Why We Eat (Too Much) Thread 5

[TheLeadbetterLife]

Happy New Year regulars, lurkers and newcomers!

Welcome to thread 5 of discussion, encouragement and advice inspired by the book Why We Eat (Too Much), by Dr Andrew Jenkinson.

The basic principles of this "diet" (it's not one in the traditional sense, as it's meant to be a permanent set of changes), are as follows:

• cut out ultra-processed food
• massively reduce sugar, carbs, refined flours and wheat
• eat a wide variety of vegetables, whole grains and fruit
• eat full fat dairy and other healthy fats like extra virgin olive oil
• improve the ratio of omega 3 to 6 by eating greens, fish, eggs and grass-fed meat, and cutting out ultra-refined seed oils

Important lifestyle changes include getting plenty of rest, relaxation and sleep, as well as taking a moderate amount of exercise (or more, if you like that sort of thing).

You don't need to count calories (in fact, you shouldn't), though it may help to count carbs or glycemic load, at least to begin with, until you get the hang of it.

Some of us share recipes by following each other on Copy Me That - www.copymethat.com/recipebox/the-leadbetter-life/6661160/

As well as the book mentioned in the title, the principles are similar to those espoused by the likes of Rangan Chatterjee, Robert Lustig, Tim Spector and Michael Mosley.

There are many successes on this thread, and the main thing is that we are aiming to make permanent, sustainable changes to adjust our weight set-points downwards.

Join us!

Welcome back, Words, and I hope your troubles have passed.

Leadbetter, you achieved so much - it’s not a huge amount back on, it will melt away quickly!

Pickles, you can do it, keep going!

Well done, BigBob! Half a stone in a month is brilliant!

<waves at Aria, Glitterati and NowYou>

I had also mislaid the wagon for a while but have been back on for about 10 days. I’m going on holiday in 5 weeks - need to make some progress before then. I’m posting today for accountability, because I came very close to a fuck it moment this afternoon and I need to prevent myself from wavering!

Thanks Bigbob and TooExtra. I'd be happy dropping a pound or two before holidays. It's great to hear that others are having such good results including the non weight related benefits. I fit into my favourite holiday shorts this evening so am very pleased.

So lovely to see the regular crowd and some new faces too!

Great to hear of the successes so will report mine - I've already lost two pounds since Friday. Water weight I would think, but no matter! Onwards.

I am being super strict this time around chocolate. Previously I found I could get away with a couple of squares of the nice stuff each evening but I want to use this opportunity to break that habit as I think it impeded me a bit.

I am really craving veg at the moment - no surprise given my poor diet over the last few weeks.

Two veg recipe successes - roast cauliflower as @Aria999 suggested. I divided it into tiny florets and ensured well covered with olive oil, plenty sea salt and black pepper. Roasted in about ten mins. Added some walnuts as an afterthought. Tasty!

Then some courgetti fried in my wok ( recently unearthed piece of kit) in butter with mint to serve with a lamb ragou thing I made. Again lovely! ( I resisted getting a spiraliser for ages as I have too many gadgets, but compromised on a cheap manual one. - well worth it as I really really like courgettes cooked that way.)

Yesterday I renewed my gym sub for another year and will be going back there this afternoon.

Finally, health benefits, sort of in reverse. I've noticed that in my time off the waggon, my skin has really deteriorated. I have developed a few of those small white blobs on my face, forget what they are called. It's trapped oil I think, and does clear up. Ditto swollen ankles. Not had those for ages.

Also, equally unattractively, ear wax. This was a regular issue for me which completely vanished over the last 18 months. Oh and how could I forget, worst of all, meno symptoms back. They had almost completely gone too.

Which just goes to show, in a weird sort of way, how very beneficial , or rather essential this woe is for me.

Have a great day everyone.

Gosh @words, that's amazing! I'll have to look out for things like that. I have trouble with eczema in my ears, and recently I've had 'proper' ear wax which I think is in my case a good thing.

My digestion has been better. I've always had IBS, but in the last year or so of better eating (not all on this plan), it's been far better though I've had a tendency to constipation I'm still working on managing.

I think the white spots are milia.

I really need to make my list of priorities again, the way you have words. It will help me mentally focus on what I'm eating and what I'm avoiding.

I am focussing effectively on vegetables and protein first, though.

Hotel portions are very light on veg, I find! Though I'm having a good time, so mustn't grumble!

Hi everyone. Hello words!

Things are going ok. Still being super strict and haven't fallen off the wagon even once. I am now on week 5 and I think it's working. I'm still never hungry, which is really weird for me.

