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!

@TheLeadbetterLife, I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother. The book I'm reading that I mentioned upthread (Grain Brain) is by a neurologist who argues very strongly that brain illnesses often result from lifestyle choices with high-sugar, high-carb diets being linked to all sorts of mental health conditions.

He advocates a high-fat (healthy fats, not cakes and biscuits!) high-protein diet with limited carbs. He differs from Dr J in that he encourages consumption of nuts and discourages high-carb/sugar fruits and veg, but it's a very similar way of eating with the focus being on how it helps good brain health and mental well-being.

Yes Dr J does seem to be the outlier when it comes to nuts. Which I am taking as carte blanche to continue to eat them.

Luckily I don't much like the high sugar fruits and veg. Not that I dislike sweet stuff at all, I'd just rather save it for an occasional pudding than have sweet potatoes and bananas.

Interesting that Grain Brain is saying high fat and high protein, where it seems the Alzheimer's book others have been reading on this thread was pushing low fat and vegan.

I'm just hoping that the no processed food / whole foods / fairly low carb / high fibre / low sugar / feed the gut approach will keep my brain going. My mother eats this way now, despite her upbringing, and she's doing much better than my Nanna was at that age. My mother is incredibly healthy in fact, and probably much fitter than me.

Another lb down this morning!

I am really feeling the 'fires burning, all the windows open' metaphor at the moment. I am having extra cheese, extra butter, extra bacon with everything and it's making me slimmer.

I love this woe sometimes.

I disagree with Dr J on the nuts front too. Robert Lustig, Tim Spector, Giles Yeo, Daniel Lieberman, Jason Fung, Michael Mosely ...all the authors who talk a lot of sense all recommend eating nuts. So I do 😊

Fabulous @Aria999 !

I've lost a pound of the mid week weight gain, leaving just 3/4 up on the week before. This last stone is proving hard, as I keep saying. More adjustments required. If it was a final few pounds to ideal, I might just throw in the towel, but I am still a stone over healthy BMI. I also have a small spare tyre. Her big brother seems to have gone to live elsewhere though!

I need to keep reminding myself I am in a far, far better place in every way today than I was in October last year.

Like others I eat nuts, in defiance of Dr J, as I didn't eat any before and they are very good for you.

I plan to reduce carbs and STOP EATING THE CHOCOLATE. Whether good quality or no, it's still full of sugar. Who am I kidding?

I'm adding more recipes to my thing in our recipe circle. Having the roast lamb this evening.

I’ve now caught up on this thread. Need to go find the others.

Thanks for the oil link! Avocado oil looks pretty good 1:12 ratio, not too far off olive oil. Sesame oil is on there twice, once 1:41 and once at 1:100-something- so not so good, but it’s generally small amounts for flavour so maybe I can just keep aware.

Can I ask probably a beginner’s question: what’s the difference between wholegrain and wholemeal? We make all our bread due to DH’s allergies (in a bread maker), so I could easily experiment with flours. I actually put some rye flour in today’s grocery order and am planning to try pumpernickel bread. What is this spelt flour people speak of? Where do you get it?

@Winecheesesleep

Thanks for the welcomes! I weighed myself this morning and have put a pound on which isn't a great start but I still haven't finished the book yet so perhaps I'm not doing it correctly. I only started on Friday I think.

We ate out a lot over the weekend which I thought I'd handled well but perhaps not. Will finish the book and keep going!

I've finally finished the book, took me a while! I definitely shouldn't have tried starting before finishing it, I understand it properly now. Can I ask a few questions if anyone has time to answer?

1. How long did it take you to progress through the phases?
2. I'm a bit confused on pasta, is that out in phase 1? He says no wheat but then suggests pasta salad for lunch. I'm sure I've seen this discussed but couldn't find it when skimming previous threads
3. Are there any cook books that line up well with this WOE?

I'm feeling enthusiastic and accepting this will take me a while.

@murmuration

I’ve now caught up on this thread. Need to go find the others.

Thanks for the oil link! Avocado oil looks pretty good 1:12 ratio, not too far off olive oil. Sesame oil is on there twice, once 1:41 and once at 1:100-something- so not so good, but it’s generally small amounts for flavour so maybe I can just keep aware.

Can I ask probably a beginner’s question: what’s the difference between wholegrain and wholemeal? We make all our bread due to DH’s allergies (in a bread maker), so I could easily experiment with flours. I actually put some rye flour in today’s grocery order and am planning to try pumpernickel bread. What is this spelt flour people speak of? Where do you get it?

I think the difference between brown or wholemeal and wholegrain may be fairly academic in the UK and Europe actually. Robert Lustig mentions it a lot in Metabolical, implying that the brown flour that's available in the US may not be made using the whole kernel of the wheat and therefore have less fibre.

Maybe in the US there's more of a distinction, but here in Portugal and I think also in the UK all the brown flours are made with the wholegrain - i.e. including the germ etc that has all the nutrients and fibre.

Spelt is an ancient grain similar to wheat. Seems to be quite readily available in the flour section here at least, even in Aldi and Lidl.

The wholegrain spelt flour is very tasty and I find it good for making breads and pastry. It's still quite high in carbs, so I don't do a lot of baking, but I hope the high fibre versions I'm making with spelt are doing more good than harm in smallish doses.

I use small amounts of sesame oil for flavour as well. I'm sure it's fine!

The pasta thing keeps coming up @Winecheesesleep. I think pasta is such a staple that everyone has honed in on that one throw away sentence in the book about pasta salad for lunch!

