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!

@Skylarking953 I am around 131 lbs currently and 5' 4. 130 lbs is my happy slim weight.

There are also people on the thread who have lost multiple stones.

Hi @Skylarking953 I'll post my long term weight loss and gain graph here.

I initially began doing my own version of Jenkinson for about six months, then found this thread and read the book about a year ago, and have been following the plan, more or less, ever since.

Two huge exceptions which you can easily see as the blips on the graph. The first in Dec when I sustained a back injury, stopped exercising, felt sorry for myself and fell off plan. The second very recently when a number of highly stressful things happened, and fell,off plan for the second time.

You will see the dramatic weight gain is mirrored by almost equally rapid loss.

This only proves that what I am doing is working for me -as long as I stick to it- not the validity of the science of course, although it does chime, broadly speaking with what other diet gurus are publicising at the moment.

I also eat within a 16 to 19 hour window, which I find really beneficial too.

Inspiring charts and stats @Words and @TheLeadbetterLife - well done!
Lovely breakfast suggestions Words, thank you.
I'm still stuck on my plateau, but these posts are reassuring. I also spoke to a friend who took a dietitian to help her, and she did something pretty similar to this system, and she said that once the weight started to come off after a long plateau it happened quickly. So I live in hope!

Meanwhile I'm enjoying other benefits - less crazy hair, better nails, more energy.

Is anyone taking any supplements to help? My friend suggested magnesium.

@BigBobBoots I take a fish oil supplement (as I don't eat fish) and a multi vitamin (actually still on the pregnancy one two years later as something is good for my hair at the moment and I figured I would just keep on with what I was doing).

For me it was pregnancy that was good for the hair! (Looked dreadful for a year after though, so if the multivitamin helps then that's great).
I'll try a multivit without iron, I'm already on fish oil, I think it helps back ache.

I take fish oil, high dose vitamin c, probiotics and the odd multivitamin.

I was taking b12 but my levels are back up now. I’m currently also taking iron every other day as my ferritin is lowish.

I’ve realised that as a large framed, muscular, pre-menopausal woman, I need a lot more protein than I thought. Which is fine by me, as I get to eat more meat and eggs. Apparently around 2g of protein per day, per kilo of bodyweight is about right, which for me is 150g. That’s ten eggs! Not that I’m getting it all from eggs, but it goes to show.

Hello!
I’ve just discovered this thread after it was mentioned in an AIBU thread on UPFs. I read Dr Jenkinson’s book a while ago and it really resonated but I didn’t get as far as putting any of it into action.
I'm now going back to page 1 to read it all and will be back :-)

Hi @NoAprilFool !

Welcome to our tribe, @NoAprilFool!

Another two pounds off ( wish I could think in kilos but it doesn't come easily to me) overnight here. I've been eating slightly more over the last couple of days so will adjust portions a little. Maybe I have been over strict!

Leadbetter I have a very similar build to you, but suspect I eat a fair amount more than 150g protein per day. Not ten eggs though - can't imagine the sulphurous consequences of that. I live alone but the cats would leave me I think!

Re supplements, I take Vit D, B complex if I feel I need it ( stress) Magnesium OK from Boots to help with sleep and hormone regulation and currently a joint supplement as well. I don't think those do much so will stop when they are finished.

I took fish oil too for a while in an effort to boost Omega 3 but read somewhere ( Mosley or similar) that it degrades very quickly and also is not the sort of O 3 that is best absorbed by the body, so stopped taking it when the last lot was finished.

Regarding a good night's sleep - really important to avoid false hunger issues - and if you like baths - two indulgent bath products currently doing the trick for me are L'occitane's lavender and Neom's De- stress.

Bathing in dissolved magnesium flakes ( health food shops sell it) for relaxation and to alleviate joint pain is also meant to be helpful and was recommended to me recently. It's supposedly absorbed through the skin but not sure if this is actually true. Nevertheless it was very relaxing and transported me back years to bathing in mineral springs in Central Europe during my travelling days...I also slept very soundly.

First session back at Pilates class after six weeks in the wilderness yesterday. My goodness my suppleness, balance and strength have deteriorated. I do know from experience it will come back though.

What's on the menu today people? I am having asparagus and a poached egg with some prosciutto at lunchtime and left over lamb for dinner with spring greens and roast peppers I think.

Another boring epic from me, sorry!

Have a good day all.

Thanks for the welcome 😊
I’ve gone back and caught up on this thread, but now have Covid so just eating whatever is close to hand and easy. I do have a well stocked freezer of soups though so not too bad!

Interested to read a couple of you are following the AIP - I tried it briefly but as a vegetarian found it pretty much impossible.

@Words

on the protein, I don’t know, because I realised that 150g protein doesn’t mean e.g. 150g of egg or chicken. The protein content of meat is about a quarter of the total weight, as it’s mostly water. It’s actually quite a lot of meat to chalk up 150g of protein. I don’t really get there most days.

Ahh thank you Leadbetter that makes sense, of course ! Doh!
April sorry to hear you have Covid

It’s actually quite a struggle to eat enough protein isn’t it? I’m not sure how best to do it. I don’t want to get into the realm of protein powders and smoothies - too processed and I don’t like smoothies anyway.

am I really going to have to eat omelettes all day (well, when I’m not fasting)? We’ve no eggs at the moment because all the bloody hens are broody. We’re just feeding what seems like hundreds of chicks.

Hmm! And I guess you and I, being of Amazonian physique, so to speak, will be at the upper end of any requirement.

