. Interesting how many things count towards the total though -- apparently all different seeds, nuts, herbs as well as the obvious fruit, vegetables and grains.

I have been counting even small portions, just out of interest to see how much variety I have in my fruit and veg intake. From what I've been reading it's not just the amount you eat, but the range, so I've been trying to ensure I eat a wide variety of fruit and (mainly) veg each week. It has encouraged me to try new things and experiment with different recipes instead of being in a rut of always serving carrots and broccoli with everything.