Why We Eat (Too Much) Thread 3

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

We’ve chatted as much as we (used to) eat! New shiny thread for more support.

General principles:

No sugar
No wheat
No processed foods
Honourable mention to tipping the balance of omega 3 and 6, but that’s mostly achieved by doing the above.

Everything else is fair game!

@Aria999

And in other news I reached my original target this morning! Now to see if there's any scope to keep going...

Nice job!!!!!! Well done and congrats!

Just had a delicious black bean & chicken stew with spinach from the garden. I’m discovering that the key is to plan my evening meals for the week and not deviate from what’s planned. In the past I’ve had a vague idea of what we might have for tea over the week but some nights I couldn’t be bothered and then I’d just snack instead. But when I eat nice filling meals I don’t even want to snack on sugary crap. I need to work on eating more at lunch as I’m getting hungry again quite soon after. Today I snacked on an apple and a bit of cheese at about 3pm but I want to get more organised with a range of good satisfying lunches. I’m realising that a lot of my previous bad eating habits stem from restricting at meal times and getting too hungry and stuffing biscuits in as I’m suddenly STARVING and weak with hunger. I’m finding it really beneficial to not be concerned with calories and instead eating tasty meals that keep me satisfied at regular intervals (without feeling guilty for actually eating!).
I’ve finally just ordered the Dr Chattergee book after giving up on the hope of it being on offer again, got it for £8 including delivery though which I didn’t think was too bad.

@samthebordercollie - that's a fascinating article, thank you for posting it.

Oops I missed loads of posts as hadn’t refreshed the page! Exactly @Tiredandbored, this is such a different way of approaching healthy eating for me and when you describe it, it almost sounds too good to be true but of course makes perfect sense. Of course our bodies are more sophisticated and complicated than the ‘calories in vs calories out’ claptrap we’ve been (literally) fed for year!

Wow, we’ll done @Aria999, that’s a brill achievement. I’m trying my hardest to stay away from the scales completely for a couple of weeks and just to have faith in our saviour Dr J 😜

@samthebordercollie great article thanks!

I have asked DH to read the book (he is a research academic in a different field but he can evaluate evidence based arguments better than i can)

His view so far is that the evidence isn't quite as good as jenkinson claims but it's still pretty good. And he's coming in on some of the woe with me.

[quote CatherineCawood]@TheLeadbetterLife YES!!! Witchy fingers, knobbly horrible things! That's both my index fingers! I'll try the vit c trick and see if it works. Never heard of earthing - I'll google it but am not terribly woo I'm afraid!

I started a vit D spray today instead of tablets.

I hope buckwheat is ok, I just bought some! I bought 2 lots of flipping bulgar wheat first by accident! 🤦‍♀️[/quote]
Yes, to be clear, I think earthing is absolute cobblers. As far as I can tell, it was made up by some American with absolutely no relevant qualifications, and is propounded via self-published books which make heavy use of fonts like Papyrus.

I only mentioned it for full disclosure.

I buy vitamin C in powder form (ascorbic acid) and take 500 to 1000mg per day with a glass of water.

[quote Aria999]@samthebordercollie great article thanks!

I have asked DH to read the book (he is a research academic in a different field but he can evaluate evidence based arguments better than i can)

His view so far is that the evidence isn't quite as good as jenkinson claims but it's still pretty good. And he's coming in on some of the woe with me.[/quote]
That sounds about right given some of the (apparent) contradictions. At the end of the day the whole thing probably comes down to eat what your grandmother ate in the way it was grown then (ie grass fed cattle etc).

Yet at the same time a more modern meal or even week of UPF isn’t going to do the damage, it’s the day in, day out.

@TheLeadbetterLife Cobblers yes but if you have mains gas in your house, your house will be earthed. By law your gas meter must be earthed and that's attached to any gas pipes in your home. I accidentally know this because a few years ago someone came to read the meter and shut our gas off and called the emergency gas number to come and fix ours because it had come off the meter. (end of useless information)

Well done on getting to your goal Aria999.

That nut article was really interesting. I shall eat them in moderation. Thanks for sharing.

Three days in and no major sugar withdrawals as yet. I'm surprised. I was eating so much.

Totally agree on the meal planning for the week. For me it's too easy to go and buy crap if I don't feel like making something. Having it planned and the ingredients to hand leaves me with no excuse.

[quote badlydrawncat]@TheLeadbetterLife Cobblers yes but if you have mains gas in your house, your house will be earthed. By law your gas meter must be earthed and that's attached to any gas pipes in your home. I accidentally know this because a few years ago someone came to read the meter and shut our gas off and called the emergency gas number to come and fix ours because it had come off the meter. (end of useless information)[/quote]
Ha ha, yes we definitely have that type of earthing.

