Why We Eat (Too Much) Thread 4

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

Hi to all regulars and lurkers!

Here's the 4th thread, based on the ideas in Dr Andrew Jenkinson's book. We've seen some amazing losses on these threads, and the benefits for me can be summed up as 'no counting, no starving'.
We don't count calories, and if we're hungry we eat. We're focused on quality.

General eating principles:

No sugar
No wheat (which reduces unhealthy carbs)
No ultra processed foods, and in particular no processed/ultra refined oils
Honourable mention to tipping the balance of omega 3 and 6, but that’s mostly achieved by doing the above.

His principles also include trying to sleep more and reduce stress, and take regular (moderate) exercise.

If any of this sounds promising, please feel free to ask questions and come and join in!

Hi everyone! I'm looking for ideas for a lunch with tuna (of the tinned variety) - normally we would go straight to pasta, Mayo and sweet corn with this but I'd love to find something better.

@TheLeadbetterLife. Madeiran garlic bread is fab. It is called Bol de Caco. You must try it.
During the first lockdown j found a recipe to make Bol de Caco. I never did make it - but it was made with flour and cooked, mashed sweet potato - so not as bad as some breads.

I have kept up with the thread but had a rough week. D&V since Sunday and only just getting sorted today. I have lost about 6lb! (Of course that is not real!). Sadly to get better I was told to eat rice, bananas, applesauce (less fibre) and white toast. A bit of a way off this WOE. The Dioralyte sachets also contain glucose. Hope by tomorrow it will be normal food and I will weigh myself to see if I have still lost the weight.
If well enough we are going to a B&B on Tuesday. Looking forward to a cooked breakfast (but no toast!)

Happy birthday @HighlandCowbag

Happy birthday and anniversary @TheLeadbetterLife , enjoy your trip!

Totally irrelevant to the WOE but after a 6 year career break, much angst, much reading on Mumsnet how hard it is to go back to work after a career break, I put it out on linked in yesterday that I was looking for project work and got an offer in 10 minutes!

And I offered to work for free but they're going to pay me.

Feeling pumped and a bit apprehensive!

We often make a tuna salad of tinned tuna, mayonnaise (homemade - the Delia quick version is dead easy in a blender), chopped green peppers, onion, garlic, tomatoes, herbs, maybe chillies and avocado. Mix the whole lot together and just eat it as it is. If you can't be bothered to make mayonnaise it's just as good with an olive oil vinaigrette.

Another good option would be a tuna version of this Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe attached.

It's from the River Cottage Light & Easy cookbook, which I recommend for this diet (though he is not up to speed on seed oils, but you can substitute).

@TheLeadbetterLife what oil do you use for the delia mayonnaise recipe? Do you use groundnut oil or swap for olive oil?

Well done on your job offer @Aria999 !

So I've started this weekend and done fairly well I think, everything home cooked and avoided palm/veg/sunflower oil as much as possible and processed foods, but feel like I've eaten lots, so there may be some temporary gain before it starts levelling off! I've spent lots of time in the kitchen which is nice but it's time consuming making everything from scratch, and coming up with meal ideas!

I use extra virgin olive oil. It's strong, but we like the taste.

@Arcadia sounds good! You may be pleasantly surprised (fingers crossed 🤞), as long as you're eating the right stuff it is still possible to lose weight even if there's lots of it. Let us know how you get on!

It is time consuming but to some extent you can develop short cuts - you will collect things you find easy and quick which can be used when you're short of time. Omelettes are very quick and easy. I also do variations on bacon and avocado.

Wow @Aria999 - congrats on the job offer!

@TheLeadbetterLife - the slow cooker spelt flour bread was delicious! I took it out a bit too soon, so finished it off in the oven. Also like the look of that HFW recipe, too, Thank you.

I make a nice pate type thing with flaked smoked mackerel and crème fraîche, flavoured with horseradish. It's a good combo.

On the oils, did we conclude that rapeseed was ok as long as it was cold pressed rather than refined? For Mayo I use a mix of EVOO and rape seed. But for all other cooking, it's olive oil all the way.

@arcadia - great start! As aria says, you could be pleasantly surprised. Keep us posted. Tuna ( in spring water, natch) is nice with chopped up peppers for a bit of crunch and a touch of cayenne. You could sub full fat yog for the Mayo for speed, but it wouldn't be quite as nice. I also like to grate a bit of cheese and add a bit of chopped spring onion to mine.

