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!

Had a lovely breakfast of smoked salmon and avocado this morning and then lunch was leftover Meatballs with some fried cabbage. Really enjoyed it all.

In the book it says not to weigh yourself but I guess most people do? I think once a week is probably good for me, I got into the habit of daily weighing when I did noom but I think it makes me too obsessive.

I weigh myself at least once a day, sometimes more 😂

It means I have a very accurate idea of the impact of e.g. my clothes, my morning cup of coffee, etc on my weight.

Totally pointless but it makes me happy especially as there are such lovely numbers on the scales these days.

I do that too @Aria999.

I generally weigh weekly, on a Saturday morning, no clothes, post loo and pre two gallon coffee fest.

I try to have a lighter dinner on the Friday too.

It's a motivator for me. I might increase weigh ins actually as I am pratting around to no great effect weight loss wise atm.

@Aria999

I weigh myself at least once a day, sometimes more 😂

It means I have a very accurate idea of the impact of e.g. my clothes, my morning cup of coffee, etc on my weight.

Totally pointless but it makes me happy especially as there are such lovely numbers on the scales these days.

Aria999 me too, weighing daily is like brushing my teeth. There is definitely a weekly pattern and it often goes up Sat - Sun - Mon to wine being drink and carbs consumed but it's disappeared by Tuesday. As you say it helps keep a check on things!

Just made a tomato and mascarpone risotto from BBC Good Food website. It was delicious! Fits into this woe. However, it only needed 30g of mascarpone. So any ideas for what to do with the rest of the tub?

Well my dinner tonight has mostly been melted white cooking chocolate, licked off my fingers. I'm making a birthday cake for a friend this week, so I've got two more days of buttercream and cake batter to go.

Not going to be a good week for me! I'm trying to make up for it elsewhere with lots of exercise and vegetables.

Question about oatcakes. Someone mentioned that they were buying Nairn's oatcakes which were made with olive oil. I looked in Sainsbury's yesterday and all the oatcakes had rapeseed or sunflower oil.
Can anyone tell me the healthier ones to try. Thank you.
I have see the recipe for homemade ones but not tried that yet. Thanks

@Rollergirl1980 - was it this one?

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/tomato-mascarpone-risotto

Sounds lovely and have added to my recipes on the app. Always out for inspiration for my meat free Monday!

As for the leftover mascarpone, that's a bit tricky as I would generally say cheesecake or other sort of pudding, or in a pasta sauce, both of which best avoided.

You could try making another batch of the risotto and freezing it, but the rice might go a bit mushy. Otherwise eat with berries or use as cream?

Excellent work on the books @Styletryle !

I made this Mary Berry aubergine dish yesterday:

thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/mary-berrys-aubergine-caponata/

It was tasty but a little acidic so added a touch of baking powder rather than the sugar recommended, and that fixed it.

Good either as a side dish or main course.

@PC20

Question about oatcakes. Someone mentioned that they were buying Nairn's oatcakes which were made with olive oil. I looked in Sainsbury's yesterday and all the oatcakes had rapeseed or sunflower oil. Can anyone tell me the healthier ones to try. Thank you. I have see the recipe for homemade ones but not tried that yet. Thanks

Hi @PC20 I make my own oatcakes and gluten free crackers, but I used the method where you roll the mixture thinly between two sheets of grease proof paper then peel off the top sheet and cook, then just break the 'sheet' into crackers when it's cooled (not round, but kind of rustic and attractive in their own way!). There are recipes for these in the Gut Health book by Dr Megan Rossi and the HF-W Light and Easy book.

@Words Yes, that's the link! It was really easy to make too.

Think I will try the mascarpone with defrosted frozen berries.

I asked a question about cook books but have realised one I already have is really good for this WOE as there are plenty of low carb recipes that are healthy and involve cooking with butter, coconut oil etc. It's Joe Wicks 30 Day Kick Start Plan and I've attached a few of the recipes if anyone is interested.

Incidentally the 30 day kick start plan didn't work for me back in January but the food was lovely!

The pictures!

PS I know this isn't a 'low carb diet' as such, it's just that the low carb section is low on processed foods and wheat-based foods.

I've just been refreshing my memory by re reading parts of the book.

The one thing I am not doing consistently is lowering my GI.

I've said often portion size is my bête noir - so easy to fix in theory, so hard in reality- so was somewhat cheered to read that he recommends that whilst decreasing your staple carbs, you increase your low Gi veg, high fat and high protein foods.( p 270 of the paperback)

I binged on chocolate last night - actually getting out of bed and going down three flights of stairs to satisfy what I knew was simply a craving, not a need.

An old friend of mine said sugar calls to sugar, and she is so right. I made a sugar free date slice ( I omitted the sugar on the grounds that the dates were sweet enough) earlier in the week. It's not very nice, as it is dairy free as well- but I have been nibbling away at it, and think that might have been the trigger.

Sugar calls to sugar folks, regardless of whether it's in fruit or fizzy drinks.

You are so right about sugar calling to sugar. There's been a bit more sugar in my diet over the past couple of weeks for a variety orc reasons and I can feel myself slipping down the sugar slope. I'm going to keep the sugar calls to sugar as a mantra to keep reminding myself as I get back on track over the next few days.
Sugar also makes me bloated and tired. It's bizarre that we crave it when it does us no good.

Checking in for the first time in a while. I weigh myself daily but don’t get too caught up in the detail as I know how my weight fluctuates through the week. I put my weights into an app called Happy Scale which draws a trend line in.

I agree about the sugar thing. Just trying to get away from it again now and struggling. I won a hifi bar in the slimmer of the week basket at Slimming World - at least it was only one but I so intended for someone else to eat it. They are just not fair! I never buy them as they would all be gone in a day.

I am mostly back on track after a holiday and a stressful couple of weeks. This way of eating seems to work and mostly is not requiring willpower. All a question of what oil you use and avoiding ready meals and bread but when there is sugar freely available it is soo hard for me to say no.

In Metabolical Lustig writes that humans like sugar because in nature all sweet foods are safe to eat. However we don’t need it in our diets like some animals do. It’s literally just a treat.

I’ve had a lifetime’s worth of treats in the last two days, mainly in the form of orange coloured buttercream. Ugh. I’m so bloated I could pass for pregnant, and my heart rate is way up.

Why did I offer to make a cake?

Oh and yes, Lustig says sugar is sugar, whether it’s honey or syrup or fruit or whatever. Apparently the fibre in whole fruit does slow down the release of the glucose, which is why fruit smoothies are no better for you, insulin-wise, than fizzy drinks.

Morning all, I weighed myself today and have put on half a pound in just under a week. Has this happened to anyone else? I was comfortable with it being a slow process but really don't want to go the wrong way. I guess my portion sizes might be a bit big but I was trying to follow the phase 1 rules to start with and not worry too much about that yet.

@Winecheesesleep that's bad news! I would be concerned too.

Have you fully reduced your sugar intake?

Otherwise it could be portion sizes (I tend to bloat when I eat a big pile of vegetables)

Or possibly constipation? Several of us have got backed up when starting out.

I found eating more protein cut my sugar craving dead.
If I have a lot of sugar it makes me quite anxious? Tired ?
I've cut out alcohol at the moment as even 1 glass made it difficult to get out on bed the next day

Yes to being backed up.
I've stopped drinking alcohol and that certainly helps too.
See how things even out over a week or ten days.

I made a nice two egg courgette tortilla today.

Two lunches taken care of.

@Winecheesesleep

It does say in the book in phase 1 that you might initially gain a little, so I wouldn't panic, but what sorts of things have you been eating?