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!

@secondchapter

Ignore me I thought there was a 20 page limit!

Well we can keep it for when we’re ready 😂

I know that hideous feeling all too well Tooextra. Can you distract yourself with anything ?

I was looking for information about omega 3:6 ratios in foods, & found
this website which looks potentially helpful, & has a few promising links.

I also found this website which has a lot of links for UK based grass fed meat suppliers.

That's an interesting link LegoCaltrops. If you really want to reduce the ratio that much, it's quite limited. I love nuts, chickpeas and soya products! Will have to find a happy medium- was already limiting processed foods, but always room for improvement. My health has massively improved since changing my diet 1-2yrs ago, but still about 1 stove heavier than I used to be.
On another note, has anyone had a chat with their teenage daughters on the dangers of diets following reading this book?!

1 stone- I'm not sure how heavy a stove is

Oh TooExtra I understand completely - I think the hot weather is definitely causing water retention, you aren't the only one to have put on a couple of pounds!
LegoCaltrops Don't forget that at least 50% of omega 6 is due to UPF and cooking with seed oils. If you can cut that out you really don't need to worry about the ratio in other food, especially food which contain so many other good vitamins and minerals such as fruit, veg and nuts.

My supermarket have started putting 'Riche en Omega 3' on all their fresh meat products now. I think the beef maybe as the supermarket owner has her own herd of cows and the beef is indeed delicious, but I've never seen a pig outdoors here in Brittany!
And they don't put the label on the fish products like mackerel and salmon bizarrely.

Food today
B - nothing as usual
L - salad niçoise
D - grilled mackerel fillets with new potatoes, lettuce and beetroot from my vegetable plot.

@Tiredandbored yes you are right. Had a much better day today thankfully- managed to avoid a lot of the crap that gets eaten on the last day of term!!!

@samthebordercollie I rarely eat UPFs anyway, due to multiple food intolerances (it’s just easier to make it myself, although I do use things like low FODMAP sauce occasionally when I’m feeling especially crap & I CBA cooking). I usually use olive oil or ghee for frying, & not much of that as I’ve found that too much fat sets off my IBS.

I’m wondering if improving my omega 3:6 ratio would improve my health. I have awful IBS, extreme migraines, & skin isn’t great either. All 3 conditions can be related to inflammation .

@LegoCaltrops ah OK, I also meant to say it's more important to focus on increasing your omega 3 intake than worry about the ratio if you don't eat upf.
Regarding IBS and inflammation, have you looked at food to improve your gut microbiome? Often the opposite to FODMAP foods. Also what is your sugar content like?

Lego meant to say by 'sugar' I also mean refined carbs like white rice, pasta etc.

Morning all

Yesterday:

Gazpacho from Ocado ( no added nasties) with flax seed stirred in
Egg Mayo on green salad - h m Mayo, olive oil
1/4 roast garlic chicken with kale, pak Choi, broccoli and a little mash. Greek yog and fruit. Four squares good choc.

Blimey, that's a lot isn't it!

Agree re the ratio thing. I am trying to up my oily fish intake. I also take cod liver oil capsules for my poor old joints, - that's a good source of 3 too.

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar

Probably your craving for carrot cake is over by now (?) but a couple times I have felt this way I have eaten a small amount of sugar straight from the bag (a half teaspoon) and a few little cubes of cheese and both times the craving went away.

Your brain may actually want a little sugar.

Thanks sam and words - in the end I had a gin and tonic, a cider and a bowl of yoghurt and honey. I hardly ever have honey but I think I just needed a hit of something sugary. So not dreadful - the day's food ended up like this:

B: none
L: Omelette with blue cheese, spring onions and cherry tomatoes, then yoghurt and strawberries
D: Duck breast with Lebanese potato salad, a cream cheese sauce with shitake mushrooms and pak choi
After dinner: More yoghurt with honey, G&T, cider.

Everything was on plan except for the tonic water (slimline!) - cider's allowed as it's a traditional drink, right? It was just larger quantities than usual - I don't usually need yoghurt after lunch any more. I made myself go for a walk late afternoon, which helped with the grumpiness!

I keep intending to up my fish consumption too - there's some smoked mackerel in the fridge, so I might have that for lunch. Dinner is intended to be lamb steaks with Greek salad and tzatziki, but we've just taken delivery of a paddleboard so there is a chance dinner will wind up being fish and chips on the way home instead! I'm working until 4 so the paddleboard maiden voyage won't be until after then.

x post, Aria - great minds!

Evening everyone, how are you all doing in the heat? Rather stupidly I had planned chilli for tonight's dinner 🥵🥵

Had salmon salad for lunch though, which was a bit more appropriate in this temperature.

I still haven't quite figured out an accurate amount of food for my new reduced appetite and regularly serve more than I need. I think it's after years of overeating and having large portions - I look at the plate and think it'll never fill me, so add a bit more, but then I'm stuffed when I'm finished.

