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!

I have yoghurt, flax and chia seeds then a spoon of strewed apple with cinnamon- make a big batch every week, sometime add sultanas. Few flaked almonds. That always keeps me full till lunch

@Aria999 thank you. I've kind of only
Just started so I've got some egg muffins I've made this week with a made up recipe! I can't eat them every day though so I was looking for inspiration.

The flax/chia I got from Tesco is part milled so already accessible which is great as I don't have any space in a 2 room flat!!

Hello everyone and thanks for asking @Aria999.

Another rubbish day. It looks like the proposed development will get the go ahead, which has life changing implications unfortunately.

I just need to make sure this doesn't build up and affect my health in other ways. I've come too far to throw it all away. Ten months of progress. I need to focus on that.

Can I ask a question please. I need to focus on this woe and keep finding a reason for 'one last blow out' so I'm trying to plan a bit.

I am trying to focus on simple week day evening meals. I don't eat with the family (finish work too late plus am a veggie and they are not) so I need something quick and easy in a single serving.

I do a lot of veg plus protein plus rice. I like it, it's quick and easily made for just me. Think it should work here (it will be my only carb source other than f&v in a day). However I tend to use rice in pouches.

I have looked at the ingredients and other than rice there is a tiny bit of sunflower oil, salt and sugar and a preservative. I need to stop using these don't I? Maybe frozen rice is better...... the convenience and speed when just cooking for one really helps me not go down the toast route so I need to find something which can work

I batch cook rice, cook it quickly (spread out on a baking tray) then freeze in individual portions - it's just as quick then to heat in the microwave. I have done it with a little olive oil at the end and toasted pine nuts which may be more like the packet rice? You can also buy frozen plain rice in individual portions, Also frozen rice with peas and sweet corn. Frozen quinoa with veg as well

That should be cool it quickly on a baking tray!

Also carbs in large quantities aren't great, but small amounts of a variety of grains and pulses are probably much more beneficial for your gut in adding the variety and increasing fibre.

Thank you. I do need to try other grains for a bit of variety, you are right.

I am happy with frozen rice so will look to switch to that and mix it up a bit.

I always book more rice than needed and heat it up in the microwave. It's actually less calorific when reheated from cold. I don't eat rice but the rest of the family do.
Quinoa is actually seeds so no problem on this woe.
I hope you are feeling better now @Words!
I never eat breakfast - always run/cycle everyday on an empty stomach and don't eat until lunchtime. So one less meal to worry about planning!

Oh @Words I'm sorry to hear about the development. Is it going to be unbearable to the point of driving you away? If so, can you look at it as an opportunity for a new adventure, to go with your new healthy lifestyle??

@dannyrojas we have blow outs here all the time. Don't think of it as "one last" anything, just make up for it in the following days (or week, depending on the blow out). If we're going out for dinner, for example, we tend to fast all day beforehand.

Re: breakfast, I don't eat it either, and have no problem doing my morning workouts. For lunch I always have yoghurt, oats, flax and chia seeds with a little bit of (lower carb) fruit, so I only have to be organised for one meal a day.

The easier you can make it, the easier it is to stick to and form into a habit, we've found.

Yes it definitely needs to be easy. I find it very easy now tho am not as strict as I was initially. So lunch usually involves a salad and cold meat or fish. I usually have a tablespoon of shop bought coleslaw which is obviously off plan. But only because of the veg oil. Which is bad cos omega 6. But it's just a very small part of my intake, I don't have breakfast so I allow it to make my very healthy salad more appetising.

Today been good. Had cheese and pickles for lunch. Then chicken, chips with piri piri salt and salad with a tble spoon of coleslaw.

Nsv of dh commenting last few days my legs are definitely slimmer and also my face. So that's good.

We had fresh sheep's cheese with tomatoes and herbs from the garden for dinner, followed by a little bit too much dark chocolate, but oh well.

Earlier today our lodger kindly brought us a loaf of white bread from a bakery with a wood burning oven. This type of bread is a standard daily loaf in this region and has been the source of many of our carb woes since we moved here. I sliced it up and put it in the freezer, only pausing to eat a couple of the crusty end bits, which required monumental discipline. Old Me would have polished off half the loaf throughout the course of the day, and Old Husband would have had the other half.

@TheLeadbetterLife

That is epic self control. I think we would still finish the loaf in that situation!

