Why We Eat (Too Much) thread 6

[TheLeadbetterLife]

Whoops, we let thread 5 get away from us a bit there...

I'm going to boringly copy-paste the previous thread opener, because it's too hot to be imaginative.

Welcome to thread 6 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!

Ouch @TheLeadbetterLife that sounds really nasty. Hope it soon starts to get better. Definitely not a time to worry about what you’re eating, have whatever makes you feel a bit better.

Hi everyone, I haven't posted in ages so just sending a quick message to keep this thread current for me.

Was reading two interesting news articles today, one about the dangers of UPFs and how they are now thought to be a main driver of the obesity crisis and the other about the benefit of eating offal. What was very interesting in the second one was the nutritionists who were advising about it specifically highlighted vegetable oils as being really bad for us.

Interesting to see more and more mainstream media coverage agreeing with this WoE.

@AutisticLegoLover

Giving you a shout out here in case it helps you open the thread!

@TheLeadbetterLife how are the teeth?

I had the stitches out on Thursday and the dentist said it's healing well. It's still a bit sore but no more than a mouth ulcer kind of soreness now.

I ate very badly over the last fortnight, partly through socialising as people were visiting and we went out for indulgent dinners. Partly through tooth issues that meant it was difficult to eat high fibre foods (chewy), and I felt sorry for myself so ate a lot of ice cream. I didn't really do any exercise either.

What's horrifying is how quickly I've become bloated and feel dreadful. The antibiotics and other medications probably didn't help either, but I'm off those now.

For the next couple of weeks I'm going to focus on getting back into the swing of it.

So sorry to hear of your travails @TheLeadbetterLife.

I'm not doing fabulously either but keeping in keeping on after a fashion.

Hi all! how's everyone doing?

Sorry to hear you're struggling @Words. Remember there's no wagon! Just do and eat what feels right.

I'm really trying to break away from diet mentality now, as a next phase from this plan. Throwing out the scales is really helping, and while I'm not as disciplined as I was two years ago when I started this plan, I do feel great, and look better, and am much healthier.

I am two or three kilos over the lowest weight I got to, but I'm happy with that. it's still just about in the healthy BMI range, and it's lower than I ever thought I could get to. I'm really not going to obsess over getting it off again, I'll just let the potato chips fall where they may.

My struggle now is getting enough exercise. I really can't stick to any kind of routine, and when I'm busy, as I am now, it's always the first thing I drop. I've probably said this a dozen times on these threads, but I really have to work on my mentality around this. It's the same with sleep. Routines are very hard for me, as is making any time for myself when I've got loads on.

I'm off travelling again for work next week, until the end of April, and I'm excited about the food. I'm going to two countries I've never been to before.

I just read this book on holiday and am thinking about giving it a go.

The two things I have doubts about:

MAN vegetable/seed oil is in everything!! Even things like stock cubes.

How to manage it with family life - my DH is not on board with reducing carbs - I think I can work out dinners which are light on the carbs for me but give him the option of more carbs on the side but it's definitely going to take some thought.

I am overall thinking that I will try having some ball park rule/routines rather than counting glycaemic load. E.g. if I have a low carb lunch every day, it gives me some scope to have some carbs for dinner.

A question: I don't usually eat breakfast. But I see he recommends it - is it worth giving that a go? I struggle with the idea of adding more food when I want to lose weight!

Hi @Theelephantinthecastle and welcome to the thread.

It is shocking how pervasive vegetable oil is, I agree. Unfortunately the only way to cut it out is to cook from scratch, which is of course a tall order.

We manage it in our house by always doing the same thing for lunch, and having a very simple approach to most evening meals.

We don't eat breakfast, you don't have to if you're not hungry.

Lunch for us is always:

Mixed raw vegetable crudités with homemade olive oil mayonnaise (the Delia quick version).
A rib of celery with 100% peanut butter spread in it.
Plain yoghurt with raw rolled oats, almonds, Brazil nuts, chia, flax and raspberries.
We might also have a piece of cheese, and a pickled or hard-boiled egg.

At weekends, we usually have poached or soft boiled eggs for lunch, with some wholegrain spelt bread.

For dinner, I agree it is to think of the complete meal consisting of protein and vegetables, and the carbs as just a side dish, rather than integral.

We usually have just meat or fish, and vegetables or salad, e.g:

Tuna / chicken / feta / whatever salad
Roast chicken with greens, broad beans, or whatever's in season at the shop
Cheese omelette
Hamburger holstein (no bun, fried egg and anchovies on top) with pickles
Steak or pork with a pepper, mustard or wine sauce

We find we don't miss the carbs at all, but you could make some rice or potatoes to go on the side.

We've been doing this for about two years, and it's become our normal diet now, rather than A Diet. We don't even think about it. We probably stick to the principles about 80% of the time, and have whatever we fancy when we go out or get a takeaway.

@TheLeadbetterLife it's going to be a bit complicated as I am vegetarian and DS is allergic to eggs and dairy... But I think I can figure out some meals which are adaptable.

I love cooking so that's not a problem per se but a lot of ingredients seem to have vegetable oils in so will have to go through the pantry thoroughly.

How long did it take you to see some results? I do love carbs..

I was eating a lot of carbs before, mainly bread, so it was a big change.

I lost 10kg within three months, then another 7 over the next three months or so.

I’ve put back on a couple of those, but in that first year I wasn’t eating enough protein, and my B12 and iron levels got a bit low.

I’m happy with my current size, and more importantly I feel so much better and my health markers are all in very good shape.

I don’t weigh myself anymore, I just keep an eye on my waist to height ratio to make sure I’m not putting on visceral fat.