I don't mind too much when it's on-plan and healthy, but it is something I need to address as I clearly don't need to eat as much as I used to. I am enjoying my meals however, so it's also hard to just take a small portion as I feel like I'm missing out of some of the lovely flavours! Silly, I know, but there you go! 🤷

tired I am with you on the portion control.I find it so hard to moderate. I live alone and so there are often leftovers to tempt me into over large portions or second helpings. I am sure, whatever the book says about calories, that this is partly why my weight loss is stalling - that and the set point thing.

The thing is, I really love food, and so enjoy cooking and eating. I have tried telling myself that restraint will mean more of the nice thing for next time, but it doesn't always work.

What is helping though, is ground flax seed. Following Leadbetter's tip I add this to smoothies and soups and it really does make you feel full, in a good way. Lots of O 3 too.

Buy one get second half price at Ocado currently.

Oh and the heat - I am finding it uncomfortable but I remember feeling so ill last summer - I was so fat and hot and miserable. Every pound off is a Good Thing, I am telling myself.

It's not because I'm hungry though Words. I'm definitely not hungry, but have just struggled to adapt my portions to my new reduced hunger.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not stuffing my face mindlessly like I used to do every evening but when I'm serving up a meal I'm taking more than I need. Part of the problem is I love food and am really enjoying eating the meals on this WoE.

Also, I look at my plate and think it will not be enough to fill me, so add a little bit more, but then I realise I'm totally stuffed when I eat it.

It's not a huge issue because it's on-plan and I'm not snacking, but it is something I can improve.

Words I'm glad the flax seeds are working for you!
I have less appetite in hot weather. And I only eat meat at weekends, so fill up in loads of vegetables and salads. Flax seed sprinkled over them definitely helps.

Hi all,

I'm not having the best week, though I had a good start. My experimental regime seemed to be working and I dropped a couple of pounds, but I've felt quite unwell the last few days (very odd, aching all over and a bit feverish) and haven't been able to settle on what I want to eat.

As a result I've been eating too much sugar in the form of fruit and bread. And honey. Very bloated now.

I've only managed to do a couple of very light yoga sessions too, as I just ache too much.

We've got visitors again this weekend, until Wednesday, so there will be some meals out. After that we'll go back to the experimental, metabolism-boosting regime for a few weeks and see how it goes.

Just checking in. So far not bad, I made it through my snack zone yesterday by just having a mini cheese, some olives and a cup of tea.
Also survived the cinema with just an iced coffee no popcorn.
I did have an ice lolly but only because I got locked out for an hour, stuck in the garden roasting (not anger) with 3 of my DC and it was eat the rapidly melting ice lolly or drink from the pond!

I totally agree on the portion control. We are still serving up, and eating, too much. Then feeling over-stuffed and uncomfortable.

I think it will take a while to learn these lessons and form new habits. For example, where we used to eat a chicken breast each, half is plenty now. It's so easy to forget and cook too much though.

Portion control plan for today!

B - porridge - this is fine as I measure it in my cup so I get the right amount of oats and milk for consistency, so no portion problems here ✔️

L - planning cod with stir-fry veg and sweet potato mash. In the presence of all my fellow WWE(TM)ites I promise to have either 1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes. I will NOT have 3, even if there's one little lonely potato left rolling around on his lonesome.

I will also NOT feel obliged to do extra veg just because it's healthy or to finish up a packet of something.

And I will NOT have any berries and Greek yoghurt afterwards for at least 30 mins so I can properly gauge if I'm still hungry.

D - BBQ - bit trickier as we're meeting friends who are also on holiday, so I'm not cooking or planning the menu, but it's a BBQ so it'll be meat and salad of some description. Going to avoid the bread rolls. We're bringing the drinks, crisps and snacks, so I've intentionally selected ones I don't particularly like so I'm not tempted to over-indulge.

There, plan made, and because I've told you all that means I have to stick to it 😄

@samthebordercollie I do eat carbs but not generally the refined kind. The most refined type I eat is white rice - we've got loads of white rice, once that's gone I'm going to try to switch to wild rice. I also eat potatoes, quinoa, oats & buckwheat. Usually have a couple of tablespoons per meal, or about 2 oz ish. Not currently eating wheat or rye, nor any type of gluten free bread as I don't like them. I do plan to get some spelt sourdough, when I can get hold of some though, as apparently that's low enough. Bit nervous as the last time I tried reintroducing wheat after excluding it, I was in pain for a month, but it was just regular wheat noodles... so we'll see.
I don't have much added sugar at all - I don't have much of a sweet tooth, prefer fruit. I only like really dark (expensive) chocolate & I'm not currently allowed much of it. Nor much fruit. I'm also virtually lactose free at present which is a pain as I usually eat loads of yogurt, however I'm allowed small amounts of cheese if the carb content is under 1% because it's low lactose.

I am going to try to eat more oily fish, & a lot less meat. I don't even like meat that much, I only eat it because it's easier as DH won't eat vegetarian. I used to be vegetarian.

Re: portion control, I've been making batches of food, rather than individual meals IYSWIM. I serve some up, cut up a load of salad, & eat it. If I'm still hungry a while later, I get more. But I don't feel like I have to put the whole pan full on my plate or waste it, because I'm deliberately making more than one serving of some things at the moment. Also, it saves time & dishes, & I don't have the oven/hob on as much in this hot weather.