I realised that if I think about eating a packet of crisps, I could really fancy some and would probably neck a packet in 10 seconds, but when I change that thought to a handful of olives (my emergency snack at the moment) I realise I'm actually not hungry, just craving something. It just goes to show how easy it is to eat unnecessary junk when you really don't need it.

I am trying to tune into my natural hunger signals.

I think I am losing weight. I feel lighter, but I don't weigh, so I'm not sure. I have a dress that I'm using as a sort of marker. It was a bit tight when I started and I plan to give it a couple more weeks and then try it on again to see where I've got to. I will report back...

But so far, so good. I hope those of you who have had a blip are getting back on track. I think it actually might be helpful to do that occasionally to remind yourself what happens when you don't eat so well. It's motivational. You know how to eat to make you feel better. I think, anyway.

Happy Tuesday. Keep going!

Hello! I am going to start… soon. Not today. But I am so up for this. It sounds so healthy!

i have coeliac so don’t eat wheat anyway which is why I was asking about the rice pasta. I get an organic brown rice version and have it probably 2-3x per week, in the form of tuna pasta or spaghetti bolognese, or a pasta bake. I can give it up for broccoli for a bolognese or have a tuna jacket but no replacement for the pasta bake!

This is probably really bad for your skin, but I love getting a needle and just making a tiny hole and the milia pops out. It's so satisfying!

Lifeissweet, good luck with your dress! I have a list on my phone of clothes that I would like to fit into again - three pairs of jeans are so close to being ticked off, and I'm sure just a couple of weeks more will see them fitting properly. I always second-guess myself with jeans, though - have I lost weight or have they stretched with wear? I like your tip for asking yourself if you fancy olives, will give that a try.

Words, reverse health benefits are important too - my skin had deteriorated too, I keep getting little itchy spots where my glasses sit on my cheeks. Hoping those go away again too.

Lunch today was tomato, mozzarella and salami salad, with a drizzle of real proper expensive balsamic vinegar. I need to go and look in the freezer and work out what's for dinner. I feel very bloated this week but I think it's work stress combined with PMT. I need to start focusing on the sleep aspects of this plan again! I am circling the next pound/BMI point - if I lose one more pound, I will have dropped 2 BMI points since starting this WOE, but I seem to have been stuck here for ages! I was nearly there at the weekend but I've gone back up since Mon.

Hi Glitterati, welcome on board ! Honestly not sure about rice pasta, I confess have not heard of it.

Maybe carry on subbing other things as you say, and keep it for the pasta bake? Maybe have that every fortnight and have another meal instead?

Have you tried spiralised courgettes? I was most dubious but they are really tasty in place of pasta ( except in baked dishes!)

Have just looked up rice pasta, Glitterati, because I hadn't heard of it before. The one I saw was organic and made only of brown rice, no added nasties, so I don't think it counts as ultra-processed. Not very sure - is it unprocessed if it's one single ingredient, even if that ingredient has been ground up and shaped (or however they turn it into pasta)? I would try eating it occasionally, see if you lose weight, and cut it if you don't.

My understanding is that rice is ok as long as it doesn't send your carb count too high, so rice pasta should be ok.

I think it's a variety of rice noodles, which are ancient, so presumably allowed!

I've come back from holiday with nothing obvious planned to eat.

We're having cauliflower cheese risotto tonight, I'll have cauliflower cheese soup tomorrow with the green part of the cauliflower.

I've some meat/bolgnese type sauce defrosting for tomorrow evening.

I need to roast some veg at some point. I have a tired cabbage, loads of mushrooms and aubergine, some rhubarb and some kohl rabi. I guess some of that roasted (with wedges for the chaps) and meat sauce poured over it all can be called dinner tomorrow...

Thursday I'll think again as I will have had more time to get ahead. 😅

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar I tried that once with the needle and it was a fiasco. Got it out in the end but it was not pleasant and my face was messed up!

Morning all. More weight off today. In the past I have avoided daily weigh ins, but this is going in the right direction and so is super motivating.

First session at the gym yesterday for nearly six weeks. Took it steadily. It was good to be back.

The last few weeks have taught me that the good thing about this plan is if followed properly, it really does eliminate a huge issue that can really mess things up - false hunger and cravings. The contrast after being back on the plan only a few days is remarkable.

I had reached the point of beginning to eat intuitively and it felt so good to have a degree - not of control exactly, that's too harsh - but balance in my approach to food, and to trust that what I felt a strong inclination to eat was because that is what my body genuinely needed.

I'm hopeful I can reach that place again reasonably soon. I am being much stricter on the sugar ( I allowed a small amount of chocolate) and carbs ( I adore potatoes) this time, and combining this with eating in a six to eight hour window, which again I find suits my metabolism.