I had a Moment of Truth yesterday. Unloading a car full of coal and logs for the wood burner, I realised that manhandling several very heavy (20kg and 25kg ) bags out of the car, up a flight of steps, through the house and out to the back, was really pretty easy. I am stronger than I thought!

It then occurred to me, that one of those bags represented the weight I've lost, thereabouts.

It really brought home 1. What a strain that excess weight must have been putting on my body. I was carrying around the equivalent of a bag of coal !!! and 2. What an achievement it is, to have lost that amount of weight really.

We can all do this.

Thanks for the replies. I was wondering about cold pressed quality rapeseed oils.
Haven't I heard from somewhere, that it's bad for you to cook at high temps with olive oil? Something about its composition changing at a lower temperature point (e.g. when frying it roasting?)

I'm dairy free which makes it a bit trickier, but the best quality coconut yoghurt contains no added fat and no sugar or flavourings, and we've found we can add it to home made coleslaw with a squeeze of lime.

Congrats @Aria999, that is great news!

Your moment of truth really resonated with me @Words, even when I'd only lost a little bit of weight it made me realise what an achievement it was when I lifted something of the equivalent weight and carried it around for a while. As well as realising how much extra strain I had been putting on my body every day when I was at my heaviest.

I've had my porridge this morning, not sure what I'm having later as we're going out to a friend's house for lunch so it'll be whatever I'm served! I'm planning salad or scrambled eggs this evening so I don't mind if I have something a little off-plan at lunchtime.

Morning All

This week's never before tried veg is Kohlrabi. I made people laugh at the market stall yesterday by suggesting it looked like a coronavirus! Anyhow, google suggests either using it for coleslaw or roasting it. Anyone have any suggestions I could try with this strange looking vegetable?

I'm having a meat free day today, having been jolted into action by the Alzheimer's prevention plan book recommended upthread. Albeit that is a completely vegan diet, which is a step too far for me at the moment.

So, green smoothie, mushroom and herb omelette with salad for lunch, then cauliflower cheese and veg for dinner today.

I've found that introducing some mixed nuts ( against Dr J's recommendation) - seems to be reducing my night time chocolate habit. I think that is probably a Good Thing.

Plant varieties now at 36 since last Thursday. ( Do coffee, tea and olive oil count, I wonder?)

Down half a kilo this week. So 2kg left to lose. My chunky vegetable soup seems to be helping although it probably doesn't suit Dr J either as there is butternut and carrots as well as leeks in it.
@Words well done on the 36 plants, I've no idea how many I'm on but as I eat mostly vegetarian, probably similar. Can't help with the kohl rabi as I've never cooked it!
I'm sorry I can't remember who recommended the book Metabolic ny Robert Ludwig but it's brilliant so far. Quite eye opening how corrupt the medical profession is with regard to drugs and medicines. And how ill informed about nutrition most doctors are.

That's great Sam. Where you plateauing? I have bumped around admiring the view up there for ages, but have a feeling the weight might be starting to shift again this week.

No plateauing, but I'd actually gone up to nearly 62kg having dropped to below 58kg post COVID infection. Now going down at last, I'm back to running 50 miles a week following the knee intervention in the summer. I'm 5'8 so not overweight but like being at the low end of the BMI, it makes running easier.

I am all over this thread at the moment

Lurkers, do feel free to join in if you want to. I'm posting as a way of keeping myself on track, and maybe helping others also.

I had my meat free day yesterday. Inevitably though I over compensated with larger than necessary portions and three squares of chocolate.

Today it's usual stuff from the fridge, then for dinner a small piece of steak ( aiming for half my normal portion ) with veg, and thinly sliced potatoes and onions, covered in cream ( to which you add seasoning and garlic purée) and baked for a couple of hours.

The potato recipe is one of those simple dishes that always somehow taste nicer than the sum of their parts. See also the gorgeous baked egg and ham dish which was the first recipe suggestion I tried from these threads: ( I can't recall who first posted it, but thank you) : Put in a dish roast ham, sliced toms, crack an egg over, grate cheese over that, bake for ten mins. Soooo tasty.

Have a good day all.

Great news about your knee, sam, and the weight loss.

I'm only slightly shorter than you, but have a fair old way to go yet to healthy b m I.