I suspect I eat rather more protein than average, but am not going to get too hung up on it, just keep,plodding on with what I'm doing. I am very fortunate to be able to afford good quality meat and fish and I think that can make a difference.

I'd love to keep hens - I think they are fascinating but know nothing about them! Why do they stop laying when they get broody? How about ducks? Could you keep them too? I absolutely love duck eggs and really miss them in the winter. ( I think they may be higher in protein actually too, but would need to check.)

I ate outside my eating window last night and had a snack as was hungry. This is absolutely fine on this plan by the way for those who may be new to this - I'm just combining the 16/8 idea with Jenkinson.

I've noticed I tend to get peckish ( great henny word that) around two hours after I've last eaten, which is exactly, according to the Fastic app I use, when blood sugar begins to fall. I've found if you can ride it out, it goes away - so probably not real hunger at all.

This is what leads to evening snacking - a habit I am trying to break as I think it impedes my weight loss, so will try to avoid doing that again.

Hope everyone is doing ok.

If I may bore on about chickens...

They stop laying when broody in the same way that women stop ovulating when pregnant.

The natural cycle for a chicken is to lay 12-14 eggs in a nest, then a hormonal change triggers them to sit on them and incubate them for three weeks until they hatch. Then they raise the chicks for a few months before they start laying again.

The modern egg laying breeds have had this instinct bred out of them, so that they lay huge eggs every day for about 18 months until they are exhausted. My chickens are a bunch of backyard mutts, so they have a whole range of behaviours. On the whole, they will all go broody at least once a year (problem is they set each other off, so I end up with gluts and droughts of eggs). Some of them can be easily "broken" by turfing them out of the nest box a few times a day until they get bored. Some will sit there for months, regardless of whether there are any eggs under them, until a chick appears. So I have to give those ones eggs to hatch.

At the moment I have three hens raising chicks, and four sitting in the nest box waiting for chicks to magically appear. As a result, none of them are laying, and it will be a couple of months before any of the younger ones start laying.

That's absolutely fascinating!
( sorry for huge thread de rail!)

Poultry used to be a huge thing near me, along with the rearing of chicks.

Great excitement when the Man from Japan arrived in the valley to teach the workers how to sex day old chicks. In the 30s I think?

He continued to visit over the decades and stayed with one of my neighbours, who wrote a book about the life of a Japanese chicken sexer ( outs self terminally)

Thank you so much for this @Aria999. That's reassuring to know. I have a lot more to shift, but good to know I can head towards "happy slim weight". I get the sense that the new weight is rather more, shall I say robust, than the ones I reach on dieting before the yo-yo is yanked back up.

Hi @Words belated thanks for this huge encouragment! I need to start preparing myself for change love lifestyle! I will join you for moral support if I may (erm... it is at this point that I confess that I am, erm, a man. And have no offsrpring. But it's not something men seem to be interested in doing or talking about. Do hope this is OK)

It's ok to be a man. We forgive you 🤣

Welcome, I hope it works out for you.

(I wish my step brother would do this, I keep suggesting it. He has been on all kinds of diets).

@skylarking953 - Yes, we forgive you !

The graph I posted dates back to 2018, and you can see how previous failed attempts only led to increased weight gain in the long run. In fact it's very similar to one of the illustrations in Jenkinson.

With this, not only have I lost steadily, but the inevitable glitches have been rectified fairly quickly and did not lead to a sod it all moment and total weight re gain.

Eating this way is so enjoyable to me that re establishing good habits after a few weeks in the weeds is much easier than with other plans. That's the key to its long term potential I think.

All the best

Graph again so you don't need to scroll back:

It's okay to be a man @Skylarking953 , both in general and on this thread. My partner does this plan with me, so you're not alone out there. He also, like me, likes to see the evidence for things, so we both spend a lot of time looking for studies on various foods and supplements.

You're definitely not a rarity on MN being childfree, there are loads of us. Most of the boards are not about parenting, and you can hide the ones that are if the very idea of growing a human gives you palpitations (or am I projecting?).

Hello 👋 @Skylarking953
i loved learning more about your chickens @TheLeadbetterLife, thanks for sharing. Are you bothered by foxes at all? My daughters friend has chickens and they’ve sadly lost some recently.

I am still suffering with Covid, but not as badly as the rest of the family so I’m in full on nursemaid mode 🙄

no time or energy to cook (and I can only really taste marmite and S&V Pringles anyway…) but I am trying to read and plan. I’ve been flicking through Eat Happy by Melissa Hemsley which has lots of lovely ideas that work with this WOE

Happy Friday everyone

Happy friday to you @NoAprilFool and all!
On the "I don't have the time/energy to cook from scratch" front, has anyone tried ZenB pasta? Made solely of something called Yellow peas and tastes just like pasta. Is there any reason that wouldn't fit a Jenkinson diet?

Morning skylarking . I would have thought that would be ok if it's just made from peas. Most importantly if it tastes good I would go for it.

As I may have mentioned before, my latest discovery in that way has been spiralised courgette. I resisted getting yet another kitchen gadget for ages, and I thought I didn't much like courgettes. Wrong on both fronts. ( see also beetroot, celeriac, and sweet potato!!)

It's delicious fried in butter and used as you would spaghetti. Add garlic/ mint/ lemon for added oomph. Good also on its own with crumbled feta.

I got a cheap, small, manual spiraliser from Amazon. I use it frequently.