Hi, I’ve just read WWETM and I’m going to have a go with the main principles. Just wondering what things people have found helpful for “eating on the run” - any top tips for quick and portable food that fits this way of eating? TIA

@FedUpButCantStopEating

Cheese, olives, yogurt.

Sometimes cheese and oatcakes for a quick lunch (my oatcakes are not strictly on plan as they have palm oil but I seem to get away with it, probably because it's a small amount. You can also make your own but after the first attempt I gave up!)

Or cheese and apple.

Cured meat might also work if you like it.

Lunch is a hard part of the plan though, if you don't have time to cook it.

@FedUpButCantStopEating

Also welcome to the thread 😊

Hi @Theelephantinthecastle welcome!

Everyone is different but my impression is that most people this plan works well for lose a few lbs (2 to 4 ish) in the first couple of weeks.

Then it's a slow stop start process with a few lbs a month, and some long periods of staying stable before going down again.

It does seem to mostly stay off though!

After doing really well last year, I went off the rails at Christmas and took a while to get back on. Haven’t even bothered weighing myself until this week. To my surprise I am only two pounds heavier than I was in January. While that’s still more than I want to weigh, in previous times I would have piled it all back on. So I hope I have reduced my ‘set point’.

I’m feeling much more focused and hoping to push it down a bit further. This isn’t a quick fix but I feel so much healthier eating this way.

welcome @FedUpButCantStopEating - I find nuts are a good quick snack.

Hello I'm still here but weirdly I don't think I have posted for ages. I am still pretty overweight but I am more streamlined and tbh I feel so much better eating like this.

I am not sure whether I've posted this update, but here are my recent changes.

Green smoothies (I'm sure there's something about blending because we had a soup debate). However surely something made of basically veg (I don't eat fruit), is ok? Anyway, the news is that it's replaced my massive coffee habit.

Goji berries soaked in water and a ginseng tincture has completely stolen my sweet tooth.

Turmeric and ginger tea - I have found a good international supermarket for turmeric - cheaper and better than the supermarket.

Really simple fermenting - red cabbage, carrot etc. I cannot believe the price of kimchi when its basically rotting cabbage and water and spices. I followed the Happy Pear fellas' video because they are cheery.

I've also made some wraps (veering toward pancakes) from oats and red lentils. These were great once you get the hang of it.

I'm not very good at following the book , but I am loving eliminating UPFs on the basis that it isn't really food.

Oh and I have had a brace fitted so I can kind of walk!

It's nice to see everyone is still around! I went off the rails a little in my quest to eat more protein: I started eating processed food like protein bars and hi protein desserts which may be high in protein but they are disgusting: I belong to a Macro group on Facebook and most people there seem to live on processed 0% fat food to get their protein in and I'm sure it's not healthy:
I'm sticking to meat, tinned fish, eggs and Greek yoghurt now! My BLI has gone up to 19:6 but I think it's muscle gain from the weight training as my waist is still the same:
@stilldumdedumming thanks for the tip about the video, I love kimchi and had been too scared to try making it myself, I'll give that recipe a try:

I've said it before, but having briefly got hung up on protein myself, I'm pretty sure the protein fad is just another thing being pushed on us by the food industry. Same as the "you must drink gallons of water or you're doing it wrong" nonsense that's pushed by the bottled water industry.

If you can't get the "required" amount of protein from eating a reasonable amount of natural protein, it simply can't be right. It's being pushed by the makers of protein powder and protein bars, and the phalanx of PTs and online copywriters who mindlessly repeat this shite.

I tried to find any scientific evidence for the 2g protein per kg bodyweight that's doing the rounds, and couldn't find a single thing.

Well I’ve just been reading ‘The Great Plant Based Con’ by Jayne Buxton, recommended on here. It’s a very interesting book, and has made me rethink a lot of things. Anyway, I looked up what she says about protein.

Apparently the WHO says 0.83g/kilo of body weight, and the US Dietary Reference Intakes recommends 0.66g/kilo. The book goes on to say that protein researchers agree that is too low, and ideally 1-1.2g/kilo would be better. Still a long way off 2g per kilo.

I highly recommend this book.

I've listened to a lot of podcasts on the subject of protein nova and my favourite is Stuart Phillips from Canada. He says that the RDA of 1,6g if you are trying to build muscle. Useless to eat more because your body can't use it. 4 meals a day is best with the protein spread equally. OTOH eating more won't do you or your kidneys any harm.

That's interesting - are there references in the book for the protein research?

I find 0.8-1g protein per kilo of bodyweight just about manageable, though still a lot of food at the upper end. 2g per kilo is impossible. For me, it's the equivalent of 25 eggs a day.

I think that if you need to eat processed food or supplements to meet some un-evidenced target, it just can't be right.

The trouble is the thought of eating meat makes me feel sick. When I see a piece of meat I think of the animal 😭

@TheLeadbetterLife only as I quoted above - WHO and the US Dietary References Index. I have looked again but can't identify exactly where the WHO figure is from (there are more than 100 footnotes to some of the chapters). The figure of 1-1.2/kg is from an interview with Stephan van Vliet who is a nutritionist (he appears to be a professor at Utah State University).

One of the points that the book addresses is that it's difficult to get sufficient protein from non-animal sources without consuming a high volume of carbohydrates.

Day 1 for me:

Cheese omelette for breakfast
Avocado and brie salad for lunch
Greek yogurt and apple for dessert

Dinner will be aubergine and feta baked with tomatoes

Let's see how it goes! Been staying with family over Easter who are quite into beige food which kinda helps kickstart this for me as I am craving vegetables anyway