The Earthing my mum bangs on about is some woo about how we don’t ionise our bodies or some such, because we all wear rubber soled shoes these days. To correct this, you apparently need to buy snake oil earthing blankets to sleep on.

Ahh I see (I think), I hardly ever wear shoes (in the house and garden), does that mean I'm earthed full of woo?

Checking in quickly - am on holiday and have been drinking a lot and eating butteries. I have had some wheat and sugar, but interestingly I haven’t gone into a sugar spiral - I had one biscuit and didn’t want more, and I started a Fentiman’s ginger beer and left it because it was too sweet. I did eat sticky toffee pudding, though! The one day where I did have Sprite and orange juice was when I was very hungover. Food has been all homemade and mostly unprocessed, but there has been bread and cake etc. Still, it’s one week and then I’ll be back on it.

I am v jealous of those of you who have lost as much weight as you wanted to - I have another 2.5 stone at least to go and I get depressed because it will take so long. I think when I get back I will focus on exercising a bit more (not in excess, but just being less lazy).

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar

I am v jealous of those of you who have lost as much weight as you wanted to - I have another 2.5 stone at least to go and I get depressed because it will take so long. I think when I get back I will focus on exercising a bit more (not in excess, but just being less lazy).

Don’t worry, @TooExtraImmatureCheddar, I’ve got 5 to lose in total 😬

Just going to focus on one stone at a time.

Happy birthday @Words!

I hope you have a lovely day.

It’s my husband’s birthday as well today, so it’s not going to be great, diet-wise, but oh well.

I’m going to sneak out to the 24 hour bakery in a bit to get some breakfast pastries, in lieu of cake. We’re going out for a grilled sardine lunch today, then an afternoon at the beach, followed by the cinema. We will have chocolate at the pictures, and it won’t be the good stuff either.

Aww thank you @TheLeadbetterLife ! I hope you and your husband have a lovely day too.

I'm working today but my friend is coming round for dinner - grilled stuff as a take out from the local Turkish restaurant- plus mezze , and I may get a couple of slices of Italian patisserie as a treat for pudding. So I won't be on plan either.

Re lots to lose cheddar, I think slow and steady is best. It can get very frustrating but in the long run is the best way and fits in with the general theory of the book.

I've lost three stones doing a version of this - no UPF and no alcohol. Then stalled having, as I now know, reached a set point. I am hoping that reducing carbs a bit further, and eliminating sugar, wheat and veg oil as far as reasonably possible, will get things moving in the right direction again.

I have a stone and a half to go to target, two to ideal, so realistically am looking at least at early next year I think.

Exercise is good, yes. We now know it's more complex than calories in and out, but that aside, I love feeling toned and strong, and that's good for how I feel about myself. It also gets all the feel good hormones flowing- so I am less tempted to fall off the wagon into emotional eating. Plus it's important for general health reasons- I'm going through the menopause. Le sigh.

Finally slow weight loss is easier on the pocket when buying new things to wear. I have walking trousers in four different sizes in my cupboard from past weight loss regimes.

I hope to be able to be confident enough to donate the larger sizes soon.

Sorry, forgot to say : I set a series of interim goals on my Fitbit- feels more manageable that way.

Happy birthday Words! And very wise words. My first goal on Happy Scale is 13 stone.

@TheLeadbetterLife, a 24 hour bakery??? Sounds like my idea of heaven before this WoE!

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar, when I had a lot of weight to lose I focused on small goals. Things like the first 5lbs, then half a stone, or losing 5% of my bodyweight, or getting down under the next stone, or 10% loss - I had them all worked out and it gave me lots of short-term targets to work towards.

Also, NSVs are really important. It helped me when I noticed things like being able to fit into an old pair of jeans, being able to do up a zip without having to suck my gut in, having to do my watch on a tighter notch, being able to bend over to put on my socks, a friend commenting on how well I was looking or asking had I lost weight, not getting chubb-rub when I walked, sweating less, being able to sit on a plastic chair without fear of collapse - there are so many little victories that are really important motivations as well, so don't only look at the big picture of where you want to get to, but at the smaller progress you've already made

Happy birthday @Words!

I’ve no idea why it’s open 24 hours! Well, obviously on the baking side they’re working in the small hours because they supply shops and cafés, but they also have a small retail counter for the public.

A few years ago they also used to do suckling pig to order, roasted in the ovens after the bread was done, but you have to go to the next town for that now, sadly!

Thank you everyone !

Honestly Leadbetter your life sounds more and more idyllic!
Hens, kid, suckling pig