What's that saying- fall down five times get up six times? That's me!

Have a good day!

Thanks folks! I’ll give it a go. Excited to start.

Experienced the food desert today. Went into Costa and there was absolutely nothing without wheat/sugar. My boss had offered to buy me breakfast so I felt bad refusing and succumbed. Never mind! Bit carby today - bakewell tart in Costa (bad), risotto for lunch, which is technically on plan, and I'm making salmon, new potatoes and green beans for dinner.

I'm so cross with myself. I went in a bargain food shop, bought some bargain chocolate I was going to portion up and eat slowly as a treat. I ate it all. A large chocolate bar and three orange fry's chocolate cream bars.

Still it's all gone now. I need to trust myself to know that I can't do it. As in, 'don't buy it, you know it will end badly!'

Gah.

Fry's Chocolate Creams are my favourite (I like original best, though I wouldn't turn down any of them). I would have done the same.

Fry's Peppermint Creams are the best! But the chocolate creams are amazing too. Never mind, onwards we go. I have stopped buying chocolate because if I have it in the house then I eat it. It's the only thing that works for me.

Fry's .... swoons!

I would have done the same. Don't beat yourself up pickle we have all done it.

I do have choc in the house but I have recently removed it to a high shelf so it is not constantly calling to me every time I open the cupboard. It still does though, especially when I'm snuggled in bed binge-watching Masterchef....

Anyway, yesterday I managed to bag a whole plaice on flash sale for £1.75 from Ocado.

Don't think I have ever cooked one on the bone myself before! Google suggests baking for about 15 to 20 with cherry toms, so am going to do that. There's one in the freezer for next time too. I will leave the other fancy sounding recipes I found for the second attempt I think

Got spinach and asparagus to go with. Will report back.

How exciting, Words! There was a lovely summer when whole salmon was on offer in tesco. I got several, and learnt how to fillet/steak them!

Seems we all have a weakness for Frys! 🤣

Well, the plaice was great. What a bargain! It was a small one and cooked in just over 15 mins. The cherry toms went really well with it.

Today will be the Day of All the Chicken, to finish the last of the leftovers. So some sort of chicken salad for lunch, maybe with a yoghurty dressing , and then reheated leg, green veg and ( whispers) reheated roast potatoes but only enough to feed a junior elf.

Tomorrow, Saturday dinner with my friend is back. I haven't had chance to do this for some weeks, so looking forward. She's sourced some rather good free range pork for us to try, so roasties will feature again, human portions this time.

Weight loss remains on track. Successfully avoiding all sugar, although the Fry's talk yesterday made me feel very sad. It will be followed by, if anything, nice cheese rather than a sweet pudding.

What's on the menu at your house?

Sounds good, Words!

Me:
Breakfast is from Wetherspoons, so I'll have to choose carefully. In the past they did a freedom breakfast which was good- no nasties. I haven't seen it recently so I'll have to check.

Dinner involves chicken breasts and butternut squash. Possibly kohl rabi, too. Basically the veg box contents need to be used! I think I'll put cheese and garlic inside the chicken breasts, and sprinkle theirs with breadcrumbs. Mine will be blue cheese and potato flour topping, maybe.

I'll purée some well roasted squash to make a fool. It's surprisingly nice, and sweet!

Cooking fail yesterday. Got some Indian-inspired chicken thigh kebabs from Tesco out of the freezer, and I thought they were defrosted. This may not have been correct. Instructions said to roast them for 50 minutes, but when I cut into them they didn’t look cooked, so I stuck them back in for 5 mins and hoped for the best. DH has subsequently been up all night throwing up. Oops! I’m fine so far - he did get the bigger chunks that I had mangled less, which were probably less cooked.

Oh no @TooExtraImmatureCheddar hope he's ok!

@Words it's great to hear the weight is on a pleasant downward trajectory

I am doing something wrong at the moment but I can't figure out what. I am eating just the same as always, I think, but still hovering at 132-133 lbs (comfortable at 130 which was my set point for ages ) and this morning I was 135, waah 😩

Oh Aria, don’t beat yourself up about that. Is there anything going on just now - less sleep? More stress? Period due? It’s probably just a temporary blip and could even just be something silly like retaining water because the weather’s getting warmer (although warmer does not always equal better - in Scotland it’s been blowing a gale most of the day interspersed with weirdly muggy intervals). 132-135 is still very light for most folk depending on height, so unless you’re shorter than 5’1” you must be well within a healthy range. Stick to good eating and trust the system!