Personally, I've given up pasta and not missed it, so it was an easy win on cutting carbs. There are other wheat-based foods that I can't give up on though, so I've just reduced them to occasional treats. I think you have to decide, within the bounds of cutting carbs, which ones are more important to you and how often you want to eat them.

@Winecheesesleep yes the pasta salad thing is just confusing! There are a couple of bits like that.

Personally I eat pasta occasionally (maybe 2-3 times a week) but try not to overdo it. I eat bread almost never.

You can also get various non wheat pasta made from peas, cauliflower etc but I have no idea if it's edible!

I have never really progressed beyond stage 1. I refuse to count carbs! I started off just making a few small changes (yoghurt for breakfast instead of cereal) but I found myself naturally avoiding bread and carbs after a while just because I often don't want to eat them.

@TheLeadbetterLife thanks, that makes sense. I'm happy to give up pasta, I find it fairly easy to substitute. It's bread I'll find more tricky, mostly because it's harder to replace in some situations like a having lunch in a sandwich-type cafe. I will do it though!

@Words I hope it's just yet another plateau you're on. You had a loss quite recently right?

Hi I have been looking at this thread after reading the book or at least most of it, Just makes so much sense . I’ve just made an account on the recipe app So I can get More organised it looks great thanks for setting it up

I'd also love to know if anyone can recommend a cookbook which aligns with this WOE.

River Cottage Light and Easy (though he uses seed oils) has great recipes, with lots of interesting ideas for alternative flours and ways of using vegetables.

An Invitation to Mediterranean Cooking by Claudia Roden is perfect for it, loads of second hand copies online.

I have hundreds of cookbooks, and most have suitable recipes. Over time I’ll start adding them to Copy Me That as I go along.

@Aria999 interesting thanks, I'll start with phase 1 and just see how it goes.

Morning all. Some great suggestions here.

I've changed the name of my account on Copy Me That and added a profile pic.

Here's my latest graph. You can see how the weight started to drift up again,but is now heading in the right direction. Hopefully.

It really does demonstrate the points made in the book.

@words that's really impressive, what point did you start this WOE?

I'm on proper day 1 of phase 1 today. Had a nice breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs and a few tinned tomatoes.

Do you all think much about calories or portion size or just stick to the rules and not worry about that? I'm just really worried about going the wrong way.

I think a problem with all these books/diets is the difficulty in following them. Why we eat too much makes a lot of sense but it's harder to follow than you might think.

I have tried to eliminate ultraprocessed foods and it's hard cos so many things have so much shite in them. There are a few things I know are simple and not very processed. But his main advice is cook from scratch which can be difficult if you are busy or not a good cook. I have taken to making lots of soups which I love but it a faff.

Hi @winecheesesleep personally I don't give calories or portion size a single thought but I do feel that a good amount of fat and protein really does fill you up and I don't tend to overeat, unlike carbs.

@TheLeadbetterLife thank you for the cookbook recommendation! I had completely forgotten about all of the River Cottage books, I'd love to get a couple. I've downloaded a sample to kindle to see if it's worth getting on there as we're moving in February so trying to get rid of things!!

It was my birthday on Friday and other than a long-awaited meal out with my family I haven't eaten differently to how I have been, and I haven't felt like I've been missing out, so I'm really pleased with that.

I've got a second round interview on Wednesday for a new job and I'm pleased to say the healthier food choices are making me feel much clearer headed!!

Thank you wineandcheese.

I've been following my own version of Jenkinson from last October- cooking entirely from scratch, increasing amount and quantity of veg. No processed foods of any kind. I read the book and joined this thread in June I think, and tweaked things further as a result.

' cooking from scratch' doesn't have to = time consuming and complicated

Here are some quick ideas if the recipes we're posting don't float your boat. Complete instructions available on request

Eggs- scrambled, hard boiled, baked in oven with ham tomatoes and cheese, or made into an omelette with cheese, fried mushrooms, chopped parsley and chives etc
Roast or grilled meat and fish with veg or salad ( eg chicken thighs, salmon, mackerel, lamb chops, steak)
Mince of any kind ( beef, lamb, pork, turkey) fried with carrot. Celery and onion, then simmered with tinned toms, stock. Serve with veg or pulses not pasta
Veg: fry in butter, add stock or milk, purée or not as you choose = soup
Veg: almost all is improved if sliced/ chunked, coated in olive oil and roasted with sea salt and black pepper.

Porridge ( the microwave sachet ones are quick, if expensive. Contain about a teaspoon of sugar per serving.) use full day milk and add cream if you like
Yoghurt full fat Greek
Veg smoothies if you like them
Berries in season with yog or cream
Cheese with apple, celery

@Winecheesesleep no I don't think about calories and portion size at all other than occasionally taking time to be happy I don't need to while adding an extra heap of cheese to something 😊

@Words that's a really helpful summary of easy stuff.

I have been cooking for myself more recently (since DH has been away). I mostly can't really be bothered but I've been making a big batch of meat sauce (mince, tomato purée, garlic, bacon, beef stock, herbs and white wine simmered for about an hour) which lasts several meals. It can go on a baked potato, with fries, with rice as a chili if you add spice and with grilled vegetables for a low carb thing. With cheese on top of course.

@Words that's super helpful thank you! I am a pretty good cook and cook most foods from scratch anyway but need some inspiration. I've been on so many diets over the past few years I really need to refocus on the quality of the food I'm eating and get out of a diet mindset.

This seems like a very nice supportive thread.