I think if I'd been hungrier it could have been a car crash, but I'd been snacking on watermelon and figs, so I was quite full at that point, thankfully.

Well done with the bread Leadbetter!

Yes, I may end up moving but I am trying not to catastrophise ( not easy) . It's hard as I have just got my place looking exactly as I want it, having spent a fair amount of money on it recently. I don't want to do a sideways move at this point unless I have to, because of the expense and stress. But If I wait, I may miss the boat.

Yesterday another bad day food wise. I had to go into the office (ugh) which is a fair old schlep, didn't take a packed lunch and ended up with a way off plan m and s lunch, and two choux buns. I ate them both at dinner time. 😨

On thé up side, The jeans I tried on a few weeks ago and were too tight, now fit, even though I haven't lost significant amounts of weight since. I guess it's the exercise.

I need some on plan comfort food today so I might have the baked egg and ham dish for lunch. It's market day too, so time to restock on vegetables.

I do need to be careful everything doesn't end up sliding away from me at this point, especially as I am on holiday in a fortnight.

If it’s any comfort @Words, we bought our (beautiful fixer upper) house in the U.K. with the intention of renovating it and living there for at least ten years.

We did renovate it, to our taste and specifications (i.e. much more expense and detail than if we’d planned to sell - it was a restoration as much as anything, as it was Edwardian). It took two years of immense slog and stress, then life took a swerve and we sold up and left the country within a couple of months of finishing all the work.

We don’t regret a thing. Moving here has been a fantastic change for us, though I do sometimes think about the vintage finds i installed in the old house that we couldn’t bring with us…

Oh and honestly, I have a food day like that at least once a week (buns, bread, cake) because my greed gets the better of me more often than I’d like.

BUT I’m still losing weight. There’s no catastrophe, and there’s no wagon to fall off.

Sounds like we have similar tastes Leadbetter. Mine is an Edwardian terrace - everything in keeping, new carpets recently throughout, new boiler last winter...

In the longer term ( five years plus) I was looking to move for more outside space, but there is a difference between idly speculAting and having a decision forced I guess.

Anyway. It is NOT worth making myself ill over, or punishing myself by throwing away the gains of the last ten months.

I do think the key to this is accepting we will have off plan days, but to act quickly to prevent a wholesale slide back into unhealthy habits. I know how easy that is for me to get into. I slide into a rut - and then start decorating it...

Yes I know that rut - I’ve been in it for the best part of twenty years.

Ours was an Edwardian semi. We discovered all the original fireplaces, balusters and doors hidden behind 70s hardboard panelling on the day we moved in. It was thrilling. New boiler, kitchen extension, new sliding sash windows, the lot. We had the carpets installed just before Christmas 2018 and were sold up and gone in March.

We enjoyed those carpets for those few months though, after nearly three years on floorboards.

Sounds gorgeous @TheLeadbetterLife . I can just imagine the excitement on those discoveries. I'd have been the same.

But as you say, your new life sounds idyllic. So change is not always for the worse. I need to remember that.

Anyway back to the food. Just made myself a blueberry smoothie with home made yog and berries from the market. Really tasty. The whinberries are just starting to appear on the moors round here too so I will be out picking soon. Blackberries ripening also, as are my tomatoes. The only crop I seem to be able to grow successfully!

So I opted for a Serious Salad for lunch and am having reheated fish pie with veg this evening.

I'm roasting some carrots as an experiment as I am not a huge fan of them normally, so seeing if this improves matters.

I am back on track

By the way, this thread has stopped appearing in threads I am on which is annoying. Has this happened to anyone else?

@Words I've just come across this thread on active, and was wondering why it hadn't picked up the new posts on my threads - it has disappeared from mine as well

How strange @JumpLeadsForTwo

Maybe we should flag it with MNHQ. While we're at it I wonder also if there is any progress on our request for Dr J to do a chat?

It's still on mine (and on my 'watching' which is what I normally use).

I think carrots are greatly improved by roasting them (many veg are IMO!). I used to roast them with cinnamon for DS before he stopped eating basically anything.

Lunch was nice but I'm still hungry for some reason! Grilled asparagus with Parmesan, bacon, and a bit of avocado. And some avocado mayonnaise but I didn't eat that in the end.

(Yes I do eat a lot of bacon 😳🤷‍♀️)