The smaller fluctuations sometimes take longer to address, don't they, especially when you are a healthy weight to start with.

Morning all. Posting here to make myself accountable. The sugar has been creeping in over the past week for a variety of reasons and I'm getting back to plan from today. 2 boiled eggs and a milky coffee for breakfast. Vegetable soup and a Greek yoghurt for lunch and bolognese with grated courgette for tea. I have satsumas on stand by for any sugar cravings.
It's amazing how quickly the sugar creep can happen if you aren't paying attention and how much it makes you want to eat.

We had leftover mash fried up with some garlicky chopped cabbage and Brussels with some grated cheese mixed in last night (and some salmon). It was delicious and very satisfying on an Autumnal night.

Morning everyone, thanks @Words, it's good to have this thread a little more active again!

I've just had a look through my weight records for the last 4 years. Before starting this way of eating I have fluctuated between 14 stones 3 lbs at my heaviest and 10 stones 13 lbs at my lightest. I'm supposed to be under 11 stones 2lbs to be in my healthy BMI, so I have ranged from being that to being in the obese category during that time. I only managed to get into the healthy BMI each time after significant calorie restriction and didn't manage to stay there for long.

On this way of eating I'm eating good portions, I'm not hungry (or if I am, I eat!), I don't count or weigh anything and I allow myself treats without feeling like I've failed. It doesn't feel anything like a diet I've ever done before.

My current weight is 10 stones 10lbs. I've floated within a few pounds of that for the last couple of months, during which I have still enjoyed birthday meals and other off-plan eating on occasions, but that hasn't thrown me off course. I genuinely can hardly believe how effective this way of eating has been for me, both in terms of improving health but also in terms of resetting my weight at a healthy point.

I know lots of you are only setting out on this plan, but I wanted to encourage those of you, who like I was, with multiple stones to lose, it can be done!

I was down another 2.2 lbs this week (5.6 lbs down since starting) so I'll just keep doing what I'm doing - very low sugar, lowish carb, high protein and fat. I don't eat until after 12.30pm every day.

I don't feel empty and starving or irritable, I'm not headachey and weak, my IBS hasn't played up with all the veg like it normally would, and I'm not feeling deprived. So it seems to be working...so far. I do have a lot of weight to lose - 50lbs or so - so it might be effective for a few weeks before it slows down again.

I suppose I am getting a bit bored of eating the same things, but that's because I'm not very creative!

I LOVE kohlrabi, I've never seen it here - I've had it in Switzerland, it's just grated into salads!

Sorry @Tiredandbored, I hadn't read your post properly before I posted mine - that's certainly encouraging! Congrats on your weight loss.

I'm 49 and have been 15st 9lbs at my heaviest (2 weeks ago), and 11st 4lbs at my lightest when I lost 3st at WW 15 years ago. I'm 5'3" so apparently I should be 8st 8lbs, hohoho. I was a good 10st even as a teen.

Anyway since that loss and subsequent regain it's been a huge, huge battle. When menopause hit I had all but given up hope of being able to lose weight for more than a few weeks at a time before plateuing and falling back into cake, so I'm trying to stay positive.

@Words the ham and egg dish was mine, I have it regularly on a weekend brunch. It is lush isn't it and very satisfying. Dh has started asking for it as well though annoyingly slides it onto toast.

Had a good day yesterday. Had a grains salady thing for lunch picked up from Tesco, not ideal cos dressing but Ive stopped worrying about such things and shove it into the 20% off plan box. Then leftover roast beef, salad and new potatoes for dinner with some ploughmans bits and pieces like cheese and pickled onions. It was lush tbf.

Also love this woe. I genuinely don't think of it as a diet. I just don't eat bread, pasta, sugar, upfs and cook with butter or lard instead of veg oil. I have a pudding once a week and a takeaway once a week (tho apart from Indian food don't enjoy). I feel much better and though the weight loss is slower than a traditional diet there is still losses and like I said, I don't feel like I am dieting.

Today will be salad for lunch then am having prawn thai green curry with rice for dinner.

Hi all.

@words I normally feel I am spamming the thread so it's nice to have company 😂

Pasta x2 plus bread x2 (though hardly any) = +1lb this week ☹️

Quick advice needed! What's the least bad in terms of alcohol? I am going out tomorrow and don't particularly want to drink but might have one, otherwise it's Diet Coke/coke/whatever which is bad anyway, right?!